MACUL::Review

So yesterday, I and others in the Secondary MAC Program had the opportunity to attend the MACUL conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I thought that this was a great experience for us even though some of us felt the pang of not being with our students for the day.

The first session that I went to got me all excited for the rest of the day (and probably the rest of the weekend!) It was a presentation on how to make a wiiboard, and some ideas on how to use it. The Wiiboard is basically a SMARTboard, but instead of buying a very expensive piece of equipment, you just need a wiimote, an infrared pen, computer and projector. The presenter, John R. Sowash has a great blog that you can find here: electriceducator.blogspot.com - you can find a lot of resources on how to build your own wiiboard there if you're interested. You can also take a look at my last post - a liveblog of the session below. I can't wait to start developing ways to use a wiiboard in my own classroom :)

The second session demonstrated a large scale project-based-learning project with 6th graders in Barrien Springs. This was of particular interest to me (and some of the other science folks) because our methods class talked a lot about project based learning. I felt that it was a great demonstration of how project based learning can be cross-curricular. Some issues that were brought up were: how do we assess the students, how do we ensure they hit all the standards they are expected to know,  and how practical/is it possible to build an entire years curriculum on project based learning?

The third session I did not stay for long, but I did manage to snag her website on free tools for educators that you can find here there are some fun ideas there that are worth taking a look at. I myself need to go back and explore, but I felt that I could explore these on my own so that I could move onto another session.

The fourth session I attended was a presentation by Victor Chen, a former MACer as well as a chemistry teacher at my placement, Thurston High School! It was very cool to see him presenting at this conference. Although the probeware that he was demonstrating I am already familiar with through my own high school and college experiences, it was still nice to see how he uses them and how they are a great alternative to some of the more expensive science equipment that is out there.

Overall, I thought that MACUL was a good experience. I felt that despite the long drive, some of the ideas that were presented there made the trip wo

Shout out to my car: Tracy (the driver), Ben (the snack guy), Phil (the game master), and Drew (aka King Bob) for making the trip there and back fun! :)