Sessions

Augmented and Virtual reality applications are taking the educational world by storm. Stop by and try out some of the hottest AR/VR products that your students can start using tomorrow.

Paper quizzes are so 1995! Visit the booths at our assessment playground for demonstrations on easy and engaging ways for you to provide formative assessment opportunities for your students!

Google Slides is much more than just a tool for traditional presentations. Learn how you can be truly creative with Google Slides for creating presentations, handouts, signs, classroom materials and more.

In this session, I'll be showing participants how to make a Google Sites website for your classroom and how easy it is! Learn how to use it as a way to share resources and for communication. Get ready for some hands-on learning and creative fun!

Come see how to develop and implement book clubs in your classroom, giving students voice and choice!

Calling all forward-thinking K-8 Van ISD classroom teachers! EasyTech, from Learning.com, is Van ISD’s newly adopted Digital Skills curriculum. Your students will learn all the basics, from keyboarding to coding. Van ISD classes are already loaded in the system. Use this session to select and assign auto-graded lessons, and your students are ready to go tomorrow.

Laptops or Chromebooks needed for the teacher management side of the program.

Explore the NEWEST version of Canva. We will dig deep into the resources available in Canva 3.0 as we create posters, social media posts, and other things for your classroom. Laptops or Chromebooks preferred, iPads have a limited use platform but will work as well.

Imagine students having a place where they can curate, create, share, and showcase their academic growth. ePortfolios provide a space where students and teachers can reflect on and evaluate the meaningful works they have created, and showcase their highlights by bringing in all forms of multimedia. Come check out the platforms available for student ePortfolios!

In the digital age, we’re making a shift from from managing students to designing and facilitating learning experiences. In this session, explore how to implement a practical small group station rotation model for any grade level (great for upper grades) to help you facilitate student learning learning while also discover ways to help you shift from managing your class to fostering relationships that empower students.

Where do you find great digital resources for the your content area? This session will introduce you to awesome websites, apps and educators that will enhance your digital Math classroom.

We live in a time and age that is built around technology. Because of smartphones and other devices, the world is practically at our fingertips. With all of this technology at our disposal and the narrative within society that suggests we must always be productive, let’s look at what might happen if we committed ourselves to using less technology. We know the gains that can be made with technology. Let’s talk about the gains to be made without it as well.

After being in a variety of classrooms and working with numerous teachers, we've seen emerging trends from some of our best and brightest teachers. Join us as we share some reflections on how inspiring teachers manage instruction, build relationships and embrace technology, all essential actions to any relevant educator in today's classroom.

Do you have a process for solving problems? In this session, you'll learn about design thinking by experiencing design challenges, and then we'll discuss ways you can use this problem-solving process with your students, classes, teams, or schools.

Come along and ride on the fantastic voyage that is the Van ISD STEAM Bus! Take a tour of our mobile makerspace and hear an informative chat about how this classroom on wheels enriches learning.

Flipgrip offers every student in your class and school a voice! Even the most camera-shy students can have a voice with the Flipgrid pixel mode feature. Come and enjoy a demonstration of this wonderful platform and have a little fun! Using the pixel mode feature, our teachers will be belting out their favorite 90s tunes while a panel tries to guess who the “Flipped Singer” is!

There are lots of formative assessment tools that teachers can hang from their toolbelt. One of our favorites is Quizizz! Come engage in a live demonstration with a Friends vs. Seinfeld theme as the backdrop! Participants from Team Seinfeld and Team Friends will test their knowledge of their favorite sitcoms through a Quizziz-based format as we seek to determine which was truly the greatest show of all time!

Reviewing standards for upcoming assessments can be as easy as 1-2-3. Are you tired of passing out those same old review sheets? We know your students are eager to gamify all aspects of education. Let us show you three new, fun, engaging, and innovative tools that are practical for the classroom and preparing your students for those upcoming tests. We promise your students will be begging for more!

We will cover personalized learning pathways, tools for student voice and choice, differentiation with Readworks and tons of other tech tools. We will show how we're implementing technology to make Daily 5 better and keep teachers from going crazy.

Join us in the STEAM Room as we present all of the amazing things you can do with Google! Participants will visit different booths for demonstrations of Google’s many practical apps.

Your K-12 students can easily create videos for storytelling, book reviews, historical reenactments, weather reports and more using Green Screen Technology. Janet and Joan will show you how to create awesome videos with an iPad, some cool apps and various inexpensive green screen backgrounds.

All-Stars improve themselves so they can be the very best for their team or fans. You are an all-star too! In order for you to perform at optimum level you need to fuel yourself daily and manage your time. Come gather some tips on ways to make the most of your days, seize them, and live out the NOW in the classroom and at home! This session will include a bit of self-care as well. We all want to be an all-star, but we often find ourselves listless. The goal of this session is to discuss ways to refuel daily so that you can be the very best for your students AND your family.

HyperDocs are interactive Google Docs that have the potential to shift the way you instruct with technology. HyperDocs capture your lesson plans and instructional delivery strategies, allowing students to personalize their exploration of content, collaborate with peers and creatively show what they know. HyperDocs are for educators who are already using Google Apps and are ready to take tech integration to a transformational level.

We will dig into 6 areas of Impactful Technology Use and explore how they can present themselves in your classroom. Whether you’re you’ve just made the decision to start integrating technology or you’re already a tech master, we’ll discover tools, strategies, and ideas to help move your students toward innovation. The 6 areas of Impactful Technology Use include: Students as Designers Critical Thinking Collaboration Communication Creativity and Innovation Empowered learner.

What is a Makerspace? Come and check out the latest and greatest in STEM activities that you can incorporate into your daily lessons. This is a hands-on demonstration-based session!

Explore tools for content creation or for students to creatively showcase their learning. Hone your skills in the creation of presentations, video, screencasts, graphics, audio and more in this hands-on, self-directed session.

Google Forms is one of the most versatile tools in the Google toolbox. Join us as we discuss different ways to incorporate this app into your daily lessons.

Tech tools for supporting student-centered communication in the secondary classroom. In this session, we will explore Webjets.io, Tricider, Padlet and several communication tools that will increase engagement in your classroom.

Are you ever worried about students missing instruction because they are not at school due to illness or extra curricular activities? With a flipped lesson, you wouldn't have to worry! Students can receive instruction from you anytime, anywhere, 24/7. Join Erica Norman as she shows you ways to relay your class content to students for them to access outside of school. This is also a useful practice for when you may have to miss school. Simply have them access their pre-recorded lessons on their devices. Don't ever leave a boring worksheet with a substitute again!

If you're wondering how to bring STEAM elements into your classroom instruction or a certain upcoming project, join us on the STEAM Bus as we do just that! We'll be experimenting with different ways to bring Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math into any classroom, any subject, any age. This is a hands-on session and space is limited to 15 participants.

CHASE A RAINBOW, FOLLOW YOUR DREAM with GooseChase, a highly engaging scavenger-hunt app that is user-friendly. It can be customized to any subject or grade level, and is a great tool to get students up, moving, and excited about completing the challenges.

Learn about the new, hot trend of Digital Escape Rooms and what resources are available for you to create your own to use in your classroom!

Blending Screencastify and Google Forms for the ultimate remediation tool—includes templates—best practices!

Using a variety of apps and web resources, we will follow Carol Ann Tomlinson’s framework for differentiated instruction to explore how technology can assist with teacher productivity and/or student engagement in a differentiated classroom.

Come discover how Project Based Learning can empower your students and your teaching!