Reflections: TCEA 2015

Reported by: Dawn Jahnke

Instructional Technology Specialist

Many things are learned at TCEA, so many at times you think your head might explode with the wealth of ideas shared. For those of you new to the acronym, TCEA refers to Texas Computer Education Association Convention. It is regularly held in Austin, TX in the first week of February, and this year was no different with information sharing! My favorite sessions were about Google Sheets, coding, and mobile device ideas. To keep this post short but deliberate I thought I would share a piece for each of those. 

 Coding lovers check out:

• Code.org -- variety of introductory, fun activities to teach students computational thinking and coding basics. you can create teacher accounts
• Code.org Flappy Bird -- create a Flappy Bird game using Code.org’s easy interface.
• Scratch -- teaches coding principles by way of a kid-friendly, drag-and-drop interface.
• Scratch Starter Kit -- variety of resources to help get started using Scratch in the classroom.
• Scratch Rubric -- sample assessment rubric for student Scratch projects.

Google Sheets were used in many unique ways. By use of line colors and groupings a notebook was created. Why wasn’t this idea thought of sooner! An instant notebook with tabs for the teacher or student. Check out this template shared by Tammy Worcester: Class Notebook Template (http://tinyurl.com/tttcea9 for more ideas)

The last idea I would like to share is about using Class Dojo. Class Dojo is a motivational behavioral tracking site. The session used it to create teams to encourage that other 21st century skill known as competition! We were assigned to one of the teams pictured below(even though we worked in pairs on a device) We app smashed as we were monitored for completion, cooperation, and collaboration skills. Points were award in Class Dojo accordingly. It gave the activity another level of urgency.

So next February keep in mind TCEA. It is worth the go!!