I don’t want to overwhelm you with all of my take-aways from TCEA 2018 so far, so I thought I would give you a few new tools I’ve learned about with brief summaries and links to the presentations.   I am really cherry-picking from the plethora of resources I took notes on, so definitely click on any of the presentation links if you want to learn more.

• If you didn’t see my post about Pear Deck, you can click here.  This is an incredible new Add-On for Google Slides that can be used to easily get feedback from your audience in real-time.  Great for staff-development and in the classroom.
• From Hall Davidson’s session on AR, VR, and MR (Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality), I learned that Aurasma is now called HP Reveal.  Those of you who have used my Augmented Reality Resources page should note the name change.  (I will update the page when I have a moment.)  Davidson also gave this link to a presentation from Katy Noelle Scott and Clint Cornfield on how to “Hack Google Expeditions.”
• Charlotte Dolat from Alamo Heights ISD (and Area 20 TCEA Director) did a fun session building on the popularity of Insta-pots with her “Instant Tech” site full of F.E.W. apps (Frequently Executed Well).  The TextingStory Chat Story Maker is going to be downloaded to my classroom iPads as soon as I return to school.  I also want to have my students try out Emaze for a new way to present.
• I’ve used StoryCorps before, but the team from Richardson ISD gave me an idea to use with my 5th grade GT students as we read The Giver.  Ask them when is war justified, and then show them this powerful video on “The Nature of War” from StoryCorps.  Tie that in to a Newsela article on the Civil War, and you will have students making powerful connections.

I have a few more things to share in the near future, but I don’t want to be a “dumper” as Jennifer Gonzalez would say.

If you are still at TCEA tomorrow (Friday), I would love for you to join me at my session at 9:15 am in Room 12B.  We will be talking about making global connections, and I could use a few extra audience members to drown out the heckling I will have to listen to from my colleague, Angelique Lackey.  Also, I will be using Pear Deck so you can see it in action!