My Two Presentations: Speed Geek on Things That Suck and Crowdsourcing for Educators

I am stressing a bit here. I have two 30 minutes presentations on Wednesday to my staff during a professional development day. Teachers are able to pick and choose what sessions they want to attend. There is a lot of sessions being offered and I was selected to present on two topics.

The first one I was selected to present on was Speek Geeking where I give tools to use in the classroom every 3-5 minutes. The more I thought about it I decided to change things up and move towards a more EdCamp Things That Suck presentation. I am working on some topics and still seeking feedback, advice, and ideas.

My second presentation is going to cover crowd sourcing as teachers. My aim here is to show that as teachers we don't have to act alone as if islands. I want to convey the idea that it is acceptable to get out in the social media outlets and seek help, guidance, and new ideas. I really want to promote the idea of connecting with others outside of our school. I am a bit stuck on this one. I don't really want to use slides. I don't want to stand up front and just talk.

I think my glitch in thinking stems from my latest SENG Parent Group training where we were so focused on getting parents to be the ones engaged and doing the talking. I feel like I should create the same environment in these sessions. I am thinking of a circle and we just talk and connect our ideas much like a parent session I was trained to do. My fear is that I don't know that the teachers are looking for this to happen or if they just want to sit and actually receive specific tools and steps to be able to do this. I don't want to get too involved in the process because I don't think 30 minutes is enough time to make this happen in a way that will morph to them actually implementing the ideas in their classroom.

I don't know! I am stuck. I cannot stop thinking about my approach and don't know where to take it. I have my goals. I have my aims. I am just not sure on what path will be most beneficial.

Any thoughts?

I will be sharing all final creations and ideas once established and a review of how things go Wednesday.