Rebel U 2011: Guest Post (Part 3 in Guest Blogger Series)

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This a post in a series about Rebel U 2011.

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As part of the Rebel U 2011 evaluation, we asked participants if they were willing to be a guest blogger on our Godfrey-Lee Technology & Media blog.  We were not only interested in hearing (and sharing) first hand accounts from attendees and presenters, but also introducing some teachers to publicly posting content online for the first time and building an online presence.

Today's guest post is written by 7th and 8th grade Language Arts teacher, Alissa Coil.  You can find Alissa online on Twitter.

Participating in Rebel U is by far the most relevant and interactive professional development I have participated in during my teaching career. This year I had the opportunity to participate both as a presenter and a 'student'. I enjoyed being able to share what I have learned about RebelNet with a group of teachers who did not have the same amount of experience with the website. Although presenting was a great experience, being a 'student' for the day was much more beneficial. I attended presentations on Animoto, Project-Based Learning, Voicethread, and 40 in 40 (a variety of tech resources). Some of the resources we discussed were refreshers for me, like Animoto and PBL, and others were brand new, like Voicethread. During the Voicethread presentation, we had time to create our own Voicethread to use in a class. I created one using different pieces of art from my first unit of instruction (8th grade ELA). Students were able to access the site and make comments based on the prompts that I provided. It wasn't the easiest resource to use in class, but I will use it again, and have students create their own to demonstrate what they have learned in different units.

I believe that if every school had their own version of Rebel U, education could be transformed in our county, state, and nation. I'm thankful that our tech team takes the time to teach us HOW we can "Rebel Up".