This yr marked the forty second yr of the TCEA (Texas Laptop Educators Affiliation) Conference and Exposition and my third time presenting at this occasion. It was held in Dallas on the Kay Bailey Hutchison Conference Heart and provided an in-person occasion with on-line choices. TCEA is certainly one of my favourite conferences to attend because it brings hundreds of educators collectively; to community, to discover new concepts, and with an added bonus being the good climate.
What makes TCEA completely different?
TCEA creates a welcoming area for attendees. From the second you enter the convention middle, there are volunteers prepared to help you. Even in the event you attend the convention alone, it doesn’t take lengthy to make some new connections. We’re all in it for a similar purpose: to do what’s finest for youths. TCEA offers an area for educators to collect to share progressive concepts and finest practices for colleges.
Meaghan Rhame, Director of Conferences and Occasions for TCEA, and the skilled improvement committee undertake an amazing effort to design an genuine and personalised studying alternative for educators annually. One in all my favourite options is that TCEA offers steerage for attendees who could also be uncertain of the place precisely to begin when planning their convention schedule. There are 12 focus areas and subjects to discover. A committee of educators from completely different roles and experiences evaluations the periods and create mock schedules. The mock schedules make it simpler to navigate the a whole lot of periods and completely different codecs out there. It as an alternative focuses on particular roles or subjects that allow attendees to create a customized expertise and are ready for curriculum administrators, leaders, librarians, educators, CTOs and lecturers. It’s a fantastic place to begin, particularly for individuals who are attending for the primary time.
The complete convention or on-demand
This yr the occasion provided a mixture of in-person and on-line packages. Attendees may select to attend the total convention, for the exhibit corridor solely, or choose certainly one of two on-line session packages. The net packages targeted on “Bridging the educational hole” and on social-emotional studying (SEL).
The voices
There have been 12 thought leaders for this yr’s convention together with Jennifer Gonzalez talking about cultivating a wholesome classroom local weather. Different main discussions included subjects on inclusive classroom environments, creating emotional intelligence abilities, concepts for augmented and digital actuality and gamification, and creating extra alternatives to immerse college students in studying.
Jaime Donally presenting on Augmented Actuality
The keynotes
Within the opening keynote, filmmaker and storyteller, Brett Culp, spoke about hope as the muse of motion. He mentioned, “It’s that the steps that we take are constructed on the idea that our actions are going to make a distinction.” Culp impressed together with his that means of management: ”Actual management is inviting individuals on a mission to create one thing extraordinary collectively.”
The closing keynote speaker, Cynthia Marshall, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks, joined in nearly and spoke about variety and inclusion. She provided attendees inspiration and phrases to mirror on: “Variety is being requested to the celebration. Inclusion is being invited to bounce.”
The exhibit corridor
Attendees had alternatives to study rising applied sciences and discover cutting-edge classroom equipment within the exhibit corridor, particularly, the Esports Area. College students and educators had been out there to reply questions and knowledge on how you can deliver esports into colleges.
The Esports Area
Different enjoyable actions included Alice Keeler’s Schoolytics sales space and stay stream chat, the Nearpod sales space and their Flocabulary songs, and Invizbl, who provided attendees snacks and t-shirts whereas ready for his or her full cellphone sanitization. Areas EDU had wonderful cupcakes for attendees who stopped by to study SEL and digital portfolios.
Sharing how my college students use Areas EDU in our Spanish class
Kai’s Clan had a demo of its new robotic “Kaibot”, displaying attendees how you can deliver coding by means of augmented actuality into the classroom. There have been STEM kits, robots, digital actuality headsets and a lot to discover.
One other enjoyable space was the Logitech sales space the place attendees may have a digital caricature created for them. And as at all times, there was no scarcity of swag for attendees, starting from pens, notepads, Yeti mugs at hand sanitizer and t-shirts.
The stay streaming
There have been a number of live-streamed periods every day. I used to be honored to have certainly one of my periods, “Chart A New Course: Educating Important Abilities for Tomorrow’s World,” targeted on SEL chosen. Having the ability to current to individuals in individual in addition to work together with these viewing the stay stream made it a extra interactive expertise.
Presenting a live-streamed session on Chart A New Course
Why attend conferences?
The number of periods and scheduling annually allow attendees to customise their TCEA expertise and choose focus areas and periods that resonate probably the most. I might suggest educators add TCEA to the listing of must-attend occasions. I heard from a number of attendees how refreshing it was to be at TCEA and to have the ability to be taught collectively. It’s all in regards to the relationships and the connections that we make and once we be part of collectively to share our studying, we proceed to enhance ourselves for our college students.