Learning Together at #MACUL16: Prepping for a 1-to-1 Classroom

In Portage, we are rapidly approaching our district-wide 1-to-1 implementation. As part of our preparation for this implementation, we have been diligently training our teachers on integrating tech into their teaching and blending their instruction. It has been very exciting watching the teachers rework their instruction and engage their students in new and exciting way. Our next guest blogger, Darcee Thomas, fifth grade teacher at Moorsbridge, took her MACUL experience to reinvision what her classroom will look like with consistant access to technology tools for her students.

I enjoyed attending MACUL this year. It had been several years since I had been to this conference and it was a great way to get energized about technology in my classroom, especially as we get closer to 1-1 devices in our classroom. One of the sessions that stood out to me was the “Breakout EDU”. I loved the activity and immediately began thinking of topics/themes to use the classroom. A few of our staff members have already put things in place to purchase kits that we could share and I have been searching the games already created and found one that relates to our social studies curriculum.

Another session that I liked was presented by Matt Miller. His website is called http://ditchthattextbook.com/ This has some very cool resources and so many of them! There are several already-made graphic organizers, ideas for Google Classroom and creating comic strips on Google drawings, as well as virtual field trip connections and mystery Skype opportunities. There are so many resources on this website and they are all free! This is an AMAZING website!

Lastly, the two sessions I attended on “Blended Learning in the Classroom” and “Coding in the Content Areas” were very valuable. It made me think about a subject in my room that I could start blending more and the coding is something I want to learn more about! ~Darcee Thomas, Moorsbridge

What will your classroom look like in the future?

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