4T Virtual Conference Newsletter

The Blackboard Collaborate Conference Session Links are now posted on the schedule page . They are also posted below for Saturday May 20th. We recommend that you test our Blackboard practice room here to make sure Blackboard works on your device. Please see the information below for more details on Blackboard and specific devices.

Saturday May 20: Breakout sessions 9am EST - 5:30pm EST

Sunday May 21: Breakout sessions 9am EST - 5:30pm EST

Sunday May 21: OPENING KEYNOTE 8pm EST

Monday May 22: Breakout session 3pm EST - 9pm EST

Monday May 22: CLOSING KEYNOTE 9pm EST

We made it very easy to participate in the sessions! (watch a quick tutorial on how to participate)

1. Just click on the session link below (or in the schedule page), download the Blackboard Collaborate room. Double click to open up the download.
2. Type in your full name. (if it is your first time using Blackboard Collaborate, you will need to download the launcher, then double click again to open up the session room).
3. Not Blackboard Collaborate DOES NOT work on Chromebooks, but you can use it on any other laptop/desktop or mobile device, even a phone.
4. You can also participate via a mobile device (free Android App or free Apple IOS App).
   
5. Problems? Contact Blackboard Help line at: Website or Tech Support Line at 1-317-333-7300

Make sure you TEST Blackboard Collaborate BEFORE SATURDAY to know that it is working on your computer BEFORE the conference.

Presenter: Jeremy Hyler

​Moderator: Andrea Zellner

Description: Today, grammar instruction is more important than ever. Educators can no longer ignore how our students write in digital spaces. In this interactive session, educators will learn effective strategies using Google Slides along with social media that can help students differentiate between formal and informal writing while learning grammar skills.

Session Link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008372&password=M.DBB60DE52C1505B6D6F8CDE2D8A424

Presenter: Lauren Fardig-Diop & Raymond Mojica

Moderator: Liz Kolb

How do you use hip-hop culture and media literacy to build relationships in the high school classroom? In this session, we’ll look at how engaging with students’ culture and music and analyzing social media in the classroom can help connect students to content, and how cultural competency can enrich dialogues about race, class, gender and sexuality through using technology in class. ​

Session Link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008372&password=M.8352F3E0522F212E1827A75302FB62

Presenter: Carolyn Bolduc

Moderator: Kristin Fontichiaro

Connect and Engage! In this session we will look at how to use technology to reach your students at their level in small groups during math through the use of app smashing and screencasting with iPads and Chromebooks. We will then take it up a notch to see how teachers can use Twitter to support and showcase students’ problem solving and explanations.

Session Link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008372&password=M.8B1F2D30DD8C52ED3960DA86155581

Presenter: Alyssa Marcangelo

Moderator: Liz Kolb

Expand the boundaries of your classroom using virtual reality to take your students almost anywhere in the world. We will explore how to use VR in a meaningful way to help foster deep connections between your students and the world around them. Examples shared will apply to all grade levels and content areas.

Session Link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008372&password=M.A339063C31ABC8DC09BB08D8CD3881

Presenter: Katie Cherry

Moderator: Emily Kim

Learning to envision setting, analyze character traits and determine importance are reading skills that challenge many upper elementary students as they begin to read more complex chapter books. With the help of WeVideo, however, students can personally interact with their books in an engaging way that develops and allows them to demonstrate these skills. We will explore how we can leverage the online video creation tool WeVideo to teach and reinforce literary analysis skills in a project-based setting.

Session Link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008372&password=M.5813CA5EEA2BD8DFD969F3AB7C2355

​Presenter: Katie Gibson

Moderator: Liz Kolb

Responsive Classroom focuses on the link between academic success and social-emotional learning. This session will primarily focus on the elementary practices (K-8) and provide you with: The guiding principles of RC, practices and strategies for you to implement in your own classroom and organizational tools using google slides.

Session Link: https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008372&password=M.A09D6173363A62E500F68158581838

Our commitment to our K-12 teachers with a Michigan teaching certificate is to give them free SCECHs for attending the conference. Steps to earning SCECHs

1) Make sure you are registered with the State of Michigan here.

2) Attend at least 3 sessions, for the entire session.

3) Log into the session with your full name

4) After the conference (Monday night or Tuesday), complete the online SCECH form (this includes a PDF that you sign and then re-upload to us). You must turn in your SCECH form no later than May 27th.

Click here to learn more about earning your free SCECHs this year!

1) Make sure you have registered.

2) You do not need to sign up to attend specific sessions. Instead click on the room link to your session (posted on the Schedule page in May) that you would like to attend, and it should open up in Blackboard Collaborate. Make sure you TEST Blackboard Collaborate to know that it is working on your computer BEFORE the conference. If Blackboard is not working properly on your computer, please contact the Blackboard support room (the conference facilitators cannot help with individual issues in Blackboard). Please NOTE that Blackboard Collaborate DOES NOT work on CHROMEBOOKS. It works very well on iPads, Smartphones, iPods (via the app which is free) or any other desktop or laptop computer.

3) Click on the room link to the session you would like to attend at the correct time (according to the conference schedule). Type in your full name and let Blackboard collaborate download to your computer and open (you may have to double-click on the Blackboard download to get it to open).

4) Please note that we recommend logging into each session about 10 minutes BEFORE the start time to make sure you get a spot, and to make sure your computer is working properly with the session tool.


5) If you are interested in applying for SCECHs (no cost), please see the SCECHs page for more information. There are 19 SCECHs available.

Participants, we would love to learn a little more about you! Please click on our interactive map and add a "pinpoint" to let us know where you are from. Feel free to include what you teach and your Twitter handle if you like! You can add to our Google MyMaps by making sure you are signed into your Google account, and click on EDIT (in the upper left hand corner). Then add your pinpoint. We are looking forward to seeing where everyone is from!

Ford Motor Fund has generously given a large donation to the 2017 4T Conferences. We value this partnership, in particular from an organization that "works with our partners to find innovative solutions to community concerns using a coordinated, strategic approach." Learn more about the Ford Motor Fund here.

This conference is no cost for teachers because of our sponsors and partnerships. Please support them, as they are supporting your PD!

Previously K-16 teachers that are not certificated through the state of Michigan have requested an official certificate of attendance. We are now able to provide this to any educator that would like one. We are charging a small fee for processing and time. You can purchase the certificate online after you have completed all your sessions. A UofM instructor will check our database to make certain you attended the sessions listed and then email (or mail if you request) your official signed certificate of attendance. The certificate will be signed by a UofM Professor. Learn more at the link below. If you are a UofM graduate, we will wave the fee (please let us know this in an email).

Website: http://www.4tvirtualcon.com/store/p1/4T_Virtual_Conference_Official_Attendance_Certificate.html