California #GAFESummit

The California GAFE Summit is finally here! This is my second year at this amazing event, and I am bringing a total of 8 administrators and teachers with me - 6 for this weekend and 2 more the following weekend.

Yesterday, I wrote some suggestions for my teachers and admin, whose tech ability range from beginner to advanced. I thought I would share that information in this blog post.

Conference Location

Mountain View High School

3535 Truman Ave, Mountain View, CA

For directions, click here.

Devices

Bring a charger for your laptop or Chromebook. Expect to charge at least once during the day. Lunch is a great time to recharge your energy and your laptop's.

If you are using a laptop, make sure to use the Chrome browser (not Internet Explorer, Firefox, or another browser). 

Finally, if you are using a laptop, log into the Chrome browser following these directions.

1. Open the pancakes in the upper right corner.
2. Select Settings.
3. Click Sign into Chrome.
4. Type your school GAFE username and password.
5. Select Link data.

Schedule

The schedule will change. Do not print out the schedule. Instead, bookmark it.

Weekend 1 July 23-24

Weekend 2 July 30-31

1. Open the Schedule.
2. Click CTRL Shift B to show or hide the bookmarks.
3. Select the star icon on the Omnibox (address bar & more) bar.
4. Whenever you want to view the Schedule, click on the name California Summit.

Twitter

To fully experience the conference and share your new knowledge, get a Twitter account and use the hashtag #gafesummit. When I am on a laptop or Chromebook, I like to use Tweetdeck app, which I access with the extension. Tweetdeck helps me to organize the fast moving information into reasonable chunks. You can watch a video tutorial to learn more about Tweetdeck.

Blog (or Journal)

Last year's California GAFE Summit changed how I teach students and fellow educators. Yes, the Summit can be overwhelming. The solution is to blog (or simply journal) your thoughts . How do you plan to use the new resource? What will you need to modify for your students? Here is an example of a blog I wrote last July.

Final Remarks

My excitement for GAFE Summit is hard to contain. In a few hours, I will hop into my car and drive 4 hours to meet with an incredible group of educators and presenters. This year I will not only be an attendee, but I will also a presenter. 

I hope to see you at the California GAFE Summit and on Twitter! I can't wait to meet you and learn from you!