Well, kind of.
I'm back here because I heard something today that made me think I'm 100% on the right path:
Sharing what we're doing isn't bragging, it's helping others learn. @adambellow #NETA15
— Rob Lindquist (@swift360) April 23, 2015
That's right. I'm at NETA for the first time. The Nebraska Educational Technology Association conference "exists for the purpose of providing leadership and promoting the application of technology to the educational process." In short, it's an EdTech conference drawing in people from all over the midwest. And so far, it's pretty dang sweet.
You can find out more about NETA (by the way, they now have free membership) in the website link above. But my paraphrasing of today's keynote speaker is something I've tried to mention in this blog before. So I'm back.
I think teachers that have the ability to share what their doing - whether it's in the classroom, in PD, in the wee-hours of the night planning a kick-ass lesson - don't always do so because they are only doing what their particular students need. Guess what. I'd bet other students might need the same thing. Or at least something similar.
Today I met three people at NETA that made me do a little re-thinking.
The first was my NETA Match (random card with random number, find your match attendee number and you could win a prize) and we talked about being a media specialist that gave free hot cocoa to students if they checked out a book from the library. Circulation was up over 50% in the first quarter they tried it! Thanks to @TriciaBuell for being my NETA Match. *Make it a coffee and not only will students be there, but teachers would have stacks of books checked out!
The second and third people I met were presenters that had an idea to reinforce digital literacy implementation. Heather Callihan and Patty Wolfe came up with and refined a StopIt Program for students that violate the internet usage agreements at school; and instead of just a detention or other punishment, the student would be required to take a class (happens only once a month) about being a good digital citizen. The info in the link above is free for downloading, revising, and sharing (per the presenters).
Now, maybe what I've said will help you. Maybe not. I know the StopIt Program is something I could use as I immediately got feedback online from a few people in my district (and I mentioned it to my Dist. Tech Specialist the next time I saw him). In fact, (toot toot) I'm working on a presentation/eBook on building a social media brand for your classroom; and StopIt will now be a part of it.
Oh - maybe this will be something you'll try too:
http://www.starwars.com/games-apps/star-wars-crawl-creator/?5539ab56e4b06f9ab84d7e50
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