Sunday, February 21, 2016

2016 OTEN Conference

The 2016 OTEN Conference on Saturday, February 20th, was very interesting and informative. I feel that I was able to learn about several accessible resources that I will be able to use in my future classroom.
At the beginning I was overwhelmed with the number of options that were available to choose from. I wanted to be sure that I was choosing the appropriate sessions that would work for me. But I feel that I chose very well, and that I gained something from all of them. However, two stood out that I feel I would use their resources in the future.

The first one was How to Flip Your Class: A Feasible Guide to Flipping Your Content. I found this interesting because she gave us a number of ideas of how to change a boring lesson to a fun and interactive lesson that students will be engaged with,

All of these ideas and resources also help with connecting parents to be part of the circle of learning with their students. This includes those students and families that may not have internet access at home, where videos can be used before, during, or after school, so those students can learn the content in the same way as other students. This allows us to reach all students. And I learned about some free apps that can be used in the class as well. Such as Educanon, Zaption, Edpuzzle.
This was my favorite session because I feel that I got the most out of it. Because she was an English teacher she showed several apps that I could use for vocab and breaking down information to make it easier to understand for the students. I can see myself using these with my ESL students and my future Spanish class students.

The last session that I really liked was Understanding and Applying TPACK in Methods Courses. I liked this session because it was straight to the point of being aware of your resources and how you would be able to use them with your students. It was pointed that you should not use technology, just for the sake of using technology. It should be used appropriately and you should take advantage of what your school or district has available. Have a meaning to use the technology to help the students with the content of whatever course they are studying. Otherwise, the technology can be more distracting than it is helpful.

Overall I had fun, lunch was great, and I feel that I learned a lot and hope to be able to use my new knowledge soon. The most inspiring thing was to see all of these individuals who were excited to learn new things about technology, to improve their teaching and their students' learning.


Claudia McClellan

4 comments:

  1. The flipped class session sounds like it was interesting. This tool has intrigued me since I heard about it a few years ago. Maybe you could share additional info if you took notes?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Patt,
      Mrs. Carter has an amazing ideas/ strategies to support students learning. Check out her web page@ www.MrsCarterHLA.com or Mrs. Carter(Mrs.CarterHLA) Twitter.
      Thank you:)

      Delete
  2. Claudia, for some reason the TPACK session didn't make it on my radar - perhaps it was at the same time that I was presenting. Anyway, for others who didn't see this, TPACK stands for Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge and it is a great framework, that I also reference in our tech course, as it reminds educators that good teaching in today's classroom requires meaningful integration of all three [the visual displays it as 3 overlapping circles]. You can read more on my OER here TPACK Framework

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anita, Thank you for emphazing about TPACK. It reinforce my existing knowledge and that it is something I want to incorporate in my teaching.

      Delete