Beyond These Times: Reimaging School

This second event in a two-part series, brings together nationally recognized visionaries for cutting-edge conversations about how advances in technology, increased globalization, and other major forces of change will shape the schools of tomorrow.

Internationally recognized thinker and speaker Tony Wagner, author of the recently released Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World, explores what schools must offer to develop students’ capacity to innovate. Wagner will be joined by Constance Yowell, Director of Education at the MacArthur Foundation, who is spearheading a unique partnership of thirty-four local organizations to help Chicago youth become tomorrow’s creative innovators and thrive in our digital economy. WBEZ arts and culture journalist Alison Cuddy will moderate.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Navy Pier

Tony Wagner
Constance Yowell

Admission: free

"Beyond These Times" represents a working collaboration between three Chicago landmark nonprofit organizations—the Golden Apple Foundation, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and National Louis University—all committed to improving the educational experience of Chicago's students.

Register online: http://www.chicagoshakes.com/main.taf?p=7,2,10,4

The first event in this series was held March 22 and featured educational futurist James Gee and Illinois Math and Science Academy founder Stephanie Pace Marshall:

4 ways to "Build your own PD" with resources from ICE

Last week, the Illinois Computing Educators held their annual "ICE Conference" in St. Charles, IL (http://iceberg.org/ice_conference). Attending an education conference is great for increasing knowledge, building skills and most importantly, having an opportunity to meet and discuss teaching and learning with fellow educators. However, if you were unable to attend, consider using the ICE online resources to "build your own PD experience!"

1) Tune into the new ICE Eduvision channel, https://ice.eduvision.tv/, to watch great keynote addresses by Wes Fryer and Pam Allyn, as well as several breakout sessions hosted by these keynoters and other featured speakers, such as: Scott McLeod, Steve Dembo, Hall Davidson, Ben Rimes, Carol Broos and Joe Brennan.

2) Watch several sessions on the ICE Conference UStream channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2009-ice-conference  (look for videos recorded last week).

3) Visit the ICE Wiki for links to presenter info, breakout session slides, handouts and resources from Thursday:
http://www.icewiki.info/Thursday-Workshops-and-Sessions.html

or Friday
http://www.icewiki.info/Friday-Workshops-and-Sessions.html

4) Finally, search through Twitter using the hashtag #ice13 (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ice13&src=typd) to check out the "Tweets" posted during the conference (also archived at http://www.tweetarchivist.com/37df1d10/1)

Happy Learning!!

How are you celebrating International Dot Day?

In case you haven't yet heard, Saturday, Sept. 15 is International Dot Day!

Inspired by Peter H. Reynold's book The Dot, International Dot Day was launched by Iowa teacher Terry Shay when he introduced his classroom to the book on September 15, 2009. (Fun Fact: Terry chose September 15 because the original publishing date of The Dot is September 15, 2003!)

The Dot tells the story of a caring teacher who reaches a reluctant student in a remarkably creative way. The teacher dares a doubting student to trust in her own abilities by being brave enough to “make her mark”. What begins with a small dot on a piece of paper becomes a breakthrough in confidence and courage, igniting a journey of self-discovery and sharing, which has gone on to inspire countless children and adults around the globe.

What started as a story in the pages of a book is transforming classrooms around the world as teachers and students celebrate creativity in the classroom. Even with just a few hours of participation, educators are helping to ensure that every student – whether in pre-school, K-12 or college -- knows that he or she has what it takes to make a mark on the world.

An International Dot Day celebration can be whatever you want it to be – from a 30-minute moment to week-long series of activities or even a year-long theme for you classroom. For ideas, download this free handbook from Fablevision: http://www.fablevisionlearning.com/pdfs/fablevision_dot_day_handbook.pdf

Also, be sure to check out this blog post from Karen McMillian, a 7th grade teacher in California, http://www.notesfrommcteach.com/2012/09/release-their-creativity.html. Karen shares great examples of how she is using Dot Day activities to encourage her students creativity and to make a difference in the world!

Start your new year inspired and connected

For those of you either ready to begin your new school year, or perhaps have just begun, here's an opportunity to start off your year inspired and connected!

Be sure to tune into the "Learning 2.0" the World-wide Virtual Conference, held from Aug. 20 to Aug 24, all free and online. There are more than a dozen keynote topics, recorded and ready for your viewing. Learn from notable speakers such as: Julie Evans of Project Tomorrow, "Connecting the Dots with Digital Learning - Speak UP 2011 National Results;" Heidi Hays Jacobs from Curriculum21; Sugatra Mitra of MIT Media Lab; Lee Rainie of Pew Research Center; and Yong Zhao of the University of Oregon, "World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students."

The Learning 2.0 Virtual Conference is presented in conjunction with Connected Educator Month,  a "month long celebration of community, with educators at all levels, from all disciplines, moving towards a fully connected and collaborative profession..."

What are others saying about the conference? Browse the comments posted on twitter using the hashtag #learning20. Remember, you don't need to know how to "tweet" or "be a twitterer" to learn from the comments of others.

Mobile devices in education. Which % are you in?

A recent discussion among members in my PLN regarding the necessity of creating targeted professional development when deploying mobile devices, cited the following observations:

1. 5-10% folks play with it for 10 minutes and can rattle off 10 ways they can incorporate immediately into the classroom
2. 20-30% folks play with it for a week and then see a couple of apps that might support or replace specific lessons in the current curriculum
3. 20-25% folks play with it and, over the course of a few weeks, figure out some useful ways for a teacher to streamline processes (attendance, observations, tool for updating classroom website, etc)
4. 10% folks see the device as a crappy computer without a keyboard - if it can't replace current keyboarding time then it is of no use
5. 10% put it into their bag and never touch it

Are you part of a mobile device initiative? What PD would be most helpful in moving you out of the bottom 20%?

If you are in the top 5-10%, please leave a comment to rattle off some of your ideas!