𝐀𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬
Dear Principals & District Administrators:
Thank you so much for your attendance at the Elementary Tech Conference! Your dedication to learning more about best practices in instructional technology will surely benefit your students, staff, and school community. Administrators have a direct and profound influence on the success of technology-enhanced initiatives in our schools. We hope that this conference will allow you to focus time on learning more about the tools that your students and teachers are using (or hope to use) in their classrooms. Although we will highlight sessions that may be of interest to you, please know that you are encouraged to attend any and all sessions based on the needs of your school community!
Sessions of interest for administrators include:
Session 1
Title: The Epic Guide to Student Engagement: Developing Student-Centered Activities with Choice and Inquiry
Room: 106C
Presenters: A.J Juliani
Audience: K-6, Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-6), Leadership
Description: We all want to engage students at a higher level. But how do we do that? The key to engagement is high attention and high commitment from our students. However, in order to foster that attention and commitment we must allow students to motivate themselves and each other through choice-based work. In this workshop, A.J. Juliani will tackle these five strategies that work to engage students at every grade level and inspire innovative work: 1. Choice-based instruction 2. Inquiry-based projects 3. Authentic audience 4. Competitive Challenges 5. Launching to the World
Join A.J. for an interactive session to learn how to develop student-centered activities with choice and inquiry. He will field questions from attendees after his presentation. This session will benefit K-12 teachers and administrators.
Session 2
Title: Genius Hour and Goal Setting the Lifelong Process of Learning
Room: 104
Presenters: Ryan Donnelly, Anita Girvin, Amanda Tyson
Audience: K-6, Intermediate (4-6), Leadership
Description: In this presentation we will look at using Genius Hour and Goal Setting through practical classroom application and the lens of John Hattie's effect rankings. You'll leave this session knowing the classroom application of and research behind Genius Hour and Goal Setting processes to move learners toward life-long learning processes.
Title: App Smash THAT to Transform Student Learning
Room: 108
Presenter: Jennifer Southmayd
Audience: K-6, Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-6), Leadership
Description: In 2019, one app just doesn't do it all, or at least not well enough to transform student learning. Follow one district's journey as they build capacity to design tasks that optimize learning experiences, engage learners, and achieve learning objectives through purposeful and intentional app smashing that emphasizes quality over quantity.
Title: Spreadsheets are Elementary
Room: 110
Presenter: Chris McCaffrey
Audience: K-6, Leadership
Description: Say what!? You can leverage spreadsheets in an elementary math lesson? This session will focus on integrating essential spreadsheets skills more deeply into everyday K-6 math concepts. Spreadsheets naturally connect math concepts to the business world’s daily work. Join me for some hands-on sheets activities to strengthen math understanding, as well as explore many examples of leveraging them in the elementary grades. Engaging students with moments and experiences in the math classroom can be as simple as columns and rows... oh my!
Session 3
Title: Preparing Students for a Project-Based World
Room: 103
Presenters: Toni Martindell, Terri Lewis
Audience: K-6, Leadership
Description: This introductory session provides participants with the skills and knowledge necessary for designing and implementing high quality project-based learning opportunities for elementary students. Using resources from PBL Works (formerly BIE), participants will understand the distinction between “doing projects” and Project Based Learning, become familiar with digital project design, assessment, and management resources, and begin to draft a standards-based project design that includes key success skills, a driving question, and major student products.
Title: Let Go & Let Them: Student Voice & Student Choice in a Digital Writing Workshop
Room: 106A
Presenter: Adam Geiman
Audience: K-6, Intermediate, Leadership
Description: We have crossed into a time where technology no longer hinders the learning curve and learning objectives can be accomplished seamlessly. Geiman will talk about his experience with student blogs and how it can move their writing from the classroom to the international stage. Both his class blog and his students’ blogs have been selected as finalist for Edublogs Eddie awards as examples of what can be done. Get a glimpse of the millennial and Generation Z mindset in this dynamic writing workshop.
Title: Starting Small, Aiming BIG
Room: 106B
Presenter: Casey Cohen, Evan O'Neill, Deanna Stephan
Audience: Primary (K-3), Leadership, Instructional Coaches
Description: Presenters will share a story of transformation from traditional teaching and a culture of consumption to contemporary learning and a culture of creation among the K-3 community in the Rose Tree Media School District. Four critical areas will be the focus: vision and the comprehensive plan, device selection, professional learning, and implementation. Presenters will discuss the process, wins, challenges, and finally share teacher created assignments and student created work that showcases the story of transformation.
Title: Launching to the World with Digital Blogfolios (Using Google Sites)
Room: 106D
Presenter: Eric Balak
Audience: K-6, Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-6), Leadership
Description: Want to capture student learning in an authentic and relevant way while being connected to all Google apps a click away? Want to showcase and share student learning to larger, public (even global) audiences? Google Sites provides an intuitive and easy-to-use platform for both adult and children learners alike to quickly create and manage a digital blogfolio (portfolio + blog) in no time, especially since I provide you with a template to get started! Plan to experience first-hand accounts of student learning and goal-setting through examples of learner-driven digital portfolios. Expect to explore how blogfolios align to the ISTE Standards, learn insider tips and tricks, and create your very own blogfolio (from my free sharable template) while also reflecting on how this platform could be used within your context and setting.
Title: Maximizing Your Discovery Education ExperienceRoom: 108
Presenter: Laura Mitchley
Audience: K-6, Leadership
Description: Introducing the new Discovery Education Experience - a simple-to-use K-12 learning platform that combines dynamic curated resources with grab-and-go teaching strategies, personalized for your needs as an educator. Learn about Discovery Education’s new platform, content channels, educational resources, research-based teaching strategies and professional toolkits for all educators. Laura is a Discovery Education Ambassador and Leadership Council member and will ensure you walk away with a DE experience personally tailored to you, your grade level and your content area.
Session 4
Room: 103
Title: Empowering Learners for the 21st Century
Presenter: Toni Martindell
Audience: K-6, Leadership
Description: Today’s students must be able to solve problems, design, collaborate, and think critically about the world around them. How can we, as educators, redesign the learning experience to allow modern learners to thrive? In this interactive session, participants will dig into the 4Cs of 21st Century Learning (creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication) and explore opportunities to develop these skills in all students across content areas.
Title: Empowering Digital Learning By Creating Student Technology Teams
Room: 106 E
Presenter: Angela Koser, Shirley Kensey, Garrett Derr
Audience: K-6, Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-6), Leadership
Description: This presentation will share how you can inspire and empower creative digital learning in your buildings by creating student technology teams. You will gain insight and ideas on how our students can take on leadership roles and change the digital culture in our buildings!