Monday, February 27, 2017

Welcome iTechs to the TCCA Newsletter: March Edition

Bradford Harris
Head Chairman of TCCA17


Hello I’d like to welcome all of you to our first newsletter for TCCA 2017. The purpose of this newsletter is to introduce you to the 2017 TCCA committee. We are very excited to be a part of this state recognize conference and team. As Head Chairman of the conference my goal is to provide you the best EdTech conference experience possible. My other goal is to utilize all the talents we as Instructional Technology Specialist have in this district. This conference is about us and what we can provide for the Aldine Independent School District. Each and everyone of you have a talent that can be highlighted at our conference.


I want to highlight the Instructional Technology Specialist, ABN (Aldine Broadcasting Network), INSPIRE, Aldine Film Festival, Robotics, App Contest, Edcamp Aldine, and everything that we as iTechs do for our district. We want to make a big impact in what our role is in our district.


How do you fit in?
As stated earlier each and every one of you have a talent and have a voice. It’s time to let it shine. In our next PLC meeting each committee chairman will be introduced and discuss their role. I encourage you to sign up under one of these great leaders. It is ok if you don’t know anything. I want you to know that you matter and you have a voice in this organization. We are not asking any huge commitments now, but we just want you to be involved and share your thoughts, opinions, and ideas in a positive and a constructive manner.


Start Tweeting and Promoting
TCCA 2017 registration is now open! So far we have almost 300 attendees registered! Start promoting TCCA on your campus. Use the #TCCA17 in your social media outlets. Your staff can register at tccaconference.com. If you would like to post the link on twitter use the short link bit.ly/17tcca. Keep the conversations going. People are saying: “TCCA….Already!?” The answer to that question is yes. Let them know that our department is always planning and preparing to make each conference better and better every year. We want to serve them...the Educators. Let them know that TCCA will be on October 7th. Yes that is early but this may work out in our favor. It’s at the beginning of the month and as of now there doesn’t seem to be any conflicts. Tell your principal, skills, and teachers to SAVE THE DATE. The more we push and promote the more likely that people will reschedule other events and attend ours (crossing fingers). Your committee has more cards to give you to pass out to your staff.


Each Chairman in this committee has placed their title and role in this newsletter. Pick a committee that interest you and join them and follow them on twitter. Along with our theme social media will be heavily pushed throughout the year, so start tweeting!


MEET YOUR CHAIRMEN


Colter.jpgDavid D. Colter, M.Ed.
Social Media Chair


The Social Media Committee is dedicated to continuing the historical networking momentum of TCCA and to increase connections internationally, such that our conference remains the premier place to be. TCCA is and should be the “digital leadership pinnacle” of the south. This committee models: Service, Open-mindedness, Consistency, Innovation, Accessibility, and most of all Learning! We would love to have your support and welcome you! Let’s make TCCA 2017 trend beyond measure!


glass.PNGShaina Glass


Presenters Chair
The goal is to bring together a diverse group of passion-driven educational technology leaders to share their knowledge and skill sets within various applications, programs and platforms.  


Capture.JPGMichael Molitor
Vendor Chairman
My goal as chairman is to ensure that all possible vendors are being contacted and are getting all of their needs meet as they attend TCCA. Also I work to ensure the vendors that attend TCCA are relevant to the needs of schools so greater partnerships can be created with businesses and schools.


Justin Fineis
Marketing & Vendor Relations Chair
My goal is to create consistent branding as we reach out to attendees and potential vendors.  I am also working to recruit new and exciting vendors that people may have not been exposed to yet.


Sarah Richardson
Presenters & Registration Chair
My goal is to help organize registration and presentations in a manner that will make it easy for attendees, presenters and vendors to arrive and get where they need to be. I will be working continuously to release layouts, presentations and locations prior to the conference so attendees walk into TCCA with all the logistical information they will need to Level Up!


IMG_0450.crop_256x429_38,91.preview.format_png.resize_200x.pngJamila Ashmeade-Brown
Playground Coordinator & Chair
My  goal for the TCCA Playground is to have tools that will be widespread in classrooms, allowing for the increase of student creativity and exploitative learning.  The playground is not just about the technology; it’s about the ideas. New and innovative tools will be on display that will allow for hands on explorations which will elicit ideas and conversations, about teaching and research from faculty, students and staff.  Informal conversations with playground visitors will turn into brainstorming sessions for improving teaching and learning, and forming multidisciplinary research  avenues across content areas.  With tools such as maker spaces, robotics, game based learning and various other tactile learning stations visitors to the playground will leave with new ideas of ways to engage students in new creative ways to demonstrate and explore learning in the classroom.


1dFE1tzp.jpgMark Moreno


Webmaster Chairman
My goal is to make TCCA’s website a user-friendly place where anyone interested, whether they are presenters, vendors, or attendees can find any and all relevant information. We use your feedback to help us improve the site as needed.


Julio Valladares
Videographer
My goal is to promote TCCA by delivering quality films that detail the integrity and professionalism of our organization. With the use of film, we are able to visually account for all the efforts that take place within our organization and detail first hand the impact our conference has in the community.


TCCA1.jpgJaymee Cooper
Lunch Chairman
My goal is to make sure all attendees, vendors, volunteers and Aldine iTechs are feed lunch. I would like everyone to have enough time to eat and network before the start of the next session. #TCCA17
                       
ME.jpgReda Singletary
Parking Chairman


As Chairperson responsible for Parking, my expectation is to continue to improve on this experience from last years comments and make it better for TCCA 2017.
See you in October.



WE ARE LOOKING FOR 2 CHAIRMAN POSITIONS


Our committee is looking for a Volunteer Chairman and a Talent/Skit Chairman. If you are interested in heading up any of these positions please contact Bradford Harris via email (beharris2@aldineisd.org) and you will be contacted as soon as possible.


SUPPORT YOUR ILS
iTechs our ILS department will have their Maker Mania Fair at the Aldine Education Center on April 8th. This will be their first big event as a department. Since we have been partnering up with our ILS on our campuses please reach out to your ILS to see what you can do to get involved and help out. The ILS department has been a great help to us for our conference in the past, so we want to make sure that we return the favor in any way we can.


ITECH STEP UP
This year it will be time for the iTechs to shine at TCCA. The committee is asking that iTechs register to present at TCCA this year. We are looking for 10 to 20 itechs to register and present a session this year. These will not be docents or iTechs who will fill in a spot in case a presenter doesn't show up. You will actually be in the program as a presenter. Districts will be coming to our event and bringing in their EdTech Specialist to present and they will be featured, so we need representation from our district as well. We hope to have enough to create a panel of EdTech Specialist from not just our district, but from all over as a potential panel.


The committee will also need every iTech to have at least one person registered from their campus  to present at the conference. If we each have 1 person from our campus registered from our campus to present plus 10 to 20 iTechs we should have over 70 presenters registered. If you haven't presented in a while, start doing small trainings around your campus. Attend some Edcamps and don't forget to sign up to present at TXGoo on May 20th in Klein ISD. Registration closes March 5th and Aldine iTechs make a good impression when we present in Klein. If your presentation is selected then you will not have to pay to attend. It is Google so think Google presentations.