Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Spice it Up! 2009

The Walled Lake Consolidated Schools Spice it Up! Technology Conference is on Thursday, August 27, from 8am-3pm. All WL staff are welcome to attend. This annual sharing of best practices in education comes to you as a result of the efforts of dedicated teachers and leaders of educational technology. This year’s presenters come from Walled Lake, Oakland Schools, and the One-to-One Institute. There are 50 session offerings this year!

The conference brochure/schedule of sessions is now available for download:

Electronic handouts will be posted here.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Call for Speakers

Apply now to present at an upcoming educational technology conference! 

  1. Collaborative Tools Conference – Nov 13 at Macomb ISD.  Call for Speakers Application due Sept 28.  http://webtools4learning.org/

  2. MACUL Conference – March 11 & 12 in Grand Rapids.  Call for Speakers Application is due Sept 29.  http://www.macul.org


Perks for both:  Free registration and great learning and networking opportunities.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Getting Started with One-to-One

Among other things, I am a Digital Coach for the One-to-One Institute.   I'll be spending two weeks facilitating professional development with teachers from Coopersville Public Schools, near Grand Rapids, MI.  Today was my first day working with the teachers.  I feel a great responsibility in helping them prepare and get off to a good start.  Lots of time is being spent on PBL and the changing role of the teacher and the students.  I started the day comparing the work required to remodel your kitchen to the work required when starting a one-to-one program (thank you for the idea, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach!) 

I'm able to put myself in their shoes, as I was there about ten years ago, feeling excited and overwhelmed at the same time.  I've learned many things about what makes a one-to-one proram successful over the past ten years, and I'm enjoying sharing stories and lessons learned with the Coopersville teachers.  The reflection process brings me energy and confidence that technology be used as part of much needed school reform.