PADCAMP Reflection

On August 8, 2013, I attended PADCAMP at Galloway Middle School.  It was my first experience with an unconference, and I have to say, it was a pleasurable one.  After breakfast and topics were decided, I headed to four very interesting sessions.  The first session I went to was titled, "Free apps for Educators".  I really enjoyed this one because they were really prepared and had some free apps already in mind and showed us how to use them.  I think what I liked most about this session was the fact that all of us were able to put great free apps into a spreadsheet that we could share with each other and go back to after the unconference.  I enjoyed meeting other teachers and hearing how they use technology in their classrooms everyday.  They explained how they will take the app that works with their lesson that day and utilize it in the classroom, whether in a 1:1 format of iPads or with just one the iPad.  These teachers explained how they knew the apps were working for their students and how found them for their content area.  It was nice to see apps being to be used because until I took this session I felt like I was falling flat on finding apps for my content area.  I think it's great to learn new free apps that can be used in the classroom to further the content knowledge and teaching of students in a way that is effective.

The second session I went to was all about Edmodo.  Having only used Edmodo as a student, I was interested how it worked for teachers.  I'm so glad I took this class because I realized so many things about Edmodo that I had never known before.  I liked it being compared to Facebook for the classroom, because it truly is.  I liked a lot of the suggestions to use Edmodo to Flip the Classroom, do formative assessments, and to get to know the students.  I feel like this is something that everyone should use in their classroom because not only is it a great tool to communicate to the students, it's also fun for them as well.  They view it as a social media, but it has boundaries so the students cannot get in trouble.  I also feel like it is so versatile that any teacher could use it and I feel like it would engage students to participate more as well.

The third session I went to was the podcasting one.  I was interested in this because I had done some podcasting in college, but nothing like what they're doing today!  I was amazed at all the amazing features and benefits podcasting affords the teacher and students.  I really liked the idea of being able to broadcast something happening in school for the parents to watch later at home or in real time.  I feel like something of this nature could even be used everyday.  If the lessons are being broadcast over the internet, then students who may be home sick can watch from home and not worry about falling behind.  Or even students who may not have gotten everything in the classroom setting can go back and watch the lesson again to get the information they may have missed the first time.  The students can show their parents the projects they have put together or their parents could watch their child get an award or big recognition online.  The possibilities are endless when it came to this session, which was very informative!

The fourth and final session I attended was about apps for social studies high school classes.  It was the one I was most interested in, but was the least put together.  It ended up being a few teachers discussing what they use and what they have found to work in the past in regards to apps, youtube channels, and websites.  It was good to get a good amount of resources to go back to and look at, so I have some idea of where to go when it comes time for me to use technology in the classroom.  I also liked that the teachers shared their experiences with each thing they suggested and how their students liked it or not.  This session was more of a discussion but it was a big help!

Overall, my experience at PADCAMP was great.  I was able to speak with real teachers who employ technology in their classroom in an effective way.  I was able to truly understand how TPACK comes to life in a classroom.  These teachers knew ways to take their content areas and find the best methods to teach it using technology, no matter what the technology was!  I hope to become that knowledgeable one day so that I know immediately what to use to accomplish that sweet spot where technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge come together!