304 - Texas Sized Ideas: A TCEA Recap

A few of us were able to attend TCEA in San Antonio and we would like to share some of the great sessions and newest edtech ideas that we saw from the Lone Star State.

Educators Referenced
Learn Your Google Admin Console Step by Step
Erick Buenrostro, Mesha Daniel
  - Ysleta ISD

Don't Become a Cybersecurity Meme
Emily Young
  - Mansfield ISD

Universal Accessibility: 10 Design Tips to Make Digital Content Accessible for All
Ashley Jackson Ivey
  - Garland ISD

Chart A New Course: Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow's World
Rachelle Dene Poth
  - Riverview School District

To Infinity and Beyond with Edu Protocols
Jeremiah Wall, Valerie Wall
  - Pilot Point ISD

Hacking Microsoft Office 365: Tips and Tricks for Getting the Most Out of Your Office Suite
Scott Boiles, Bob Eikenberry
  - Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD

Tech Coaches Roundtable: Ideas for a Sustainable PD Program
Payton Bartee, Tori Klaff, Krista Nix-Buckner
  - Katy ISD

Leveraging Student Voices: How to Build Capacity Through Student Technology Leaders
Karsyn Jackson
  - Denton ISD

Tech Tok
Chelsea Best, Amanda Dismukes, Brittni Kalich, Troy Kuhn, Tom Spall
  - Brenham ISD

Podcast Team
Hosts- Katie  Ritter & Justin Thomas
Editing Team- Michael Roush, Justin Thomas 
Social Media/ Promo Team- Annamarie Rinehart, Lisa Kuhn, Maggie Harris
Creative/Content Team- Justin Thomas
Producers- Justin Thomas

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Transcript

Brooke Conklin: 0:00

Calling all instructional coaches join Forward Edge coaches camp in summer 2023. Coaches camp is packed with high quality professional development exclusively for you. Attendees will work with like minded coaches on creating strategies for building teacher relationships, executing coaching cycles and building a culture of coaching and tech integration within their district. There are two opportunities to attend coaches camp in the summer of 2023. You can join us virtually June 12 through 14th or come visit us in Cincinnati on July 27, and 28th please visit forward hyphen edge dotnet slash coach camp to reserve your spot today.

Katie Ritter: 0:45

Aloha, I'm Katie Ritter.

Justin Thomas: 0:46

And I'm Justin Thomas. And this is the restart recharge Podcast, the podcast by coaches for coaches, we bring the tips and tricks to help you in your everyday work as an instructional coach or whatever they call you and your school district.

Katie Ritter: 0:57

So hopefully you're gonna leave this episode with us today feeling just a little bit less on your own coaching Island.

Justin Thomas: 1:02

And it's an exciting episode today because all of us got to go to San Antonio, I'll be a little colder than what Texas normally is. But I mean, they had a winter storm warning but that's okay schools were closed. But we had a great time anyways down in San Antonio for TC EA. So a conference in the Lone Star State that educators from all across the state and really the country come down and presented sessions and attend sessions, everything like that. So we were down there and we thought it'd be a good idea to give a little bit of a recap, in terms of what we all saw heard we're doing down there. So we have a very exciting episode that's going to recap that so if you couldn't make it down there, then we have some sessions and things like that we'll talk about but even if you didn't even know was on a list of yours or anything like that. You'll still get a little bit of recap too. So we have two folks here and the first one is Megan ruble So Megan ruble is an instructional design coach and Forward Edge before entering their coaching role. Megan taught fifth grade in Alexandria, Virginia. Now Megan works in a pre K through 12 District outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, where she works with teachers to support over 303,500 Students gotta get my math right there. One of Megan's passions in education is differentiation ensuring students receive an educational experience that meets their their needs and extends their abilities. In her free time Megan enjoys reading, traveling and trying new restaurants. So welcome in Megan,

Unknown: 2:23

thanks for having me back.

Katie Ritter: 2:24

Yeah, back me. And we're glad to have you with us. I have the pleasure of introducing Tyler Irwin, who is our assistant director of our curriculum and integration department here at Forward Edge and my personal savior. He has six years of classroom experience, including four years teaching seventh grade language arts. And Currently he serves as a Google Certified Trainer and certified coach, and is also a mentor coach with us here at Forward Edge. He's entering his sixth year, I cannot believe that every time I give your year countdown Tyler when we introduce you on the spot, as an instructional coach with us here. And he supports partner districts by delivering training, conducting formal coaching, offering consultation, and supports all of our coaches on a regular basis here at Forward Edge. So Tyler, we're very happy to have you back with us.

Tyler Erwin: 3:08

Yeah, it's good to be back. I always enjoy my time on the pod. So looking forward to sharing some TCA highlights today for sure.

Katie Ritter: 3:15

Awesome.

Justin Thomas: 3:16

Well, awesome. So obviously, we are all at TCA. That means there was a lot of presentations that we were able to attend and a lot of new ideas that have come through that. So let's just kick right off to it. And let's figure out what were some really cool sessions that you attended that you would like the other folks that listen into the podcast to kind of get an idea about.

Tyler Erwin: 3:35

I know before the PA Justin, I told you that I had seven, which seems like a lot. So we're not going to go into all seven. But I'm going to highlight three and I tried this time to specifically go to things that were like a little bit outside of my comfort zone, or just maybe were things that normally I would see on a session agenda. And I would just kind of brushed aside one that I really loved. And I think that even if you're an instructional coach, it has value. It was best practices in the Google Admin console. So that was really nice, because at the district I serve, I do have access to the admin console, which is great. Not every coach does. But I was able to kind of look through those best practices and see, you know, hey, what are we doing in comparison to another district? What can we change to do things better. But even if you don't have that access, it just gave you like a really good view about how all of these things work together. And how you can support your IT department or your technology coordinator to make things easier on their end when they are trying to create these organizational structures and allow apps and keep everything safe. And so that was great. And the two presenters came from a district where they have 70,000 devices. So yeah, they had definitely kind of lived and breathed Google Admin Console, a lot of trial by fire by experienced by sometimes mistakes and so that was great. Another When I really enjoyed it's kind of more of a common

Katie Ritter: 5:02

sight before you go into next one. Do you remember the presenters names or the district they came from? So we can give him a shout out?

Tyler Erwin: 5:07

Um I don't remember I know the the one person's name was Eric his last name I would probably butcher if I tried to pronounce it. And then the lady that was with him, I honestly don't remember. But we can maybe give him a shout out later. It was it was an excellent session. Look it up and then we'll link it in the pot. Yeah, that would be nice. Oh, it's Eric and Misha. So Eric Boyne Buenrostro. And Misha Daniel. So there you go. So Eric, I'm sorry, if I butchered your last name, you said it so eloquently at the presentation. But another one that I really enjoyed was, it was kind of more of a comical session, it was don't become a cybersecurity meme. And so this was a session from an instructional coach and a teacher who actually were working in an active district that was taken over by a ransomware attack. And so the session was kind of like a recap of what happened. But it was almost like a learning experience for everyone in attendance, hey, here's what you might do in the future to protect your school or district from a similar attack. Here's how you can prepare your staff by maybe monthly updates, or test emails, or all the little things that we can do as instructional coaches to like, support that and make sure that you know, all it takes is one person clicking a phishing email, or a password being shared. And so she had like a really good presentation style, that I think just like lended itself to being funny in light of something that's also very serious. Yeah. And that schools and districts, of course, are facing more and more every day. So I just appreciated kind of her like honest take, and how she is an instructional coach approaches cybersecurity now, as a part of the training and teaching that she does with teachers on a day in and day out basis. Yeah.

Katie Ritter: 6:55

So we I think we're kind of fortunate and that the you know, Forward Edge where we work, we have a cybersecurity division. So I feel like we've been educated at some times against our will about cybersecurity. But we have sort of realized kind of the the very real reality and the gravity of the situation by educating users, but maybe for those folks, because I think in my experience observing and just talking with schools, I don't know, while schools are like, such a huge target for cybersecurity threats, I don't know that that is actually trickling down to people in the school systems, right, who are the most important part in or a huge part in protecting, so what were maybe like some of their main tips that you could give our coaches listening that came from their session that they could take back to their districts and start having some conversations around with admin,

Tyler Erwin: 7:49

the main tips really came down to the fact that like many things, we receive training, especially in schools on cybersecurity once or twice, typically at the beginning of the school year. And there's never any follow through. I think that that is the case in a lot of districts. And that's not maybe for the lack of good intentions. It's just, you know, funding or, you know, other things take up these inservice days that are more linked to curriculum and instruction. And so her biggest tip was, you know, make that a prominent part of everything you do as a coach, if you have a newsletter, have a cybersecurity section. If you do coaching cycles with teachers, she was mentioning like do like a cybersecurity, like checkup with them when you have one of your first meetings with them. She also mentioned putting out things like flyers and funny memes in different things that can bring awareness to all the threats that are out there, that yes, are funny and they're eye catching, but at the same time, like serve a purpose and educate the staff. And I just thought that that was like really good best practice because it is easy for all of us to forget to glance at an email to click to move on. And before we know it, like that could have been a threat.

Katie Ritter: 8:57

Yeah, I think those are great tips. Because I think for like an initial kind of, because I until I sat through the training myself, I didn't realize how important people were the cybersecurity process, I kind of just thought like, oh, that's the tech department's responsibility to put up the blocks and the filters and catch everything. Not realizing that there's so much more to it than that. So I feel like after that initial session and you kind of understand that like these cyber tips would be super easy like they said to like put in a newsletter, right like make it a PD on the potty every now and then for like, you know, quick tips at staff meetings, even like some quick tips just again, to their point what you're sharing. Tyler just keeps it in the forefront of your mind and in reminds you to be thinking about it regularly and stay diligent.

Tyler Erwin: 9:43

Yeah, no, it was a great session. It was really funny, like I said, so. Just an interesting perspective on something that no school or district ever wants to go through. But I think left me with a lot of food for thought on how like I serve my district and support them in their efforts to stay safe as well. So, really, and who and those presenters were. So I'm looking through her presentation now. And she actually has like a QR code to her contact info. But she comes from Mansfield ISD in Texas, okay, so we can maybe give her a shout out later on. But I don't have her name specifically here. But we can definitely look that up and go from there. And then I know we've been talking a lot. But one more turn the moment. I told you, there were seven. And I've only mentioned three, like I'm holding back here. One that I really loved, it was actually late afternoon, you know, maybe 10 or 15 people attended. And I am so glad that I stuck around it was about universal accessibility. And so she featured a lot of things, some that I knew, but a lot that I didn't. ways in which we can better design like our lessons, our learning materials, any websites, we have, even from like a district perspective down ways in which we can make languages more accessible and text more accessible and images and all these different things just, we don't necessarily give thought to as a teacher when we're creating learning materials. But she made it so simple and brought out ways in which in both Microsoft and Google tools, there are so many accessibility features built in, that we can take advantage of to support all of our learners. Yeah. And so with that, well, I mean, admittedly, I'm obviously, I'm a stand for Google. But at the end of the day, like there was a lot of stuff about Microsoft, that was incredible. So she mentioned PowerPoint live. And that allows you to do a slideshow people can join. And when they join, obviously, as you advance through the slides, it's similar to like Pear Deck where it advances on everyone else's screens. But on each of their screens, they can decide which language it's translated into in real time. So like, you could have a parent presentation night, for example, with all sorts of different language speakers, they get to decide how that's captioned in real time, in a different language. And I just thought, like, how amazing that was to support all of our learners, all of our parents. And I know that Google obviously has some features that are similar to that. But to put the control in the end users hands, where they get to decide how this works. I thought that was just amazing. And it worked seamlessly. So that was one thing. And then she gave a lot of attention to even how we choose colors, and fonts, and how we use whitespace. And just all the things that can make a text or a learning material, easy to take in for students. And some of the things that we would never even think about as a teacher that we might even view is a little tedious, but just some simple changes or tweaks to our materials can make it so much easier for kids to learn from and enjoy and not have to stress about, I can't see this because I'm colorblind, or I can't read this because I'm dyslexic, or whatever it might be. And so I just thought that was a nice kind of like, a gentle way to shift all of us and shift our thinking in a way that supports all learners.

Katie Ritter: 13:00

Yeah. I like that. I'm like, almost picturing was she? What, what what was her role? The presenter and she's an instructional

Tyler Erwin: 13:07

coach. I do have her name. Yes. So this is one I can give you. Let me go ahead and get to her contact information. So her name was Ashley IV. She was from Garland ISD former middle school teacher and now she works as like a digital learning coach in her district. So just a lot of great tips. That was just a few of many. But her presentation presentation was excellent. I'm glad I stuck around.

Katie Ritter: 13:31

Yeah, some some of those things that you're saying Anna Marie Reinhart on our team, it sticks out to me because she was a special ed teacher. And I feel like she's always thinking about some of those things. When she's like designing and presenting and even like the edu badge program, when she creates a video she doesn't say click the blue button. Like she'll she'll very specifically like describe what it says and where it's located and maybe give the color but she she's kind of taught me to think about some of those things. So I'm almost kind of picturing like, what a really cool, maybe like the coach could facilitate a coaching cycle partnership between like a core content teacher and a special education teacher, maybe where they could like collaborate to address some of those things. So super cool. We'll link to Ashley's contact info in the show notes as well. Thanks, Tyler.

Tyler Erwin: 14:20

Megan, I'm done, I promise.

Maegan Wrubel: 14:23

So this was my first like, big conference that I was able to attend. So I wasn't really sure what to expect going into it. But I kind of went in with like a focus of I want to try to get to some sessions that would benefit my teachers so that I can bring that home to them. But also TC EA was awesome because there's so many coaches like instructional coaches. And like this massive community that I wasn't like expecting to be able to connect with so I definitely appreciated that component of that and just the variety of like sessions that they offered for coaches.

Katie Ritter: 14:58

That was something that's why We went back this year, because when we were looking, I guess it was a couple of years ago now, but looking for some additional national conferences besides ISTE. And we just got so many recommendations for both FTTC and TCA. So we checked both of them out for the first time last year. And then Tracy Keo and Lisa Kuhn were our coaches that chose TCA last year, and they we just saw, like how much there was for coaches, which is why we went back again, and then this year, we had a good a good chunk of people on the team go. So for all of our listeners, if you're looking for a good conference that has a lot of good coaching sessions TCAS it?

Justin Thomas: 15:36

Yeah, it's in Austin next year, by the way, if you needed the need to know,

Unknown: 15:40

man, like just Texas in general, like they have so many coaches on their campuses just kind of blew my mind how much support they had built in. But the first session that really stood out to me was essential skills for tomorrow's leaders. And that was by Rochelle, PA. And I am very interested in the like psychology and sociology, components of education. Because a lot of it boils down to behavior. So how are we able to manipulate people's environments so that they're like responsive and able to produce like behaviors we are looking for. And behavior, I'm sure is not like a very new issue within education. But it's definitely like the biggest thing that teachers at my school are struggling with this year.

Katie Ritter: 16:29

I don't think they're alone. I know, we've got other

Unknown: 16:33

because these kids are built a little different. But the common theme and a lot of the like SEL sessions that I went to was how are we changing our teaching methods to meet our students at their needs, and to accommodate those specific needs that they might have. And they were talking about how technology is able to provide all of these opportunities, because you have all of these chances for differentiation and more engagement, because if you're able to give students choice, and they're learning, they're focused on their work, they're more engaged, they're taking ownership of their learning, there's less opportunity for like some of these behaviors to be popping out. So she had a couple of questions that were pretty thought provoking that she did throughout the presentation. But her big one was, how are we adapting and reworking the way that we're teaching so that we are meeting these students? And it was, specifically, how are we preparing them with the skill set that they need in order to be successful? Like, in today's like societies, and like once they graduate, and they're like, no longer students. And a lot of it was based on like soft skills. So how are we incorporating the four C's. And she had another interesting point, which I'm like, paraphrasing here, but it was, we usually teach the way that we were taught. So like thinking back to like, when I was in elementary school in middle school, it was like lecture style. So a lot of teachers, that's what they know, that's what they're comfortable with. That's how they're going to do it. But like, I remember, my one teacher in middle school, we did a lot of station rotation. And all these years later, like, I still remember that very vividly. So like, when I started teaching, I was like, I need to make sure that I'm building in the station rotation so that they're moving, they're up. And like really engaging in their learning. And overall, like the pedagogy around education has really changed over the past few years. So the teacher prep program that I went to, is a lot different than the teacher prep programs of like the teachers that have been in the game for a little while. So it was just like interesting, especially thinking from the perspective of coaching. When I'm leading these PDS, when I'm meeting with teachers, like am I modeling the exact behaviors that I want, like the teachers to implement with their students? So it was just like, there wasn't like a whole lot of engagement. Like it was a little lecture style, but it was just like a lot of good, like opportunities to think and reflect Yeah, yeah. Good.

Justin Thomas: 19:05

Awesome. Well, I'll jump into I got to attend a couple of sessions as well. And, you know, obviously, most of the times, the schools have used mostly Google but there was a really good Microsoft session. So my school now is kind of a blend of Google and Microsoft. So check that out. And that was Scott Boyles and Bob Ikenberry from Eagle Mountain, Saginaw, ISD. And they, I mean, it was like 830 in the morning, and those guys must have been up forever, because they were there on it. They were, I mean, they were cracking dad jokes are both dad. So like, but it was like a good session where they had really good tips. And also were, like, kind of funny with it. But there's a couple of tools from Microsoft, they learned like sway. It's kind of a cool presentation tool, which actually just got a question from one of my teachers about that. So I was like, Oh, that's very timely, timely. Yeah. So I know a little bit about slapping Yeah, but just some things too, with like Outlook and some of the other Microsoft applications shins that really kind of got a little bit more in depth with which is really cool. Like with Microsoft Outlook, you can actually click on someone's email and drag it over to the contacts and I'll just create the contact for you. So that was kind of a cool little tidbit there. Another one that I went to was a tech coaches roundtable. So this one was facilitated from three coaches from Katy ISD. That was Peyton, Bharti, Torrey, Klaff. And then Kristen Nicks Buckner, and they kind of facilitated more of a roundtable. So it was more of a group discussion, which they were, you know, when they started, like, everyone was instructional coaches in there. And they said, let's break it down by kind of school size. So, you know, they then they started saying, like, the way Texas schools are listed, and like, I don't know what any of that means. So I'm just gonna kind of stay in here and hang out, which actually ended up in the large schools. But actually, it was really good conversation. There's several coaches from Texas, then obviously, you know, it's from Ohio, and then another coaches from Tennessee. But one thing that she said that coach potensi was talking about how they have in the summer, like kind of a giant PD day, but they make it a little bit more fun with bringing like food trucks. So it's like a food truck festival that they have is like their lunch. So that way, it gets teachers a little bit more like excited to, you know, go learn, then have some good food from Senator from food trucks. So trying to make it a little bit more engaging in that way with their PD day. Cuz, you know, as most of us here, like over the summer, if you're gonna go to a PD day, you're like, oh, boy, alright, let's see what you know, we just gotta get through this. But so she was talking about how they kind of make it fun and that aspect, but then also another really good one I went to was leveraging student voices. And this was Carson Jackson from Denton ISD. And I really liked this one, too, I only was able to catch part of it just with the way the schedules lined up. But it was the idea of giving students more voice and their work and then allowing that to expand it to the community. So with the school that I'm at, that's a lot with facilitating with, you know, the career campus side and things like that. So it was really good session to kind of see some different ideas as to how students were able to really voice their own opinions and voice their own work, and how that transferred over into the workforce where students were going to college or going to the workforce and just felt more confident in themselves because they've been able to kind of speak for themselves through school, and then go into the workforce or college and already jump right into certain you know, fields and really feel at home. Great. And

Katie Ritter: 22:20

Megan, did you have one more session to share? I did

Justin Thomas: 22:23

I jumped right and I'm so sorry.

Unknown: 22:25

i Okay, I kind of needed a break. But this one was an edu protocol's it was with Jeremiah wall, and Valerie wall. So it was a husband, wife duo, which was pretty neat to see. But it was Toy Story themed. Well, just Disney themed, but the slides were all Toy Story, which was super cute. But it was basically stuff from like the first edu protocols book. So we had talked about like fair models, the great American race, sketch and tell, then slide cyber sandwich. And I think there's like one or two other ones that I can't remember. But it was nice, because we actually got to participate and do it ourselves. So like, these are ones that like I had seen before, and like maybe like read in their books, but to actually see it implemented and inaction. Just put, like more ideas in my head of how I can like, create new, like PD on the potty stuff for it, and share with my teachers. So it was nice to kind of like see that and borrow those ideas.

Katie Ritter: 23:23

Yeah, that's great. And we, I'll just take a moment. We're big fans of the edu protocols. So they have a number of books if you haven't seen them yet. They are really awesome resources. They have some specific content area focused and just super simple, easy, very low prep ways to embed technology in the classroom. I know there's a math specific one. And I actually just bought one, their latest Ed like, shoot and I'm gonna butcher the title of it. It's meant for leaders and instructional coaches and like how to implement a Edie protocols at the school level. So anyway, just a little plug for them, because we are all big fans of their stuff.

Justin Thomas: 24:03

Alright, we'll go ahead and take a sponsor break and we'll come back we'll figure out some cool new instructional strategies or anything cool in the Expo Hall,

Brooke Conklin: 24:11

who is in your coach community. The EDU Coach Network is a professional learning community designed specifically to help instructional coaches, connect, learn and grow together. With free and paid options available, there is a space for all coaches and the EDU Coach Network joined today and access coaching content that will help you impact teaching and learning and your school go to www.edu. Coach network.com to join

Justin Thomas: 24:39

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Katie Ritter: 25:11

Okay, welcome back. Thanks for listening to our sponsor break here. Today we are with Tyler Irwin and Megan Rubel talking about the TC e a conference recap the conference that we just attended last week at the time of this recording in San Antonio, Texas. So these guys just recap some really great sessions that they got to attend. So hopefully you can take back some of those tips. And speaking of tips, sorry, loyal listeners, it's landing on me this time, but we're gonna get everyone's top three tips. I'm gonna put a spin on it though, either top three tips for like attending a conference, or top three takeaways from this particular conference.

Justin Thomas: 25:58

Wow, you just changed the game. Hey, no one ever again.

Katie Ritter: 26:02

Brain exploding emojis all around me.

Justin Thomas: 26:05

The wide eyes of fear.

Unknown: 26:08

Like sweat.

Katie Ritter: 26:10

Because this room is so

Justin Thomas: 26:13

here, we gotta get the temperatures figured out that this was this is hotter than it was in Texas for us. But oh my god.

Tyler Erwin: 26:19

Speaking of which, that is my first tip. Bring a coat. Just in case. Okay,

Katie Ritter: 26:26

I can't back that tip up enough.

Tyler Erwin: 26:29

I really was the first bullet point I put was bring a coat just in case. No. But I mean, in all honesty, like, you know, here we are in Texas the first day it was like 80 I'm out there. You know, eating barbecue outside was awesome. And then the rest of the time I felt like I was in some winter tundra, there was no one on the Riverwalk, I could have been in any city in the entire US in the middle of winter. I had no idea I was in San Antonio, because it was so cold and sleeting and, you know, raining and just you know, wind tunnels and when you're in between buildings, but just you know, kind of being prepared. But the two that actually I would say for coaches attending conferences, you know, don't be afraid of the unknown. This one in particular, I went in and I was like, I want to go to sessions, or I may not know anything about the topic, you know, Google Admin, cybersecurity, I went to some on some brand new tools that I've never tried before, you know, I went to some sessions on Lego and the stuff that they're doing in education, I've never really used any of that before, just find out what they have to offer, find out how other teachers are using these resources and how it's affecting their school districts. And then even to like go into the one where they had 70,000 devices, you know, the district I serve, maybe we have 2000, right. So it's not an apples to apples thing. But that doesn't mean that we can't learn from their experience. So that would be a great tip. And then the other one kind of similar, is just take advantage of the variety. And I felt like at this conference, there was just a lot of different types of sessions experiences. There's a lot of lecture there is, but that typically means that there's also opportunities for hands on for roundtables for panels for poster sessions, which a lot of coaches really love because it's a little bit more of like a an intimate setting. And then even, you know, taking advantage of the keynotes, the Expo Hall, the things that maybe attract a lot of attention, you know, if you use your time wisely in those places, you can learn a lot about what is out there, and then bring some of those things back to your district. So just kind of taking advantage of the variety that all of these conferences support, I think will leave you with like a more well rounded experience than just kind of sticking with the ones where you going you get the slides you maybe listened for 45 minutes and then you leave. You can learn a lot in those sessions, but maybe it won't be as enjoyable if you mix it up a little bit.

Justin Thomas: 28:47

All right, perfect. i That reminded me a poster session I do want to shout out real quick, mega you and I went to it there on Tik Tok stuff so maybe I need to start getting some ideas for tic toc.

Katie Ritter: 28:59

Megan just had a little heart I emojis

Justin Thomas: 29:03

led me more on the TIC tock because she knows what's going on with that but I don't know

Unknown: 29:07

if you do though because mine is very like Gen Z oriented right now. And it's confusing.

Katie Ritter: 29:14

It's confusing to you or you're saying it would be to us enough of those things I won't know what's being said

Unknown: 29:26

yeah, I've been coming for Katie lately Yeah.

Justin Thomas: 29:29

Oh man. Okay, well just tell us your top three tips or takeaways and

Katie Ritter: 29:33

and leave my age

Unknown: 29:39

my first one was also similar to Tyler's is prepare for the weather. I was prepared for it because the first time I went to Texas like three years ago, it pulled the same weather switcheroo I landed and it was beautiful and sunny and then the next day it was like 30 degrees and snowing so I was prepared. Yeah. In my second,

Katie Ritter: 30:01

two weeks freezing my butt off.

Justin Thomas: 30:05

Because your allowance wasn't very high, that was also

Katie Ritter: 30:07

abnormally cold.

Unknown: 30:09

So good shopping spree excuse, yeah, check. My second one would probably be like, basically be prepared to be exhausted, like, I did not prepare myself at all for how tired I would be. Because you are doing a lot of walking. But just like having conversations and setting in all of these different sessions, like, it really does drain you because you're just thinking constantly. And then my other one would be, don't be afraid to talk to people. Yeah. To like, every time I would sit down in like a session or something. I would just like Ask how their day was going ask where they were from. And it was just like, nice to make those connections. And just, that's where a lot of like, the ideas that I walked away with came from those like really informal moments. So yeah, don't be afraid to talk.

Justin Thomas: 31:01

Well, I will say to everyone in Texas was super friendly. I feel like that was like the southern hospitality that you hear about. I mean, I had, and we went to CVS and we ended up having like a 20 minute conversation with

Unknown: 31:12

you had 20 minutes.

Justin Thomas: 31:14

Okay, maybe maybe it's just me seeing and this is okay, everyone's laughing because this goes to like a thing that happened over San Antonio, but I wasn't gonna use a nice. But yeah, make those connections. That's I mean, I'll kind of talk to you a little bit, but make those connections. There's plenty of people that have kind of connected through on Twitter that finally got to meet them in person. I feel like these conferences to always hit us with some wild weather because last year when we went to FTTC in Orlando, like that was like the one cold dip that like Florida had. So I don't know if it's just it's amazing.

Katie Ritter: 31:44

Yeah, it's like I guess we travel. Yeah, cool. We just because even

Justin Thomas: 31:47

to the last time was in in Texas, I was in Dallas. And it was really, really cool. And I ended up wearing my winter coat the whole time there too. So I don't know what's going on with. Maybe it's just us northerners going south and the weather weather comes with this. But also, I would say, you know, check out the city too, if you get a little bit of a chance. I mean, we went to the you know, with the C roll, went to the Alamo, checked out some really cool places. While we're in San Antonio. The Riverwalk was really, really cool. There was no soul out there on the Riverwalk, as Tyler said, but just those things that you know, if you're new city, kind of check it out when you get the chance. But obviously, yeah, I mean, with the conference, you're there, for a day, it gets kind of crazy. But it's a lot of fun at the end of it. And you definitely get a lot of cool tidbits and new knowledge that you could take away and bring back to your school.

Katie Ritter: 32:31

Awesome, guys, anything else that you wanted to share about the conference? Before we wrap it up?

Tyler Erwin: 32:38

Yeah, just a couple of last things for me. So I was really, really impressed with a lot of the things that some of these tech companies are doing and offering to schools now for free. So Canva is notorious for like the free access they give to K 12 schools, I went to a session on Adobe Express for education, K 12, you know, formerly known as like Adobe Spark, and so like they're offering that to schools completely free. So I mean, students get access to a version of Premiere and Photoshop and their website creator and their social media graphic poster creation tool. And it does some things that even Canva doesn't write, I love Canva. But Adobe tools are obviously like, the professional grade tool that these kids someday might use in their own career. And so to get a version of that, you know, completely free for your entire district. There's just a lot of companies offering more and more things like that, you know, recently parley, which is a discussion platform announced that it's completely free. And we know Microsoft is doing things with flip. And just, that would be my thing is yes, no matter what district you come from, we are all going to be kind of hamstrung by the funding that we have, especially if we're trying to support new strategies and new instructional tools and digital platforms. But I have found, you know, if you do your due diligence, and especially use your time at conferences to see what other schools have brought in, yeah, you know, you'll be amazed at what you can bring to your district usually for free. And so I'm already in the works of getting Adobe express the district I serve. And so I think it'll just be another great tool that they have in their tool belt, where they can help students develop like these professional career ready skills, and they don't have to worry about the bottom line. So kind of a win win there and just something that I always appreciate about the conferences like yeah, a lot of these companies are there to make money but they also do a lot of good to the districts that they serve to so definitely something that I noticed when I'm at these conferences and really enjoy so yeah,

Katie Ritter: 34:41

okay, I don't want to go down a rabbit hole. So I promise. You're saying that Tyler just made me think of something. My role has kind of transitioned from attending as many sessions to now supporting our programs when we are in the vendor hall floor with do badges and now our coaching programs with the coach network. EDU Coach Network into From things. So that's where I ended up spending most of my time unless I'm presenting. So I'm super jealous about hearing all the cool stuff you guys are hearing. But anyway, just in having a lot of conversations with some of those different vendors and different things, I would just encourage coaches listening to this, especially our tech coaches, or especially our coaches where particular programs fall kind of within your purview, really reach out and understand the full functionality of these tools. Because lots of vendors are struggling with like very little being tapped into by teachers and by users. So the suite of tools might be able to do 5000 things, but people are only using like the first 50 of those features. So anyway, just as you think of what's free and what's out there and freeing up funds and other tools, like really understand what these things can do, because you might be able to free up other funds if you're paying for overlapping services. And as coaches just kind of same with the cybersecurity like Tyler kind of started off at the top of the episode, just make sure you're continuing to pepper some of those things through so that your users really can take advantage of these tools.

Justin Thomas: 36:13

Yeah, and also, one thing I did like about TCA, too, was they had some dedicated hours towards the expo hall because that's like a whole nother beast at the at these conferences, you got all these sessions and things when you go to the expo hall, and you're like, Oh man, I don't know if I have enough time to figure out and learn so much. But like they gave dedicated hours so that there wasn't a session. So you felt like you're missing while you're there, which is kind of nice, too. But one final thing I'll point out, I did get the chance to present as well at TCA, which is was a lot of fun. We had over 100 people in our first session, which kind of blew my mind in terms of how many people were there. But that's something I would say, too, I would encourage you to also, you know, try and present as well, if you got really cool IDs, because you can be part of that collection of folks that are presenting at the conference as well, you can go get some really cool sessions and ideas, but also share your own knowledge as well.

Katie Ritter: 36:58

Yeah, and a lot of the vendors to like all these tools that you're using, that might be another avenue to try to present. So definitely absolutely applied to the conference itself. And whether or not you do get accepted to present within like the conference program. Reach out to some of those tools that you champion, you're always looking, you know, we at TCA, we were right behind EdPuzzle. And they had teachers and coaches presenting like, almost the whole time at their booth. Yeah, you know, like little short and sweet 1520 minute things. So reach out to some of your favorite vendors and see what they're doing. And if a conference is coming up, you know, they might even like pay for part of your, you know, experience if you're going to be presenting a little bit on their behalf. So might be another way to help fund your experience to a conference. And just get the great stuff that you're doing out there as well.

Justin Thomas: 37:48

Alright, well, this has been a really good recap on everything with TC EA. So hopefully you've got you jazzed up to go and check out a conference. But we have been able to talk with Megan and Tyler, thank you both for coming on and sharing your experiences down in San Antonio. Yeah, it

Tyler Erwin: 38:03

was a lot of fun. Thank you.

Justin Thomas: 38:04

Thanks for having us. Thank you. Alright, so next time, we are going to start looking at finding the balance. So a little bit of a two part series here. So we're gonna talk about a couple of coaches that are in single buildings on how they work with their teachers in a way that is both productive, but also not overbearing. So it's going to be in that two part series, we'll also look down the road with a coach who actually manages a very large district. So we'll get a little bit of perspective and a single building compared to a large, multiple buildings and how you can sort all that out.

Katie Ritter: 38:34

So looking forward to that. And just a little plug if you again from our sponsor breaks. If you are jazzed up about this conference feeling you want to keep it going check out the EDU Coach Network. We have free and paid options at edu Coach network.com. And so with that, be sure to subscribe to restart recharge wherever you listen to podcasts, we would love a rating and review. I know in Apple podcasts if you scroll down to the very bottom of the restart recharge, that's where you can then leave a rating and review for us I don't know about other platforms because that's what I listened to for next time, but you can also follow on Connect with us on social media at our our coach cast.

Justin Thomas: 39:15

And also feel free to reach out to us and let us know what topics you want us to discuss. If there's something that is on your mind. Feel free to reach out talk to us and maybe it will be featured.

Katie Ritter: 39:25

So press the restart button

Justin Thomas: 39:26

recharge your coaching batteries and leave feeling equipped and inspired to coach fearlessly with the restart recharge podcast

Katie Ritter: 39:33

A tech coach collective did it Currently he serves and is a Google Certified Trainer and mentor coach and Google certified coach

Tyler Erwin: 39:50

came starting Tyler Stanley wires, tablet it will be like way easier to play

Justin Thomas: 39:59

with Good or

Katie Ritter: 40:02

is that a ploy for another device?

Tyler Erwin: 40:04

I have just got my fair share of devices too many in fact set this up as an advanced use Chromebook Wow man who says you know in advance to use Chrome then you would get

Justin Thomas: 40:25

a new device.

Tyler Erwin: 40:27

But now I don't know how to use a touchscreen. There we go. Well like it changes a chrome so your tabs aren't across the top anymore. There's like a special little extra bite you have to hit a few tabs are not gonna

Katie Ritter: 40:41

teach me later.

Unknown: 40:45

I only have two for the first question. Where do you want to go first?

Justin Thomas: 40:52

Just flat out drink my water. Well, we're rolling the water today folks, so let's get to it both waters

Katie Ritter: 41:03

Tyler's coming during all the water in the studio. This is my coffee cup.

Justin Thomas: 41:12

Unopened I don't know once frosty, right? understood what it is if I just start coughing a hack and run out of breath there's a reason for it. So okay, here we go. Oh yeah, they're gonna have a quiet down out there. Please.

Katie Ritter: 41:31

Be quiet are silent pod room is not silent.