Keynote Speaker
Fred Boss
An art teacher in De La Salle College, Dundalk for 18 years with a passion for integrating technology across the school and in the classroom, Fred has been seconded, for about 5 years, to the Continuing Professional Development Initiative with the National Centre for Technology in Education. He uses Twitter extensively with the handle @fboss and only last year initiated an online discussion for Irish educators using the hashtag #edchatIE which was nominated as a finalist for the best Twitter hashtag in 2011.
Cut the FAT: Formative Assessments with Technology
Amanda Krolikowski & Aaron Dawdy
In the educational realm of standardized testing, data-driven instruction, and differentiation, teachers encounter the challenge of assisting all learners in the 21st century classroom. Monitoring student progress is essential through formative assessments as students seek to reach their personal and academic goals. Utilizing technology such as social media and blogs, teachers can help students track their progress in creative and constructive ways.
Visible Thinking: Opening the Door to Your Students' Minds
Meagan McGrath & Melissa Gorsegner
As the name suggests, the basic strategy is to make thinking visible in the context of learning. Visible thinking includes a large number of classroom routines which help students to develop thinking skills and deepen their content learning. Educators involved in visible thinking seek ways to uncover and document students thinking so it can be discussed, reflected upon, and pushed further. During this workshop, we will introduce the ideas behind Cultures of Thinking and get a chance to explore some visible thinking routines.
Providing Colleagues with Non-Threatening Professional Development
Amanda Hamilton & Dana Schwarzkopf
How do we encourage teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms? Have you provided professional development for your staff that you would like to share with others? What has been successful and why? Many teachers want to use technology in their classrooms but are nervous, feel they do not know enough about it, and do not know how to find it. In this session we will share and collaborate ideas for presenting technology to our colleagues without overloading them and scaring them away.
3, 2, 1 Backup: Backup Strategies
Brent Zeise
Nothing lasts forever, especially digital information. Learning how to manage your personal library of digital memories, from pictures to videos to important documents can be problematic for many of us. Understanding changing computing technologies, limitations of storage media, and what new options the Cloud brings us is critical in this day and age. This presentation will address these issues and offer suggestions on how to manage your digital archive.
Gear Up For Google: Google Applications for Your Classroom
Bob LaRocque & Katie Anderson
BYODevice to this fabulously interactive presentation as we take you on a virtual tour of the Google Application Suite. We will be focusing our limited time together on Google Docs, Forms, and Maps. Get ready for some quick interactive tips on how to use these extremely helpful apps in your very own classroom!
Digistories: Digital Storytelling For the Classroom
Angela Marocco & Mary Ewald
Do your students have writer’s block? Could your students benefit from having more than just pencil and paper? If so, then digital storytelling is the workshop for you! Bring your own device and get ready see stories come alive! Digital storytelling allows your students’ projects to be enhanced with photos, audio, video, animation and much more. Our team will introduce and model digital storytelling tools that can be applied to multiple classroom settings, no matter what content area. This workshop will give you the opportunity to personally explore storytelling tools, with guidance along the way. You will leave this session with the knowledge and skills necessary to start incorporating digital storytelling in your classroom today!
Ugh...Portfolios?
Sarah Dennewitz & Mary Worrell
What do ongoing reflection, authentic audiences and student ownership have in common? Portfolios can be living pieces of student learning rather than dusty boxes in the back of a classroom. Bring your devices to this hands-on workshop to learn about the role of portfolios in learning and how digital methods can transform this once-tired piece of record keeping. We will explore portfolio examples and dig into tools your students can use to document their learning in all subject areas.
Different Students, Different Abilities...DIFFERENTiation
Julie Heintz
In our classrooms, we often have a range of abilities, knowledge, and motivation. How can we vary our teaching in order to reach as many of our students as possible? There will be a general overview of differentiation, and then I’ll delve into the various ways you can differentiate in your class! I will demonstrate specific ways with and without technology or with limited resources.