Random notes from #Cue13

So much of what I learned at CUE was ad hoc, a hallway chat, a Cue Tip, the second half of a presentation after leaving an unproductive first half elsewhere and visits with vendors on the exhibit hall floor. 

Here are my highlights:

 Writing for the Digital Age by Rebecca Lowi,Amy Woods and Amy McMillan from Santa Barbara. I liked the essential questions, how might digital writing change how and what we write? and what are the best ways to use digital writing tools in our classroom? On things they included which I thought was important was having students write reflections on growth and learning.  I appreciated the links to teacher resources and student work.

I sat in on a Cue tip on Edmodo- Great info for Edmodo beginners - new tidbit-  Use polls as quick check. +David Ross  and +Todd Teetzel  which inspired me to go see my friend at Edmodo - +Jill Florant who suggested I check out the Edmodo apps instagrok which is a super cool research tool.  She also showed me Study Sync which looked  very interesting for upper grades but I wanted to know what they were doing for 3-5^th grade so I popped next door to their booth. Although she said they were looking at piloting for lower grades, she was not very enthusiastic so we walked away disappointed.  

Intrigued by magican’s wands and top hats, we worked our way to the very back of the hall where we found entertaining and informative reps from Collobos - They provide mobile printing from iPad to almost any printer. $20 a shot. – Yes, it’s like magic!

Near the Collobos booth was the Subtext booth. I had heard of it but didn’t quite get it. After 20 minutes talking to a real teacher who uses Subtext in her classroom I couldn't wait to get started. I'll report back once I start using it with students.

Finally I found my friend +Martin Cisneros  who I first met at CUE about 5 years ago.  We chatted about using configurator at a district, not classroom level and he has had much success with that approach.  Maybe we shouldn't have given up so soon but it is super frustrating to use for classroom iPad management. Martin's blog has been a great resource for me. 

I have used blogging in my classroom for a few years but feel like I could do more. I got some great ideas from Linda Yollis.  Her wiki provides some great ideas and examples.  Her classroom blog is so engaging and inspiring! We can do this!

http://educational-blogging.wikispaces.com/

http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/

Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter!

This was a great session and Leslie Fisher is incredibly engaging and entertaining.  In elementary school I don’t think I would use twitter with my kids, but I certainly do see its uses in my own professional development. 

• She recommends setting up separate teacher account vs personal account. Don't even use name and face for personal side so you can get crazy (well, in theory, one could)
• Search.twitter.com. Choose advanced then you can filter etc.
• Helpful hint: If I start a tweet with @ then only the person I sent it to will see it unless they are searching for it

Although this is from last year, it is an interesting article supporting the idea of Twitter as a PD tool. http://edudemic.com/2012/09/25-ways-to-use-twitter-to-improve-your-professional-development/