Manhattan Beach CUE Rock Star learning today....

CUE stands for Computer Using Educators!

 Today I am at the CUE Rock Star Teacher Camp. Here are some notes from the sessions I went to:

Close Reading by Jen Roberts @jenroberts1

What is it?  

• use short passages
• students collaborate
• discussion is key
• annotate when needed
• it's about deep questioning and deep understanding

Nowadays can use google docs

• vocabulary? just right-click on a word
• Ask: What do you need help with? Individualize the learning
• Key question: What’s your text evidence?

How do we choose which sections/short articles to close read:

• What standard do I want to focus on?
• turning point in the story
• character developments

Tech tools you can use with close reading!!

Google Docs	Free, Web and App	Create documents to share
Subtext	Freemium, App and Web	Import articles and add questions
NewsELA.com	Freemium, Web	Current news articles with adjustable lexile levels.
Clearly	Free, chrome extension	Cleans up articles to make reading easier.
Readability Index Calculator	Free, Web	Paste in text and get an approximate grade level

<3 Subtext!

Pump up the portfolio! by John Stevens

O.K., ok, I showed up halfway through so I missed all the stuff about the portfolio BUT I learned about some cool tools.

Log in to Google docs and then Sheets.  Go to Add-ons and then click Get Add-ons.  Two really cool ones we learned about was Doctopus, which allows you to push out docs to your kids.                                         Another one is Flubaroo, which is for easy grading.

That's the autoCrat robot.  I liked AutoCrat the best! It allows you to easily merge spreadsheets with docs. That way you can make personalized letters and certificates.  Sooo cool!  I can't really give you more details as I'm still learning but try it out!!

Blogging 101 by Katy Petty  @techclassroom

I'm in the middle of it but I'll share what I've learned. First, if you're using blogs for yourself, use blogger. If using it with kids (especially elementary), think about Kidblogs.  You have to approve each post so it's well curated.

Some uses for student blogging:

• writing
• reflection
• specific topics
• 20 time
• Genius hour

Check out your dashboard overview!  Know where traffic is coming from and how many hits you're getting.  If most of your traffic is coming from your tech posts, post more tech stuff.  Layout allows you change the layout (duh!).  Template allows you to customize background and fonts.  Still couldn't figure out how to change the font of the actual post-Any help out there?!?

Katy Petty's resources:

• Ultimate Guide to the Use of Blogs in the Classroom
• Education Week: The Benefits of Blogging
• YouTube: Blogging in Education
• Free Technology for Teachers: Chart- Comparison of Educational Blogging Platforms
• The EduBlog Awards

That's what I learned today!  I'll blog more tomorrow-It's a three day camp.

Always,
Lisa