Couch Conference

A couple weeks ago, I attended the Couch Conference put on by Danville Schools and lead by my friend of one year @TimKasper from #247Tech  fame. Search #couchconference to see all the twitter posts from the day.

Morning 
I was so pumped for this because Dave Burgess of Teach Like a Pirate  and #tlap chat (9:00pm EST on Mondays) fame was giving the keynote and a session. I had read his book over Christmas break last year and it no doubt changed my view of what a classroom should look like. I started integrating a lot of his ideas immediately.

Here are a few of my notes from Dave's two sessions. (Side note: Dave might have the most enthusiasm I have ever seen in an individual. It's almost downright ridiculous... in a positive way. He talks incredibly fast so I took limited notes because I already have the book.) It was great to get to see him in person "teach" us. Sometimes you listen to speakers and you think they might just be there to collect a check when they are done. From Dave, all I saw was how he wanted to share how he filled a need in his classroom so that everyone can benefit from it.

On to the notes -

• Teachers are in the life-changing business.
• We must gain engagement but not lose it with transitions. 
• Have props/images.
• Be more concerned with the learning, than how they show it. (See choices on presenting)
• Create experiences. Kids forget lessons, but they remember experiences. 
• Want to change the way you teach? Begin by asking questions.
• E.E. Cummings - "Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question." 
• Be careful what you ask for. 
• Teachers are the greatest thieves in the world. (I might add coaches, also.)
• Be able to document all your ideas. He uses notepads. 
• Use origami in class. 
• I did this this year and the students loved it and remembered it. We made origami tables when talking about how to backup your ideas with details. The top of the table was the main idea, but it couldn't stand without the table legs, the support. Towards the end of the year, I referenced it, they all knew what I was talking about.
• Add some zombies.
• Use the brackets. 
• My example here
• Draw in the world to spark engagement. Use current events. 
• Dave referenced this quote from Bruce Lee.

• Follow Todd Nesloney aka @TechNinjaTodd
• What's your 5 word GPS for your vision for your classroom? Write it down. Make it come to  life. 
• Follow Matt Vaudrey aka @MrVaudrey 
• Math teacher. Uses the Mullet Ratio. 
• Use the class clowns in your lessons. They already want to put on a show. 

Like I said, I didn't write too much because it was so fast. I highly suggest seeing him in person once you read the book. 

Lunch Break 

I ate lunch with my former crew from Danville (new post on new position some time soon), a new friend I had met on the Twitters, Kari Catanzaro aka @catanhistory, who also teaches 6th grade SS, but at Maconaquah MS. It's pretty cool how one Dave Burgess brought us together through a twitter chat. 

Speaking of bringing people together, I also had lunch with who I like to call my doppelnamer. His name is also Matt Miller and is a Spanish teacher at Turkey Run HS. You can contact him at @jmattmiller or http://ditchthattextbook.com/ . We met last year at the Center Grove iPossibilities Conference as I took both of his workshops on student blogging and ditching textbooks. I learned a lot and incorporated blogging this past year. Over the past year, we tweeted back and forth and met another educational Matt Miller in @MentorSuper and another Matt Miller teacher in @matthewm1970. Needless to say, one day all the Matt Miller's of the world are going to unite and take over. Matt Miller, as in Ditch That Textbook Matt Miller, coined the term #Mattpocalypse

@walker8208 Be prepared. #MATTPOCALYPSE @dropstepdunk #CouchConference pic.twitter.com/Tlviplwq9T
— Matt Miller (@jmattmiller) June 20, 2014

Anyway, we had a nice chat and got to know each other a little more. What I didn't know, was that he was crafting his upcoming keynote speech about using social media. Then, we took a picture together.

WO Matt Millers in one place?? CRAZYTOWN!!! #MATTPOCALYPSE #CouchConference pic.twitter.com/TcmMLSxDCT
— Morgan Walker (@walker8208) June 20, 2014

Then, he used it in his speech. Pretty neat how he worked that one out. I think he was thinking ahead. :)

Power of social media! Talked about the "meeting of the Matts" in keynote speech @dropstepdunk @mentorsuper pic.twitter.com/DFo60Wp7Vg
— Matt Miller (@jmattmiller) June 25, 2014

Afternoon -
I attended the session on MyBigCampus and NBCLearn with @libster and @CyndyNBCLearn.
NBC Learn is doing some neat things with current events and videos.

End -
I ended the day drinking a smoothie from http://cupabove.com/ that was delicious. (Randomness - Debbie from A Cup Above and her daughter spent a month working at the orphanage in Taiwan where our son was cared for before he came to us. Small world, huh?"

I also won a door prize. I never win door prizes. I'm also not sure why they are called door prizes because I've never seen a door given as a prize. I wonder if they give actual door prizes at construction conference? :)
Back to the winning: I received some Dry Erase Crayons. Yes, dry erase CRAYONS. I have yet to try them, but they sound cool. I also received 4 dry erase erasers. These aren't your typical erasers. No. These are in the shape of race cars. Pretty sweet if you ask me.

Good day. Good people. Good learning.

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Guest Speaker

Over Christmas break, I bought a book: Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess and at @burgessdave . This book has changed how I look at educating students and student engagement. It has re-energized me. It has shaped how I look at presenting my lesson to my students. You should buy it and read it. You will be transformed. I guarantee it.

One of the things I picked up from the book is to have guest speakers come into your classroom. Profound, right? Well, this book talks about using yourself as the guest speaker. I created a hook (read the book for awesome hooks) for the lesson by posting an Instagram picture of a Viking helmet with the caption, "You better make sure you're in class tomorrow for this."

We're also talking a little bit about the Vikings so it worked. I borrowed the helmet from a friend and colleague...follow him here. Kids were intrigued. In the morning the next day, I told them we were having a guest speaker. I left it at that. I got asked about 25 times or more throughout the day when the guest speaker was going to be here. I told them, "Soon." I still had their attention and anticipation. 

The previous interactive notebook social studies lesson involved reading from the text book, answering some questions about the reading (right side), and then having the students write an introduction speech that would introduce Charlemagne to a large group of people (left side). Essentially, the students were writing all about Charlemagne and his accomplishments to introduce him to the people prior to him giving the speech. They were learning and then applying their learning instantly, which is what I love about the interactive notebooks. I then asked the students that wanted to share their intros to come up and read them. I let them use the class microphone. About 5 of them wanted to share. They were each about 2 paragraphs. After the last one went, I put on a tiara that I had in my closet. (I forgot to go to Burger King in the morning to get a manly crown). I stood on a chair because Charlemagne was said to stand very tall. I changed the sound of my voice a little and started off with thanking them for having me come and speak to them about my life. I was the guest speaker as Charlemagne.

I did some research the night before that went a little deeper than our textbook and then gave an interactive speech to them. Some of them just started smiling. Others laughed because they've noticed me getting more out of my shell in class, others were excited, and of course, some were skeptical, as well. They asked me questions and I answered in a way that I thought Charlemagne would answer the questions. Most, if not all of the students, were totally engaged. They asked me questions about the time period. They asked what I would do if the conquered lands wouldn't convert to Christianity. They asked me what area was the easiest to defeat. They asked me lots of questions. I told them how the Pope and I were incredibly tight-knit. It was incredibly inspiring because I could see them craving more. I thanked them for coming when I was done. Then, the students clapped. After I gave their assignment for the day, some were still talking about it. I asked some of the quieter ones what they thought of the guest speaker. They both said it was funny, fun, and that they liked it. 

I think I'll keep the lesson for next year and pull out the guest speaker again sometime. I like learning funny. 

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