Building Learning Communities 2013

Albert Einstein said: “Play is the highest form of research.” We’re going to do some serious research into the potential of iPads and other mobile devices for learning. First we’ll play. Then we’ll learn by unpacking the things we did while playing. Expect to be out of your seat and learning with others in this high impact, fun and educational session exploring practical ways iPads and other mobile devices can be used to help students learn and share their learning with the world. Walk away with a kit of resources you can easily adapt to your own school or classroom.

Don’t forget to bring along a smartphone or iPad!

The advancement of technologies has made it common to share our daily life and work together with others across the globe. Such an interconnected society requires schools to prepare our kids to be competent in cross-cultural communications and global working environments.

Then, what should the school activities look like?  Should we design additional curricula focusing on global issues and or cultural information? What are the effective ways to transform teaching and learning methods to fulfill the requirement?

In exploring the answers through this session, participants will:

• Understand how regular classroom activities could be blended with cross-culturally situated virtual learning environments.
• Be introduced to one of the best practices in transforming local school curricula to be interculturally rich and globally collaborative.  
• Ascertain the roles of class teachers, resource teachers, administrators and district offices in internationalizing school activities.
• Discover the implications for adopting Common Core curriculum and assessment.

A hugely popular session at BLC12 this session will get you busy building and sharing your expertise! Professional networks are brimming with resources and links and it sometimes feels like too much. One of the best ways to narrow the focus is to crowdsource specific content. Networks should not simply be about connecting with fellow educators, we need to activate the huge potential they have and create together.

Learn alongside Tom Barrett who has been spending the last 5 years crowdsourcing resources that support teacher’s professional development as well as inspire engaging learning in the classroom!

- How can I make crowdsourcing a part of how I design materials for teachers and students?
- How do I engage all of my staff to be able to engage in creating resources together?
- How can I filter the vast amount of resources that I see everyday in my online networks? How do I make the most of the resources available?
- What tools can I use to help create resources with other teachers in my district?

Attendees will

- understand how a network can be a powerful tool for co-creation and not just connections;
- reflect on their own creative practices and how crowdsourcing might fit in;
- see real world examples of how crowdsourcing innovations are being applied in sectors beyond the education sector;
- see a range of examples of successfully crowdsourced resources for education.
- take away a range of tools and models to crowdsource unique resources for your classes and schools;
- see crowdsourcing in action

This workshop will respond to the following learning questions:
1) What elements must we shift in our own methods to take advantage of the global communications revolution and the incredible, transformative options available?
2) How can we design (not just assign) more motivating yet vigorous student work? "

The Innosight Institute (2012) defines blended learning as: “a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace...”  Given that blended learning is NOT about putting content online and hoping students will take it from there... How might we leverage digital tools, environments and processes to give students more control over time, place, path and/or pace, even within a traditional school schedule? How might we most effectively combine face-to-face and online experiences to engage learners and extend their thinking beyond traditional boundaries?

Attendees will consider elements critical to the design of successful “BYOB” learning opportunities, including:

• Thoughtful selection of resources and processes to support student workflow, productivity and self-direction
• Meaningful integration of online and face-to-face experiences to reframe time, place, path and/or pace of learning
• Strategies for pushing past the novelty of digital tools and environments to leverage the affordances of each  

Presentation Resources: http://bit.ly/blcbyob13

Maria Knee and Amanda Marrinan create a participatory culture in their early years classrooms. They use simple but powerful social media tools that transform learning and offer authentic learning experiences. These learning experiences foster collaboration and communication skills and engage children in new media literacy skills while they learn traditional literacy skills. Amanda and Maria will discuss how they create a global classroom bulletin board where children’s learning is shared and enhanced by others around the world.

Attendees will become informed about
Blogs, wikis and twitter as learning tools in the early years classroom
Addressing specific Common Core standards
Young learners and the participatory culture
Collaborative classroom learning opportunities"

Google Apps for Education provides a free cross platform set of tools for educators. You can create Web sites, collect homework, manage student portfolios and much more. If your district has adopted GAfE or is thinking about it, then this session is for you. We will walk through real examples and best practices of how to utilize these tools in an educational setting. You do not have to have Google Apps for Education to join this session, but are curious about what it has to offer.

- Administrators will see a variety of ways to manage a Google Apps for Education Domain.
- Principals will learn how to introduce student directed digital portfolios to their staff.
- Teachers will learn how to achieve a paperless classroom that emphasizes student ownership of the work.

Social Networking services often get the bad rap of 'time-wasters' or distractors. Yet, there are many social networks built upon passion, kindness, transparency, sharing, and collaboration. This session will explore these positive human networks as they apply to educators. Participants will learn how educator networks are transforming practice through the development of Personal Learning Networks. They will learn the most commonly used tools and techniques to support teaching and learning through social media. And, perhaps most importantly, participants will leave with the capability to extend and enhance their learning about this vital topic beyond the duration of the workshop.

The recent explosion of social media and the connections that media allows have the ability to revolutionize classroom learning. Even primary students can be global learners and connect with people and classrooms outside of their building, city or country. We’ll discuss why you would want to do this, curriculum connections and the practicalities of how to make it work in YOUR classroom. You’ll leave with
• A list of tools that help young children to connect
• Ideas for using connections to enrich your curriculum
• Suggestions for choosing an effective blogging tool
• An online handout with the material from the presentation

Presentation Handout 

 

Research isn’t a solitary task confined to a library. Research happens every time we
grab our cell phones to answer a question or search for something. Despite being hyper connected to information, students need to learn how to find, evaluate and use that information in a variety of contexts. Explore how Instagram scavenger hunts, infographics
and expert group investigations can be used to get students researching to address the Common Core Standards.

Participants will:

Discuss the changing role of research in our lives.
Crowdsource ideas for using Instagram to teach informal research.
Explore how infographics combine research and digital media.
Brainstorm benefits of allowing students to become the “experts” and teach each other.

How large is the gap that truly exists between the real and ideal for learners? Are there ways to “tweak” (small shift) instruction that will enlist students as deep questioners, critical thinkers and effective problem-solvers (big impact)? What if we created a “Destination Postcard” of the ideal learner, and designed learning experiences from there? Join this Switch-inspired think-tank on lesson design and implementation strategies that empower students to think and act their way to the acquisition and connection of content while developing enduring learning dispositions. (Common Core Compatible)

Attendees will engage in discussion and consider activities designed to help educators:

• Consider content acquisition as a vehicle for learning (means not end).
• Develop learner-driven ways to leverage digital tools, environments and processes.
• Apply concepts from Switch (Chip & Dan Heath) to identify “small shift / big impact” possibilities in lesson (re)design.

Presentation Resources: http://bit.ly/ssbi13

Very few schools have the amount of technical support that they need and one of the most overlooked technical resources schools have is their students! If you have staff who are reluctant with technology, having students work as in class liaisons is a great way to bring the teacher along while empowering the kids. The student learns by teaching and the teacher learns by listening. In this session, we will cover a variety of examples of how this is accomplished where the students, staff and school all benefit.

Our young people LOVE the chance to create, connect and collaborate through different online tools. There are so many possibilities and ways to integrate these tools into the curriculum. This presentation will explore a variety of Web 2.0 tools and how they can be used to enhance the different strands within literacy: listening, reading, speaking, vocabulary, storytelling, writing, spelling, and poetry.
Shannon McClintock Miller will highlight several different Web 2.0 tools and provide examples of how they can be used in each of these strands.

You will walk away from this presentation ready to use a tool or two within each of these strands and armed to answer those questions with, "There's a Web 2.0 tool for that!"

Are you ready to turn education upside down? Perhaps you have tried a little Flip of your own and want to learn more. You might be beginning an investigation to discover what a Flipped Classroom is with the thought of possibly trying some kind of flip yourself. This is a must attend session before jumping in the air and doing a full flip. Together we will investigate and contemplate what might work best for specific classroom needs. You will leave with a better definition, resources to explore, and tools to begin your flip. Best of all, you will discover how to incorporate Bloom’s higher order thinking skills and blend the learning environment. You may just begin to Flip your idea of what Flipping really is!

Maria Knee and Amanda Marrinan have connected their classrooms for many years. It has been a powerful learning experience for Maria and Amanda as well as for their students. Learn how Maria’s students shared the making of maple syrup with Amanda’s students in Brisbane and how Maria’s students learned more about Australian animals from Amanda’s students. Maria and Amanda will share their learning journey and share opportunities for others to connect. Come learn about and explore opportunities that are available. We will discuss how this can work in your classroom and how to get started.

Attendees will learn:
Tools that help classrooms connect.
How to make this work in your classroom.
Projects, resources and ideas for learning together."

2.0 has been around for awhile. Yet, many of our schools have failed to fully embrace its potential to enhance learning.  Our profession is not notorious for rapid response – and it should be! In this session we will explore structures and curricular features and successful examples that schools can implement now!

Music is so important to all of us. And, for so many years, if one didn't catch the music instrument bug early (or frankly couldn't afford an instrument), you became a listener, not a participant. NOW..... STOP THE PRESSES! LISTEN! ANYONE CAN MAKE MUSIC! PROMISE! This workshop will focus on how digital technology has allowed us to have access to instruments and our own professional production studio. Also, we have easy access to a plethora of FREE online just-in-time lessons and tutorials. Now, from idea to having a song up on iTunes is a process now that can take a few hours (or less). Think about that! No longer do you need to worry about copyright issues (from using other people’s music) when your students are creating their own music. This will be a FUN and LOUD workshop. COME! Spend an hour with us and BECOME THE MUSICIAN YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE!

Uncovering information through inquiry is essential to common core learning. In this engaging and fast paced session you will explore search strategies that put students at the center of their search. Mike will guide you through five search engines as you practice using different search strategies and techniques with him. You will discover and explore search engines built on the basis of peer review, computation, readability indexes, social media (education style), and informational searches (advanced but simple). Perhaps you or your students may wish to build their own search engine. Learn some of Mike’s important search strategies that were recently featured in Alan November’s newest book, Who Owns The Learning. You will walk away with ideas and tools that will allow you to address the Common Core while putting students truly at the center.

With hundreds of thousands of apps it can be overwhelming to know which apps to download for your class. In this workshop, we’ll give you some of the essential tips for searching for apps for your classroom and share some of our favorites that will help you and your students create really awesome stuff! Come with your favorites, too, and build a collaborative list of good resources that we'll share with all. This will be a FUN and interactive workshop!

The research process needs to begin as early as Kindergarten. Students in early childhood grades are able to access databases, record their findings and collaborate on wikis. These early learners are so proud of their accomplishments and view themselves as capable researchers, beginning at the age of five. You will be amazed to view some of their products and hear testimonials from teachers who were reluctant to begin the research process in the primary grades.

Fast and easy collaboration is what makes Google tools an ideal learning environment. Gain knowledge as well as practical strategies to lead by example and make collaboration a natural way of learning in your Common Core school. If you are ready to move your school from content consumption to content creation and community building while developing more self-directed learners, this session is for you.

Attendees will:
-Learn about specific Google tools that provide an easy-to-use, integrated way for teachers and students to collaborate
-Explore practical workflow models for sharing and collecting assignments
-Participate in a collaborative activity that can be replicated in classrooms
-Discover how real-time collaboration, powerful sharing controls and seamless compatibility make learning more engaging and a teacher’s life easier

Garth and I have collaborated across two school districts, nearly thirty miles apart for the past seven years. That does not stop our students from learning together (virtually) everyday in the classroom, reflecting and refining their own websites with help of their blog buddies and working outside of school on projects such as Medieval Minecraft villages. This session is strictly about educational philosophy. We will walk you through our educational beliefs our creative process. Experience the “down and dirty” truth behind our collaboration. Our goal is that crowd participation and insightful questions will drive this presentation and create conversation that touches at the heart of teaching.
1. Constructivism
-What does it mean?
-Its place in a classroom
2. Collaborative Process
-Tools
-Re-imagine, Refine, redesign
-Implementation
-Reflection
3. Motivation
-Change from carrots to caring
4. Mastery
-From content to culture
-Using content to teach mastery of skills to empower learning, not knowledge

Reading Aware
Literacy for productive citizens...sharing tools/ideas to empower students.
The session will focus on reading as a means to encourage problem-finding, as a means to encourage service, and as a means to encourage literacy. Students in a high school novels course connected, blogged and created authentic projects inspired by their texts. Follow an English teacher’s journey to create a meaningful, rigorous course where technology empowers and homework is a gift students give.

For years, the November Learning team has promoted and educated tens of thousands of teachers and students on how to read the "grammar" of the Internet and apply simple strategies to validate information. In this session, participants will be taken deeper into this topic with a series of examples that demonstrate how you can address these same topics within your curriculum while also accounting for the Common Core State Standards.

Presentation Resources:

http://www.novemberlearning.com/resources

http://brianmull.wikispaces.com 

Tools such as classroom blogging, Skype calls and collaborative projects allow young learners to connect and learn from children who live far away. In addition, their classroom teachers can develop relationships that support their own learning. Come discover how you can connect and develop a classroom environment that spans time zones and empowers learners.

Attendees will become familiar with
Expanding learning opportunities by connecting classrooms
Tools to communicate, connect and learn.
Addressing specific Common Core standards.
The payoffs and the trade offs and what makes it work"

What are your questions or accomplishments for letting genuine inquiry lead student learning? An inquiry-based, collaborative workshop to explore effective ways for secondary teachers to incorporate open-ended, student-led inquiry effectively and creatively to unleash deeper learning. Inquiry is central to curriculum in an IB World School. Come for ideas from our classrooms, student and teacher resources, plus good online networks to tap into a community of inquiring teachers. We will create and post shared resources and ideas from the session.

Imagine teaching an advanced placement calculus class with strong achievement expectations. How would you ensure that students’ anxiety in high stakes AP level courses would not undermine their ability to reach their full potential and master challenging topics? In this session, Stacey will explain how, through pre-recording lessons and sending the teacher-driven lecture home, students can regain a voice in the classroom, transforming the classroom environment into a more calm, excited, inspiring atmosphere where learning can truly thrive.

In this session, you will learn:
• How a teacher can leverage technology to reduce student anxiety
• How a teacher can foster independent and resourceful learning using a flipped approach
• How to reclaim class time for individualization and differentiation in the flipped classroom

The Common Core State Standards ask students to build knowledge through research--through assessing the credibility of their reading, through synthesizing information form multiple sources, through responding critically to informational texts, through supporting an argument with solid evidence. How can teachers and librarians work together to unpack the CCSS and inspire learning? Joyce, Michelle, and Shannon share their collaborative experiences K-12, followed by a CCSS Smackdown!

Over 80% of our brains are used interpreting visuals. It seems a waste not to take advantage this powerful channel into the minds of our students. What sorts of ways can a single image be used to tell stories and explore complex ideas in Math, Science, Language Arts or Languages classroom? What could we do with a series of pictures? How can we do this beyond the time and space of the classroom walls and have our students generate a bank of powerful visuals to inspire future students to create even more powerful learning imagery? What’s the best way to get stuff off the kids mobile devices and shared publically so our students learn while making a contribution to the global knowledge commons? We’ll touch on how all this feeds the essential 21st Century skills of Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking and Global Citizenship.

Bring your camera enabled mobile device. We’re gonna use it. And show you how to take better pictures in the process.

Need help getting started with technology integration in your classroom? In a world filled with BYOD, apps and “100 best” lists, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Join Mike and Garth as we discuss the three essential tools for technology integration. No matter what the device, subject or experience level, you can use these three tools to go from beginner to teacher-leader. GoogleDocs, Skype and student-created blogs are the essential technology tools needed to create your classroom window-to-the-world. Just three tools, that’s it! We promise no lists, rapid fire explanations or a myriad of downloads. We will discuss the philosophy and practicality of each tool through real-world examples. Actual teachers, actual success stories and a common sense approach to technology will allow you to leave this session ready to tackle technology in the new school year.

All learners want to showcase their learning for a wide audience and obtain feedback beyond the teacher’s comments. There are safe and effective ways to do this. We’ll look at age-appropriate tools and apps that can be used to demonstrate the learning of the elementary students in your classroom.
You will leave with
• A model for using digital portfolios in your classroom
• Examples of effective digital portfolios
• Ideas for age-appropriate tools to demonstrate learning
• An online handout of materials from the presentation

Presentation Handouts


 

Views from a number of school leaders in US/UK/France/Russia/ Netherlands attending BLC (Superintendents, school principals, STEM teachers, GTEC project leaders and GTEC Ambassadors from the US, Russia, UK, France, Netherlands). A discussion of the challenges from the variety perspectives of educators from different educational systems (re: implementing Global STEM education programs) and about how we can realistically develop collaborative programs across geographies and cultures.  While Global collaboration in STEM sounds like the perfect answer to developing student and teacher skills, this is still not so easy to implement in our schools (in US and around the world). Participants will learn more about different challenges in the various educational systems and how develop appropriate collaborative programs for different schools and countries. The legendary Dr. Charlie Pellerin (NASA Hubble Telescope) (and a GTEC Advisor) will be joining us via Skype & speak about NASA 4D system and our collaborative efforts bringing it to the educators around the world with GTEC team. GTEC team members and teachers & students from global school partners will be co-presenting these sessions.

Dennis Yarmouth Hign School, S.Yarmouth, US http://dy-regional.k12.ma.us/dennis-yarmouth-regional-high-school

Finham Park Math & Computing High School in Coventry, UK http://www.finhampark.co.uk/

Schkola Lycei Vtoraia Schola High School in Moscow, Russia http://www.sch2.ru/

Het 4E Gymnasium in Amsterdam, Netherlands http://www.het4egymnasium.nl/

Rene-Cassin High School, Ballan-Mire, France http://clg-rene-cassin-ballan-mire.tice.ac-orleans-tours.fr/eva/

Google and Apple don’t always play well together. In this session I will show you ways to leverage Google Apps for Education tools such as Google Docs, Presentations, Forms, Mail, Tasks and Sites, on your iPad. We will look at both Google created Apps and third party Apps that help the two to get along. Whether you are teaching with 1 iPad in the classroom or you are in a 1 to 1 iPad setting, you will come away from this workshop with ideas for ways to:
Go paperless
Collect assignments
Sync your email
Give feedback
Share files
Collect data

This session will describe the structure, available resources, and pedagogy for creating a High School computer science elective that teaches students how to build Apps for Apple's iOS. It is based on a course that was successfully pioneered in 2011-2012, and continues today. The presenter is the course's current instructor, who does not have a degree in computer science, and who will demonstrate that a degree in computer science is not necessary for a successful offering of this course. Some topics to be covered include but are not limited to the following:
-Apple's SDK and Xcode;
-Dealing with the Apple Developer issue with the HS age group;
-Getting to the documentation with Dash;
-Using Stack Overflow;
-Using iTunesU in conjunction with iBooks materials;
-Introducing a business model to student development teams;
-Vetting the professional literature, from sources such as Big Nerd Ranch, and O'Reilly Media.

Learn how technology can help meet the goals of the Common Core. We will share lessons, projects and key technologies that we have used with students. The presentation will focus on language arts, but the ideas can be applied to other subject areas. Learn how technology can motivate students to meet the goals of the common core.
Core Curriculum Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.7.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.8 Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources

Most educators would agree that students' literacy is crucial to their academic success - and a great way to promote literacy across all strands is with the use engaging iPad apps. This presentation will explore a variety of iPad apps and how they can be used to enhance the different strands within literacy: listening, reading, speaking, vocabulary, storytelling, writing, spelling, and poetry. Shannon McClintock Miller will discuss in depth why she likes each app and provides examples of how they can be used in the classroom. You will walk away from this presentation ready to use an app or two within each of these strands. Get ready to have some fun with apps!

"Young learners are active, curious and motivated. Their learning environment should be filled with concrete and hands-on opportunities that engage them and inspire learning. Just as wooden blocks, Unifix cubes and water colors are tools used to explore and develop concepts, digital tools, such as netbooks, iPads, Roamer Robots, video cameras and interactive whiteboards can also enhance the learning in a primary classroom. Learn how digital tools support a learning environment that motivates students to be active, independent and reflective learners.

Attendees will:
Look inside a technology rich kindergarten classroom
Hear student reflections about their learning
Gain techniques for setting up and managing the learning environment
Have an opportunity to discuss and ask questions.
"

Literacy for productive citizens...sharing tools/ideas to reveal student genius.

Digital technologies can amplify contemplation and create meaningful conversation offering opportunity for choice and for voice. Strategies to support learning, to encourage deep thinking and to reveal understanding will be shared along with examples for implementation. The assignment/the assessment can and should allow for creativity. Participate and experiment during the session: backchannels, screencasts, photography

This presentation will describe the dynamic nature of student aspirations and the ways in which student voice has been turned into action across the country in states like Ohio, New Hampshire, Montana, and Texas, and internationally in the United Kingdom. 
Dr. Quaglia will share the conditions that need to be in place so that every student regardless of age or background can reach their fullest potential. This presentation will share data from over 800,000 students who have participated in the My Voice Survey.  Such data have implications regarding how schools are organized, the role of educators, and how we are assessing students. The presentation will also provide an understanding of the importance of student voice and how it can be used proactively in school reform initiatives designed to increase academic standards and in the overall develop of healthy productive citizens.

How can we encourage young learners to develop their global voice? How do we encourage elementary aged students to become authors and creators of their own digital content? How do we use the legacy of children’s learning in inform, guide and enhance our instruction of future students? This workshop explores digital tools (both through the use if the iPad and through the use of Web 2.0 tools) to create opportunities for young learners to contribute to the world of learning.

The research on comprehension instruction indicates that active readers who think as they read
use a variety of strategies-they ask questions, determine importance, synthesize information
and connect what they are learning to what they already know. These same strategies are
essential for students to turn information into knowledge when using technology. Designed for
educators who desire to move beyond device specific or single-purpose, skill-focused apps, this
session will focus on how a limited number of tools can transform learning as students become
inspired by audience and authentic feedback, connect with classrooms and experts around the
globe, and create projects previously unimaginable. The session will:
 marry best practice instructional strategies with current digital tools and practices
 address social media, digital publishing, student creation, reflection and cross-grade,
cross-school, cross-global collaboration
 offer specifics in supporting students to read with a critical eye and a skeptical stance as
they navigate and evaluate digitalsources
 provide a variety of ways to help their students engage in research and investigation
that spark local, as well as global learning,right from their own classrooms

Imagine the difference between the vision of 1:1 compared to 1:World.  The real revolution is not that every student has a digital device.    The real revolution is access to massive amounts of information and people (teamwork) around the world.   In 1:World thinking the emphasis on staff development shifts from technical training to the classroom management skills of a globally connected classroom. 

How do teachers manage their own continuous improvement?

How do we build powerful communities of educators who are sharing best practices?

How do we empower students to manage unlimited and constantly exploding sources of (very good and very bad) information?

How do we teach students to connect globally for a wide range of collaborative work?

How do we balance the political expectations of standard assessments with the opportunity to be innovative and creative?

How do we engage the whole family in the education process?

While a one word change does not guarantee improvement, it can give your school community a clear vision of where we are headed.  

Tools such as embedded quizzes, callout boxes and hotspots can be useful in creating a more interactive experience for students watching instructional videos. In this session, Stacey will explain what these tools are and how they can be applied to create a more engaged learning environment. Among the topics discussed will be how pre-assessments help set the tone for full-class discussion and aid in grouping students and how callout boxes and hotspots draw student attention to key concepts and provide a visual clue to important talking points.

In this session, you will learn:
• How self-assessment quizzes boost student productivity by providing feedback of comprehension and areas to review immediately
• How embedded quizzes provide teachers a quick snapshot of areas that need attention and one-on-one work
• How to help students flag essential concepts from the lecture using callout boxes and hotspots

Online feedback among peers who know one another is effective. Studies have shown that students can be more comfortable with and adept at critiquing and editing written work if it is exchanged over a computer network with students they know. According to Hattie and Timperley, “…feedback is information with which a learner can confirm, add to, overwrite, tune or restructure.’ With an abundance of cheaper tablets, laptops and phones, the ‘student’ has never been more connected. Teachers have a mandate to make use of this technology to enhance feedback for all learners.

This session looks at the theory of feedback and how technology can provide quality feedback in a quick and meaningful way. It demonstrates ways that technology can be used to enhance feedback, providing students with immediate feedback that can be saved, reflected upon and used as future reference when needed."

This presentation will demonstrate the use of various programs including: Wikis, Blogs, Voicethread, Google Apps, Podcasts/Vodcast, Quia as well as various iPad applications. It will also discuss a global project between a class from Australia and the United States and show how students communicated and provided feedback throughout the task.

How can educators integrate Project Based Learning and 21st century skills into STEM education? Even if you only teach just one subject, you can still incorporate STEM and PBL into your classroom. Are you a member of an interdisciplinary team or planning group? ...then it gets even better! Discover dozens of engaging online programs and opportunities that allow STEM and PBL to push your students’ creativity and innovation. The results will be a PBL educational experience that will rev up student engagement and inquiry…full STEM... or should we say... STEAM ahead! View several brief demonstrations of software and take a tour of some amazing web sites. Learn from practicing educator Michael Gorman, who was named STEM Educator of the Year by the Indiana US Air Force Association, an Indiana Teacher of the Year Semi-finalist, a BIE National Faculty Member, and a facilitator for the Siemens Discovery Education National STEM Academy. Walk away with resources that will allow for a real partnership between STEM and PBL!Best of all discover how the new Common Core makes PBL and STEM a perfect 21st century learning opportunity. Join Mike in a session that promises to be an exciting PBL entry event giving participants ideas and content they can use tomorrow!

The Common Core Speaking and Listening Standards demand careful evaluation and integration of information presented in diverse media and formats. Learn how to scaffold success for your middle school students as they sharpen their skills for analyzing main ideas and details, analyzing the purpose of information, and evaluating the motives behind a presentation. Sharpen your own media literacy tools as we practice these skills together!

Do you wish you had more time for project based learning? The shift from breadth to
depth in the Common Core Standards creates more opportunities for students to explore real-world problems and challenges, understand the relevance of what they are learning, and pursue their passions. Learn to leverage technology and social media to empower students, facilitate collaboration and inspire creativity.

Participants will:

Explore project based learning.
Collaborate with other attendees to design a PBL assignment to use with students.
Discuss how Web 2.0 tools and social media can be used to connect students to each other and experts.
Identify the multiple Standards addressed with this single project structure.

Literacy for productive citizens...sharing tools/ideas to empower creative writers across contents.
The session will focus on using digital technologies to inspire and enhance writing. Participants in the session will explore the endless opportunity for inspiration through exploration of various design, image, creation and publishing tools. The learning experiences, connected to the core, will highlight writing projects teachers can adapt and can repurpose to foster creativity while revealing content understanding.

The Innovative Technology in Science Inquiry (ITSI) project prepares diverse students for careers in information technologies by engaging them in exciting, inquiry-based science projects that use computational models and real-time data acquisition. ITSI has produced dozens of activities in elementary, middle and high school science using a range of commercial sensors as well as open source or research-based models.

Teachers can customize ITSI science inquiry activities easily to fit their classrooms and engage their local communities using the web-based interface. All activities are embedded in software that allows students to read the activity, answer questions, make predictions and collect data, analyze results, run a computer-based model, take and annotate snapshots of that model, and save their work within one application. It also allows the collection of formative and summative assessment data, which is available to the teachers.
This workshop will allow you to try out the activities and see how they would fit in your school. Project materials are free and available online.

Each year the amount of published information continues to expand at a staggering pace. From books and periodicals to web-based content, it's easy for teachers to get lost in this information explosion. How can we discover engaging resources that move the textbook as the focus while putting students at the center? What tools allow teachers and students to view and archive relevant information that helps them to understand new content? Join us as we explore a new category of web-based tools-tools for curating information-and see how these tools can help both teachers and students align with the new Common Core.

Monte Vista was the world's first adopter of iPads, placing them in the classroom the day of their sale, in April 2010, and has continued with a current 1:1 program for all students, 6th through 12th grade, teachers, administrators and a large part of the support staff. We have hosted visitors from states across the country, as well as representatives from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China and Japan. We have also hosted 5 iPad conferences, with 2 more to come in this school year. This session will be a story of that journey, from its beginning to the present, with an honest evaluation of our successes and failures, and the leadership that has kept us going forward. The purpose of the session is to give schools who are considering an iPad program some valuable insights to help launch their own programs.

Presentation Resources:

http://www.novemberlearning.com/resources

http://brianmull.wikispaces.com 

The iPhone, your iPod, and the iPad once were considered NON creative devices because one couldn't really create anything on these devices. Well, ITS NOT TRUE! Not only can you create an unlimited variety of things, we use them as (very) portable production studios!  You can use these tools to  document leaning at your school!  We can plan, produce, edit, and showcase a movie ALL DONE FROM my mobile devices. This WILL REVOLUTIONIZE LEARNING! In this session, we'll look at the different applications that can make this happen from cool planning tools, to amazing production resources, to powerful editing apps, and finally to our names on a marquee.Using the tools you have access to, whether it’s audio, video or photography, come learn how to collect evidence of learning in your classroom and how to share it with the world!

Learn how teachers around the world are empowering students and improving writing outcomes as they move to digital work environments with Google Apps for Education. At the Manaiakalani cluster in New Zealand, the Richland 2 district in South Carolina, and the Science Leadership Academy in Pennsylvania, educators are transforming pedagogy supported by Google’s free productivity, collaboration and social media tools, coupled with Hapara’s Teacher Dashboard for knowledge and classroom management. Hear how these emerging models of teaching and learning with cloud-based tools are enabling teachers to move the needle on student empowerment, student achievement, and perhaps most significantly, student joy.

Online learning will become a normal feature of high school experience before we know it but, unlike at the university level, it is still quite new for secondary schools. Come learn of our experience with offering online courses for several years as part of the IB Diploma Programme in an IB World School. Perspectives from students, online teachers and the school administration about the challenges, problems, promise and excitement of being part of global digital classrooms. Please come to share your experience with online learning of any kind or to learn more about effective online learning for high school kids.

In a word or two you remember the whole story: glass slipper, sour grapes, cold porridge. You remember more than the facts (a step mother & two step sisters, an absent father, a godmother) you remember the relationships and deeper connections between the characters (nasty step mom & sisters, warm but lonely friendships with the animals in the house, a dream of a better life).

The challenge for teachers and students is not to find problems but to find stories. Powerful narratives, in a word or two, bring to mind a wealth of ideas and relationships; more than just facts. How can we find the stories that make our teaching sticky? How do we help kids find, and more importantly tell, the stories that make their learning sticky?

We’ll look at some strong examples and send you on your way with a toolkit of ideas and practices to make teaching & learning sticky in your class.

Of all the creative industries, the ad industry is probably the best known for its use of provocation to stick ideas in our minds and compel us into action. What would happen if we harnessed provocation for learning? Well, it's actually part of what we know makes learning great already, one of the core ingredients to make the difference between students being taught science or learning how to be scientists, being taught about language or being taught to become writers.
At the end of this session, participants will: - have an understanding of why provocation is a core part of both creative and critical thinking - see how the planning of student-owned learning depends upon strong, provocative exploratory topics - learn about different approaches to planning topics that tightly map curriculum but which offer freedom of choice in the students' learning journey.

This session will be presented by GTEC international team and the US school administrators, teachers and students. We will explore what really works and what does not from the perspective of the students and the teachers. The effectiveness of the existing web-based collaboration tools for a virtual community, student teamwork in STEM education and the acquisition of 21st century skills and mapping of the GTEC STEM programs to the National Standards will be discussed. We will provide  recommendations for the US and international educational community on the applicability of these tools for educational collaborative projects - both from the students’ and the teachers’ perspectives. We will discuss the opportunities that virtual labs provide for developing global STEM teamwork classroom programs and offer examples of professional collaborative tools.  We will also review the perspective of STEM employment & workforce development professionals (re: STEM skills & workforce readiness). The participants of innovative and rigorous Global STEM program will share their experience in joint international projects implemented under the GTEC umbrella. 8th and 9th graders of Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School worked with schools in UK, France and Russia on various GTEC STEM projects such as NASA space exploration, astronomy investigations, world-wide clean water research, and methods of data visualization and etc.

Dennis Yarmouth Hign School, S.Yarmouth, US http://dy-regional.k12.ma.us/dennis-yarmouth-regional-high-school

Finham Park Math & Computing High School in Coventry, UK http://www.finhampark.co.uk/

Schkola Lycei Vtoraia Schola High School in Moscow, Russia http://www.sch2.ru/

Het 4E Gymnasium in Amsterdam, Netherlands http://www.het4egymnasium.nl/

Rene-Cassin High School, Ballan-Mire, France http://clg-rene-cassin-ballan-mire.tice.ac-orleans-tours.fr/eva/

If you still think that Twitter is only a tool used to keep connected with friends or with happenings around the world, you could be missing out on greater opportunities to help students expand the boundaries of their learning. In this session, participants will find out how Twitter can help students collaboratively solve problems, search out alternative perspective on global issues and gain further insight to information they have found online.

Presentation Resources:

http://www.novemberlearning.com/resources

http://brianmull.wikispaces.com 

Session Description
Children are born researchers-­from a very young age they are questioning ­EVERYTHING. How do we foster children’s natural curiosity so that they become mindful researchers? How do we facilitate young students’ research so that they can arrive at and demonstrate new learning? In this workshop, we will examine how to create mindful researchers at the lower grades, how to help them demonstrate their learning as they research, and how to publish and share what they know. Additionally, we will identify how doing this aligns with the Common Core Standards and how to create mindful researchers across the curriculum.

In this session, participants will:
● Identify strategies for empowering K­4 students to ask meaningful questions
● Identify methods for collecting research in grades K­4
● Discuss how to assist young learners in synthesizing their research, continue to question and research, and then arrive at a new understanding
● Examine how students can share and publish their new learning in a variety of mediums
● Discuss how developing mindful researchers can benefit learning across curriculum and meet Common Core Standards

Teachers are not afraid of technology. Teachers are not afraid of change. Teachers are afraid of the failure that can come along with technology and change . In the age of high-­stakes testing and performance-­relatedpay, teachers are afraid to take risks in their teaching and create a dynamic classroom that will benefit student learning and progress. In this session, we will explore how we can help teachers overcome their fear of failing and embrace change in instructional practice and use of technology. We will discuss strategies for creating a community of risk­ takers who are willing to give students control of their learning, get messy, and learn from failures rather than avoid them.

In this session participants will:
● Discuss the role of administrators as leaders in change, facilitators of overcoming fear, and cheerleader in risk taking
● Identify strategies for creating an environment where failure is a temporary side effect of change and taking risks is welcomed when helping students become independent learners
● Understand the significance of modeling risk taking, embracing failures and allowing students to navigate their learning
● Discuss ways to celebrate and share teachers’ students’ success and learning.
● Understand the need for creating a welcoming forum, such as Twitter or Edmodo, where teachers can passively share successes, post questions, share resources and collaborate

Attend this session and explore an array of useful apps and resources that will keep you up to speed as a busy administrator implementing Common Core. You'll leave with a toolkit of apps that will get you through a full day of productivity.

“Bueller?
Bueller? Bueller?” Lecture alone is ineffective whether it is live or online. So, the challenge with the flipped classroom model is to engage students around the content in a dynamic way. Then class time can be used to create learning communities where students
communicate, collaborate and create! Given the myriad tools at our fingertips, this is becoming easier to do!


Participants
will:

Discuss strategies for flipping and engaging students online.
Explore online resources that can be used to flip instruction (i.e. TED-Ed, virtual field trips, etc.)
Crowdsource favorite websites for media, resources, and information.
Brainstorm ideas for extending learning in class with student-centered activities.

Imagine teaching an advanced placement calculus class with strong achievement expectations. How would you ensure that you are able to address each student’s questions, concerns and comprehension levels in a difficult subject? In this session, Stacey will explain how using the flipped model and iPads have changed her student’s learning environment. Outcomes include increased comprehension, reduced anxiety levels and grade improvements without increased homework or class time.

In this session, you will learn:
• How one teacher flipped her AP Calculus class
• How iPads can be used for student-created video content
• How to better connect with students’ individual learning through the flipped model

"Principals have incredible influence on building their school’s learning community. Start the change process in your schools tomorrow with the knowledge gained in this workshop. In the hour, building leaders will:

*Discuss five components of creating a culture of change in regards to technology integration.
*Learn how to determine what components are missing that leave teachers feeling confused, anxious, or frustrated.
*Discuss plans to effectively prevent false starts or increase the rate of change among teachers.
*Examine visionary practices for learning design that demonstrate the seamlessness of optimum technology integration.
*Learn quick and easy tools to master as a building leader which demonstrate effective technology integration as a priority."