A back channel for St Vrain
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guybrarian posted from the web
Bud says post here for reflection- what did you learn, what did you do, what do you want to do next. not too many words please (paragraph or two) right?
guybrarian posted from the web
Complete this by July 15
guybrarian posted from the web
Marcie says July 16th
Mary Graziani posted from the web
thanks phil - I was hoping someone would write that down!
Sheilah Smith posted from the web
Reflection, Part 1: I have been immersed in professional development so far this summer with having spent 8 days at Learning Services with Adaptive Schools and Cognitive Coaching classes. This saturation continued at ISTE, but this time, I created the professional development activities for myself. As one speaker stated, "Community is the new staff development". Need help using Jing? Ask one of the people you follow on Twitter and receive the answer between (or during) sessions. Stop by the Blogging Cafe to discuss last week's posting on assessment with the actual person who wrote it. Professional Development is no longer a first Wednesday Late Start event. Be ready for is here when you need it 24/7.
Sheilah Smith posted from the web
Be ready for is here when you need it 24/7. Using my glasses, it should read: Be ready for IT is here when you need it 24/7.
monique berube posted from a guest
This has been an amazing experience. It started out scary and overwhelming, but finished with a bang. I got great tools, insights, and discussions from the entire event. I especially like the collaboration I did with my collegues and others from the conference. I feel more empowered to incorporate the technology in my practice, but I also internalized more deeply the concept that doing the same old thing, but using tech tools isn’t the way to prepare our students.
Our closing keynote speaker, Jeff Piontek, said “There’s no longer an excuse not to know how.” That is so true. We can really have the answers 24/7 and fairly quickly too. It just means we need to access it and not be afraid to do so. He also said: “If you’re all paddling the same boat and going the same place, we’ll get there faster.” “Keep on communicating and collaborating, keep pushing ahead.” “If you start a project, finish it. Start small and it’ll go further and further.” All that resonates with me as well. There is no reason to push ahead and to continue in his entreaty, “Our job is to nourish their dreams and to give them the tools to accomplish them.Tread on them softly because their dreams are our future.”
I’m looking forward to perusing all the conference catchers my colleagues have posted and to gleam from your ears, eyes, and hands more knowledge when I’m ready to be filled with more. That is also an aspect of this experience that I consider very valuable and does exactly what the many presenters at this conference reitarated over and over: communicate and collaborate!
Our closing keynote speaker, Jeff Piontek, said “There’s no longer an excuse not to know how.” That is so true. We can really have the answers 24/7 and fairly quickly too. It just means we need to access it and not be afraid to do so. He also said: “If you’re all paddling the same boat and going the same place, we’ll get there faster.” “Keep on communicating and collaborating, keep pushing ahead.” “If you start a project, finish it. Start small and it’ll go further and further.” All that resonates with me as well. There is no reason to push ahead and to continue in his entreaty, “Our job is to nourish their dreams and to give them the tools to accomplish them.Tread on them softly because their dreams are our future.”
I’m looking forward to perusing all the conference catchers my colleagues have posted and to gleam from your ears, eyes, and hands more knowledge when I’m ready to be filled with more. That is also an aspect of this experience that I consider very valuable and does exactly what the many presenters at this conference reitarated over and over: communicate and collaborate!
sue ahlberg posted from the web
Sue Ahlberg Reflecting. Ditto and loved what Moniqiue just said above!. I am fortunate to get to work and collaborate with Monique and 7 others from CRMS that attended the ISTE conference. Having time to talk about technology during carpooling time and sitting in lines for sessions with colleagues is just as valuable as attending a session. Alan November's session was really interesting and thought provoking. He feels that what american children need most of all is "empathy". They need to learn to collaborate and work together while showing cultural sensitivity. Of course, the whole conference really encouraged this global perspective and I am inspired to incorporate this idea more wholistically in my teaching. I learned so many new tools and ways to use tools that I already am familiar with. I feel more confident that my students will become better researchers and digital citizens because of my gleanings from this conference. I am also inspired to learn more about asistive technology for our students with special needs. Accomodations for these students in many cases don't seem very innovative and I think we can do better. I.m looking forward to trying out the new sites from Tammy's Tips and Tricks and new Google applications. Great Conference.
David Baker posted from the web
ISTE provided me an opportunity to challenge my personal use of technology and expand my thinking about how to change the classroom/teacher usesmoving forward. I learned so much from presenters and participants. The presenters mainly challenged my thinking about the uses of technology. The participants suppported some of my current practices and helped me refine or extend my current uses. This included new ways to use my iPhone , computer, video and audio digital tool to help the teachers I am working with refine their practice.
The presenters pointed out that in many ways we are using technology to mimic activities that are similar to pencil/paper tasks or thinking. I am now thinking more about the idea that students are the producers of knowledge rather than just passive consumers. One example from the last day that illustrates this theme was the use of videography to produce historical vingettes for an audience such as a museum. The advice to let the students show us uses while we help them with valuable content. Another idea was to use Twitter to help goverment students to use the tech. tool to interact with legislators on topics of policy. This created a real opportunity for research, persuasive writing, advocacy, synthesis and a range of higher order 21st century skills. I saw ideas for exploring lines and slope in real objects. Science presented similar opportunities.
The presenters pointed out that in many ways we are using technology to mimic activities that are similar to pencil/paper tasks or thinking. I am now thinking more about the idea that students are the producers of knowledge rather than just passive consumers. One example from the last day that illustrates this theme was the use of videography to produce historical vingettes for an audience such as a museum. The advice to let the students show us uses while we help them with valuable content. Another idea was to use Twitter to help goverment students to use the tech. tool to interact with legislators on topics of policy. This created a real opportunity for research, persuasive writing, advocacy, synthesis and a range of higher order 21st century skills. I saw ideas for exploring lines and slope in real objects. Science presented similar opportunities.
Laurel Beeken posted from a guest
Reflection. At first I was really impressed by the variety of options and sessions available at ISTE, but after attending the conference, unfortunately I feel a little let down. I think what I was really looking for were sessions that sent me out the door with new ideas that I could apply to my classroom right away. I only attended a few sessions that did this (Mash Media w/ Hall Davidson and the birds of a feather session for language teachers to mention the ones that stand out the most). The majority of the other sessions I attended did present great ideas and concepts to think about (like empathy and global learning), but I didn't feel that I came out of these sessions knowing much more than I already did. After conferences, I always feel a renewed sense of why I enjoy being in the classroom and I am energized to apply what I have learned with my students. This is no different with ISTE. I will actually be on leave in the fall and was hoping to create some virtual lessons for my kids, and now I think I have more of a handle on how to do that and how to integrate really fun technology resources into my lessons. For this alone, ISTE was worth it to me!
Jayme Margolin-Sneider posted from the web
Jayme Margolin-Sneider reflection - This ISTE conference was a great opportunity both personally, as well as team-oriented. I enjoyed being with colleagues and hearing about their sessions that reflect to their specific classroom content. I also was able to learn more about various classrooms and how technology can be interlinked among all of these various classrooms, such as core subjects, electives, clubs/activities, etc... I feel like I came away with some strategies and ideas to use in the classroom. I found this worked best with one-on-one conversations with people in the expo area or with the instructor of a particular session. I enjoyed the "poster" session where all of the students were there explaining the technology they have used for cooking, learning another language, learning medical science and more. There enthusiasm reminded me just why I was at that conference and that we (St. Vrain) are heading down a successful path. This conference gave me the time to play around with various applications and instruments that I may want to use in my classroom. It also gave the the chance to ask the professionals questions. I know for a fact that I will be using PASCO's sparks science in my classroom and I am in the process of setting up a time for their regional rep to come observe this use in the classroom so that we can brainstorm more ways to expand the use of their tools and software applications. I also had some eye-opening experiences. I was surprised when I attended a SIG full of administrators that all have avatars and have a second life in this virtual world. Once I learned that I can take my students fossil hunting on Dinosaur Ridge, CO....well, I know understand this amazing world of using avatars with education. Overall, I found the conference very useful. I liked this Prof. Dev. class set up of letting us have the freedom to pick our sessions and do what is best for us...it seemed more efficient that some classroom settings back in Longmont. I am also eager to meet up with my co-workers back in our school building to see what is working for them throughout the year and see how we may be able to work our learnings toward our student population as the needs change throughout this school year and years to come. I am also hoping to email with other middle school teachers in the district that I also ran into at the conference. This was a great learning experience and seems like it is just a great start/beginning...Thank you.
Farah Holburn posted from the web
Attending ISTE 2010 really made me feel like I was part of something important, like it was giving me and my students the ability to be part of the future (and the present). The first session I attended was about backchannel and I walked out of there overwhelmed and confused. I didn't know what wiki, twitter, tweet, moodle, embedding a widget, or skype meant. I left the conference with at least a general understanding of all of them. As for my own teaching, I will start my year off with my students chatting with each other, like we are doing here, as a means to get to know each other and to practice responding to questions I and others pose. We will be blogging about chapter books and non-fiction articles between reading groups, as well as utilizing some of the amazing websites there are out there. Most importantly, I will be creating lessons in an engaging, technological way, not just creating power points that resemble chalkboard lessons. These will include focus lessons and constant opportunities to think critically! The only complaint I have is the advertising! I understand needing to do that in the exhibit hall, but seriously it was embedded in many of the BYOL's and other classes I attended. That should be considered by the folks responsible for putting the classes together!
Janice Kai posted from the web
This was the first time I have attended the ISTE conference so I did not know what to expect. I have to say the first two sessions I was a bit disappointed but the end session was on Moddle. I had just attended a class with Bud Hunt on Virtual Campus a few days before and he told us that it was the same thing so I was very excited to learn how I could incorporate this into my classroom and I was not disappointed with this session. The teacher was Erin Wilcox who is the assistant superintendent from Colorado Springs Christian School. Erin showed us how she has incorporated this into her district and how she was able to get the other teachers buy in. Some of them have completely embraced it while others have only done “snow day lessons” but everyone has some kind of lessons online.
Another speaker that I really enjoyed was Alen November. He opened my mind to ideas using technology in the classroom that I had not thought of. He discussed how other countries let their students use their phones and iPods in the classroom for research and technology to develop more rigorous and motivating assignments that engage students in global communications and help them understand different cultural perspectives and points of view. Tammy Worcester had three sessions and I went to all of them. She talked about free web tools, demonstrating how to use each. The classes were very basic, which is what I needed. I was pleased with this conference and hope to be able to attend again.
Another speaker that I really enjoyed was Alen November. He opened my mind to ideas using technology in the classroom that I had not thought of. He discussed how other countries let their students use their phones and iPods in the classroom for research and technology to develop more rigorous and motivating assignments that engage students in global communications and help them understand different cultural perspectives and points of view. Tammy Worcester had three sessions and I went to all of them. She talked about free web tools, demonstrating how to use each. The classes were very basic, which is what I needed. I was pleased with this conference and hope to be able to attend again.
Bridget Shaughnessy posted from a guest
This was the first ISTE conference I have attended as well. Needless to say, the first day was pretty overwhelming....just getting a feel for the layout and what/where/when/how. But after I had a better idea of the "flow," I eased in to it all with a better sense of what I wanted and needed from the conference. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and I wish (a) that I would have been able to register earlier and (b) that I would have/could have pre-registered for some sessions that I think would have been really good. I definitely got some good ideas....namely LISTS of new websites to explore w/ the little kiddos. I have a BAG sitting in my closet full of things I want to check out before school starts again. Some of the poster sessions were really interesting and gave me some good ideas (potential grant writing ideas?!). Being at an IB school, so many of the "globally-minded" ideas were very applicable to our situation. That was really nice. My favorite session was one on Twitter that I went to on a whim to just "see what the hype was all about" I have to say, she (I can't remember her name now) was HILARIOUS and really informative. That was a fun surprise! It was great to have time to TALK to my colleagues and brainstorm. Even touring the exhibit hall was fun. It's always nice to see what's "out there" even if we don't have it. AND my daughter was pretty psyched upon my return w/ all the fun freebies I picked up for her! All in all, very interesting and informative. I'm glad I had the chance to go this summer!
Bridget Shaughnessy posted from a guest
Whoops! "guest1020224" was me: Bridget Shaughnessy....sorry I didn't see that and change it before I posted!
Kelly Sanseverino posted from a guest
Leslie Fisher was the Twitter Twitter Twitter Twitter presenter. She was the best presenter of our 3 days!
Kelly Sanseverino posted from a guest
Ok, Bridget is motivating me to get my Reflection written & posted.....and just a shout out to my colleague: thanks for a great ISTE! Bridget and I stuck together during the conference. We had discussed the pros of splitting up so that we could each see more and then share with each other and our staff, but as it turned out when we looked at our Conference Planners we had planned just about all the same things! It was great to continuously have someone to bounce ideas off of, think about how things could impact our school, esp. as we become an IB PYP World School. Yes, we could have been out there networking, but truly we had some great brainstorming sessions together which made it very real & applicable. Plus, when we first arrived at the Convention Center we both said, Holy Moly, what's going on?!?! Many people have commented on how overwhelming the conference was/is....so true! But once we got the hang of if (just like anything else!), it became more manageable and exciting! There were always tidbits and gems waiting for us in the Poster Sessions: students & teachers sharing real lessons. A favorite was Tiny Techies. I'm constantly trying to figure out ways to bring technology to my 1st graders and this Table gave me A LOT of ideas. So did Boni Hamilton, a presenter from Univ. of Northern Colorado. The list of sites she passed on was amazing! We had some fun with http://www.artnatomia.net. I also enjoyed some good presentations on voicethread, Skype, Twitter (this was THE best session, the humor that was interjected was much needed on Day 3!) and podcasting. SO much to bring back to my classroom and my school. I am also extremely motivated to do more with my Promethean board (esp. with all the great, orange "bling" the Promethean folks were passing out, after I watched a great presentation (including new 3D technology; they dissected a frog!), and, all the MORE I can do with my ELMO document camera (another fun presentation in the Exhibition Hall: origami!). Lastly, I was motivated by the final Keynote Speaker. To echo Monique in her previous post, Start a project: finish it Start small..... I started a class wiki last year. It didn't go so well, but I wouldn't just le it go away. I kept on trying to use it in different ways throughout the school year. I didn't want my students, or their parents, to think I was flippant with technology. Over the year, and now having attended ISTE, I know new ways I can use that class wiki, or maybe try a blog, or twittering in my classroom, connecting with a school via Skype, podcasting projects. I'm so excited! I'd like to extend my thanks to the SVVSD for offering the scholarship that I was awarded. It was a great, local opportunity and I feel so fortunate to have been a part of it all!
Clanin_Jay posted from the web
Being a music teacher (specifically band and music technology), I wasn't sure what to expect. I was hoping to use the conference to help me develop a video production class. One of the things I found disappointing was that two of the video production classes they were offering got canceled. These classes were charging extra money, and I had arranged the funding. Those classes were all day courses, so when they got canceled I tried to find music classes to take their place. Unfortunately most of those classes had filled up. So, as for music and video production, it didn't go that well. I did drop into some really good classes somewhat on a whim, though. I went to a copyright class that pertained to me a lot, and really clarified how I am able to use music/video/materials in my classes. I also really enjoyed the exhibits. There was more swag then any conference I have ever been to! My son loved all the little toys I brought home. There were also a lot of booths for music and music production. I found one booth that worked with KORG equipment, and talked about the possibility of setting up a silent guitar lab for the abundance of guitar classes we have at Silver Creek. They also offered to give me quotes on equipment for the Video Production class. I had a great conversation with a coumpany that made custom wall plates with connectors. I formulated a plan for wiring my lab and all the rooms in the A wing for recording. I also crashed some of the booth classes, and found a lot of what was going on with the smart boards interesting, and all the communication sites and software should really be helpful. Probably the best part of the conference was getting an opportunity to hang out with Connie and Nicole, the choir and band directors at Westview Middle. I have worked with them for several years, but never had the opportunity to talk about their programs and get a sense of what they have going on at Westview. I felt like it was a great opportunity to coordinate and get to know each other better. We attending many of the same courses, and it created some interesting conversations. Lastly, I learned that there are a LOT of strange people on 16th street. It was a neat opportunity and really opened my eyes to the bigger tech world out there. I'm hoping I can use some of the communication tools I explored with my bands, and I'm hoping I can work with some of the venders I met for equipment. I enjoyed it, and appreciate being given the opportunity to go!'
Lauren Kohn posted from the web
Overall, the conference was an amazing experience and I'm glad I was given the opportunity to attend. However, it took me the first day to learn how to play... ISTE 2010 was the biggest conference I'd ever attended so I got worked a little the first day. By day 2, I owned my destiny! I figured out which sessions were going to be the most meaningful and between Graziani and myself, we tag-teamed many sessions and then split up to gain the most information. Each day I attended 3 different sessions and wandered through the exhibits. Wow! It was so exciting to see all that is out there and know that I can continue to dream! The sessions that were the most beneficial for me were the podcasting and digital portfolio sessions. The Google docs session was also incredible and they all inspired me to take my teaching pedagogy to the next digi-level. I'm excited to reinvent my current learning activities and assessment and excite students about learning in a digital age.
Julie Singh posted from the web
My experience at ISTE was a positive one, but I missed the intimacy and hands-on aspects of TIE. I didn't get into any of the BYOL sessions but was abote to sit in the classroom at a couple of the "Model Lessons" where I did get to participate or try out new software and lessons. I did appreciate learning from people around the globe and especially liked the different perspectives of the Keynote Pannel.
Julie Singh posted from the web
What I think I will take away from ISTE came from a couple of the sessions. I really liked Alan November's session: Digital Learning Farm: Students and Contributors. His ideas about using an official scribe to take notes that are posted on-line was fantastic as was his idea about giving alternative assignments to the typical math homework where students can choose between completing a number of problems or creating some type of digital tutorial for the other students. I am not sure how I will or if I will be abot to use this idea. He was adamant that the alternative assignment should not be graded because by grading and/or providing a rubric for this assignment, the students wouldn't do as good of a job. If it is not graded, then the students would work until they were satisfied that it was a complete and thorough job.
Julie Singh posted from the web
I also learned a bit about some math tools I haven't used before like SketchPad and Geogebra. I plan to explore these softwares and incorporate some of these and other ideas into my every-day teaching. Overall, I enjoyed my experience there and am really glad that I went.
Jacy Berger posted from a guest
Ah!!! Summer got to love it. I am on my way to Yellowstone with my family for a week of camping so the Holiday Inn Express in Rock Springs might be the last chance for free wireless.
Jacy Berger posted from a guest
Didnt mean to end that wanted to share my thoughts and ideas and experiences from the ISTE conference. Like Monique I too was a bit overwhelmed on the first day. I thought I had registared for all the sessions, by adding them to my planner but there was one more step needed which I did not do. First lesson learned about this conference.
Jacy Berger posted from a guest
The conference was fantastic. If there were flies in the sessions my mouth would have caught many. I was continually amazed at all of the tech things I didn't know about. CHACHA why didn't I know about this long ago. I was most impressed by all the free web 2.o tools out there that are free. I cant wait to explore some of these sights. I was /am particularly impressed and excited to explore using cell phones for homework outside the classroom or inside on certain days. Most students have minicomputers in their hands at all times. Why not take advantage of them. At least let them use their calculators when they are needed! I realize this will take a new mind set with lots of people but we need to start meeting kids at least 1/2 way with technology they bring with them. (enough of the soap box for now) I am going to spend some time investigating and try using it with kids this year.
Jacy Berger posted from a guest
Darn, I keep hitting return forgetting that I will end that chat!! I loved learning about all the google apps especially google squared, wave etc. I cant wait to use google earth and add pushpins and slideshows to the pushpin. Not sure if I am saying that right? Most sessions I went to were ByoL. One morning I spent walking around the tables set up not thinking I would like those. I learned so much form every person I talked to. Next year I would like to focus on hardware that might be affordable for me to use in the classroom with my computer and projector. Have a great rest of summer-Jacy
Jeanette Rasmussen posted from the web
ISTE 2010
Kicking off my first ISTE conference was the keynote address with Mario Armstrong. I could relate to the hurdles he encountered when he wanted to try “new lessons” with technology. I loved how he titled each hurdle: “The Locked Net Monster”, “Mediogre”, and “The Abdominable Snowjob.” It was nice to hear other educators struggle with the same “stoppers”. I thought it was nice to introduce the executives who lead ISTE and to have great give-a-ways. Darn, no IPAD!
The first session I attended was called “Teaching the Digital Generation”, facilitated by Ted Lai from Fullerton, CA. He demonstrated the Epson Projector. This projector could be mounted in a classroom or could be portable. If your classroom was tight on space, one could project on a wall or an old white board, not an interactive board. Ted emphasized that we are a “visual society” and to project images BIG because that is what kids like. A question was asked if this projector had been used in a gym and Ted said, “No.” This left me thinking, is this possibility for a PE class without it getting broken?
The IPOD/IPHONE/IPAD Application Support Group was with Leslie Fischer. This session focused on what these electronic devices can do; some of the fun features and applications that teachers can use in their classrooms. Leslie showed some of the free shareware and some cheap applications not only for teachers, but also for your own pleasure. Did you know that there are 250,000 apps for the IPhone and 12,000 apps for the IPAD and both are growing! I know I would like both of these devices!
Tweet Learn Lead by Jon Brueck was about “twitter”. Jon emphasized twitter will only be as good as YOU! People that are credible to you are the ones you will follow. Most people will socialize on twitter, but this can be used as a valuable resource in the classroom/profession.
Engaging 21st Century Learners: Brain Research Affecting Technology
Peter Scott led this session and he is with Gage/Cenage Publishing. His research is on the brain, and the # 1 point he made is the brain is wired to visuals, which is what kids are today. Personally, I think we have all been visual/ learners, just now technology is geared to this and accelerates learning. When anyone is learning something new different parts of the brain fire up. Most of what we learn is unconscious acquisition, and this includes complex patterns. Students’ brains are concerned with being embarrasses, failure, and harm/afraid of getting hurt.
Peter went over the ideal amount of instruction for each age group… interesting
K-2nd grade = 5 - 8 minutes
3-5th grade = 8 - 12 minutes
6-8th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
9-12th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
Adults 15 – 18 minutes
Humor is important in the classroom. It helps learning and “the fun factor” makes learning pleasurable. The neurotransmitters of the brain that are released from the brain when engaged with humor, aids in remembering new material. Another factor that was interesting was tempo. If music is played in the minor keys, the mood is down, and can lull kids to sleep. Major keys are upbeat and kids like that better and are more engaged. Another point Scott, emphasized about 21st learning, is there should be more cooperative and project learning. Do not use huge blocks of text or bullet points, have a slide to tell a story. If there is first person conversation, or the idea of a conversation that you feel you are hearing, you will remember more. Scott’s closing comment, which I agree with, is this; the simplest most effective way to improve student achievement is to improve teacher effectiveness with professional development.
LOL with Michael Jay and Saul Rockman incorporated humor as the key to learning and having fun. In this session, we laughed and were entertained the whole time.
Mobile Devices with Chris Dede who was from Harvard, was boring and I left the session early. Ugh!
The last day I spent in the exhibition hall with Sharon O’Leary. It was great!
Smart Board: I liked their 3D glasses. I did the demonstration on the eyes, which identified the parts of the eye….amazing. I liked the feature of not having a special pen to move items on the smart board, just use your finger, like the IPhone, IPAD, ITouch.
Canon Camera: I enjoyed seeing the differences in what digital cameras can do. I would love to have a camera for my PE classes! Did you know that you can get an educational discount from Canon?
Intel: This was Tech Elements Course for teachers. It was free shareware and how to use it. There were two instructors on different aspects of the software. The instructors recommended an inservice for teachers. I went here twice because I was trying to win a flip camera!
Elmo Camera: this was cool! I loved the slate and how it is used in teaching. We made an origami hat in this demo. To review the steps, a video was played to make sure we had completed all steps. We also did not win the ELMO☹
I went to a web site company that sets up sites for schools. It looked really easy and very nice. I was trying to win an IPAD but to no avail! No luck; the ISTE water bottle is good!
Oki Printing Solutions: This emphasized how the brain remembers color. Also the demo showed different features of the machine.
Pasco: I went there to get a free T-shirt for our science teacher Jamie, so she could win the prize….she won the prize!
NEO Technology Unit: It was renaissance learning. It was a cool piece of technology!
Overall looking at all this equipment was fun. My question is, can this be used in PE without getting broken? Are there any PE teachers who use any of this equipment? Most of this equipment is geared for the classroom teacher. I feel like I am a square peg trying to fit in a round hole or really left out.
This conference was a lot of fun and I am glad that I went.
ISTE 2010
Kicking off my first ISTE conference was the keynote address with Mario Armstrong. I could relate to the hurdles he encountered when he wanted to try “new lessons” with technology. I loved how he titled each hurdle: “The Locked Net Monster”, “Mediogre”, and “The Abdominable Snowjob.” It was nice to hear other educators struggle with the same “stoppers”. I thought it was nice to introduce the executives who lead ISTE and to have great give-a-ways. Darn, no IPAD!
The first session I attended was called “Teaching the Digital Generation”, facilitated by Ted Lai from Fullerton, CA. He demonstrated the Epson Projector. This projector could be mounted in a classroom or could be portable. If your classroom was tight on space, one could project on a wall or an old white board, not an interactive board. Ted emphasized that we are a “visual society” and to project images BIG because that is what kids like. A question was asked if this projector had been used in a gym and Ted said, “No.” This left me thinking, is this possibility for a PE class without it getting broken?
The IPOD/IPHONE/IPAD Application Support Group was with Leslie Fischer. This session focused on what these electronic devices can do; some of the fun features and applications that teachers can use in their classrooms. Leslie showed some of the free shareware and some cheap applications not only for teachers, but also for your own pleasure. Did you know that there are 250,000 apps for the IPhone and 12,000 apps for the IPAD and both are growing! I know I would like both of these devices!
Tweet Learn Lead by Jon Brueck was about “twitter”. Jon emphasized twitter will only be as good as YOU! People that are credible to you are the ones you will follow. Most people will socialize on twitter, but this can be used as a valuable resource in the classroom/profession.
Engaging 21st Century Learners: Brain Research Affecting Technology
Peter Scott led this session and he is with Gage/Cenage Publishing. His research is on the brain, and the # 1 point he made is the brain is wired to visuals, which is what kids are today. Personally, I think we have all been visual/ learners, just now technology is geared to this and accelerates learning. When anyone is learning something new different parts of the brain fire up. Most of what we learn is unconscious acquisition, and this includes complex patterns. Students’ brains are concerned with being embarrasses, failure, and harm/afraid of getting hurt.
Peter went over the ideal amount of instruction for each age group… interesting
K-2nd grade = 5 - 8 minutes
3-5th grade = 8 - 12 minutes
6-8th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
9-12th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
Adults 15 – 18 minutes
Humor is important in the classroom. It helps learning and “the fun factor” makes learning pleasurable. The neurotransmitters of the brain that are released from the brain when engaged with humor, aids in remembering new material. Another factor that was interesting was tempo. If music is played in the minor keys, the mood is down, and can lull kids to sleep. Major keys are upbeat and kids like that better and are more engaged. Another point Scott, emphasized about 21st learning, is there should be more cooperative and project learning. Do not use huge blocks of text or bullet points, have a slide to tell a story. If there is first person conversation, or the idea of a conversation that you feel you are hearing, you will remember more. Scott’s closing comment, which I agree with, is this; the simplest most effective way to improve student achievement is to improve teacher effectiveness with professional development.
LOL with Michael Jay and Saul Rockman incorporated humor as the key to learning and having fun. In this session, we laughed and were entertained the whole time.
Mobile Devices with Chris Dede who was from Harvard, was boring and I left the session early. Ugh!
The last day I spent in the
Kicking off my first ISTE conference was the keynote address with Mario Armstrong. I could relate to the hurdles he encountered when he wanted to try “new lessons” with technology. I loved how he titled each hurdle: “The Locked Net Monster”, “Mediogre”, and “The Abdominable Snowjob.” It was nice to hear other educators struggle with the same “stoppers”. I thought it was nice to introduce the executives who lead ISTE and to have great give-a-ways. Darn, no IPAD!
The first session I attended was called “Teaching the Digital Generation”, facilitated by Ted Lai from Fullerton, CA. He demonstrated the Epson Projector. This projector could be mounted in a classroom or could be portable. If your classroom was tight on space, one could project on a wall or an old white board, not an interactive board. Ted emphasized that we are a “visual society” and to project images BIG because that is what kids like. A question was asked if this projector had been used in a gym and Ted said, “No.” This left me thinking, is this possibility for a PE class without it getting broken?
The IPOD/IPHONE/IPAD Application Support Group was with Leslie Fischer. This session focused on what these electronic devices can do; some of the fun features and applications that teachers can use in their classrooms. Leslie showed some of the free shareware and some cheap applications not only for teachers, but also for your own pleasure. Did you know that there are 250,000 apps for the IPhone and 12,000 apps for the IPAD and both are growing! I know I would like both of these devices!
Tweet Learn Lead by Jon Brueck was about “twitter”. Jon emphasized twitter will only be as good as YOU! People that are credible to you are the ones you will follow. Most people will socialize on twitter, but this can be used as a valuable resource in the classroom/profession.
Engaging 21st Century Learners: Brain Research Affecting Technology
Peter Scott led this session and he is with Gage/Cenage Publishing. His research is on the brain, and the # 1 point he made is the brain is wired to visuals, which is what kids are today. Personally, I think we have all been visual/ learners, just now technology is geared to this and accelerates learning. When anyone is learning something new different parts of the brain fire up. Most of what we learn is unconscious acquisition, and this includes complex patterns. Students’ brains are concerned with being embarrasses, failure, and harm/afraid of getting hurt.
Peter went over the ideal amount of instruction for each age group… interesting
K-2nd grade = 5 - 8 minutes
3-5th grade = 8 - 12 minutes
6-8th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
9-12th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
Adults 15 – 18 minutes
Humor is important in the classroom. It helps learning and “the fun factor” makes learning pleasurable. The neurotransmitters of the brain that are released from the brain when engaged with humor, aids in remembering new material. Another factor that was interesting was tempo. If music is played in the minor keys, the mood is down, and can lull kids to sleep. Major keys are upbeat and kids like that better and are more engaged. Another point Scott, emphasized about 21st learning, is there should be more cooperative and project learning. Do not use huge blocks of text or bullet points, have a slide to tell a story. If there is first person conversation, or the idea of a conversation that you feel you are hearing, you will remember more. Scott’s closing comment, which I agree with, is this; the simplest most effective way to improve student achievement is to improve teacher effectiveness with professional development.
LOL with Michael Jay and Saul Rockman incorporated humor as the key to learning and having fun. In this session, we laughed and were entertained the whole time.
Mobile Devices with Chris Dede who was from Harvard, was boring and I left the session early. Ugh!
The last day I spent in the exhibition hall with Sharon O’Leary. It was great!
Smart Board: I liked their 3D glasses. I did the demonstration on the eyes, which identified the parts of the eye….amazing. I liked the feature of not having a special pen to move items on the smart board, just use your finger, like the IPhone, IPAD, ITouch.
Canon Camera: I enjoyed seeing the differences in what digital cameras can do. I would love to have a camera for my PE classes! Did you know that you can get an educational discount from Canon?
Intel: This was Tech Elements Course for teachers. It was free shareware and how to use it. There were two instructors on different aspects of the software. The instructors recommended an inservice for teachers. I went here twice because I was trying to win a flip camera!
Elmo Camera: this was cool! I loved the slate and how it is used in teaching. We made an origami hat in this demo. To review the steps, a video was played to make sure we had completed all steps. We also did not win the ELMO☹
I went to a web site company that sets up sites for schools. It looked really easy and very nice. I was trying to win an IPAD but to no avail! No luck; the ISTE water bottle is good!
Oki Printing Solutions: This emphasized how the brain remembers color. Also the demo showed different features of the machine.
Pasco: I went there to get a free T-shirt for our science teacher Jamie, so she could win the prize….she won the prize!
NEO Technology Unit: It was renaissance learning. It was a cool piece of technology!
Overall looking at all this equipment was fun. My question is, can this be used in PE without getting broken? Are there any PE teachers who use any of this equipment? Most of this equipment is geared for the classroom teacher. I feel like I am a square peg trying to fit in a round hole or really left out.
This conference was a lot of fun and I am glad that I went.
ISTE 2010
Kicking off my first ISTE conference was the keynote address with Mario Armstrong. I could relate to the hurdles he encountered when he wanted to try “new lessons” with technology. I loved how he titled each hurdle: “The Locked Net Monster”, “Mediogre”, and “The Abdominable Snowjob.” It was nice to hear other educators struggle with the same “stoppers”. I thought it was nice to introduce the executives who lead ISTE and to have great give-a-ways. Darn, no IPAD!
The first session I attended was called “Teaching the Digital Generation”, facilitated by Ted Lai from Fullerton, CA. He demonstrated the Epson Projector. This projector could be mounted in a classroom or could be portable. If your classroom was tight on space, one could project on a wall or an old white board, not an interactive board. Ted emphasized that we are a “visual society” and to project images BIG because that is what kids like. A question was asked if this projector had been used in a gym and Ted said, “No.” This left me thinking, is this possibility for a PE class without it getting broken?
The IPOD/IPHONE/IPAD Application Support Group was with Leslie Fischer. This session focused on what these electronic devices can do; some of the fun features and applications that teachers can use in their classrooms. Leslie showed some of the free shareware and some cheap applications not only for teachers, but also for your own pleasure. Did you know that there are 250,000 apps for the IPhone and 12,000 apps for the IPAD and both are growing! I know I would like both of these devices!
Tweet Learn Lead by Jon Brueck was about “twitter”. Jon emphasized twitter will only be as good as YOU! People that are credible to you are the ones you will follow. Most people will socialize on twitter, but this can be used as a valuable resource in the classroom/profession.
Engaging 21st Century Learners: Brain Research Affecting Technology
Peter Scott led this session and he is with Gage/Cenage Publishing. His research is on the brain, and the # 1 point he made is the brain is wired to visuals, which is what kids are today. Personally, I think we have all been visual/ learners, just now technology is geared to this and accelerates learning. When anyone is learning something new different parts of the brain fire up. Most of what we learn is unconscious acquisition, and this includes complex patterns. Students’ brains are concerned with being embarrasses, failure, and harm/afraid of getting hurt.
Peter went over the ideal amount of instruction for each age group… interesting
K-2nd grade = 5 - 8 minutes
3-5th grade = 8 - 12 minutes
6-8th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
9-12th grade = 12 - 15 minutes
Adults 15 – 18 minutes
Humor is important in the classroom. It helps learning and “the fun factor” makes learning pleasurable. The neurotransmitters of the brain that are released from the brain when engaged with humor, aids in remembering new material. Another factor that was interesting was tempo. If music is played in the minor keys, the mood is down, and can lull kids to sleep. Major keys are upbeat and kids like that better and are more engaged. Another point Scott, emphasized about 21st learning, is there should be more cooperative and project learning. Do not use huge blocks of text or bullet points, have a slide to tell a story. If there is first person conversation, or the idea of a conversation that you feel you are hearing, you will remember more. Scott’s closing comment, which I agree with, is this; the simplest most effective way to improve student achievement is to improve teacher effectiveness with professional development.
LOL with Michael Jay and Saul Rockman incorporated humor as the key to learning and having fun. In this session, we laughed and were entertained the whole time.
Mobile Devices with Chris Dede who was from Harvard, was boring and I left the session early. Ugh!
The last day I spent in the
Jeanette Rasmussen posted from the web
Oops...I posted twice and couldn't delete. When you read this it will be deja vu. Sorry haha!
Vance Aschenbrenner posted from the web
ISTE 2010 Vance Aschenbrenner
Sunday, June 27th
Conference Kickoff and Overview with keynote speaker Mario Armstrong in the Wells Fargo Theatre. As team of Westview Wildcat teachers we drove down to Denver to pick up all our materials for the Conference. It was overwhelming to see how huge this ISTE Conference really is. We went down to listen to Mario, I enjoyed his tips for making the conference more useful, and I also enjoyed catching up with my Westview teaching friends.
Monday, June 28th
Monday I spend the day in the exhibition hall. I did not plan on this, it just happened. I spent a lot of time at the Promethean Exhibit. Promethean developed the ActivClassroom, a technology enabled learning environment comprised of interactive white boards, clicker systems, software, training, and professional development all to improve educational results.
I spent time at iClicker checking out their classroom response system. I was pulled in by the free t-shirt, but was sold on their product.
I also enjoyed the Elmo USA booth 1878. I enjoyed seeing how they used a slate with their Elmo. We made an origami hat in this demonstration. We could review the steps it took to make the hat with a video that was a frame by frame breakdown. How great would it be to have this in our class?
I entered a ton of raffles, listened to a lot of high pressured sales people, brought home numerous t-shirts and had a wonderful day wondering around the exhibit hall.
Tuesday, June 29th
All of the Westview teachers met for breakfast at Sam’s #3, we have some dialogue about the conference, catch up on everyone’s summer, good to see everyone.
My first class was Cell Phones On In Class. Tim Chase who teaches in Oregon has his students use their phones for everything from sending text messages, getting student e-mail addresses to taking pictures. He encourages his students to bring cell phones and to use the technology that they come with. He gave us some great web sites to use as we try out using cell phones in our classes.
A Dose of Twitter with Kathy Schrock was my next session. Twitter is becoming a very powerful online tool that can be valuable, educational and informative. She gave some great suggestions for using twitter, asking a question a day to your class, find out what your students are thinking, questions that they might be thinking, find out answers to questions from people who are the experts in their field. I had never been exposed to twitter, I think I now see some of the benefits.
Wednesday, June 30th
Crap Detection 101 is a semi interesting session. We want to believe that everything we see on the internet is fact, not true. So many web sites are crap! There is a ton of spam and porn that we can’t seem to get away from. Sites with no authors or credibility are everywhere. http://www.whois.net is something you might want to check out to see who wrote the article or who is behind what you are reading.
Twitter, Twitter, Twitter is my next session. I am intrigued by Twitter for whatever reason at this point in the conference and this class I feel will help me to better understand Twitters benefits. I find out basic things about Twitter that I did not know…I will have to limit my Twitter to 140 characters, I am sending little bits of information, it is all web based, I can have as many accounts as I want and so on. I learn how to find people, maybe even famous people. I also learn what things should be posted and what things I should save for my Facebook page. I also enjoy hearing other teachers talking about how they use Twitter in their classrooms.
All of the Westview teachers go out to late lunch with our Principal Mark Spencer. He wants to hear all of our stories about ISTE, and figure out how we can put our new knowledge to work. We spend two hours together; it is interesting listening to the other people in our group. This was a fun four day’s!
We meet with Bud, our group is late, we get our final orders to receive credit and head back home.
Final Thoughts….
ISTE was great. I enjoyed having the opportunity to spend time at a Technology Conference with teachers from Westview. As a Technology Focus School it is very important that all of us are on board. I enjoy my job as a PE Teacher and I see how I can do a better job of incorporating technology in my class.
Sunday, June 27th
Conference Kickoff and Overview with keynote speaker Mario Armstrong in the Wells Fargo Theatre. As team of Westview Wildcat teachers we drove down to Denver to pick up all our materials for the Conference. It was overwhelming to see how huge this ISTE Conference really is. We went down to listen to Mario, I enjoyed his tips for making the conference more useful, and I also enjoyed catching up with my Westview teaching friends.
Monday, June 28th
Monday I spend the day in the exhibition hall. I did not plan on this, it just happened. I spent a lot of time at the Promethean Exhibit. Promethean developed the ActivClassroom, a technology enabled learning environment comprised of interactive white boards, clicker systems, software, training, and professional development all to improve educational results.
I spent time at iClicker checking out their classroom response system. I was pulled in by the free t-shirt, but was sold on their product.
I also enjoyed the Elmo USA booth 1878. I enjoyed seeing how they used a slate with their Elmo. We made an origami hat in this demonstration. We could review the steps it took to make the hat with a video that was a frame by frame breakdown. How great would it be to have this in our class?
I entered a ton of raffles, listened to a lot of high pressured sales people, brought home numerous t-shirts and had a wonderful day wondering around the exhibit hall.
Tuesday, June 29th
All of the Westview teachers met for breakfast at Sam’s #3, we have some dialogue about the conference, catch up on everyone’s summer, good to see everyone.
My first class was Cell Phones On In Class. Tim Chase who teaches in Oregon has his students use their phones for everything from sending text messages, getting student e-mail addresses to taking pictures. He encourages his students to bring cell phones and to use the technology that they come with. He gave us some great web sites to use as we try out using cell phones in our classes.
A Dose of Twitter with Kathy Schrock was my next session. Twitter is becoming a very powerful online tool that can be valuable, educational and informative. She gave some great suggestions for using twitter, asking a question a day to your class, find out what your students are thinking, questions that they might be thinking, find out answers to questions from people who are the experts in their field. I had never been exposed to twitter, I think I now see some of the benefits.
Wednesday, June 30th
Crap Detection 101 is a semi interesting session. We want to believe that everything we see on the internet is fact, not true. So many web sites are crap! There is a ton of spam and porn that we can’t seem to get away from. Sites with no authors or credibility are everywhere. http://www.whois.net is something you might want to check out to see who wrote the article or who is behind what you are reading.
Twitter, Twitter, Twitter is my next session. I am intrigued by Twitter for whatever reason at this point in the conference and this class I feel will help me to better understand Twitters benefits. I find out basic things about Twitter that I did not know…I will have to limit my Twitter to 140 characters, I am sending little bits of information, it is all web based, I can have as many accounts as I want and so on. I learn how to find people, maybe even famous people. I also learn what things should be posted and what things I should save for my Facebook page. I also enjoy hearing other teachers talking about how they use Twitter in their classrooms.
All of the Westview teachers go out to late lunch with our Principal Mark Spencer. He wants to hear all of our stories about ISTE, and figure out how we can put our new knowledge to work. We spend two hours together; it is interesting listening to the other people in our group. This was a fun four day’s!
We meet with Bud, our group is late, we get our final orders to receive credit and head back home.
Final Thoughts….
ISTE was great. I enjoyed having the opportunity to spend time at a Technology Conference with teachers from Westview. As a Technology Focus School it is very important that all of us are on board. I enjoy my job as a PE Teacher and I see how I can do a better job of incorporating technology in my class.
Linda Bryan posted from a guest
I only attended the Model Lessons and was beginning to feel that I had really missed out on a lot. It has been interesting reading what everyone else did. I would definitely make sure to check out the Posters next time. The Model Lessons were perfect for me since I am the Media Tech and Lab Tech at LYEL. I learned some great ways to integrate the two. One session, Worlds Converge: Fusing Library and Technology in the Classroom, was especially helpful and provided a great research model lesson. I am excited to try podcasting and hopefully produce clay animation movies. Almost all of the sesions that I attended stressed the use of technology as a tool in differentiating. I plan to have my 4th and 5th graders do a research project and let them choose the type of multimedia to create their presentation.I agree that the conference was overwhelming, especially at first but I am pleased with the information that I received. I am recharged and can't wait to try out some new ideas.
Nicole Kmoch posted from the web
I was very intimidated the first day entering the convention center. There were so many people and so many things to see and do. I had to take some time to sit and just take it in. I learned so much!! It was great to have some music specific classes even if much of the information presented I already knew about. I did pick up some great ideas and great resources. I was very happy that we went in a large group so that we had friends to talk about all of these topics with. I was so impressed with the amount out there for free, what else could we ask for in education. I have already started planning my technology use in my classroom for the next year. I got a good start last year but I have a lot of new great ideas to incorporate into my teaching. This was a great experience and I would encourage more people to attend in the future. It reinforced that we are doing great things at Westview, have purchased great tools, started to use them, and now we have the job of continuing to re-work what and how we do things to accelerate our students because they all….expect the best.
Jennifer Garcia posted from a guest
Ok, this month has been crazy for me. Before ISTE I was able to write an email, attach something and maybe even download photos to Facebook. I then went to the ISTE conference on scholarship and now I feel like a whole new world has opened up for me. I sat through many session during the four day conference and all I could think of was how sad for my kids that we have had such limited technology in our classroom. That is about to change. Not only did I receive so many ideas at each session but I also gained to knowledge to access about 4 times that on my own over the next year or two. Now, going from using our "cart" that has a projector, doc. cam., and computer three times last year to trying to implement Flipcharts, media and blogs will be a stretch but one of the presenters did say to try at least 3 new things this year. Not too many, and not too few. She said some will be amazing, some will be ok and some will completely and totally flop. But I guess that is better than doing nothing like I have been doing. It feels like everything is coming together. I am a part of the DLC and look forward to furthering my expertise over the next two years. I am grateful to have the equipment that I now need at FES, I grateful to have been able to attend the conference, I am grateful to be able to share a new, engaging world with my new kindergarten students. Look out, here we come.
Kay Van Danacker posted from a guest
At ISTE I was hoping to find sessions and presenters who would share ideas and practical applications in two areas. I wanted to find out how math teachers are using technology to enhance their classroom teaching and I wanted to learn more about guiding students in becoming responsible digital citizens.
The sessions and poster presentations by Frank Sobierajski were rich resources for ideas about using technology in the math class. He also provided many resources for the math teacher. Another interesting session was presented by Mitchel Resnick about using the application SCRATCH. This application is provided free by MIT and teaches students basic programming.
Digital citizenship and safety should be the foundation of every activity that uses mobile or web-based learning. I attended a session about this topic, which was informative. I found an abundance of information from the poster presentations by the ETPRO (Education Technology Policy, Research, and Outreach) researchers. They had many examples of internet safety in the classroom, as well as subject specific applications.
The sessions and poster presentations by Frank Sobierajski were rich resources for ideas about using technology in the math class. He also provided many resources for the math teacher. Another interesting session was presented by Mitchel Resnick about using the application SCRATCH. This application is provided free by MIT and teaches students basic programming.
Digital citizenship and safety should be the foundation of every activity that uses mobile or web-based learning. I attended a session about this topic, which was informative. I found an abundance of information from the poster presentations by the ETPRO (Education Technology Policy, Research, and Outreach) researchers. They had many examples of internet safety in the classroom, as well as subject specific applications.
Astrid Felter posted from the web
ISTE was definitely an eye-opening experience. I very much appreciate the opportunity to attend! The global/sytem view of tech in ed (and the surrounding issues) in the opening and closing talks and discussions were grounding and inspiring.
Astrid Felter posted from the web
Whoops, [enter] means [send]. okay. Anyway, I now have a strategy for getting to the sessions (that first day with so many that filled up so quickly also was educational); although I missed some that I really wanted to see, the Poster sessions that I went to instead were also a wealth of information with great opportunities to talk one-on-one with the presenters. One of my consistent favorites was the group from Cedros Centro Escolar, who kept trotting out app after app that they use successfully in the classroom.
Astrid Felter posted from the web
(sigh) right, [enter]=[send]. okay. also, kittens who like laptops on the kitchen table like to hit the ESCAPE button and erase whole paragraphs. I found several good examples of the use of tech in my specific content area (foreign language/bilingual ed) and was intrigued by more that seem to have cross-disciplinary apps. I could have used more time in the Digital Playgrounds...and now, as the start of the school year is approaching, I will focus on a few (just a few!! otherwise will be too overwhelmed!)of the apps and ideas to work on implementing next year. I look forward to catching up on others' experiences as well. Thanks again!
Connie Davis posted from the web
My first day at the ISTE conference was overwhelming to say the least. It's one of those events that no matter how much you read about it online, you are never prepared for exactly what you are walking in to. Once I figured out how things worked, it was a very beneficial and informative 3 days. The few music sessions that I went to and the autism session will have huge impacts on how I teach next year, and what I put on my students Virtual Campus pages. I learned about many neat online programs that teach music theory and other music concepts that students will be able to access online at home. This conference has sparked many new ideas for next year and I can't wait to use some of these new tools with my students. I wish there was more for music, but you can't have it all! Overall this was a very beneficial and eye opening experience that reminds me there is still a lot to learn.
Dave Kline posted from a guest
Reflection from ISTE 2010
David Kline
I attended TIE last year, and I think I was expecting ISTE to seem similar. In many ways it was - only bigger. I attended with the hope of walking away with two technology targets for me to aim for this year. I found them both.
I was particularly inspired by a presentation that showed how to use digital photography in the geometry classroom. The presenter used Geometer's Sketchpad and a variety of simple computer skills to show how he had students going on mathematical treasure hunts. I am excited to recreate this lesson for my middle school students, and expand on the ideas presented.
I was also inspired by the variety of ways that people are using online applications (think St. Vrain Apps). I hope to use StVrain Apps this year in my classroom with my students. It is one of our school technology goals, and I am excited to explore these new tools.
David Kline
I attended TIE last year, and I think I was expecting ISTE to seem similar. In many ways it was - only bigger. I attended with the hope of walking away with two technology targets for me to aim for this year. I found them both.
I was particularly inspired by a presentation that showed how to use digital photography in the geometry classroom. The presenter used Geometer's Sketchpad and a variety of simple computer skills to show how he had students going on mathematical treasure hunts. I am excited to recreate this lesson for my middle school students, and expand on the ideas presented.
I was also inspired by the variety of ways that people are using online applications (think St. Vrain Apps). I hope to use StVrain Apps this year in my classroom with my students. It is one of our school technology goals, and I am excited to explore these new tools.
Jeanette Schahrer posted from the web
I have attended national conferences before but not international. I was not prepared for the size of the event or the crowds. Multiple times, the room was full well before the start time and I may have missed sessions that would have been very informative. Of the sessions I attended, one in particular was frustrating because the technology didn’t work and the presenter tried to carry on as if it did. It was a good lesson in what not to do. I had no idea what we were supposed to be getting out of the model lesson.
Several of the presenters were inspiring in their willingness and ability to figure out how to use the new technology. I learned about google apps for education; what it can do for us and students and why we would want to use it. I thought it was just yet another email, username and password combination to keep track of. Another presenter showed multiple ways to use free or already available software like excel and msword with the math applications download.
Overall, I came away with a sense that technology can enhance the classroom instead of being yet another piece that I’m not using enough . If used intentionally, it can be especially helpful with ELL students because of the multiple representations that are possible. I appreciated the words of a couple of the panelists who said to just start with one thing. I can do that!
Several of the presenters were inspiring in their willingness and ability to figure out how to use the new technology. I learned about google apps for education; what it can do for us and students and why we would want to use it. I thought it was just yet another email, username and password combination to keep track of. Another presenter showed multiple ways to use free or already available software like excel and msword with the math applications download.
Overall, I came away with a sense that technology can enhance the classroom instead of being yet another piece that I’m not using enough . If used intentionally, it can be especially helpful with ELL students because of the multiple representations that are possible. I appreciated the words of a couple of the panelists who said to just start with one thing. I can do that!
Sharon O'Leary posted from the web
Highlights of ISTE
1. The best session I went to at ISTE was “Accessing Text for Struggling Readers, by Dave Edyburn.” It was very insightful and gave many suggestions on how text can be modified to improve curricular instruction while allowing struggling students to access it. My favorite tips that Dave gave us used Word & Wikipedia.
First, the Word tip: 1. You can take any text from the Internet or scan something from a book. 2. Then copy and past your text into a Word document. 3. Highlight your text and then go under tools to Auto Summarize. 4. Then click on “ Create a new document and put summary there.” Scroll down a little farther and decide what per cent of the original you want. (The more the student struggles, the lower percent). Then hit “okay”. It automatically summarizes the text.
The beauty of this is that you could apply this to all sorts of text. With really hard text, you could set the percent to 50 to get the essence of the text prior to reading, which would give you the needed background knowledge to be successful. The student who is significantly impaired can also benefit if a teacher/teacher aide were to do this with the majority of text used in the classroom. It would give that student the main idea of the lesson or test being presented. We know all too well that the text used in a typical classroom is the first barrier for impaired students. This is the “great equalizer” which allows all students to access grade level text no matter what their reading level is.
Other features in Word or on the web:
*Word Count in Microsoft Word-Access under tools menu.
*Readability in Microsoft Word-Access upon completion of spell checking (Turn on via Preferences) Directions for readability in Word 2007
Text Content Analyser (word frequency and statistics) http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/text-statistics.php
Lexile Analyzer (requires registation/license) http://www.lexile.com/
The next great tip was built right into Wikipedia. You can have your students go to: http://simple.wikipedia.org You can use this for easier text or you can have text translated into Spanish. It also allows students to write simple Wikipedia. There are many ways you can adjust Wikipedia information so that students can research a topic and get the essence of their research independently.
Speaking of research, if a student finds a really good website while researching they can copy the address and put it back into Google and then hit SIMILAR, which is in green at the bottom of the summary. It will then take you to other relevant sites.
2. Another good session was “Cells Phones On by Tim Chase.” He just talked about the fact that the majority of our students have cell phones with them and how we can encourage this usage as a tool in our classrooms. Some examples he discussed:
On the first day of class you have the kids send you an email text message. Within the first 5 minutes you have collected everyone’s email & phone number. You can send 40 email messages at the same time. You can take this information and put it into an Excel document and list it with parents names.
Some reasons why a teacher would want to text many students at once:
- tell them to use the cameras while on a field trip
- reminders for field trips, tests, games/practice…THEY WILL READ IT
- test tip of the day. Send one out daily until test day
- tell students to return to class,
Why would a teacher want to text many parents at once?
Safety, emergency evacuation, snow day
Some good sites that were suggested:
http://www.tpack.org/tpck/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://drop.io/ -you can have kids call in answers, text, pics, audio that you can’t access elsewhere (it makes a mp3 files)
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
http://googlevoice.com/ old school or new school phones will work 1800goog411
http://photobucket.com/
Bottom line, teachers need to shift their thinking about cell phones in the classroom and start accessing the technology that students carry with them every day.
3. Open Source Software by
Linux, Web 2.0, Wikipedia, MITopensourceware, Creative Commons, Flexbook, Moodle, Apache, PHP, Mysql
Open source software is software licensed under an agreement that conforms to the Open Source Definition. Also called Free, Libre, Open, Source, Software (FLOSS)
-access to Souce Code
-freedom to redistribute
-non-Discriminatory licensing (licensee/product)
-Integrity of Authorship
-Redistribution in accordance with the Open Source License Agreement
0. the freedom to run the program, for any purpose
1. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access t the source code is a precondition for this.
2. The freedom
Open Software is not proprietary. Not freeware, which means you can modify or redistribute. Is not shareware which would require payment after a trial period. Not Public Domain which means no restrictions.
Why would you use Open Source Software?
-cost savings
-stability
-No forced upgrades
-access and broad rights to source code
-access to skilled community of developers
-ability to define & expedite new development
-global collaboration & social prudence
Why use in schools
-functionality that you could not otherwise afford (moodle, GIMP)
-provides you w/ similar functionality
-allows you to customize solutions
-allows you to reuse older computer hardware
-allows you to share programs w/ students
It allows students to create their own programs from Embedded systems to supercomputers
It reduces your licensing cost but you still have all the other costs (migration cost & support). It is “free like a puppy”.
3 Reasons why we must use Open Sourceware
1. We must use Linux to provide ubiquitous computing. You need to use Linux with Netbooks. Moblin is another. **See presenter for more info.
2. We have to start teaching collaborative tools, including Open Source Software. You will get a job at a big bank, Google, other high-end jobs without being familiar with this.
3. We must provide real-world, authentic-audience environments for students.
www.ubuntu.com
Works great with old computers through firefox. This is a community developed, linux=based operating system. Will run live CD’s
www.sun.com/staroffice
www.openoffice.org
They are forks off the same thing. Powerful & integrated word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, drawing, & database capabilities. If you take the money you would have spent on Microsoft word & put it toward Professional development, you will still save money.
www.scribus.net
www.gimp.org
www.gimpshop.com a version of Photoshop
www.inkscape.com
www.shatters.net.celestia
www.tuxpaint.org great for young kids
http://freemind.sourceforge.net
www.blender.org sopfisicated animation program
http://audacity.sourceforcge.net great for podcasting
www.knoppix.org a bootable live system. If a computer crashes you can recover data. Great tool for text support.
www.keerpoof.com or org
www.mahara.org
www.dansguardian.org
4. The Exhibition Hall –my best take away from the hall was the Intel Booth. There are many free classroom and professional development lessons available. This is a resource that I would definitely access during the school year. Some of the features for the classroom are: Visual Ranking Tools, Thinking Tools, Seeing Reason (cause & effect), and Showing Evidence (good for debates & persuasive essays). Features for Professional development is a 1-3 eLearning template. www.intel.com/teachers
1. The best session I went to at ISTE was “Accessing Text for Struggling Readers, by Dave Edyburn.” It was very insightful and gave many suggestions on how text can be modified to improve curricular instruction while allowing struggling students to access it. My favorite tips that Dave gave us used Word & Wikipedia.
First, the Word tip: 1. You can take any text from the Internet or scan something from a book. 2. Then copy and past your text into a Word document. 3. Highlight your text and then go under tools to Auto Summarize. 4. Then click on “ Create a new document and put summary there.” Scroll down a little farther and decide what per cent of the original you want. (The more the student struggles, the lower percent). Then hit “okay”. It automatically summarizes the text.
The beauty of this is that you could apply this to all sorts of text. With really hard text, you could set the percent to 50 to get the essence of the text prior to reading, which would give you the needed background knowledge to be successful. The student who is significantly impaired can also benefit if a teacher/teacher aide were to do this with the majority of text used in the classroom. It would give that student the main idea of the lesson or test being presented. We know all too well that the text used in a typical classroom is the first barrier for impaired students. This is the “great equalizer” which allows all students to access grade level text no matter what their reading level is.
Other features in Word or on the web:
*Word Count in Microsoft Word-Access under tools menu.
*Readability in Microsoft Word-Access upon completion of spell checking (Turn on via Preferences) Directions for readability in Word 2007
Text Content Analyser (word frequency and statistics) http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/text-statistics.php
Lexile Analyzer (requires registation/license) http://www.lexile.com/
The next great tip was built right into Wikipedia. You can have your students go to: http://simple.wikipedia.org You can use this for easier text or you can have text translated into Spanish. It also allows students to write simple Wikipedia. There are many ways you can adjust Wikipedia information so that students can research a topic and get the essence of their research independently.
Speaking of research, if a student finds a really good website while researching they can copy the address and put it back into Google and then hit SIMILAR, which is in green at the bottom of the summary. It will then take you to other relevant sites.
2. Another good session was “Cells Phones On by Tim Chase.” He just talked about the fact that the majority of our students have cell phones with them and how we can encourage this usage as a tool in our classrooms. Some examples he discussed:
On the first day of class you have the kids send you an email text message. Within the first 5 minutes you have collected everyone’s email & phone number. You can send 40 email messages at the same time. You can take this information and put it into an Excel document and list it with parents names.
Some reasons why a teacher would want to text many students at once:
- tell them to use the cameras while on a field trip
- reminders for field trips, tests, games/practice…THEY WILL READ IT
- test tip of the day. Send one out daily until test day
- tell students to return to class,
Why would a teacher want to text many parents at once?
Safety, emergency evacuation, snow day
Some good sites that were suggested:
http://www.tpack.org/tpck/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://drop.io/ -you can have kids call in answers, text, pics, audio that you can’t access elsewhere (it makes a mp3 files)
http://www.polleverywhere.com/
http://googlevoice.com/ old school or new school phones will work 1800goog411
http://photobucket.com/
Bottom line, teachers need to shift their thinking about cell phones in the classroom and start accessing the technology that students carry with them every day.
3. Open Source Software by
Linux, Web 2.0, Wikipedia, MITopensourceware, Creative Commons, Flexbook, Moodle, Apache, PHP, Mysql
Open source software is software licensed under an agreement that conforms to the Open Source Definition. Also called Free, Libre, Open, Source, Software (FLOSS)
-access to Souce Code
-freedom to redistribute
-non-Discriminatory licensing (licensee/product)
-Integrity of Authorship
-Redistribution in accordance with the Open Source License Agreement
0. the freedom to run the program, for any purpose
1. The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs. Access t the source code is a precondition for this.
2. The freedom
Open Software is not proprietary. Not freeware, which means you can modify or redistribute. Is not shareware which would require payment after a trial period. Not Public Domain which means no restrictions.
Why would you use Open Source Software?
-cost savings
-stability
-No forced upgrades
-access and broad rights to source code
-access to skilled community of developers
-ability to define & expedite new development
-global collaboration & social prudence
Why use in schools
-functionality that you could not otherwise afford (moodle, GIMP)
-provides you w/ similar functionality
-allows you to customize solutions
-allows you to reuse older computer hardware
-allows you to share programs w/ students
It allows students to create their own programs from Embedded systems to supercomputers
It reduces your licensing cost but you still have all the other costs (migration cost & support). It is “free like a puppy”.
3 Reasons why we must use Open Sourceware
1. We must use Linux to provide ubiquitous computing. You need to use Linux with Netbooks. Moblin is another. **See presenter for more info.
2. We have to start teaching collaborative tools, including Open Source Software. You will get a job at a big bank, Google, other high-end jobs without being familiar with this.
3. We must provide real-world, authentic-audience environments for students.
www.ubuntu.com
Works great with old computers through firefox. This is a community developed, linux=based operating system. Will run live CD’s
www.sun.com/staroffice
www.openoffice.org
They are forks off the same thing. Powerful & integrated word processing, spreadsheet, presentations, drawing, & database capabilities. If you take the money you would have spent on Microsoft word & put it toward Professional development, you will still save money.
www.scribus.net
www.gimp.org
www.gimpshop.com a version of Photoshop
www.inkscape.com
www.shatters.net.celestia
www.tuxpaint.org great for young kids
http://freemind.sourceforge.net
www.blender.org sopfisicated animation program
http://audacity.sourceforcge.net great for podcasting
www.knoppix.org a bootable live system. If a computer crashes you can recover data. Great tool for text support.
www.keerpoof.com or org
www.mahara.org
www.dansguardian.org
4. The Exhibition Hall –my best take away from the hall was the Intel Booth. There are many free classroom and professional development lessons available. This is a resource that I would definitely access during the school year. Some of the features for the classroom are: Visual Ranking Tools, Thinking Tools, Seeing Reason (cause & effect), and Showing Evidence (good for debates & persuasive essays). Features for Professional development is a 1-3 eLearning template. www.intel.com/teachers
Ben Everson posted from a guest
ISTE was a very positive experience for me, especially once I became a bit more adept at planning strategically for the crowds. I attended some sessions on digital portfolios, as we are working hard to try and move that direction even more at Skyline, and got some good ideas and motivation there. I also attended a panel discussion on Web filtering, as that's something I've been interested in as I've seen our own SVVSD policies change. I was both encouraged and dismayed to learn that we are way out on the bleeding edge here — happy for us and our students that our district now allows us a lot of freedom from heavy-handed filtering policies, and dismayed at how many districts are run by folks who think it's their job to clamp down the filters as tightly as possible. One of the best sessions for me, though, was Copyright Clarity (http://is.gd/dxbge). This was a session that everyone should have attended, as it addressed a lot of misconceptions and untruths about copyright and fair use as it applies to our students' work as well as ours. In fact, it was the only session that inspired me to spend more money — I bought the presenter's book (http://is.gd/dxblV).
Ben Everson posted from a guest
(continued) Having also attended TIE, however, I would have to say that the connections I made at ISTE were the most positive outcome of my attendance. I got to spend lots of quality time with other teachers from my building and our district, as well as meeting folks from other districts/states/etc. This community building is a huge part of conferences for me. Finding a way to continue the collegiality that develops would go a long way towards helping me get through the school year with my sanity intact!
Tiffany Greenberg posted from a guest
This was my first experience attending an ISTE conference, and I am glad that I accepted the opportunity. As a classroom teacher, it can be daunting how technology is becoming such an integral part of our curriculum/planning. What I loved about the conference was that the sessions (at least the ones I attended) focussed on "student" ownership of projects, especially project-based lessons. I become elated, as a teacher, when students can learn how to use a new piece of technology/program, and then create a project that takes them beyond their expectations. I attended a session on teaching Shakespeare. Rather then having students read the play aloud, this session focused on encouraging students to become the directors, producers and actors- how awesome and inspiring! Not only can I adapt what I witnessed when teaching Shakespeare, I can also adapt it with several other text that students may find challenging. One minor complaint I have is that sessions seemed to fill fast, and although I was happy with the ones that I attended, I would have liked to have attended some writing sessions which seemed quite popular.
Axel Reitzig posted from a guest
This also was my first experience attending the ISTE conference. It was very impressive. I appreciate the support from the district and the leadership that Bud, Michelle and others provided. For me, going to a conference is like visiting an art museum. I pick and choose and try not to get overwhelmed by too much information. I do feel that I went to many worthwhile presentations, though a couple were duds. I also enjoyed the large St. Vrain presence as well as the fact that 7 people from our building attended as well. This will really help transform what we learned into teaching and learning in our schools.
Axel Reitzig posted from a guest
OK - my second message, as the first one got sent off awfully quick. The big thought I gained from this conference was that the technology cannot come first; we have to have the instructional value in mind first before we try to utilize the technology. I also think we need to work together so that the integration of technology into teaching is not done piecemeal, or classroom by classroom, but rather is part of shift in a school's culture. It is also clear that support and vision at the district level, or higher, has to exist as well. I am encouraged by the direction that things are going at St. Vrain and in our schools. The tools I really enjoyed learning about were primarily Web2.0 ones. They are free, flexible, and engaging. Well, most of them. It's nice to see that some of the access issues which made it difficult to work with these in the past (such as students needing to create accounts) are going away.
Mary Graziani posted from the web
1. I learned so many neat things and found this to be a wonderful conference. The top threethings I learned were.. 1) new variations of the use of blogs. I attended an English writing session where the presentors gave new and innovative ways to use blogs both to increase student writing and participating in and outside the classroom. 2) I learned how to use garage band to make podcasts, this was something that I was interested in but unsure on howt to use. 3)Student portfolios have always been an interest of mine. I attended a session that showcased how to create digital student portfolios. As we look at measuring student achievement in our district, I believe that student portfolios are a great way show a more comprehensive look at our students' growth.
Mary Graziani posted from the web
2 & 3. What did I do is intimately linked with what I am doing next. I have created class blogs for each class. This will be a site where students will participate in online discussions as homework. I am hoping that somewhat organically students will also use this site to post their own questions and get help from one another. I am also planning on using this blog in class during socratic seminars and fishbowl discussions.
guest1091069 posted from a guest
ISTE- what did you learn?
I learned that amazing things happen when you say yes- doors open and avenues present themselves that help me learn and challenge me to grow!
What did you do?
Had fabulous and inspiring conversations with folks like Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson, David Warlick and Gwenyth Jones. Had fabulous workshops featuring everything from iPhones in classrooms to librarian challenges of the decade. I enjoyed the quality and strength of the presenters and really appreciated being part of the leadership pre-conference. That was classy. I'm already using lots that I learned and processed in my library/classroom and am very much appreciative of the experience.
What do you want to do next?
This one is tough- but as you can see from my post date- I have already begun school. My tool box of resources is much bigger than it was before the summer started. I really liked being able to resource teachers and have ideas or supportive tools that will strengthen their classrooms. I love tweeting, but think I need to blog more about successes or mistakes that I try with teachers. Don't know if anyone will care to read the posts, but it will be a great log for me to remember what I did! I intend to continue to collect data and look for patterns which might guide my teaching. Finally- I intend to rock with all my cool toys! :)
I learned that amazing things happen when you say yes- doors open and avenues present themselves that help me learn and challenge me to grow!
What did you do?
Had fabulous and inspiring conversations with folks like Joyce Valenza, Doug Johnson, David Warlick and Gwenyth Jones. Had fabulous workshops featuring everything from iPhones in classrooms to librarian challenges of the decade. I enjoyed the quality and strength of the presenters and really appreciated being part of the leadership pre-conference. That was classy. I'm already using lots that I learned and processed in my library/classroom and am very much appreciative of the experience.
What do you want to do next?
This one is tough- but as you can see from my post date- I have already begun school. My tool box of resources is much bigger than it was before the summer started. I really liked being able to resource teachers and have ideas or supportive tools that will strengthen their classrooms. I love tweeting, but think I need to blog more about successes or mistakes that I try with teachers. Don't know if anyone will care to read the posts, but it will be a great log for me to remember what I did! I intend to continue to collect data and look for patterns which might guide my teaching. Finally- I intend to rock with all my cool toys! :)
Michele Blanken posted from a guest
I have been to two TIE conferences and I was impressed with the ISTE conference. I love the intimacy of the TIE conference, but the ISTE conference was so impressive and I felt really good to be in a building with so many teachers with similar passions to me. I also learned a lot. The quality of the presenters and of their presentations was great. Some presentations like Shakespeare remixed got me to think about literature and how to present it in new, fun ways. Overall, the conference was rejuvenating, exciting, humbling, and above all else, fun.
Michele Blanken posted from a guest
Let me resend that with a name now. I have been to two TIE conferences and I was impressed with the ISTE conference. I love the intimacy of the TIE conference, but the ISTE conference was so impressive and I felt really good to be in a building with so many teachers with similar passions to me. I also learned a lot. The quality of the presenters and their presentations was great. Some presentations like Shakespeare remixed got me to think about literature and how to present it in new, fun ways. Overall, the conference was rejuvenating, exciting, humbling, and above all else, fun.
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