Remnants of past conferences- Exit Cards

 

I am sitting here going through a pile of flyers, business cards, conference programs, etc., that I picked up from some of the different conferences I attended recently. It was one of those things I said to myself "I'll go through this at home when I have more time". HA! I'm actually looking right now at a program from 2010. Seriously?

Well in the midst of all the junk (and the throw away pile is much larger than the keep pile) I am finding a few things worth keeping and repeating. I thought I would share them with anyone who happens to find my ramblings here.

A find worth mentioning was from a talk on Assessment. I remember this one. I felt it was important to hear what they said but I do remember it was not a very stimulating talk. Good information: Bad delivery. However- what I found in my pile here was about EXIT CARDS. Many of you probably have used exit cards before and I have heard different questions, etc, that teachers use. Maybe you will like this one. They suggested a 321 CARD:

• 3 things I learned
• 2 questions I still have
• 1 way I see _______ used in the world around me.

It was the last part of that that I really like. I think that is one of the most important things teachers need to remember the relevance of what we teach to the students' life. We really need to consider that if they do not see how it benefits them, unfortunately they probably don't care.

Tech tools to use for your 321 CARD? How about Socrative? I talked about that in the last post. Another you could use is Padlet (formerly known as WallWisher). I like Padlet, which is like a bulletin board with sticky notes, because you can make it private and you can moderate the posts. And it's close relative Primary Wall that is very similar but geared toward the lower elementary crowd.

Edomodo and May

Blogging does not come easily and time is very hard to find. Thinking of things to say is not so hard, but the time issue is a challenge. I keep trying.

So I noticed some new highlights on other blogs about Edmodo and I am thrilled that others are finding this FREE tool. I have been using Edmodo for 3 years now and really love it for many reasons. Always on the top of my list when evaluating tech tools is the ease of use and the ease of the learning curve. I find Edmodo extremely easy and friendly to use. It does not take very long for even the less tech savvy to navigate through some very basic use of Edmodo. And students also find it very easy to use. There are five teachers on my campus that now use it and I would like to see all of our teachers on board by next year. I think it would offer them a great place to interact with families and their students. A teacher on another blog has suggested and reminded readers that you are able to embed many other web tools into Edmodo, such as wallwisher (which I love but is still blocked at my school) and fotobabble (another that is surely blocked) which I do not have much experience in but looks promising and fun. Simply put, if you have not looked into using Edmodo for your class, put double stars next to it and check it out. You will not be disappointed.

Speaking of blocked sites at school, my own blog here is blocked. Which makes writing all the more difficult as I am then only to write after hours or weekends. No brain storming during the day.

Trying a little fotobabble here with my dog Remi.