Reflecting on my Global Classroom presentation at #wcgtc13 #coffeechugPLN

Today at the WCGTC13 I presented my first presentation. I am going to be 100% real when I say I was nervous. My poor wife had to read and respond to all my negative texts about how I was not ready to present at this conference. Thank goodness she is amazing and honest and set me straight.

This conference is loaded with many Ph.D's, university people, consultants, and administrators. There are very little educators here(to clarify, the people mentioned above are educators. I mean classroom teachers). Most presentations are quite heavy on stats, research, and studies. My presentation had none of that, but spoke from real world experience and my heart.

I had to wait for three other speakers in my room to speak before I spoke. It was nerve wracking to say the least. I was very nervous and had the shakes before speaking. We actually had a pretty good crowd. However, once I stood up and started speaking it just took off. I was in my groove speaking about what I love and believe in as a teacher. From that point on I was good to go.

I think the presentation went well.

Thanks to +Ginger Lewman who tweeted during my presentation and has been amazing at challenging all my thinking at this conference for some tweets to give me real feedback. If you know Ginger she is very honest and straight forward so I respect all of her ideas!

@coffeechugbooks Laying it down so simply and do-able. Nods and quiet "ah's" from the audience. Good laughs. Relaxed learning. #wcgtc13
— Ginger Lewman (@GingerLewman) August 11, 2013

@GingerLewman @coffeechugbooks talking abt how 2 stir up intrinsic motivation by removing grades 4 feedback #wcgtc13 pic.twitter.com/tmPzrwVqXs
— gtchat (@gtchatmod) August 11, 2013

@coffeechugbooks "If you're asking me if a project is 'good enough' you're saying already that it's probably not." #wcgtc13
— Ginger Lewman (@GingerLewman) August 11, 2013

In my short time I had to speak I think I made my point clear about the importance of a global classroom. This should really be essential for every classroom. If we want students to be ready for the real world why are we not bringing the real world to the classroom? It just makes sense. I hope that I inspired my audience to think about how they teach and what their schools are doing. We have to give our students full engagement and in order to do that we must bring the real world to the room so they see the practical use in what we are teaching.


You can see my slides below. This is a new presentation and angle that I previously have not used. I think it is much more polished than some previous presentations.

The best part about presenting are the conversations that happen afterwards. I feel blessed that so many connected with me after to investigate more insight and ideas. This is the best part. I feel successful as a presenter because of the many conversations I had as a result of the presentation. I can only hope my presentation tomorrow morning goes as smoothly. It is a new presentation, but one I hold quite dear to my heart and soul as a person and teacher.

Here are my slides, but they won't provide much without my words. I will speak on slide styles at a later date. But, if my slides tell the whole story, then what use it for me to speak?

Creating a Global Classroom #wcgtc13 from Aaron Maurer

Below is the handout I created for the session. I hope that many will answer questions and give suggestions on the Google Doc.



It was a success. I feel good. My many hours of work to get ready paid off. Now off to get ready for the next presentation which is quite early! Get some sleep and be ready to think about your own passion!