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2022 virtual conference

March 16, 2022

Tips for Getting the Most from Share My Lesson’s 2022 Virtual Conference

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We are excited. And from what we have been hearing, you all are excited, too—because it’s almost time for Share My Lesson’s 2022 Virtual Conference! Check out what some of your colleagues are saying about this year's event:

“I’m most interested in ‘Keynote: The Freedom to Teach Honestly.’ The title alone is inspirational and gives me hope for the future of this profession.”—Laura_K_3786806

“I am very interested in attending ‘Teaching Media Literacy in a Time of Misinformation.’ Students find information all over the internet; it is so important to help them decipher it and determine the credibility of their sources.”—christien004ack

“I’m looking forward to ‘Modeling Media Integration’ with PBS LearningMedia. PBS has great resources that can be integrated will all disciplines. I'm excited to learn more tips to use this in classroom.”—hilmo

We know that these past few years have been exhausting. The Rand Corp. found that more teachers are thinking of leaving the profession and that teachers are experiencing higher rates of job-related stress and symptoms of depression. This saddens us greatly because we know how hard teachers, school staff, parents and caregivers are working to support our kids—despite unprecedented challenges, and that’s why we are committed to helping you get through these difficult times.

With nearly 50 free, for-credit webinars from trusted partners and education professionals, you’ll find engaging sessions that will help you feel re-energized, professionally supported, and set up for success with your students. Additionally, the great thing about our virtual conference is that you don’t only gain knowledge from the inspiring sessions, but you also have the opportunity to connect with educators and school staff across the country and the world through the sessions’ group chats, our social media platforms and discussions in our virtual conference community. It has been difficult teaching during a global pandemic, and we want you to know we see you, we hear you and we appreciate all you are doing. Together, we can help lift each other up and share ideas and insights to get through these hard times.

The 2022 Virtual Conference offers innovative sessions at no cost to participants—and you still get professional development credit! So, if you aren’t excited yet, check out these tips to ensure you get the most out of your sessions this year.

Register

Choose Your Sessions

The first thing to consider: All sessions will be accessible after they initially air, so decide which you plan to attend live or on demand later, Get started by logging into Share My Lesson, and join the community where, under the resources tab, you will find the sessions organized by the day they are presented and by topics. This makes it easy to find the webinars you are interested in. But wait a second. Did you find a session you want to attend but can’t fit into your schedule? Go ahead and register anyway. Remember: All of the sessions will be available on demand with closed captioning in English and Spanish after the live broadcast, and if you have already registered, then you will get the on-demand link directly emailed to you.

VC22 community page

Share With Your School Team

Attending events with friends is always better! Invite colleagues on your team and at your school to register to attend the virtual conference. If your school is looking for ways to better uplift student voices, then you might want to check out these sessions: “Building Community to Center Student Voice” or “Centering Student Voices Through Storytelling.” Or perhaps your school serves a large number of immigrant students; then you might like these webinars: “What Every Teacher Should Know About Serving Immigrant-Origin Students” or “Prioritizing Social and Emotional Support for ELLs, School Staff and Families.”

Make Sure the Bottom Toolbar is Visible

The first thing I do when joining any Share My Lesson webinar is to make sure the toolbar at the bottom of my screen is open (see the yellow highlighted portion below). This is where I can find all the helpful widgets I need to make sure I can fully engage in the session. Not seeing the presentation? Not seeing a video being played? What about the resources that accompany the presentation? You can open all of these using the widgets on the toolbar. But be aware, that means you can also close them from your screen. No worries though, just hit the corresponding widget again and it will pop back up on your screen.

toolbar

If the bottom toolbar is not visible on the screen, then click on the hamburger icon in the bottom left corner to make it visible.

open toolbar

Utilize the Group Chat Box

Connect with others who are excited about the topic of the webinar you are attending by using the group chat in the webinar platform. You can share where you are from, what your role is, and why you are excited about the webinar’s topic. The presenter may also ask you to share some thoughts in the discussion box during the session, so be sure to open that up when you log in.

Ask Questions in the Q&A Widget

The group chat is awesome for connecting and engaging with other attendees, but when it comes to making sure any tech questions you have, or questions you have for the moderator, are seen and answered, it’s best to use the Q&A widget. You can easily find the widget in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

Q&A widget

Technology Check

Speaking of tech questions, here are some helpful tips to make sure your tech isn’t what stands in the way of getting the most out of your sessions.

  • Accessing the webinar from a laptop or desktop computer provides the best overall experience.
  • The best browser to use for your webinar experience is Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Edge are not as compatible with the webinar platform.
  • If you hear the lobby music even after the presentation begins, or are having general audio issues, refreshing your screen usually fixes the problem.
  • If you are having connectivity problems, it helps to close any other applications that might be using your bandwidth.

Answer the Poll Questions So You Don’t Miss Out on PD Credit

Throughout each webinar you will be getting poll questions. Make sure you answer the poll questions so that you can get your professional development credit. After completing the final poll and watching 35 minutes of the webinar, you will be able to download the PD certificate from the platform. Be sure to download it before the webinar ends, but if you somehow miss downloading it or were unable to receive it because you missed a poll, then you can always later log back into the on-demand session to answer any missed poll questions and to download the certificate.

If you are confused about how professional development credit works with our webinars, you can learn more here: https://sharemylesson.com/content/how-does-credit-work-share-my-lesson-webinars

Rate Your Experience

Let us and other SML community members know what you thought of a session by leaving a rating. This lets the SML team know what did work or what didn’t work so we are able to adjust our offerings to best serve your needs. Read some of last year’s reviews to see the impact 2021 sessions had on attendees. You can leave a rating by clicking the button seen below in the platforms toolbar.

What Did The Presenter Say About That, Again?

Loved a session, but can’t quite remember all the helpful tips and strategies that the presenters shared? Or wishing that another teacher in your school was present for the webinar? No worries, as mentioned above; all of our sessions are available on demand following the live presentation. This means you can always go back for a refresher or share the register link with a colleague after the live event.

Keep the Conversation Going

Follow Share My Lesson on social media to be part of the conversation throughout the week. We will be live-tweeting throughout the conference, so don’t miss out. Follow us here: https://twitter.com/sharemylesson.

You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube to stay in the loop about all of our exciting and engaging new content.

Share Your Stuff

Don’t forget that we want to learn from you, too! If you are inspired after a session and reminded of a great lesson or resource you created that would fit well with the session you attended, then go ahead and upload it to Share My Lesson so that your colleagues can benefit from your wisdom. SML aims to be a community where we can share ideas and support one another in the education field, and we would love for you to be a part of it.

vc22 sponsors

Megan Ortmeyer

Megan Ortmeyer is an SML Team Member and has worked in the AFT Educational Issues Department since fall 2018. She received her M.A. in education policy studies in May 2020 from the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at the George Washington University.

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