Mrs. T's Art Room
  • Mrs. T's Blog
  • Arts Integration
    • HOT Blocks
    • HOT Block Resources
    • Arts Integration Resources
  • Get Connected
    • Art Teacher Resources
    • Ed Tech Resources
    • Twitter for Educators
  • Professional Development
  • Other Sites

It's my one year #edtechchat anniversary. What a difference a year makes!

6/2/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture

Tomorrow is my one year #edtechchat anniversary! One year ago, on June 3, I participated, nervously, in my first #edtechchat. Good gracious... should I answer any questions? Other people might answer me! What should I do then?!? 

Fortunately, I was greeted warmly during my first #edtechchat by Scott McLeod (@mcleod), the guest moderator. Encouragement and advice from Alex Podchaski (@ajpodchaski) and Susan Bearden (@s_bearden) helped me feel welcomed and all the awkwardness melted away. During that hour I finally understood the power of the hashtag by actually using one! An "ah-ha" moment, for sure.

The warm welcome coupled with my desire to learn more about educational technology drove me to participate in almost every #edtechchat during the past year.  I learned about so many things! Sometimes I lurked or only asked questions because I had no idea what on earth they were talking about! I clicked on links and had zillions of tabs open by 9:00. I'd spend the next hour reading through all those resources, filing some away in Evernote for future reference. 

Without even realizing it, everything I learned led to me to become determined to make some changes at my school. (My assistant principal said there was no stopping me!)  It was impossible for my elementary students to create and get their work off of the shared iPads. Photo transfer apps that were supposed to be easy to use were not. As their art teacher, this drove me absolutely crazy! Student iPad use was SO limited, I was thinking they should just use them as paperweights! Or as worksheets. Yeah, drill and practice has a purpose, but I had learned through my connections on #edtechchat that students needed to create with technology, not just fill in the blanks. When I realized that no one in my school had heard of SAMR, I just had to push things in the right direction! I found some more appropriate apps for student creation and got them installed. My students are finally able to use Dropbox to get their work off the iPads instantly so it can be shared. And, next year, all teachers and older students in my district will have their own GoogleDrive accounts. Yeah!

#Edtechchat led to discovering edcamps, which led to meeting some of the co-founders of the chat. Sharon Plante (@iplante) and I met at #edcampNYC. I discovered she grew up around the corner from where I currently live and attended the elementary school where I work. Small world! I was also able to meet Alex and Tom Murray (@thomascmurray) at #edcampnj. And I'm planning on meeting the other two co-founders, Susan and Katrina Stevens (@KatrinaStevens1) at ISTE later this month. I cannot thank all of them enough for seeing the need and starting the chat. 

I have connected with and learned from so many different educators on Twitter in the last year, but I have to say, #Edtechchat propelled me into the Twitter-verse and helped me to help my students. What a difference a year makes! 

2 Comments

    Amy Traggianese

    Visual art and arts integration with a techie twist!
     
    I don't like disclaimers, but: none of my ideas expressed in this blog post or website are supported or endorsed in any manner by my employer or anyone else. I just write it as I see it, and that is that.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies.

    Opt Out of Cookies
    Picture

    Archives

    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    August 2017
    April 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Art Ed Bloggers Network
    Arts Integration
    Bottle Cap Mural
    Cave Art
    CCSS
    Choice Art Studio (TAB)
    EdCamp
    EdTech
    First Grade
    GAFE
    Henna
    NCAS
    NGSS
    Online Resources
    PLN
    STEAM
    Teaching Art
    Twitter
    Video
    What Is Art?

    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    This page contains affiliate links from Amazon.
    We earn a small percentage of the sales made through these links at no extra cost to you.
    Thanks for your support.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.