techieMusings

I finally make it out to a cuerockstar! Heading out to Monterey to kickstart my summer wasn’t such a bad idea :) My favorite part about my experience was the format. The whole thing felt very laid back and relaxed, with plenty of time to play. Play during the 2 hour sessions, play between the 2 hour sessions (during the 2 hour lunch break), and play after the sessions because – by capping things at 2 sessions per day – you really didn’t feel the brain overload that happens after 4 or 5 quick sessions at many traditional conferences. For those of you who already know a lot of the tools, I think cuerockstar is still a really worthwhile experience. I knew the majority of the tools being discussed, but as we all know, it is not about the tool. When do you have the time to just sit and play with things for a full hour? Plus, the inspiration from the presenters – showing examples of what they had successfully implemented in the classroom – is what I was looking for. And that was delivered.

I tried to summarize some of my notes below and highlight what I learned by putting my learning into action :)

“Google Drawing: No Longer Drive’s Ugly Stepchild!” (Diane Main)

• Session Notes
• Sketching out the Ideas in Google Drawing

“The Digital Writing Experience – Prewriting to Publication with Google Apps” (Megan Ellis)

• Session Notes
• Making my own project — Activity: Understanding the Derivative as a Limit (still a draft)
• If You’re Not From the Math World… A math poem created by my mom & myself, published using Voki

“GarageBand Karaoke: Song Parodies to Spice Up Your Teaching” (Diane Main)

• Session Notes

“A Day in the Life of an iPad” (Jason Borgen)

• Session Notes

“Using Digital Annotations to Take Students Through Complex Texts” (Stacey Cool)

• Session Notes