Some Final Thoughts...

ISTE 2012 in San Diego was a very good conference. The weather was great, the food was great, and I learned some new things. In addition to the new things learned, I found many things that challenged my thinking or caused me to see from a different frame of reference. Most notably, was Tuesday’s keynote by Dr. Zhao. The whole idea that the true power in the American education system is innovation or creativity was a new perspective for me. It seems strange to me that other nations are trying to duplicate the “innovation” part of our system when all we generally hear about is the failures of our schools. Is it possible that all of this “high stakes assessment” is actually having a negative impact on the thing (innovation) where our students are world leaders? Clearly we need to investigate further so that we can be sure that our instruction has the highest level of rigor AND innovation possible.

Another final thought. I was a little concerned when I set up the blog. I wasn't sure how it would be received or how well it would work in the conference center. Looking back at it now, I’ve got to say… I’m very impressed with how it all came out. Everyone did a great job of blogging about sessions. The comments are also very good. I find that when you look at the blog as a whole, you get a good sense of the themes and value of the ISTE conference. Thanks to everyone for posting.

Jerry springer joined us in San Diego

SMART community learners

Students were exposed to Smart board lessons starting in kindergarten. Now in high school some of the students were offered a training in Smart and received their Smart certification. Although this was presented at high school level, when talking to the presenter he agreed that upper elementary students could create lessons. One idea was to ask students to take a lesson already taught that was not interactive and create their own interactive lesson or jigsaw the class, have them learn their content then make an interactive lesson to present.

Virtual field trips

Students first study and research subject matter using library, Internet, and then if possible interview a professional. The table is visited the students created their own School Safari. They researched animals using the library and the Internet, then they went to the zoo and interviewed zookeepers. From there they made a video to share this virtual field trip with others. Their presentation is bilingual! Great concept that could be used in different subjects. This would be a great way to use our community resources and partners in education.

DigitiZing Math Metacognition

This lecture was about ways to increase students' math problem solving skills through digital devices.

The presenter is from Illinois - I was meant to be here! I might I say, she was an absolutely captivating presenter!! I will be low on notes for this post as I was sucked in to her fabulous ideas. I've attached a photo with her info....this is place that I will frequent. I want to be a student in her class!!

Discussion highlights:
ways to help students find the path to the answer using technology.

Modeling Metacognition through videos
Differentiation through technology
Flipping the classroom
Shifting from teacher centered to student centered
Screen casting your lessons
Exit tickets using google forum
Using Skype to discuss math solutions to shared problems
Dan Meyer
Authentic math inquiry

Encouraged the use of FaceTime for the students to converse across states, globally.

Math academics
Mentor mob

Edmodo - silent discussions, feels safer to say things. Differentiated safe way to assignments

I am so pleased I went to this discussion!

George....Ignite 2012

Here we go! 1) if you go back and do nothing things will not get any better and may get worse. 2) digital delivery, gamification, customization, providing choice, rapid innovation and adaption, use brain science, employ open source, move to succes based education, move to test when ready methodology, 3) we are educators...we start from what we know and we move from there...we scaffold. What does your behavior say about your belief in the use of technology. Www.techwithintent.com 4) text compactor. Free website where ou can paste in text and then condense it to its essentials...it becomes dynamically written. Great use for Sped and other struggling readers.....this is good 5) Invisible Hearts Project. Collecting pictures of students who are committed to anti-bullying by making a heart out of your hands...great project check out website invisible heart 6) remind 101. Communicate safely with students Free apps through educreations 7) design thinking. Use the process to help problem solve and develop solutions to issues. Google design thinking 8) students would fill in the sheets. Now I just tell them what do waves do and they need to figure that out! EdTechInnovators. 9) Use Technology as a thinking tool. Voice thread...stay inspired. You can't inspire if you are not inspired. Fable vision Another great session lots of cool ideas....stuff to think about On the four hour plane ride home!

NR. Ignite

Give permission to play but be responsible to participate and contribute.

Resources for struggling readers
Simple wikipedia
Text compactor - text copy and paste to scale amount of text

Social Media- Invisible Hearts Project - students collaborate to send positive messages

Remind 101 - free texting tool
Educreations - white board flip lessons
Classconnect - all resources stored and shared
Design thinking - challenges and resources framed to generate ideas and develop a prototype - edutopia

See technology as a thinking tool
Students need a connection to an audience

Stay inspired, get out of your comfort zone!