#nErDcampBC Breakdown

Last week I posted how excited I was about the first-ever nErDcamp, hosted by the Nerdy Book Club. It did not disappoint.  In fact, is was one of the best PD opportunities that I have ever attended.  For those of you who don't know, an Edcamp is an "unconference" of sorts.  1.)  They are free.  2.)  Conference attendees create and run the sessions.  3.)  They are fun!

My colleague and I arrived in Battle Creek, Michigan on Wednesday night, after what turned into about a 6-hour drive because of weather and traffic.  After grabbing dinner and drinks, we hit the hay at the Holiday Inn, Battle Creek because it was going to be an early morning.  We grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant-free, thanks to my husband's Platinum Priority Club status, and headed to Lakeview High School, the site of nErDcamp.  The first 150 people who arrived were greeted with swag bags, full of ARCs and posters!  Awesome!  We headed into the "Black Box," quite literally a black, square room possibly used for theatre or band.  The room was set up with tables, a screen and projector, and several books for people to explore that would be given away later.  After giving everyone time to settle in, Colby and Alaina Sharp, nErDcamp organizers-extraordinaires, told us how the day was going to work.  When asked, very few people in the room said they had been to an Edcamp before.  This was a new experience for most attendees!  

The day had four sessions-two morning, two afternoon, with a lunch break in-between.  After a welcome and brief overview of how things were going to work, we were set off to begin discussing what kinds of sessions we would like to see.  I felt so inferior to so many people in that room, that I mostly sat and watched, in awe.  Colby Sharp, Donalyn Miller, Franki Sibberson, Jillian Heise, among MANY others-all people whom I look up to as a reading teacher.  Sessions started forming.  Alaina put session titles into an "Idea Board" Google Doc, to which everyone had access.  Sessions brainstormed included "Everything Evernote," "Flipping 101," "Twitter 101," "Book Talks," "Skyping and Connecting with Authors," etc.  Twelve possible sessions into two one-hour time blocks.  How's a girl to choose?!  Let me tell you, it was difficult.  I chose to go to "Everything Evernote," hosted by Cathy Mere, Karen Terlecky, and Alaina Sharp.  I used Evernote in my classroom last year, and I wanted to learn more about it's possibilities.  Wow!  That's another post for another day.  The second session I chose to attend was "Motivating Reading and Writing Through Technology" with Donalyn Miller and Suz Gibbs.  The cool thing about Edcamps are, even though there are session leaders, everyone is encouraged to participate and give input.  Some things I took away from that session is Biblionasium, a site for students to record their books, and Booksource, a way to catalog your books digitally.  Book trailers, Prezi, and Edmodo were other things discussed at this session.  Suz Gibbs also showed an amazing book trailer created by one of her students!

After lunch, we went back to the "Black Box" to brainstorm ideas for the afternoon sessions.  Once again, some wonderful ideas were offered.  Sessions included "Graphic Novels," "Special Ed and Literacy," "Sister Classrooms," "Battle of the Books," "Genius Hour," "Nerdy Book Club Needs You," among others.  For the afternoon I chose to attend "Sister Classrooms," hosted by Jillian Heise and Brian Wyzlick and "Genius Hour" with Amanda Ferrari.  I was interested in Sister Classrooms for two reasons.  One, I follow Jillian and Brian on Twitter and I am seeing their back-and-forth about things they are doing in their classrooms.  Jillian lives in Wisconsin and Brian in Michigan.  They have connected their classrooms in many ways.  Another reason I was interested was because my colleague and I will be in different buildings next year, both teaching fourth grade.  We want to connect our classrooms in this same way.  When I get done writing this post, I am going to create a Google Doc for she and I to share ideas on ways to connect-one thing Jillian and Brian recommend.  The final session I attended was "Genius Hour."  Once again, I had heard about it on Twitter and wanted to learn more.  Twitter is amazing PD people!  The idea behind Genius Hour comes from Google, who allows their employees 20% of their time to work on something company-related that interests them personally.  They believe that employees will be more productive when people work on something that they are passionate about.  Genius Hour in the classroom is allowing your students 20% of their time to work on a project they care about.  I really like this concept, and look forward to learning more.

The best thing about nErDcamp was the interactive idea board and notes taken at each session.  If you click on each session number on the idea board, it links you to a notes page taken in the session!  How cool is that?!  So, if I have mentioned anything that sounds interesting to you, or you would like to read more about the different sessions offered, go to the idea board and get clicking!

I was so inspired by the number of teachers that attended nErDcamp.  Everyone gave up a day from their summer vacation to learn and grow.  Many traveled hundreds of miles to get there and I would be willing to bet that everyone said it was well worth it, it certainly was for me.

nErDcamp Battle Creek!

Anyone on Twitter and follow Colby Sharp?  He's a teacher from Michigan and co-founded the Nerdy Book Club with Donalyn Miller.  You know, The Book Whisperer.  Well, he and his wife have also founded the first (hopefully annual) nErDcamp, that is taking place this coming Thursday, July 11 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Has anyone ever been to an EdCamp before?  I had never heard of them until recently.  Many teachers I follow on Twitter have been to them and tweet from them using a EdCamp location-specific hashtag.  From what I understand, EdCamps are FREE professional development organized by teachers for teachers.  They are sometimes referred to as "unconferences" because it is exactly the opposite of a conference your district or administrator requires you to attend.  There are also no scheduled presentations or topics.  The session topics are brainstormed on the day of the conference by conference participants.  

So what is nErDcamp?  nErDcamp is the first ever EdCamp organized by the Nerdy Book Club.  It is a literacy-specific EdCamp.  I was just checking out the Idea Board on the nErDcamp blog and there are lots of really neat topics cropping up!  Last I heard, there are over 200 participants registered!  

So why am I telling you about this?  Well, for starters, my good teaching buddy and I have decided we are GOING!  Less than four hours away from our homes?  We cannot pass this opportunity up! Neither one of us have ever attended an EdCamp before, so this will definitely be a learning process, but hopefully a very beneficial one.  I don't even know why I just said that.  It definitely will be a beneficial one.   Forget the fact that we are Buckeyes traveling into Wolverine country.  We can put our differences aside for a few days.  

If you live in the area (or within a driving distance of the area) you should definitely register to attend!  If I haven't convinced you enough, read Top 10 Reasons Why You Should Come to nErDcamp.  Anyone already planning on attending?  Hopefully we can meet up!  

Google in the Classroom-Writing Collaboration

I got a little behind on the series this week.  I apologize.  I was feeling ambitious when I said I was going to post a week-long series.  I should have written and scheduled them right away.  Have no fear, though, the Google in the Classroom series is back!  Once it ends, though, I would love to continue to post bi-weekly about using Google in the classroom.  Please comment with anything you have done to use Google in the classroom, and I would love to include your ideas, or even have you write a guest post!  

If you've missed my other Google in the Classroom post, don't forget to check them out!  

Day One:  Using Google Forms for Classroom Library Checkout 

Day Two:  Using Google Forms for Lesson Planning

Day Three:  Using Google Forms for Parent/Teacher Conference Requests

On Thursday, I went to the Ohio Goes Google Conference.  It was great!  I attended four sessions and heard two keynotes that were very inspiring to continue to use technology in the classroom.  As I wrote in my first post in this series, you don't have to have a mobile lab or even access to 30 computers to use Google in the Classroom.  I have created many student activities using Google Apps and I only have three student computers in my classroom.  

Today, I would like to tell you how to use Google Docs as a collaborative writing assignment with your students.  First, you will want to create a new document in Google Docs.  On the left side of your screen, click Create, then Document.  A document is just like a Word file, except it is saved in the Google Cloud.  

Change the title of your document by clicking the words "Untitled Document."   If you choose, you may type a prompt.  Remember, everything automatically saves!  Next, click share at the top right corner of your screen.  Everything is defaulted to save "private only to me."  You can change this by clicking the share button and changing your settings.  

 Next to where it says "Private," click "change."  You will see this screen:  

Change your settings to "Anyone with the link."  I have to do this because my students do not have Google Accounts.  Then, where it says "Access," it defaults to "can view," change this to "can edit."  This will allow anyone with the link to this document to edit it. After you click save, you will see this screen:  

Highlighted is the link to the document.  You can give your students this link, but I recommend shortening it using bit.ly.  At bit.ly, paste the Google link, then click customize.  Type whatever you want your customized link to be.  

Now that you are set up, this is my idea for the collaborative writing assignment.  During Daily 5 or center time, assign students in partners or groups.  One student in each pair will start off writing a story.  They type as much as they can during their block of time.  During the next block of time, the other partner reads the story then adds to it.  My students love to make those quick one-sentence stories and build on each other.  This is a technological variation of that!  Once the story is complete, students can revise and edit their writing.  

Google in the Classroom: Parent Teacher Conference Requests

Today is Day Three of my Google in the Classroom Series

Day One:  Using Google Forms for Classroom Library Checkout 

Day Two:  Using Google Forms for Lesson Planning

I used Google Forms for my Spring Conference Requests this year.  I will admit, all of my parents sent paper requests, but I wanted the electronic requests to be an option.  I also posted the link to the electronic request on my website.  

To create a Google Form, you will need to sign into your google account, and go to your documents.  Click "Create" then "Form"

You will see something that looks like this:  

Where it says "Untitled Form," give your form a title.  For instance, "Spring Parent Teacher Conferences"  In the box below that, you will want to type any pertinent information your parents need to know.  For instance, how long conferences should last and any additional conference times you are offering.  

Next, you will add a text box for Student Name.  Make this a required question.  

To add new boxes, you click "Add Item" at the top left corner.  Next, add a text box for the parent name or person attending the conference.  You will probably want to make this a required question as well.  The next item that I added was "Choose from List."  Parents can decide which conference date is their preferred date.  Then I added a "Checkbox" item and gave three possible times parents could choose from.  They were able to select as many as they wanted.  Finally, I added a box for parents to offer additional notes.  You can see my form below.  

As with all Google Forms, your responses will be recorded in a spreadsheet located in your Google Documents.  It is timestamped, so you are able to schedule your conferences first-come, first-served.  

Another tip:  when you are given the link to your form, visit bit.ly or tinyurl.com to shorten and customize the link to something your parents will remember and access easily.  

Tomorrow I attend the Ohio Goes Google Conference!  I am so excited to share everything I learn!  I hope that you are finding this series valuable.  As I shared on day one, you do not need a lot of technology to be able to utilize Google in the classroom.  You do not even need a Google account through your school.  Sign up for g-mail and you are afforded all of the benefits of Google Apps!