“Why do I agree to do these presentations?”
That was most prominent question going through my mind early yesterday morning as I fretted over the session I was scheduled to present at the TNT Conference at 8:00 AM. I don’t feel like I’m very good at presenting in the first place, and I didn’t feel that I had practiced this particular one nearly enough. Visions of disaster flashed before my eyes.
Events did not get off to a promising start after I arrived at Hillcrest, the site of the conference, either. I had forgotten the adapter I needed to hook up my MacBook to the projector, my remote controller wasn’t working and I wanted to review the presentation one more time with Mrs. Hulburt, the co-presenter. Thankfully, everything fell into place. I was able to borrow an adapter, my remote magically decided to start working, and Shay and I were able to do a quick run-through.
It ended going very well. In fact, of all the regular presentations I saw today, I thought we did the best job. We had an interesting message, with a good mix of theory and practice, and we were the best prepared.
We probably would have been beaten out by the last speaker I saw, Oscar Porras, a high school teacher in the Socorro District, but he saddled with some technical problems because the YISD firewall blocks Animoto, the site he was trying to demonstrate. Otherwise, he is a natural performer, at ease in front in group and extremely entertaining.
Animoto is a great site that combines music and photos to great effect. I’ve used it myself for some projects, and I wanted to see how another teacher found uses for it. It looked like he’s been using it as a way to introduce certain subjects in a much more emotional way than you would otherwise. For example, he introduces the Holocaust with a haunting video he made from photos of concentration camp victims. I could easily see students doing this. Hopefully, YISD will start allowing this website to be accessed.
I also went to a session about the art website Kerpoof, where students can create their own pictures, cards, and simple animations. It’s another site I’ve known about, but I haven’t quite figured out how to use. I wish the presenters would’ve showed some examples of what their student created using the website, but at least they gave us some time to explore, and I got a few ideas. I found there’s a place where you can register as a teacher, and then you’re able to input your students’ names. Unfortunately, they have to review your submission before you can start adding students. I hope I get a confirmation before tomorrow, but I’m not counting on it.
But none of us presenters could hold a candle to the featured keynote from Dr. Tim Tyson, but I’ll share my thoughts about that one in a separate post.