Learn the basics of using Google Apps for Education as we explore Drive, Docs, the Research Tool, and Add–Ons. Participants will learn to organize their Google Drive for cloud storage and file sharing. They will work collaboratively in Google Docs, discussing curricular integration strategies. Additional tools will be explored.
In this session, you will learn about Design Thinking. Design Thinking is one way to lead a group to develop creative and innovative solutions to a problem. You will learn and experience the five stages of this process and learn ways to incorporate this into a variety of curricula. You will also experience how you can bring this into your makerspace to provide a pathway for students to begin to prototype and test their solutions.
1:1 programs can be established through a wide range of circumstances. We will talk about the various paths and establish that each path has it’s own strengths and needs. Participants will review the history of their school’s 1:1 programs. We will look at their inception through these lenses of the 5 major stakeholders, students, teachers, administrators, alumni and the board. Examples: writing out the timeline from each perspective, sharing with other participants to find commonalities and unique circumstances – information that can help frame future discussions.
This session will provide a broad overview of the role of a Tech Coach in K-12 educational settings. A teacher-minded tech coach, bridging IT and faculty, is a critical school position for ensuring purposeful integration of technology. Topics covered will include required foundational knowledge, education, and common challenges and opportunities Tech Coaches face.
Through guided discussion, participants will work to understand the facets of tech coaching. Session attendees will develop an individual vision statement for a Tech Coach position pertinent to their school situation.
For the fall semester of 2015, St. Joseph’s Academy has embarked on a journey of international cooperation through a partnership with Level Up Village (LUV), an online distance learning program. LUV provides a platform for students in the US to video chat asynchronously with partner schools across the globe; students in both locations learn new STEM skills, apply them to real-world problems, and find solutions through unconventional, design thinking. Course options include in-school, after-school, and summer classes; topics covered range from biology and chemistry to mobile application design and CAD/3D printing. Through the framework of LUV’s student-driven courses, pupils are able to guide each other in a collaborative learning effort, even across international boundaries. In addition to learning practical STEM skills, students also develop 21st century proficiencies like intercultural fluency and digital literacy. Hear firsthand accounts of how your school can benefit from coordinating with LUV and give your students new perspectives while problem-solving in STEM fields.
As independent schools,how do we take advantage of working with students from a wide range of age groups? We will describe in detail how we went about connecting a 4th grade history class with a 7th grade history class via google docs and blogger in order to create a culture of collaboration across grade levels. Honest insight, challenges, successes, and student responses are some of the many topics we will discuss during our session.
Play is a critical component in development of the whole child. Social skills such as leadership,cooperation and conflict resolution are learned navigating a child's world through play. Physical activity is a key component of play and sets the stage for lifelong healthy habits in addition to building confidence and providing opportunities to practice problem-solving skills. Literacy, geography and more can be learned through play environments developed to support a school's commitment to their student community. Creating a space that fosters play in many ways can impact the classroom and beyond.
Using the Lausanne Discovery Center as an example, experience how learning occurs through play. Learn how you can bring an impactful learning environment, with a value on play, to your school. Hear from Lausanne leader, Kara Barber about her collaboration with students and playground consultants to bring their ideas to reality and the positive impacts on the learning environment and Lausanne community.
How do we intentionally create students who are driven by inquiry instead of compliance? It begins with creating time for 3 year olds to question and problem-solve. Then we continue to develop a mindset that focuses on encouraging student to ask great questions instead of simply regurgitating the correct answer. Finally it encourages Upper School students to discover their empathy for others through design thinking.
As students, administrators, and teachers, we all care about results(and we should) and with that comes the need to feel in control. Silos such as classrooms, grade levels, departments, etc., make that emotional reassurance possible but sometimes at a cost. Although we feel a heavy sense of responsibility to produce certain outcomes due to how much is at stake, it’s also possible to share the weight of our labor more collaboratively by thinking more rhizomatically. Hub and spoke, inside and outside silos, curricular content and irrelevant info, inside and outside departments… these categorical binaries help us trace learning outcomes, but where are the opportunities to map new possibilities which resist such rigid organization? How can we as teachers, students, and administrators rhizomatically disrupt (or should we say deterritorialize) the silos we found ourselves in today? Come join a conversation on how to breakdown the silo mentality and learn how “rhizomatic” models might inspire such lines of flight.
While literacy continues to be a problem both in Memphis and across Tennessee, Grizzlies Prep is proving the possible for reading growth. With tiered interventions in basic reading and reading comprehension, enrichment classes, and time dedicated each day to reading a freely chosen book, Grizzlies Prep students grow over two years in reading each school year. And, with TCAP scores for literacy down across the state, scores at Grizzlies Prep were up 8.6 points this past year. In this session, you will learn about our approach to reading and about the curriculum designed by our team of literacy specialists.
It is more important than ever to realize the importance of school leaders to be strategic thinkers in a world of day-to-day firefighting. We will be working through brainstorming, affinity grouping, case studies and back channels with Google Docs for individual support.
The idea that administrators in 21st Century schools are now "Lead-Innovators" and thought leaders. Today school leaders are way more than managers...they are pedagogical leaders, student success advocates, strategic planners, and much more. The ability to create a culture that encourages curiosity and sparks strategic planning is essential.
Collaborate on presentations, collect and share data, produce surveys (including bell ringers and exit tickets), and use Flubaroo to check Form responses instantly. Tools we will use are: Slides, Forms, Sheets, Flubaroo and Add–Ons. Participant will collaboratively create a presentation. Google Forms will be introduced for quick assessment opportunities and surveys. Flubaroo will be shared as a way to quickly assess the results from a Google Form. Participants will also collaboratively collect and analyze data, then explore additional Add–Ons for Sheets.
NOTE: We will explore the NEW GOOGLE FORMS QUIZ OPTION!
Makerspace. Innovation Lab, Fab Lab. These spaces are all the rage. But what does it take to get one started. This session will focus on how you can begin implementing your own space, from building support from your administration, to planning and budgeting through implementation. You will learn how you can easily start small with little cost and scale it to include more expensive items including 3d printers and other fabrication tools. Learn from an experienced guide who has created makerspaces in several schools.
Professional Development for educators is essential for meaningful integration of instructional technology. This session will present a wide variety of options for planning and implementing engaging professional development including 1:1, group-based, synchronous and asynchronous settings. Attendees will participate in a model session of audience assessment, develop a live “unconference” agenda as a group, and create a sample app-based training module to share with participants and add to their own Tech Coach playbooks.
Fantasy Geopolitics is a FREE and interactive game that high school english teacher, Eric Nelson, founded. It is a great way for students to learn about geography and politics in a competitive and fun way. Individually or as teams students draft countries that they believe will mentioned in the news. Based on the NYT and the Goldstein Tone, that country is given a score. Students must keep up with the news and that country's role within politics to make decisions about their team. Come learn about the game itself and receive free resources and startup lesson plans.
The study of Simple Harmonic Motion (SHM) in physical science, physics and mathematics classes provides a fertile ground for interdisciplinary study as students are provided the opportunity to connect the law of conservation of energy with basic trigonometric functions and wave theory. This workshop will provide participants with relevant, hands-on experience using oscillators such as the CPO Simple Pendulum and Springs and Swings equipment modules used to introduce this critical and often misunderstood set of concepts to students. Several examples will emphasize practical application bridging math and science principals at both the middle and upper school levels. Sample investigations will be provided to each workshop participant.
Technology and project-based learning have changed the way we teach languages. There are many new ways to teach all four language skills - reading, writing, listening, and speaking - by using apps and websites like Quick Time Player, Socrative, Audacity, Storyboard, Yabla, Veinte Mundos, News in Slow Spanish, Voice Thead, and Garage band, and by creating videos in class, doing debates, Mock Trials, Chat Rooms, Discussion groups, and other technology-based projects for truly engaging lessons.
Recent trends in education are demanding individual differentiation for students, but
the only answers are layered tools atop existing curriculum and classroom structures. Gamification offers an opportunity to redefine the way we run classrooms, providing diverse challenges for more engaged students with multiple dimensions of differentiations (addressing pace, choice, and ability) as well as an assessment system focusing on mastery of skills instead of punishment for mistakes. Students' feelings of stress and anxiety diminish in such a context because the desire to keep trying and to level up replace any extraneous fears about failing. Come learn how structural gamification redefines the relationship of student, teacher, and curriculum, and how you can immediately implement its strategies in a session that includes hands-on time to discover your own gamified route.
Have you ever thought administrators can be removed from the joys and struggles of the classroom teacher? Come hear the realizations of an administrator as he journeys back into teaching even if just for one period a day. Not just any classroom but one that embraces student centered discussion and inquiry in a blend of online and traditional class days. Teaching isn’t always as “easy” as we remember but incredibly rewarding.
As science educators, we must help students develop independent critical thinking skills, communication skills and collaborative skills in order to navigate through the dynamic world of the 21st century. By integrating inquiry-based, student-centered learning with traditional teaching methods, we empower students to take risks, tempering their curiosity and creativity within the bounds of concrete scientific learning objectives.
Students gain a deeper intuition for the scientific concepts presented when they are free to formulate and test their own ideas and explain their sometimes unexpected results. This can be achieved in the laboratory with guided inquiry investigations as well as in the classroom with collaborative group work on conceptual problem solving with a focus on cognitive dissonance.
When a scientific question is posed, students often focus on memorizing facts or reading their textbooks to obtain the “correct” answer. The consequence of this is that students see scientific questions as mere tasks to be completed and do not construct a mental framework that can help them discover the answer. The joy and power of science is found largely in the methods used. Mastering the process of scientific inquiry can help students reveal and understand important fundamental relationships that are often both interesting and counterintuitive. In addition student gain confidence, retain information and show better analytical thinking skills.
Once we define our strategy we must model the tools and methods that we value in the classroom and demonstrate best practices for teachers. Our affinity groups and case studies will show how these practices affect and innovate faculty meetings.
Google Sites is an excellent tool for teacher websites, student projects, and more. Participants will explore how Google Sites provides an avenue for creativity, collaboration, the development of basic graphic design principles, and content publishing. Participants will create a Google site and learn basic graphic design principles throughout the process. Educational implications and uses of Sites will be discussed.
NOTE: A new Google Sites was just announced at ISTE two weeks ago! While we don't yet have access to it, we will view a video that shares the features of it, revisit the original sites app, and discuss integration options for Google Sites.
This session will introduce to simple robotics. You will learn about a variety of tools to introduce robotics into your school, from bristle bots and other tools to Hummingbirds and other Arduino based robotics tools. Additionally, you will have the chance to build and play with these same tools to get some hands-on experience to take back to your school.
Overview of developing a continually evolving 1:1 program and identifying essential components. Using the 5 stakeholder lenses and “essential components”, participants will begin outlining goals – goals that can evolve as technology and academic goals shifts. These goals will be school specific and there will be a process for sharing and iterating
Students may be comfortable using devices, but one job facing us as educators is to help them learn to use that technology well. This session will present a comprehensive overview and practical resources for teaching effective and ethical online research, maintaining a positive digital footprint and working with families to create safe technology use habits at school and home. Participants will work in groups to create effective flowcharts reflecting the research process across grades and curricula. Several elements of the personal EdTech coach playbook will be created by each attendee, including an original research journal template, website evaluation tool, student technology contract and self-assessment tool for students regarding their digital citizenship. Each element of the playbook may be a document, interactive, site, or hands-on activity for student use.
Journey through an English teacher’s implementation of gamified units after attending sessions at Lausanne 2015. This presentation will cover the principles, levels, rewards, and tracking/grading for the unit as well as adaptation suggestions. Attendees will have time to work on adapting their own units with the use of Google Apps for Education.
Students take ownership of knowledge as they create their own content with iBooks Author, using multimodal approaches to learning (video, screen casting, creative writing, infographics, interactive widgets, and public domain images and music). Presenters will moderate a group discussion of latest trends from a 2015 iBooks Conference and share examples of an iBook collaboration between their schools: Latin and Earth Science high school students created an iBook about the eruption of Pompeii that was published and shared with middle school Latin and Science students.
Tennessee Tech University’s iCube is where students and faculty Imagine, Inspire, and Innovate. Virtual reality technologies such as the Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and the Viscube are creating unique opportunities for learning. In this session, we will discuss virtual reality as a whole, from hardware to applications and beyond.
In the United States, there has been a recent resurgence of recognizing the value of a college education. While students are being encouraged to take challenging and advanced courses in preparation for college, a central question concerns whether secondary school instruction is developing the skills and knowledge necessary for learners to be successful in the college classroom. While there may some variations of instructional practice across institutions, one common assumption is that students entering college are “ready” to learn regardless of past educational experience. In this session we will discuss common instructional methods used in college classrooms and what types of pedagogical techniques and strategies can ease the transition to college learning. This discussion will be grounded in principles of educational psychology and cognitive psychology.
What is 21st century teacher? How do we assess that? How do we develop that? Discuss growth theories and key habits. Our groups will construct models that help answer these important questions within specific scenarios and needs.
Additional Google tools can promote creativity, communication, and global education. Geo Tools, Expeditions, Hangouts, Google+, Chrome, Apps and Extensions, Drawing, and Blogger will be explored in this session. Participants will explore Google Earth and Google Maps, discussing implications for global education. Other tools and resources will be explored, and participants will actively engage in the use of those tools.
Note: Expeditions is now availble for everyone! We will share more about Expeditions during this session.
As teachers take ownership of their 1:1 program, the roles, of teachers, academic administrators, help desk, ed tech integrators and students evolve. Collaborative planning, professional development, goal setting, timelines and support structures must adapt accordingly. Participants will identify the current roles/responsibilities for everyone involved in a 1:1 program and develop plans for each that work together to meet the new goals.
Tech coaches work closely with teachers to ensure that technology integration is meaningful for students. To help avoid teachers “using tech for tech’s sake”, tech coaches can train teachers in technology standards and in the implementation and evaluation of an educational technology instructional framework for lessons. Tech coaches drive technology curriculum mapping and scope and sequencing, and also coordinate technology skills and objectives with content area curricula.
Participants will begin with a big-picture study of the tech coaching and teaching standards provided by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). Discussion and evaluation of sample lessons will help attendees develop skills in applying frameworks such as SAMR to determine degrees of technology integration, from substitution to redefinition. Participants will reconsider their classroom tools and digital portfolio through instructional framework lenses, and they are encouraged to bring their own curriculum for review.
Why are science museums such a fun place to be in? Can you make your classroom just as inviting? This workshop will show you how to transform your classroom into an aesthetically pleasing and intellectually stimulating environment that is used and maintained by students. Topics that will be discussed include the following: classroom smell, audio, lighting, furniture, classroom documents, class decorations, boards/TV/Projectors, and campus aesthetics. Come curious, leave inspired!
When you return to your classroom or when you modify your classroom please post your pictures on twitter with this hashtag (#classroomaesthetics) so that this can spread beyond our conference!
Every science teacher knows that p stands for momentum! Enjoy using the CPO Energy Car and Track System to explore such common physical science topics as speed, force, velocity, acceleration, Newton's Laws, graphs of motion, conservation of energy, conservation momentum, and more. This hands-on equipment module provides excellent versatility and a variety of options allowing students to control multiple variables while performing fun and engaging experiments, such as elastic and non-elastic collisions. Sample investigations will be provided to each workshop participant.
Outcome-based education does not mean that the instruction leading to the goal cannot be innovative and engaging. Join AP Spanish Language and Literature teacher Katherine Arce and Foreign Language Chair Jim Andersen in exploring varied techniques within the AP curriculum framework. Come and see examples of:
- Peer mentoring between grade levels
- Authentic applications of core objectives such as vocabulary and grammar
- Student-led discussions emphasizing critical thinking and problem solving
- Mrs. Arce will join us from Costa Rica via Skype
- Although the presentation will use AP Spanish lessons as examples, the concepts are applicable in all content areas.
Office 365 is the latest generation of a popular MS Office Suite. It is cloud based and fully integrated with Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint Online Cloud services.
While most of us are familiar Word, Excel and PowerPoint on the desktop, and many of us used or heard about online versions of the above mentioned products, not many heard and experienced some of the new tools that Microsoft incorporated into Office365 lineup.
In this session we will be talking about and demonstrating Office365 Sway, Yammer, Video and we will briefly touch Office Mix.
http://bit.ly/292cp1y
It is an undeniable reality that learning how to work collaboratively is a requisite skill for success in school and beyond. All too often, however, cooperative activities in classrooms lack the ingredients needed to ensure that all students are engaged and learn how to collaborate well. Brewster Academy has been successfully implementing consistent, school-wide strategies for cooperative learning for over 20 years. See how these methods, when used in conjunction with video augmentation software, can enable secondary school students with a range of academic abilities to learn more through collaboration.
ATTENDEES ARE ASKED TO PLEASE BRING A WIFI ENABLED DEVICE AND HEADPHONES AS WATCHING VIDEOS WILL BE PART OF THIS SESSION. THANK YOU!
As teachers, how do we better engage our students, make them think more critically, and provide authentic experiences within our classrooms? Adding authenticity to lessons is easier than you think. This presentation will provide you with various ideas to maintain student engagement through targeted questioning, practical implementation, and meaningful application with today’s tools.
Oftentimes listening to our students' voices is one of the most powerful ways to showcase their knowledge. In this hands on session, participants will be introduced to the Adobe Spark Video (formerly Adobe Voice) app. We will walk through the process of creating an Adobe Spark Video presentation from start to finish. You will leave with the ability to go out and immediately put this app into action in your classroom. Participants should download the Adobe Spark Video app before the session.
Google Classroom brings all of Google’s tools into an amazingly easy and productive workflow for teachers and students. Make your classroom truly digital with Google Classroom! Participants will use Google Classroom as a student, then create set up their own Google Classroom to use with their students. The amazing features and workflows this tool provides will be introduced and used by the attendees.
In this session, you will learn more about several of the smaller microprocessors, Arduinos and Raspberry Pi. These tools allow you to begin to teaching programming in new and exciting ways. You will learn how you can use these to create a variety of projects, from building small display monitors and Minecraft servers to robotics to eTextiles. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to explore and play with these tools to better understand their capabilities.
Recording the decision making process from the 5 stakeholder’s perspectives, reflecting on values and developing a process that can be used to guide future initiatives. Participants will develop strategies for documenting the development of their 1:1 program, using their school’s values to focus documentation strategies.
The tech coach is the bridge between students, teachers, curriculum, and IT. A comprehensive understanding of digital textbook options and knowledge of deployment logistics is needed to support this important piece of educational technology. Participants will learn strategies for juggling the needs and wants of all involved. Participants will bring their digital textbooks to this session for hands-on review and discussion. They will develop a personalized digital textbook research and deployment plan and will learn how to evaluate it and adapt.
Tennessee Tech University’s iCube is where students and faculty Imagine, Inspire, and Innovate. Virtual reality technologies such as the Oculus Rift, Google Cardboard, and the Viscube are creating unique opportunities for learning. In this session, we will discuss current simulations and applications available for use in the classroom with various virtual reality technologies.
Improve your students’ writing by coaching them—giving them the skills they need to write, revise, and edit their own work. In this session, we’ll explore tools for teaching writing and revising such as Google Classroom, Google Docs, Writing Reviser, and Socrative. Techniques for whole group instruction as well as individual feedback will be shared.
Top Ten Tools for Writing Teacher:
1. Music
2. Padlet
3. Color-coding
4. Socrative
5. Google Classroom
6. Google Docs
7. Writing Reviser
8. Kaizena
9. Orange Slices Rubric Creator
10. Quizlet Live!
Wondering about whether maker spaces are right for your school or classroom? Come explore the two most important aspects of a successful maker space and how they impact student and faculty learning. You will participate in Stanford University d.school’s design thinking process to consider how to create a maker space at your school. You will leave with your prototype maker space along with ideas from other participants. (This workshop is appropriate for all academic leaders and classroom teachers)
Play is a critical component in development of the whole child. Social skills such as leadership,cooperation and conflict resolution are learned navigating a child's world through play. Physical activity is a key component of play and sets the stage for lifelong healthy habits in addition to building confidence and providing opportunities to practice problem-solving skills. Literacy, geography and more can be learned through play environments developed to support a school's commitment to their student community. Creating a space that fosters play in many ways can impact the classroom and beyond.
Using the Lausanne Discovery Center as an example, experience how learning occurs through play. Learn how you can bring an impactful learning environment, with a value on play, to your school. Hear from Lausanne leader, Kara Barber about her collaboration with students and playground consultants to bring their ideas to reality and the positive impacts on the learning environment and Lausanne community.
Explore how a class project led a semi self-paced, flipped classroom, to rediscover the value of authentic learning. From lessons such as quilting as a way to understand transformations to collecting and converting receipts to hosting a restaurant, learn how making learning “real” affects student engagement and understanding. We will discuss how a 45 port, 120 day adventure inspired a classroom. Join us to share in the conversation and participate in the hands on, take-away activities.
Change doesn’t happen overnight; in fact, we believe that meaningful transformation requires reflection, research, and careful experimentation, even if the world seems to be moving at astronomical speeds. Come learn about the successes and challenges of The Oakridge School’s transition to a campuswide 1:1 program, a story that proved to be less about the device and more about a shift in mindset among students, faculty, and parents alike. We would like to share with others, not what we learned about the merits of one device or program over another, but how the willingness to reflect, change, and share ideas as a community led to a fundamental shift in how we defined the classroom environment. We would like to share stories of how more student-centeredness, collaboration, authenticity, and real-world basedlearning experiences have expanded students’ horizons for learning and self-discovery, not because we opened our classroom doors to technology but more because we opened our minds to the opportunity to change and grow in ways that serve our students best.
Discuss importance of casting a vision for what student outcomes look like in the future. Discuss 6 Cs and impact on school experience. We will be working through brainstorming, affinity grouping, case studies and back channels with Google Docs for individual support.
Learn the basics of blended learning, then explore Google’s resources to implement this instructional strategy in your classroom. Discover options for creating screencasts, and learn how to set up your own Channel and curricular Playlists on YouTube. Participants will be introduced to the basic concepts and models of blended learning. Each participant will set up a YouTube channel and create a curricular playlist. Options for creating screencasts will also be shared.
In this session, you will learn about many of the tools that are used for fabrication including 3d printers, laser cutters, and CNC mills. You will learn how these tools can be used in a variety of curricula, from Science to the humanities. You will learn tips and tricks and the best way that you can leverage the software tools for design.
Making change in schools should be celebrated and more importantly can help other communities make similar improvements. Participants will develop strategies for sharing their successes within their schools and wider community.
Tech coaches need to implement a practical plan in order to be effective innovators. This session takes a multi-faceted approach to developing the tech coach as a professional, including adapting and perfecting coaching strategies and resources. Attendees will develop their own personal learning community through active participation in social media and online professional groups. They will create a digital portfolio of online tools and resources, and will practice new strategies for addressing the challenges of coaching teachers to innovation in the classroom.
The Electronic Playground is a partially pre-wired set of low voltage circuits. It is roughly the size of a large cigar box. Its many labeled components include resistors, capacitors, transistors, transformers, light-emitting diodes, and more. It is a self-contained circuit board that helps teach many of the mysteries of direct current in an engaging way. Beginning with simple explanations and wiring diagrams and proceeding from the moderate to the complex, the logic of the Electronic Playground introduces hands-on electric circuits with both predictable and surprising outcomes. The results are immediate and exciting. It is versatile has been successfully used at all age levels. This session will focus on the basics of direct-current electronics and practical circuitry. Each participant will be provided with an Electronic Playground, batteries, a set of alligator clip wires, and an instruction manual for further study.
This session will discuss common teacher experiences as related to implementing a flipped classroom model by exploring pros and cons, strategies for implementation, and student feedback.
Students use a Google Doc to create a virtual museum that seeks to encourage its visitors to want to make a positive impact on the world. Students begin by crafting a mission statement for their museum. Students add on an additional wing to their museum for each major time period studied (Industrial Revolution, Imperialism, etc.) Each wing requires students to use responsible research to find items, ranging from primary source documents, pieces of art, technological innovations, etc. that they believe expresses the most important and interesting parts of that time in history. Students are at the center of this semester/year-long activity as they choose the focus of their museum, as well as what they will display to teach their visitors about each period in history. At the end of the activity each student is responsible for evaluating another student’s museum.
While 21st century students experience an unprecedented level of connectedness through
media, social networking, and accessible information, we as educators tend to alienate that student from their digital worldhood, requiring them to disconnect from that which captures their attention and instead to read, write, and research alone. This presentation explores how writing can be made more meaningful if and only if there is a real audience to connect the writer’s word to purpose. Even shy students want to be heard, and technology combined with strategic, student-centered pedagogy serves to make that possible in ways that are not only meaningful but fun. This presentations explores how platforms like Google docs, blogger, and online discussion forums can make writing more purposeful by connecting student voice to audiences beyond the confines of classrooms and campuses.
Brainstorm ways to incorporate the 6 Cs into the daily lives of students. Discuss SWOT of the way we realize this culture. We will be working through brainstorming, affinity grouping, case studies and back channels with Google Docs for individual support.
In this session, you will learn a variety of ways that you can introduce circuits within your makerspace of classroom, from squishy circuits to Makey Makeys to LittleBits to paper circuits using conductive ink and foil. In the spirit of making and discovery, you will have the chance to experiment and play with these tools hands-on. You will explore ways to integrate these tools into a variety of curricula, from art to science to language arts.
Participants will develop action plans for their school that reflect the work of the certification course.
A key aspect of successful EdTech coaching is being able to introduce teachers and students to emerging technologies and develop effective ways to embed those technologies in the educational process. This session will preview trends, new technologies and growing movements in the world of instructional technology. Participants will create a sample startup tool kit list for a school-based Makerspace, try a variety of new educational apps and have an opportunity to try the Google Cardboard virtual reality interface.
Oftentimes listening to our students' voices is one of the most powerful ways to showcase their knowledge. In this hands on session, participants will be introduced to the Adobe Spark Video (formerly Adobe Voice) app. We will walk through the process of creating an Adobe Spark Video presentation from start to finish. You will leave with the ability to go out and immediately put this app into action in your classroom. Participants should download the Adobe Spark Video app before the session.
As many STEM school proponents can attest, with cutting-edge technology integration comes the need for fast, reliable technology support. But what if your school could provide comprehensive help desk services utilizing the talents and skills of your own students? St. Joseph’s Academy, an all-girls college preparatory high school in Baton Rouge, LA, uses the teaching environment of the student-run help desk to give students real-world experience in troubleshooting and repair.
Come find out how, with the right guidance, your students can learn more about technology and actively participate in their school community in the process. This moderated group discussion will explore a particular application of student-centered learning in the context of providing technology support in a 1:1 device environment.
Flip your classroom quickly and easily with Office Mix! With Office Mix, you can create digital lessons in PowerPoint with simulations, quizzes, discussions, and more. Quickly share your Office Mix with your students. View on any device and easily differentiate instruction by using Mix analytics. Or mix it up - have students create Mixes for authentic assessment.
Session Objectives
Gain a basic understanding of Office Mix as a tool to enhance instruction
Examine how Office Mix can aid in Flipped classrooms
Explore additional ways to use Office Mix in the classroom
Innovation Jr. ...
is a program that began as an after-school enrichment initiative at Berwick Academy. As the name may imply, the program is a foundational experience for Berwick’s Innovation Center (a primarily Middle School through Upper School focus at Berwick.) As such, the presentation has interesting cross-divisional implications, but is especially suited for professionals at the elementary level.
Innovation Jr. has taken on several iterations in the past three years based on an evolving sense of how best to maximize Innovative Thinking in our Lower School (including both practical and philosophical considerations) and how best to maximize the organization of an Innovative program--whether within the school day curricula or as an after-school model.
Currently, the program exists as an after-school optional enrichment program, with classes led by faculty. However, with our proposed construction of a design-thinking/maker-space lab on campus, the Lower School is looking to expand the emphasis of the program, including greater student-centered and student-directed learning and connections to regular classroom experiences (such as projects and themes--with the understanding that Innovation should occur throughout the curriculum and throughout the school day...and not necessarily be limited to a specific class or program).
This presentation will...
1) begin with an overivew of Innovation at the Elementary level--connected to philosophical/practical implications; 2) describe Innovation Jr. program at the Lower School level (and its connections to the Middle/Upper School Divisions; 3) engage participants in a modified hands-on activity--to further support a working definition of Innovation and 4) conclude with sharing/discussing attendees' Innovation experiences with elementary-level (or older :) children.
--Joel Hawes, Lower School Director and Science Teacher, Berwick Academy
How can we incorporate writing instruction and opportunities throughout our curriculum in order to challenge our students to view writing as a real world skill with authentic applications? Writing is not just a practice reserved for English classes; it’s one of the most important skills for being successful in the world beyond the classroom. What we suggest is not the demand for more writing classes but the need to embed the skill in all academic practices, much like we now do with computing. Learn how The Oakridge School has made use of both traditional and technological resources to expand its promotion of student writing across the disciplines. This session will provide practical ideas for reinforcing key writing concepts using discipline specific writing assignments and strategies that encourage critical thinking.
Discuss changing demographics and introduce HIP (High Investment Parents). Talk about ways we can communicate the positive outcomes and build energy for the innovation. We will discuss the constructs of our affinity grouping to make meaningful plans for implementation for the next academic year.
The session will introduce teachers to the editing and feedback opportunities, both teacher and peerto-peer, presented by Google docs. Teachers will also learn how to create and manage collaborative Google slides projects which may be tailored to suit multiple learning objectives.
Members of Designing with Google, Teacher Ownership of 1:1, and Tech Coach Academy will provide support for an open time for attendees to download and get hands-on experience with tools or pedagogy discussed during the conference.
