Presenting at TCEA

I absolutely love presenting at conferences and when my boss last year encouraged his staff to present at TCEA, I excitedly put in 3 proposals. I did this in May before I went out on maternity leave. Guess what? All three were accepted. 

Then, I got a new job as the elementary science and STEAM Coordinator. I was worried I wouldn't even be able to attend, let alone present at 3 sessions. However, I have been able to and I am so thankful. 

Yesterday I got to present on my favorite topic, "Recruiting and Retaining Girls in STEM." I have tons of videos and love talking about this. I love sharing stories about my own 4 year old and the things I observe as her mom and as an educator who is aware of how girls can be treated in STEM fields. 

Today, I got to present with my good friend and we talked about, "Bringing the World into your classroom." We did not use Google Cardboard, but we left our participants with activities that they could use to create their own Virtual Field Trips. We had tested our activities out, and were ready to share. I had made 30 copies of the elementary activities and 30 copies of the middle school activities. With 15 minutes to go, we had about 100 people in our room. By the time the presentation started, there were over 200 people. Needless to say, I was embarrassed that I only made 30 copies--but everyone seemed to be happy...and they laughed at our jokes--even when the internet didn't work properly. 

Standing room only for my presentation with @CalebHudgens. 

It is always nice to be able to reflect on what you would do again after you present. I know that next time we will explain just a few more of the tools and we will definitely make more copies! 

It has been a great two days. Tomorrow is my last day at TCEA and I am so excited for more learning. I hope to catch a session by Leslie Fisher as she was one of my favorites when I attended the year prior. 

If you have been to TCEA and presented--or even just attended--what kind of advice do you have? Feel free to leave me a comment! I would love to hear from you! 

(Re) Finding your Inspiration at TCEA

This was my second year to attend TCEA. Last year, I attended as a Project Lead the Way teacher. This year, I attended as a Digital Learning Coach.

I felt that I took away much more this year--and would I like to think it was because my “job” depended on it.

As a Digital Learning Coach, I get emails or talk to teachers each day--looking for ideas to do ____________ or an app that can _________________.

I left TCEA inspired to do more.

I was lucky enough to hear from three people that really stood out to me.

1. Angela Maiers (@angelamaiers)--she has so much passion. She spoke in the Digital Lounge which was an open space. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the stairs, where I was able to soak in her message. She gave us t-shirts and encouraged us to “find our genius.” She did a great activity with students and educators where she had us listen to each other for a minute. After the minute was up, we relayed back to our partner what we saw as their genius. Then, we added these verbs to their t-shirts. At the end of her presentation, she had the students read "The You Matter Manifesto." (What a difference this would make if you had your students read this manifesto in class!)

2. Leslie Fisher (@lesliefisher)--she is hilarious. I seriously would love to be friends with Leslie Fisher. She has a witty sense of humor, and has so many great resources. Some of my favorites were: Bloomz and Appear.in. (I am actually going to show a teacher Appear.in today because she wants to do a videoconference with a Senator from Michigan on the Flint Water Crisis.) Leslie presented many different sessions at TCEA, and definitely needed a bigger room each time.

3. George Couros (@gcouros)--he was so inspiring. I secretly loved his boy band music at the start of his presentation. Then, he showed some amazing videos that made you laugh and cry at the same time. One of my favorites was this adorable video where a father sent emails to his daughter, Sophie.

Yes, all three of these folks are pretty “famous” if you are on Twitter. But, what I found was that all three of them had the great qualities that really encompass a good presenter. 

From Angela, Leslie and George, I am able to conclude, the best presenters are those who can show passion, be humorous and inspire others--you will leave people “ready to take on the world.”

And that is how I left TCEA. I was definitely (re)inspired.