Walled Lake Spice it Up! Technology Conference

 



 

 

Walled Lake Consolidated Schools hosted its 8th annual Spice it Up! Technology Conference on Thursday, August 23, 2012 at Sarah Banks Middle School.  It was the best yet! 325-350 teachers and administrators attended this voluntary professional development event to help them learn new ways to incorporate technology into their instructional practices.  I coordinate the event and it is one of the highlights of my year!

John Sowash was the keynote speaker and he was outstanding!  I thought that he connected with the audience and was inspirational; his message was a fantastic start to the day. He spoke about the importance of setting high expectations, including projects where students create and publish to a world-wide audience, and the critical need to teach tech/info literacy skills.  His stories and visuals drove his points home.

We used Edmodo as a platform for presenters to share resources and for attendees to ask questions and post ideas. Hopefully the conversation will continue after the conference!   116 people visited the site, so roughly a third of our attendees used Edmodo during the conference.  Edmodo was new to most of the attendees, so using it for the conference introduced the tool to them, which was great - my guess is that many will now use it with their colleagues and students.

The conference came just a few weeks after all the teachers in the district received a new iPad and laptop. We are so fortunate! I wish we had scheduled more beginner iPad sessions.  Of course there are plans to offer a variety of training & support in the next month or so!

The conference would not be possible without the Walled Lake presenters, who volunteered their time to plan and share their experiences with their colleagues.  They were fantastic!  Thank you JP Arens, Jon Bison, Jennifer Bond, Laura Brown, Kim Chumney, Lynn Dunn, Cindy Goris, Dennis Graham, Barbie Green, John Gregg, Krista Harmsworth, Mark Hess, Kelly Holubeck-Gotts, Deb Jess, Laura King, Caron LaBlanc, Jennifer LaCross, Mark Lada, Kim Loszewski, Scott MacIsaac, Michele McKendry, Randy Micallef, Kathren O'Brien, Ryan Ossenmacher, Rob Osterman, Barb Ozminkowski, Brad Paddock, Davida Pesick, Jennifer Phillips, Kelly Reuter, Theresa Robinson, Cheryl Roden, Gina Sartor, Jessica Schultz, Jennifer Shamberger, Pam Shoemaker, David Stanton, Amy Stasak, Renee Valentine, Katie Weingarden, and Jane Wendyker.

The administrators at Sarah Banks Middle School, Brad Paddock & David Stanton, were so helpful and accommodating in the days leading up to and on the day of the conference, and the IT Department was there in full force to assist attendees as needed.  There are so many others to thank; it was a prize effort by many, and is truly an event that positively impacts the learning that occurs in classrooms across the district.

 

Education On-Air: Google Apps (and more) PD

Education On Air is an education technology conference entirely
online and completely FREE.  It will take place on Wednesday, May 2nd, from noon to 10pm EST.  Since my district is moving to using Google Apps for Education next year, this comes at a perfect time.

There are over 40 sessions scheduled and they look fantastic; see the full schedule here.  There were some tough choices to make, but the sessions I plan to attend include:

• YouTube in the Classroom 12pm


• The Paperless Classroom with Google Docs 1pm


• Google Docs for Writing Instructors 2pm


• Blended Learning 3pm


• Digital Literacy & Citizenship 4pm


• Creating Comic Strips with Google 5pm


• Google Apps and Other Products in a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Environment 6pm


• The Play, The Playwright, and Your Scene: Using Google Docs, Sites, and YouTube 7pm


• Google Sites for Your Classroom (Basics) 8pm

- Learn more about how to participate in the conference on the website:
https://sites.google.com/site/eduonair/.




 

 

 

 

 

 

Walled Lake Schools Spice it Up! Technology Conference

Every year, just before school starts, the Walled Lake Consolidated School District hosts a technology conference. The conference is planned, organized, and facilitated by Walled Lake staff for Walled Lake staff. This past August, a huge wind storm blew through the area the night before the conference.  The morning of the conference, we discovered that there was no power at the hosting school, so we had to cancel it.  Hundreds of teachers and administrators were disappointed to find out that their yearly dose of tech medicine was not available. 

 

The planning team was determined to reschedule the conference for an upcoming Saturday. This proved to be more challenging than we figured. We needed to work around "big" football games, holidays, and the schedule of our keynote speaker. Rescheduling for a Fall Saturday was impossible! We couldn't find a date until January 21, 2012.  Therefore, the organizing and planning process needed to start all over, and we did the work we needed to do.  We soon discovered that over 200 people registered to attend, which is unheard of for a local conference held on a Saturday.  When a winter storm was predicted to come through the night before, we just could not believe it.  The storm turned out to be just a few inches of snow, and we had power. Hooray! 

 

Our Keynote speaker, Dr. Rebecca Harris, General Motors' Social Media Strategist, delivered a perfect message to a perfect day. She explained the importance of social media in the business world, and challenged the teachers and administrators attending the conference to personally experience the worlds of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. This is an important first step that is critical as we prepare our students the important skills they will need to survive in the world they are currently living in. 

 

The Walled Lake teacher leaders delivered a smorgasbord of learning opportunities for their peers. I believe that our home-grown method of providing professional develment is tops. People can reach out to their peers to ask questions and ask for advice. "If he/she can do it at that school with the same resources, then I can, too!"  

 

Our little conference garnishes professional relationships, provides needed encouragement, and tweeks learning that promotes the kinds of skills that our students require to survive in the world they will live in after they leave us, their college years and beyond. I am so proud of the teacher leaders who volunteer their time and share their talents to help make the Walled Lake Consolidated School District the best place to educate children. 

Teaching & Learning in the Cloud Conference, October 14, 2011

The 2011 Teaching and Learning in the Cloud Conference brings together
some of Michigan's leading educators to discuss how "Cloud-based
tools" and Web 2.0 resources can change your classroom and improve
student learning and motivation.  On October 14 in Holland, the
Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) is
following up last year's excellent inaugural "cloud" conference with a
new conference that promises to offer great insights, resources, and
strategies for you to take advantage of these online tools in ways
that can transform your classroom.

This year's conference features a keynote presentation from Steve
Dembo, a leader in online learning tools, and one of the favorites at
the MACUL annual conference.  Steve will look at cutting edge tools
that students are already using, and show how these tools can be used
to reinvigorate and enhance learning.  Then, dozens of presentations
and hands-on workshops from technology leaders across the state will
show you how to use individual tools for your classroom.  The conference organizers have hand-picked some of the most respected presenters from recent conferences to address the latest online tools for learning.  Jennifer Bond from Walled Lake will be facilitating a session on Edmodo. 

And, if you are looking for more, there will be a number of half-day
workshops the day before (Octover 13) for educators who want to get in-depth support for how to bring these tools, including Moodle, Google Docs, iPads and iPods, and several others, into your classrooms and schools to transform teaching and learning.  These sessions will allow you to get hands-
on support with these tools and leave with strategies and plans you
can use immediately in your schools.

Best of all, registration for the conference is only $80 for MACUL
members, and includes lunch along with this great program.  Pre-
conference workshops are $40 each.

For more information and registration, see a full list of sessions,
presenters, and details about this conference at:
http://techtools4teaching.org

DEN Geocaching Day

I hosted an event today in Milford, Michigan, as part of Discovery Educator Network’s Geocaching Day. Similar events were held all across the country (25 of them, I believe). It was a great day of collaboration, learning, and outdoor fun. My group gathered at the Milford Public Library and found seven caches along Milford Trail, a path that goes from the library to Kensington Metropark. The scenery was beautiful and sun was shining!

After finding all seven of the caches we searched for, we discussed plans for implementation in the classroom. A high school science teacher who teaches a forensic class (like CSI) plans to use geocaching as part of a problem-solving crime scene to catch a murderer. A middle school math teacher plans to use geocaching as part of her algebra class, creating a multi-cache scavenger hunt with a study of slope at the end. We brainstormed many more ideas as well!

We all appreciate the sponsorship by Discovery Education for events like this. Thanks, DEN!

EdCamp Detroit

Last Saturday, I attended EdCamp Detroit at Wayne State University, http://edcampdetroit.org/.  It was a conference designed to bring educators together to discuss technology that works.  The format was not typical; it was an unconference, a conference format quickly growing in popularity across the country.  You really need to experience it to understand it.  The organizers provide the basic framework, the people who attend decide what will be discussed.

The people who show up can volunteer to facilitate a session if they want to.  They write their topic and name on a piece of paper and tape it to the wall.  The conference organizers assign the sessions to specific times (session 1, 2, 3, 4)  and room numbers.  Attendees show up to the sessions they desire.  NO CONFERENCE BROCHURE.

What's neat about it is that the facilitators do not have to be experts on the topic.  The sessions tend to be more collaborative in nature with people sharing experiences and resources on the topic at hand.

I enjoyed a day of learning and collaboration.  I chose not to facilitate a session and it was nice for a change.  I am usually the one organizing, facilitating, and leading the conferences I attend.  I was able to go to this one with my learner hat on!

Sessions I attended:

Mobile Learning (Cheryl Lykowski):  This session was a great discussion about "Bring Your Own Devices," and many iPod/iPad apps were shared. Some apps I want to check out include SoundNote, QR readers, Discovery, Bluster, Inkling, and Teachers Assistant Pro.  Bookshare is coming soon!

Pseudoteaching (Steve Dickie):  I had never even heard this word, so it intrigued me.  This was another great discussion and it was all about effective teaching.  How do you really know if your students "got it?" Some lessons that seem to be perfect ones actually do not lead to student learning.  We discussed the use of video to help students understand.  Research from the Khan Academy has shown that sometimes using video that students can easily understand actually lead them to not attend to the content (they think they get it, and therefore do not pay attention).  The key is to keep it at just the right difficulty level (students need to be challenged, but not so challenged that they tune out). Keep the students questioning and active. Use frequent formative assessment techniques.

Edmodo, "Facebook" for Students:  This is an application I have used and like, and I'm hoping that it will be used by several teachers in my district next year. The teacher who presented (sorry, don't remember her name) uses Edmodo in place of a classroom website.  Her school is a 1:1 school, and actually the whole school uses Edmodo.  She said that students discovered that they could sign up for a teacher account on the Edmodo website and do naughty things.  To prevent this, they created a logon page that takes students directly to the school Edmodo site , not the main Edmodo site.  Good to know!

Last Saturday, I attended EdCamp Detroit at Wayne State University.  It was a conference designed to bring educators together to discuss technology that works.  The format was not typical; it was an unconference, a conference format quickly growing in popularity across the country.  You really need to experience it to understand it.  The organizers provide the basic framework, the people who attend decide what will be discussed.  Thanks to @thenerdyteacher and the other conference organizers!

The people who show up can volunteer to facilitate a session if they want to.  They write their topic and name on a piece of paper and tape it to the wall.  The conference organizers assign the sessions to specific times (session 1, 2, 3, 4)  and room numbers.  Attendees show up to the sessions they desire.  NO CONFERENCE BROCHURE.

What's neat about it is that the facilitators do not have to be experts on the topic.  The sessions tend to be more collaborative in nature with people sharing experiences and resources on the topic at hand.  People go away getting the learning they want and need.

I enjoyed a day of learning and collaboration.  I chose not to facilitate a session and it was nice for a change.  I am usually the one organizing, facilitating, and leading the conferences I attend.  I was able to go to this one with my learner hat on!

Sessions I attended:

• Mobile Learning (Cheryl Lykowski):  This session was a great discussion about "Bring Your Own Devices," and many iPod/iPad apps were shared. Some apps I want to check out include SoundNote, DiscoveryEducation, Bluster, Inkling, and Teachers Assistant Pro.  Bookshare is coming soon for students with print disabilities!

• Pseudoteaching (Steve Dickie):  I had never even heard this word, so it intrigued me.  This was another great discussion and it was all about effective teaching.  How do you really know if your students "got it?" Some lessons that seem to be perfect ones actually do not lead to student learning.  We discussed the use of video to help students understand.  Research from the Khan Academy has shown that sometimes using video that students can easily understand actually lead them to not attend to the content (they think they get it, and therefore do not pay attention).  The key is to keep it at just the right difficulty level (students need to be challenged, but not so challenged that they tune out). Keep the students questioning and active. Use frequent formative assessment techniques.

• Edmodo - "Facebook" for Students:  This is an application I have used and like, and I'm hoping that it will be used by several teachers in my district next year. The teacher who presented (sorry, don't remember her name) uses Edmodo in place of a classroom website.  Her school is a 1:1 school, and actually the whole school uses Edmodo.  She said that students discovered that they could sign up for a teacher account on the Edmodo website and do naughty things.  To prevent this, they created a logon page that takes students directly to the school Edmodo site , not the main Edmodo site.  Good to know!

• Google Lit Trips (Cheryl Lykowski) - I've been meaning to learn more about Google Lit Trips for a few years now.  I found out that there are many that have been created and and ready to be used by educators.  They are indexed by grade level and book on Jerome Burg's blog.  Yes, they are ready to go!  You can also create your own and directions for making them are also on Jerome's blog.

I'd like to give the unconference format a try in my school district.  I know that we have built a culture of collaboration and that it would work for us if we set the stage right.  I can envision this format eventually being used on professional development days at each school, with teachers sharing and learning what they want and need to learn.

On a Techie High

The annual MACUL Conference was held this past week.  The word on the street is that the conference was the best ever.  This is good news to me, because I'm on the Board of Directors and helped plan and carry it off.   :)    There were over 4,000 attendees and I could feel the high level of energy and enthusiasm among those who were there.  I kept really busy with organizational tasks throughout the conference, and was only able to make a few of the sessions, so I look forward to keeping my own learning going; there are many ways to do this:

• Check out the awesome resource materials posted by presenters on the Speakers' page of the MACUL website.


• Browse through the #macul11 tweets. Conference attendees posted quotes, links, ideas, questions, photos, and more.


• Follow the discussions going on at MACULSpace.  I just added a forum for sharing your "best of MACUL" stories.


• Read the posts on the MACUL Conference Blog.


• The keynotes and some of the featured speakers were videotaped.  The videos will soon be available on Michigan Streamnet.

But wait... there's more!  The day after the MACUL Conference, my district hosted the Stir it Up with Discovery Education Conference.  It was sponsored by Discovery Education, and it was like a "mini MACUL Conference."  Many educators who were not able to get away for the MACUL Conference came. There were 75 attendees from at least 15 SE Michigan school districts.  We were lucky to have Discovery Education's Mike Bryant, Matt Monjan, and Porter Palmer there.   The Michigan Discovery Education Leadership Team planned and presented at the event: Cheryl Lykowski, Eric Strommer, Gina Loveless, Lisa Wickman, Cindy Carson, and me.  Walled Lake educators who presented included Mark Lada, Randy Micallef, Jennifer Bond, Rob Osterman, and Mark Hess.  Support for technology integration by the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools administrative team was apparent, as many attended:  Superintendent Gutman; Assistant Superintendent Barry; Director of Technology & Data Analysis, Mark Hess; Director of Community Relations, Judy Evola; and the hosting school's principal, Brad Paddock.  AWESOME!   You can check out the conference wiki for session handouts and other electronic resources.

I'm tired physically, but am intellectually energized!

Simple Strategies to Help Students “Get it”

 

Dr. Betty Garner recently came to my school district to work with elementary teachers, who have asked (via online surveys) for help as they facilitate small group instruction during math and readers’ workshop.  Dr. Garner spoke about some simple strategies that may help students who seem to be unwilling or unable to make academic progress.  These are my notes from her workshop:

 

Many students are not able to make connections that would seem to be obvious.  They need to be taught how to collect and be aware of sensory data.  How might you teach this? 

•  Show an image and ask two questions:  1) What do you see? 2) What do you notice? (involves interpretation).  Discuss.


• Ask open-ended questions.


• Do not answer your own questions.


• Ask “What part do you know for sure?”


• Start a lesson with something hands-on.  Ask what the students notice. Do not tell them what to notice.  Make them do the work.


• Ask students to draw what comes to mind when they hear a word.  This is powerful.


• Provide an open-ended structure to a writing assignment.  Four paragraphs:  1) Summarize what you learned about _____.  2) What sense do you make of it?  3) How will you use it?  4) What questions come to mind?


• Ask “Which words do you wish you knew better?”

 There is such pressure to raise test scores and cover material as quickly as possible.  However, it works much better to invest teaching energy to help students learn how to learn.   These strategies will work for all grade levels and content areas.

DEN Virtual SciCon 2010

On January 9, 2010, the Discovery Educator Network hosted an online conference (with a twist) focused on providing participants with some of the most effective strategies for transforming their science classes through the meaningful and effective integration of digital media content. Over 1,000 people participated.   I was not able to make it, but learned today that the sessions have been archived and posted.

Sessions include:

• Change the Present, Change the Future with Lance Rougeux


• No Paper Left Behind: A New Age of Science Instruction with Brad Fountain


• Hands-On Digital with Patti Duncan


• Polar Bears in a Changing Climate featuring STAR Discovery Educator Julene Reed


• Where Do Old Sneakers Go to Die? Real-World Science with Mike Bryant


• Teaching Process Skills with the Mythbusters with Patti Duncan


• Do Try This at Home: Fun, Easy and Effective Science Experiments for Your Students with Mike Bryant and Brad Fountain

View all presentations (with audio of the presenters) and corresponding resources on the DEN SciCon website.  Thanks DEN, great stuff!

Awesome Presentations Available Online

Last weekend, the Discovery Educator Network (DEN) hosted their annual Virtual Conference. In Michigan, we host a face-to-face event in conjunction with the online presentations. I'm on the DEN Event Team and was one of the face-to-face session facilitators along with several other inspiring educators across the state. One disadvantage to being involved in facilitating the face-to-face event, is not being able to attend many of the sessions. I was pleased to learn this morning that the virtual breakout sessions are not available, so I can attend whenever I have a free moment. If any of the following topics interest you, I encourage you to do the same:

• Students as collaborators, creators, and directors


• Podcasting


• Making your PowerPoint presentations more interesting


• Using Discovery Education's teacher tools (assignment builder, quiz builder, etc)


• Gloggle


• Sharing your multimedia projects with the world

Access all of these presentations on the DEN Blog Virtual Conference  page.  Enjoy!

Discovery Educator Network Virtual Conference

The Spring DEN Virtual Conference is coming up soon! 

When?
Saturday, April 25, 2009
9 AM to 3 PM EDT

Where?
Online

How much?
Free.

The day will feature a special presentation from Chris Lehmann, Principal of the Science Leadership Academy in the School District of Philadelphia as well as a great lineup of sessions from STAR Discovery Educators and the DEN team.

Registration is open now so check the blog for all the updates.  The schedule of presentations is available and they sound fantastic!

Register to attend here.  You can attend for one hour or all day!

MACUL Memories

I'm on the MACUL Conference blogging team; this entry will soon be posted there as well.

I attended my first MACUL Conference in 2002 and have attended each year since.  I went the first year as a participant only; I got the feel for MACUL and benefited greatly from what I experienced and learned.  The following year, and each year thereafter, I have come to the conference as a presenter.  I like sharing and helping others learn and grow, and having a "presenter mindset" keeps me always on the hunt for new ways of using technology for teaching and learning. 

Some of the most important MACUL experiences that have shaped me professionally include:

• Purchasing a Snagit/Camtasia bundle from the vendor area in 2002.  I began screencasting long before it became a fad.  People still come up to me and tell me they recognize my voice from the CD I published back in 2003!  I'm still using Camtasia (and Jing) on a regular basis. 


• Receiving a MACUL grant in 2004 for a digital storytelling project.  I presented at the MACUL conference with a teacher from my district to share what we did and how digital storytelling positively impacts student writing.  I developed a website to go with it, and people from all over the world still visit and use the teaching materials, especially to show the student examples. 


• Hearing about the power of blogging from Will Richardson and David Warlick at Macul 2005.  I created my own blog, Yes Tech! in Nov 2006 and have found that it helps me to be a reflective practitioner.


• Attending a Steve Dembo "Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools" session in 2007 opened my eyes to many new tools: Twitter, Wikispaces, and Flickr, to name a few.


• Getting to know & networking with other like-minded educators at social events on Thursday nights!  The face-to-face meetings have continued, thanks to MACUL Space. 

What are your favorite MACUL memories?

Educon and FETC 2009

Two conferences (I wish I could have attended both of them!) just finished. 

The Educon Conference took place the last couple of days in Philadelphia.  You may wonder what Educon is... the quote below is from their wiki.

EduCon 2.1 is both a conversation and a conference.
And it is not a technology conference. It is an education conference. It is, hopefully, an innovation conference where we can come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas -- from the very practical to the big dreams.

The opportunities for learning seem to be easiest/best for those who could attend in person, but people who could not make it can still participate and learn.  Many session descriptions, presentations, and handouts are posted for people to use at any time. 

Florida's big tech conference also just finished, FETC.  Resources are being posted at the FETC wiki.

Lots to learn!

Discovery Education Webinars

Some free and outstanding teacher professional development webinars are coming up soon.  Click here for dates/times and registration information. They will be worth your while!

Jason Ohler on Discovery EdTech Connect, Wed 12/17, 7pm EST

Jason Ohler is this month’s featured speaker on Discovery Education’s EdTech Connect.  I got to know him last March when he came to the MACUL Conference.  The Elementary Education Special Interest Group sponsored a digital storytelling pre-conference session faciliated by Jason Ohler and it was FANTASTIC.  He understands the importance of telling a good story, and sees technology as secondary to the writing process.  I watched him transform technophobes into digital storytelling masters within a few hours!   Register to attend the webinar now!

One-to-One Webinar

I am facilitating a webinar with Michael Gielniak and Kate Kennedy for the One-to-One Institute tomorrow (Dec 11, 2008) at 2pm EST on Wimba.  The topic is "Implementing a one-to-one program."  We'll be sharing info about 1:1 sustainability, best practices in the 1:1 classroom, and the latest regarding 1:1 evaluation/research. 

 

If you are available at 2pm and want to listen in, go to http://www.wimba.com/.  You’ll see “Implementing a one-to-one program” in the left column under the heading Distinguished Lecture Series.

Come to the MACUL Conference

This year's Michigan Association for Computer Users in Learning (MACUL) Conference will be on March 18-20, 2009 at the Cobo Center in Detroit.  It is always an outstanding conference! Here is a short promotional video:

PBL Session in Boyne, MI

Today a bunch of Michigan educators braved the ice and snow to participate in a 3-day Project Based Learning Workshop at Boyne Mountain.  The facilitator is David Ross from the Buck Institute for Education.  He is in the picture (middle) with Marilyn Totten and David Schade, 7th grade social studies teachers from Walled Lake.

Today was an enjoyable day of collaboration and learning.  We began by brainstorming qualities that we think are important for all high school graduates (being a team player, problem solver, communicator, tech savvy, etc).  Mr. Ross says that educators expect our students to have all these qualities, yet we do not necessarily provide them the opportunities and learning experiences to help them attain these qualities.  He believes (as do I) that project based learning instructional methods, when done right, can help us better prepare our students.

Tomorrow we will work on the process of designing effective projects.  I am particularly interested in learning new strategies to make students individually accountable for group projects. The Walled Lake team will be identifying a project to go along with new 7th grade social studies curriculum.

FREE ONLINE CONFERENCE!

Mark your calendar!  The K-12 online conference is coming soon!  It officially begins the week of October 13th.   Session teasers, short videos to entice you to tune in, are available now.  Educators from around the world who are interested in innovative ways technology can be used to improve learning will participate.  The theme is "Amplifying Possibilities."  To help newcomers gain the most benefit from the conference, tips are available. Consider participating in both the live events during the conference, as well as asynchronous conversations.  I hope to see you there!

Discovery Educator Network Streamathon

I have not written here for a few weeks.  I've had some trouble with my account and have had my password reset a few times.  I think I'm back in business now!

Today was another indicator of why I love the DEN (Discovery Educator Network) so much.  The DEN hosted an all-day streamathon, with some amazing topics and presenters.  It was a great example of successful on-line professional development.  I was able to attend portions of some of the sessions throughout today’s Streamathon.  The chat rooms were lively and folks were very appreciative of the fantastic professional development offered.  The sessions will be archived for later viewing on the DEN national blog.

I posted some of the web 2.0 tools that Steve Dembo demonstrated on my district’s technology integration website.    Check them out!

Other professional development is readily available from the DEN.  Log on at http://discoveryeducation.com, and click on the Professional Development button at the top of the page. 

The Michigan DEN is planning a combination face-to-face and virtual conference in Haslett.  It will be an all-day event on October 25th.  Details will be posted in the near future on the Michigan DEN blog.