Reflections from CUE 14 - Michelle Anderson

Michelle Anderson (@mathmama) is Math Department Chair at La Costa Canyon, as well as one of our Common Core Math ToSAs this year. She attended CUE 14 and wrote the following reflection:

I found the CUE to be exciting, motivating, and inspiring. I always find math conferences inspire me to try new things in the classroom, but the CUE was more than that to me. The energy surrounding me was going in a million different directions; people were excited to share the various tools they are using for inside the classroom, tools for building a community, tools for reaching out to the community, tools for connecting with educators, tools for using technology in a PD…and the list goes on.

Here are my favorite take-aways:

• Twitter - I finally get what a hashtag is! #knowledge #revelation – Kevin and my students tried to explain it to me. But it took an elementary school teacher to make it so clear and precise how I can use one. What a powerful tool to research anything I am interested in!
• socrative.com – I plan to use this free app to develop surveys and exit slips for my students. It seems to provide more than kahoot.it which I am already using in the classroom. 
• thinglink.com – another great free tool that you can use to develop an interactive worksheet, agenda, presentation, image…
• There is a difference between using technology to enhance learning versus learning with technology. I have to admit many times my document camera and projector might as well have been an overhead projector. A few years ago I realized the power of connecting the projector to your computer. It opens up a whole new world of possibilities of learning to take place. 
• I learned about an overwhelming number of free apps out there, and the hard part for any teacher would be weeding through them and figuring out how one can use them in the classroom. We are fortunate in our district to have Kevin and others that have used or been exposed to many of them to help. 
• "Common Core and Rigor” was the name of a session that two people presented…that I really thought should be Kevin and Guen. The theme was that technology is embedded in the standards, critically thinking and responding digitally are core elements. Rigor is not more work, but more meaningful work. Technology needs to be purposeful and meaningful. 
• Embrace passion - school should be more passion driven. Pay attention to what students are passionate about. Focus on communication and relationships. Students need a voice on campus, freedom to explore possibilities. Technology can be a tool to help foster this. 
• Don’t follow technology blindly. Find what works best for you and your students. 

I walked away from the conference feeling empowered. This year I have already tried to incorporate more technology by using GeoGebra, more tools in Blackboard, Kahoot!, experimented with flipping my classroom, and I just started using padlet. Since Thursday I have been on Twitter more and understand the value of it as a professional resource. Next year I plan on starting a Twitter group for my classroom. I believe I can be a part of the change in embracing more educational technology in our district. Technology can be intimidating at first, but once embraced, the possibilities are endless. One presenter called Twitter – “A SuperPOWer for Educators,” I say the CUE 2014 is my SuperPOWer. Watch out!