EDUC 431 – October 8, 2019 – REFLECTION

Watching Cliff Waldie from my PLN teach was a treat. I was so wowed that he spent the time to introduce himself, like other presenters had in EDUC 431, but took a brief moment to explain WHY to our teacher candidates and the importance of making a personal connection with your audience before moving forward with the learning experience. Can we get any more meta than that?

I love this guy… he teaches with his hands. Cliff is so animated and works the room. He moves all over the classroom to create engagement… and he does. I think we were fully engaged from the hour and 50 minutes. Cliff was talking to us about FreshGrade Classic. He was so gracious and thoughtful with his time. We first explored FreshGrade Classic as students, then we played with the application as teachers. Within that time, he faced “real” teachable moments and made decisions on the fly. I am not sure what I was more impressed with… FreshGrade or his planning, prepping, and teaching abilities. Cliff can work a room. By the end of the session, I noticed another pile of handouts. I wondered if I should distribute them, but nope… he was prepared for a third learning activity (just in case). Wow!

FreshGrade Classic was so easy to use and navigate… I think that I left teaching in K-12 too early. I would have loved to have worked with Freshgrade as a secondary mathematics teacher to Communicate Student Learning. keep track of how students were learning, and give opportunities for students to demonstrate learning and reflect IN REAL TIME. I was so shocked how easy it was and how I would have loved to have used this application to check in on math understanding with my secondary math students. It would be so easy to incorporate BYOD and to make adaptations, give feedback, and communicate with parents on progress. I also appreciated how FreshGrade integrates Communicating Student Learning, assessment, and pedagogy. This program would have been amazing in my secondary mathematics classes but also for this EDUC 431 EdTech class.

Of course, I had to take a couple of selfies. What an amazing face-to-face connection made on Twitter. I love my PLN more and more. The intersection of my PLN meeting face-to-face, working collaboratively together, and we can’t help ourselves but ACTUALLY have a parking lot meeting because we can’t stop talking about education, teaching, and learning… you know you’ve met an edu-soulmate.