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Welcome to our UCET Newsletter! If you have teachers in your world that deserve to be highlighted, please email us media@ucet.org or message us on Twitter @UCET.

UCET 2022: Connect Call for Presentations
Now Open

UCET 2022 will be held on March 15-16, 2022 and will be a hybrid conference, with keynotes and selected sessions available online live!

  • Ignite! In 5 minutes and with 20 images come and inspire teachers! Share 20 slides in 5 minutes and inspire teachers (think of a mini TED event) Presenters will have just five minutes and 20 slides each to share their passions, tell their stories, or share their experiences in a continuous rapid-fire presentation! Presenter slides are shown for 15 seconds each on an automatic rotation for a total of 5 minutes of fame. By sharing what ignites their passions—a professional practice from the classroom, excitement about a new tool that will spark creativity for their students, or a personal story of student engagement– Ignite presenters will fan the flames for their fellow attendees while awakening their awareness, stimulating their thought, or spurring them to action.

  • Over the Shoulder (OTS): 20-minutes Focus on specific solution, tool or content provider

  • Lecture: Hour-long Traditional or Interactive

  • Panel: Hour-long Moderator and 2-3 panelists

  • Virtual: Hour-long Traditional or Interactive presentation/discussion, via the online meeting platform of your choice (Zoom, Meet, WebEx). If you choose this option, we strongly recommend that you plan on a co-presenter or two to help moderate the Q&A in the session chat and handle any attendee issues. 

Sage on the stage vs. guide on the side is a rallying point for many educators and how they run their classrooms. Their goal is to switch from being the speaker in the front with all the answers to the coach or guide working directly with students on their projects and engaging them throughout the process. It is an admirable goal with deep ramifications for our educational system. 

The issue is that we often don’t apply the same thoughts to our professional development. Often the “Sage on the stage” is the default for exploring and bettering our craft as educators. Edcamps, like the recent EdcampWASO, offer a different way of sharing information and bettering ourselves as educators. 

If you have never attended an Edcamp, it is an amazing experience. First off, every participant is a presenter. In each session, you are able to share your ideas with your colleagues, have side conversations, and explore some of the best practices in topics that concern you. Speaking of which, all sessions are suggested by participants to help maximize what each educator gets out of the process. 

At EdcampWASO there were sessions ranging from discussions about favorite lessons to podcasting with students to working with parents and engaging students in classrooms. Each session provided teachers with opportunities to share their ideas and engage with each other in best practices. One of my favorite moments was during a discussion about our favorite lesson plans when I learned about a project in a philosophy class to change famous philosophers into superheroes. Edcamps allow teachers of all backgrounds to share their perspectives, their best ideas, and perhaps most importantly, their struggles in a way that helps to build up the larger educational community. 

UCET is proud to sponsor Edcamps across Utah including EdcampWASO. If you have never been to an Edcamp there are two coming up in the first half of 2022. Join EdcampCUT in Richfield on January 8th, 2022 and EdcampUtah on June 11th, 2022.  All Edcamps are free to all educators! We will see you there!

 

Someone to Follow
 
 

Eric Curts
@ericcurts

Eric has been in education for 26 years, and currently serves as a Technology Integration Specialist for SPARCC in Canton, Ohio where he oversees Google Apps for Education implementation, training, and support, as well as elearning and other technology integration initiatives.
 

Something to Try

How to Maximize Space in Google Slides for Manipulative Drag and Drop Activities

Although Google Slides is great for presentations, there are so many other creative activities it can be used for such as stop-motion animation, Choose Your Own Adventure stories, eBooks, comic strips, and one of my favorite uses … drag-and-drop manipulative activities.
 

Something to Learn

UCET & UEN Nearpod PD 

Check out a free Nearpod professional development courtesy of Utah Education Network and Utah Coalition for Educational Technology. This session includes all materials in this newsletter and updates to Utah’s Online Library!

 

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