Presentation Descriptions
Friday, May 14, 2010 Welcome & Opening Remarks 8:30 – 8:45 Keynote 8:45 – 9:45 A Continuum of Practice: the (Re)Shaping of Educational Technology Ruben R. Puentedura, Ph.D. In the sixties, visionaries outlined the potential and promise of computers for education. Bringing this to fruition requires models and practice beyond placing laptops in the hands of teachers and students. In particular, the SAMR framework has proven successful in integrating technological means and pedagogical goals. We will see it applied in the context of Web 2.0 social computing, and in the rethinking of exploratory and creative practice I have dubbed the "lively sketchbook". Strands
Strand A –Great Books Strand B - Integration in 21st Century Strand C – New & Interesting Strand D –Tools for Learning Strand E- It’s Elementary Strand F – Going Digital Strand G – What You Should Know Strand H – Classroom Transformation Strand I – Hand –on – Double Session
Please note: There is much crossover between the Integration strands. See the “Fri. Quick View” for room location of workshops. Session # 1 10:00 – 11:00
A. Green Mountain Book Award (GMBA) 2010-2011: Great Reads for Grades 9-12. Hannah Peacock What titles have made the 2010-2011 list and how can you get your students to grab them off the shelves? Join members of the GMBA committee for an introduction to the 15 finalists and pick up some great tips on getting teens involved with this award as we present online book discussions, video booktalks, online reviews and more. Fifteen great books and 15 wonderful ways to connect a community of readers. B. Transforming Science in the Middle Grades: A Creating 21st Century Classrooms Project Colleen O’Brien & Erica Goodrich How do we get our students to speak and write like scientists? In this workshop you will learn about how wikis and podcasts enhance a teacher’s ability to uncover misconceptions about the science and encourage students to use evidence to explain their thinking. Meet students who participated in this unit and learn about the driving force behind its development: The VTCite Connecting the Dots Program. C. Transformation and Technology – One school’s Progress Jessica Wilson & Maria Duryea Come and see how teachers have started transforming their classrooms into a 21st century learning environment. By integrating Web 2.0 tools, Smart Board, and digital devices, five elementary teachers have taken on the task to provide an education where students will be able to compete in a global economy. One focus will illustrate our efforts to create an interactive "Virtual Science Fair" for our students, which has enabled a broader audience to not only see what students have accomplished, but engage in conversation with them about their work. This workshop looks at the progress the teachers have made and how it has changed their classrooms, and will include the successes, pitfalls, and our future plans. D. Noteflight: Low Cost Tool for Music Composition Sandi MacLeod Noteflight is an online notation tool. Noteflight Learning Edition embeds the notation application with a learning management system that a dozen Vermont teachers have been using this past year. Teachers are enthusiastic. Kids are too. They're creating original compositions, completing music homework and accessing resources shared by other students and teachers. Hear from teachers using this low cost tool and see examples of their work. E. Connect Students to the World with Global Schoolhouse Cally Flickinger and Jennifer Opel The
Global Schoolhouse Unit is a collaborative research unit that increases fifth
grade students’ awareness of different world cultures. It involves classroom literacy,
art, music, community resources, service learning and technology (Skype, email,
letters, Google Earth). Learn how students connect to other cultures and
the global community through research with primary and secondary sources, and
observe student interviews. See how these students build 21st century learning skills! F. Libraries… Without Books? Tom Corbett Cushing Academy has adopted an all-digital approach to library services for 9th through 12th graders. While the focus of this effort has been to deliver library content through laptops, the library is also integrating eReaders to promote and nurture a love of reading in an all-digital future. Come hear how this effort is working and gain an understanding of the challenges inherent in offering Kindle, Sony, and iRiver eReaders to students and faculty. G. Preparing Students for the Global Community Charlie Wilson This presentation is about the major issues and challenges for designing a transforming classroom to meet the educational needs of our students. Students in the second grade today will graduate in the year 2020. We can no longer afford to wait for someone, or worse some company, to show us the way to integrate the use of technology in our curriculum. The role of the teacher, student, and parent in education is changing. Creating authentic, project-based learning activities, developing self-directed learning and changing educational pedagogy are essential toe ducate our children in an ever-changing global community. I will outline the critical issues and challenges, discuss the major technology initiatives, and share some interesting new ways we can engage our students. H. 1-to-1 Computing: Teaching and Learning Transformation John-Paul Lavoie, Katri O’Neill, Gary Furlong & 9th
Grade MHS Students How has the teaching and learning changed at Milton High
School since the implementation of a 1-to-1 netbook initiative for all 9th
graders? How has this program changed our thinking of what is means to be
facilitators of learning? How have students responded to this new way of
learning? We will share perspectives from both our teachers and students on how
the program has impacted current and future teaching practices, student
learning, school culture and student skills, attitudes and motivation. A review
of the year and future plans will be discussed. We will also share professional
development practices that we have found to be successful. I. Move over Moodle: We've got something
easier!! – Part 1
Session # 2A or A Lunch 11:10 – 12:10 A. Red Clover Award Program: Vermont’s Children’s Choice Picture Book Award Grace Green The Red Clover Award Committee introduces you to this year’s 10 nominees! Now in its 15th year, this annual award promotes the reading and discussion of the best of contemporary picture books in nearly all of Vermont's elementary schools. Each year over 20,000 K-4 students read, or have read aloud, ten nominated books. Get a jump on next year’s program and join the fun! B. Creating Best Practices Alexa Hart and Dante Napolitano Our experience at DOTS last year stimulated our teaching in a variety of ways. Not only did it introduce new forms of technology with which to experiment, but also promoted best practices in planning and preparation. The opportunity to present at this conference will motivate us to make sure we implement the changes we envisioned last spring. It would be an honor to share what we’ve learned and what our students have gained in the process. C. Evaluation and Reporting within Education Technology Peter Drescher Join Peter and the IID evaluators for an informative discussion about ways that evaluation is being rolled out across the state around our Title IID grants program. Schools will be asked in this next year to assist with collection of data for understanding the impact of technology in the classroom. Dissemination of results in these areas could be very helpful to local schools in future technology planning. Come to hear and share your input. D. Photography as Autobiography in the Classroom Matt Neckers Imagine being able to see through students’ eyes. Imagine knowing what is important to students and what their everyday experience looks like, both at school and once they leave school. This workshop will explore using students’ digital photos as a source for autobiography and exploration across the curriculum. Strategies and tips for making digital photography manageable and economical in the classroom will also be investigated. E. Book Beginnings and Book Trailers: A Quick and Easy Recipe Kyra Ginalski Learn how to use Audacity to create podcast book talks and book beginnings, and see how to use PhotoStory to make book trailers. Ingredients: a few good books (those with catchy beginnings are best), a computer with a microphone and scanner, free software, and creativity. Post on a website, wiki, or blog to enjoy, and have your students make some, too. Sample some yourself at the Bristol Elementary School Library website: http://sites.google.com/a/besvt.org/library/. F. The Power of Digital Text & Digital Media Tools for All Kids Michael Ferguson Reading well is the biggest indicator of school success. Why continue to shackle struggling readers to traditional printed text? What happens when you turn the notion of reading traditional text upside down? With the right digital media tools, students have options for how they obtain information and demonstrate understanding. Come learn about the power of digital text and explore resources that can increase student access to various kinds of text across the curriculum. G. Listening to Jupiter: Bringing Radio Astronomy into the Classroom Harvey Nystrom, NASA’s RadioJOVE provides a means for students to participate in real world science. It is a simple radio receiver that receives signals from space produced by natural processes. Science and tech students construct the antenna from basic materials and build the receiver from parts supplied in a kit. Math and computer science students analyze data using professional software. Students help corroborate observations with professional observers via e-mail. Once the basic principals are understood the project can easily be expanded. H. Stories of the Missisquoi River Thad Gembczynski Just out the front door of Enosburg Elementary lies the
Brownway Floodplain Restoration Project. It is here that students are learning
about the story of the Missisquoi River. Come see how students have pursued
their own interest in this natural habitat using the various powerful tools of
technology and how they have chosen to tell their story of the river." I.
Move over Moodle: We've got
something easier!! – Part 2 Matt Henchen See description in Session 1 above
Session # 2B or B Lunch 12:20 – 1:20 A. Skype an Author...For Free. WOW! Joyce Babbitt You won’t believe how easy it is, and how real and personal this technology can be. Learn how your school community can reach out to authors and learn about their creative writing process. Face to face meetings- the author in the comfort of their home, and you in the comfort of your library or classroom. Try it out LIVE in this session! B. From Wikis and Podcasts to the LNV: Connecting the Dots Across Vermont Lauren Chabot, Don Taylor, & Sean Wallace Please join us as we discuss our successes and challenges in integrating various technologies into the middle school curriculum. We will present our beginnings as participants in Connecting the Dots: Creating 21st Century classrooms in 2008, the units that resulted from this experience, and the collaboration that ensued between two schools in different parts of the state. We will explore the use of wikis, podcasts, global classroom and the Learning Network of Vermont.
C. Google’s Domain for Education – An Audience Guided Exploration George Raynak Attendees will design and direct this learning activity through the administrative, teaching, learning, technical and ethical implementation of Google’s user-based collaborative networking system and applications. Beginning with a pre-learning online assessment, followed by a series of guiding questions, the audience will choose their own learning path to understanding how a Google Domain can be implemented and how its use can support the transformation of teaching and student learning. D. Four Years Into Our 1-to-1 Journey Tom Keblin, Pete Wyndorf, Tim Scott, and students The I-Leap Team of Milton Middle School first implemented a 1-1 laptop initiative 4 years ago, committing to re-engage students with technology. Join us as our students demonstrate how technology supports and emboldens their work across the curriculum. And share the lessons we’ve learned about introducing laptops, digital and video cameras, voice recorders, and a wide range of software and Web 2.0 applications on our quest for engaging, 21st Century classrooms. E. Using Technology to Support Your Red Clover Program Jeanie Phillips This practical workshop will be packed with ideas for using computers and information technology to integrate 21st Century Skills into the Red Clover Program. Examine a variety of web 2.0 tools, websites and software and see how they can connect with the Red Clover Books and the classroom curriculum. Bring your laptop if you would like to follow along. F. Gutenberg Goes Digital Harriette Phillips-Hamblett/ Jeff Everett Are you feeling overwhelmed by the choices on the market for digital books and e-readers? Join us for a review of some of the latest devices and learn how you can incorporate them into your classrooms and library/media collections. Come prepared to share your experiences and bring your ideas and questions. G. Ning Social Networks in the Classroom Courtney Reckord Better than a blog, a Ning social network can be a comprehensive site for your classroom or school. A Ning network is easy to set up and allows for any number of posting options, including artwork, blogs, discussion threads. Each student has their own page within the network which allows for interaction between students as well as others that are invited such as parents or “experts.”. Your network can be public or private depending on your security preferences. In this session you will learn about creating a Ning Social Network and see examples of how it can be used to promote effective teaching practices. The presenter will discuss her first hand experiences using a Ning with high school students. H. Technology Safety Glogsters created by 6th Grade Students at BFA, Fairfax Nancy Gross Find out how student teams researched an aspect of Technology Safety and turned their discoveries into interactive Glogster presentations. Topics researched included social networking, cyber bullying, cell phones, online predators, email viruses, and file sharing. Student created podcasts, uploaded images, and added links to outside resources to bring their Glogsters to life. I. Engaging Parents and Students with Google Sites – Double Hands –on Session – Part 1 Lucie deLaBruere We will learn both basics and advanced features of Google Sites. You will leave with the skills to create a classroom website, support your students use of Google Sites for classroom projects, and explore the pros and cons of using Google Sites for electronic portfolios. Participants in this workshop are invited to bring their own laptops. Please sign up for a Google account, if you don’t already have one, prior to this session.
Session # 3 1:30 – 2:30 A. 2010-2011 DCF Book Award Master List Mary Linney The Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award has been honoring quality literature for children in grades 4-8 for more than 50 years! Join the eight members of the DCF Committee as we introduce the 30 titles that make up the 2010-2011 DCF Master List. You’ll receive the list, ideas for innovative ways to present the books, and a discussion guide to help connect these titles to the children of Vermont B. Connecting the Dots II: A Librarian’s Tale Jennifer C. Parker Join a librarian as she discusses assembling a team to participate in the “Creating 21st Century Classrooms: Connecting the Dots II” course. Learn how being on the team provided the opportunity to take the concepts discussed in the course, “backward design” and “differentiated instruction”, to create a year-long library media studies unit for 5th graders that includes an enduring understanding, 6 essential questions, pre-assessment, differentiated summative assessments, web 2.0 tools and 21st century skills. C. Procedure Pieces, Writing, and Flip cameras: Moving into the Future Victoria Smith & Eric Hall Our presentation will explore the idea of using Flip cameras as part of the procedure portfolio piece, as well as other ideas for using Flip cameras. We will share a student project that involved scripting, filming and producing short videos based on their written procedures. Along the way we will grapple with these questions: What will our students need to know in the next ten years in terms of technology and writing? Are we meeting these needs? How do we teach both the written procedure piece and the art of filmmaking and media creation? And finally: How will writing and publishing as we know them become transformed by the fast evolving multimedia world? D. Awaken Sleepy Students: All Students Participate Using Audience Response Systems Joanne Finnegan, Kristen Courcelle, Amy Truchon, Carrie Fogg, and Teri Fitz-Gerald, Technology integration specialists from five different school districts will demonstrate different audience response systems, the accompanying software, and how teachers are using these in our respective school districts. Come see the features, pros and cons of each of three different brand-name systems and online polling software. We will show how data is gathered, displayed and reported, and share ideas for assessments, discussions, group collaboration and polling in your classroom. Audience participation required! E. Interactive Whiteboard Wizardry Nancy Daigle Remember your first year teaching when you were so excited (not to mention overwhelmed) with the responsibility of guiding your students to new understandings? Mimio and other interactive technologies have allowed us to transform our lesson planning to create opportunities for students to drive their own instruction. Join us for a journey from worksheets to wonderful as we discuss the transition to interactive technology in a school library setting F. Dynamic Work Spaces: Wikis and Glogs Susan Hennessey/Shannon Walters Come see examples of how K-12 librarians are using Glogster and Prezi to foster collaboration. We will share examples of how these free Web 2.0 tools are being used to share quality resources, create pathfinders, and collaborate on creative presentations, including an author study pathfinder, a 5th grade VT geography collaboration, and a 9th grade autobiography project. Learn how to embed them in a wiki and share with the world. G. Distance Learning Course Proposals Jeff Renard The Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative is an exicting new program that provides schools throughout Vermont with online courses and programs. If you are wondering how to create a course and get your school involved, this workshop is for you. During this presentation, you will learn the process for submitting a course proposal for inclusion in the VTVLC course catalog. We will take a look at the requirements and key elements that your course needs to include. In addition, find out what support VTVLC can provide as you develop your course. H. Creative, Authentic Assessment: Student Created Video Lee Van Dine, Kay Marcelle Description: Authentic assessment can reveal the learning process, drive instruction, and help students take control of their own learning. We will share an ongoing activity from the classroom that engages students in planning, creating, filming, editing and presenting videos created using FLIP cameras to document their individual learning in the content areas. We will take you through the evolution of our process and show examples of videos made along the way. I. I. Engaging Parents and Students with Google Sites – Double Hands –on Session – Part 2 Lucie deLaBruere
Session # 4 Closing Presentation & Door Prizes 2:45 – 3:15
“Transformation
& Technology: A New Way of Learning” Ed Barry During this session Ed will discuss and review the newly released document “Transformation & Technology: A New Way of Learning – Classroom Scenarios.” This document, created to support the Vermont Transformation, presents sixty “verbal pictures” or scenarios of what effective technology integration, when combined with proven pedagogical practices and 21st century curriculum, might look like. The document, which incorporates the new NETS-S, is a follow up to the Vermont Technology Grade Expectations. 3:15 – 3:30 - Door Prizes - Must be present to win! |