Archives

December 18, 2019

Practical Tools and Strategies for Storytelling, led by Brianna Hodges

Storytelling is foundational to all forms of 21st century communication: teaching, coaching, influencing, selling, collaborating, and relating. The human mind is designed to learn and to make sense of the world through stories.

FETC featured speaker and Future Ready educational coach Brianna Hodges discusses how do we teach using stories that motivate change, build community, offer critical feedback, develop capacity, and celebrate achievement.

December 3, 2019

Technology That Levels the Playing Field: Free Assistive Technology from Microsoft, led by Rachel Berger

How many of us have been astounded by the things kids have learned, created, said, or done? We just need to let every kid have a chance.

Microsoft has been hard at work creating free, accessible AT to support students who struggle with reading and writing. Dylexia and Learning Disabilities Assistive Technology Specialist Rache Berger showcased how Microsoft's free learning tools can be used to support classroom engagement of reading and writing for users with learning differences such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, or ADHD.

November 19, 2019

Google Tools for Struggling Students, with Eric Curts

In a preview of his FETC presentation, Eric will lead a discussion on the many Google tools, apps, extensions, and features available to assist struggling learners or students with special needs. These can include text-to-speech, speech-to-text, readability, reading comprehension, organization, focus, and more. Learn what tools are available and how to access and use these with students.

Here is a link to the agenda, including the slides and resources.

November 5, 2019

Unleashing the Power of Storytelling Across the Curriculum Using AR, led by Jaime Donally.

Creating is the highest learning in Bloom's Taxonomy, and students not only create, they apply, analyze, and evaluate when they create stories to illustrate their understanding of Math, Science, ELA, Social Studies, Social Emotional Learning, and Art.

In a preview of one of her six sessions at FETC, Jaime Donally will lead a discussion about why Stories are such a powerful way to deliver meaningful and relevant content. The learning is heightened when paired with a story that penetrates the heart of the student. We'll explore some of the newest and best tools out there to help students create their happily ever after. And we will model how to incorporate storytelling into the classroom.

October 29, 2019

Diverse Tools for Diverse Readers, led by Michele Haiken, EdD. In a preview of her FETC presentation, Michele Haiken will discuss how to enhance your digital literacy toolbox to support the diverse readers in your classroom. Our classrooms include not just one type of student and learner, but are diverse and teachers are called upon to differentiate their teaching to maximize learning potential. Today teachers are called upon not to teach reading, but to teach readers.

October 23, 2019

Education Practices for the 4th Industrial Revolution, led by Sylvia Martinez. The 4th Industrial Revolution is here. Boundaries are blurred between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. More than half the jobs in today's economy did not exist in their present format twenty years ago. As educators, we have the opportunity to shape the future. Emerging trends for K-12 education includes augmented reality, adaptive computing, synthetic biology, wearable technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics. This is a prelude to Sylvia's six sessions at FETC.

October 2, 2019

Unleashing Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship, led The Conrad Challenge's Claude Charron As educators, it is our responsibility to equip learners with the knowledge and 21st century skills needed to succeed beyond the classroom. The Conrad Design Method is designed to foster innovation and entrepreneurship and help students think about the work in new ways. This innovation truly comes to life in the Conrad Challenge, a global competition where teams of 2-5 students ages 13-18 work with an educator coach to develop commercially-viable solutions to the world’s biggest challenges. View slides.

October 1, 2019

Emerging Tech: Transforming Classrooms with AI, AR and VR, led by Rachelle Dene Poth Curious about the implications of artificial intelligence and AR/VR for the future of learning? Learn how these tools can help engage and empower students in learning through opportunities to create and explore like never before. Walk away with new ideas for using AI, AR and VR in your classroom. Rachelle is a featured FETC speaker.

New Frontiers for Learning in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, led by Michelle ZimmermanAre you concerned that Artificial Intelligence might replace humans? Are you excited at the possibilities where AI will enhance human performance? Will AI take away jobs, from us as teaches as well as from our students when it’s their turn to enter the workforce? Michelle Zimmerman is the author of Teaching AI: Exploring New Frontiers for Learning, award-winning educator, and a featured speaker at this year’s FETC. Follow her discussion on the current and future impact of AI on education. You can download her slides here.

December, 2018

A Brief History of the future of education, led by Ryan Schaaf Ryan Schaaf travels into the future to look back on the factors that changed education to support individuals and society. Want to know how to prepare yourself and your students for the future? This session is both a peek into Ryan's new book and also his three presentations at FETC. Here are the handouts.

When your students just don't get it, led by Jeff Bradbury and Nick AmaralHave you ever been in the position of leading your class through a topic only to have a student simply … not get it? Featured FETC speakers Jeff Bradbury and Nick Amaral review some of their favorite techniques and tools for reaching students who are falling behind and possibly disrupting class. Here are their slides, and you can check out some of their other resources here.

Doubling Student Achievement, led by Sonny Magana EdDFETC featured speaker Sonny Magana talks about a framework for using technology to a) quadruple student achievement and b) better prepare students for whatever awaits them later in life. It's not just the pedagogy, and it's not just the technology, but when the two of them are used in a way to give students voice and involve them in producing and solving real problems, magic happens.

Invasion of International EdTech Tools, led by Dave BlanchardSome of the most engaging enhancements in education are coming from outside the US. Do you want to use great video resources that are commercial free, screened, appropriate, current, and aligned with learning goals? Consider boclips. Want your students to create video and animated stories? Consider Creaza. And do you struggle to manage all those student projects? Take a look at teamlearn. Here are the slides.

Safe AND Informed, How to Help Students Harness the Internet, led by Desiree AlexanderNo one has an innate ability to know where dangers lurk on the web and in social media. As adults, we have the obligation to help kids understand how to use the web and social media safely. How do we talk with them so that they really understand? How to do we broach uncomfortable topics? Who can we advise them when we aren't even sure what they are using? These are some of the topics that Desiree Alexander addresses. Slides here.

October, 2018

Active Learning Strategies for the Classroom. led by Matt JosephWhen teachers do all the work, students are passive. How do we get students to be active learners? Matt leads a discussion on techniques and tools. Slides here. And be sure to catch him at FETC!

Five Ways Video Can Transform Your Classroom, led by Suzy Lolley Do you want to present with video, but worry about the quality and the ads interfering? Suzy discusses how to find and use videos that inspire, inform, and instruct, and ways to use video to introduce, teach, and review virtually any topic, including History, Science, Math, English, Art, and Language. Here are the slides. Suzy finds many of her videos using the boclips service.

Leading Transformation, What Works and What Doesn't with Randy Ziegenfuss and Lynn Fuini-HettonTransformation! One of the biggest educational buzzwords of 2018. What distinguishes educational transformation from simply tinkering with the system? We’ll explore the topic and share how we are framing transformation in the Salisbury Township School District. Here are the slides.

What information can help us help students? How can we get and use it? Mia and Robin lead us through a discussion and show how tools like Google Forms can simplify our lives at the same time as providing valuable insights about our students.Here are the slides.

The Conrad Challenge, a way to turn students into innovators and entrepreneurs, led by Claude Charron

Claude leads a discussion on innovation, using a structured five-phase collaboration framework for teachers and student teams to understand and accomplish innovative and entrepreneurial solutions. Here are the slides.

What does Digital Literacy Really Mean for Teachers, with Matt Harris, EdD

How can you continue to improve in your use of digital tools to reach students? Matt puts this in context of the ISTE standards, SAMR, and international ICT standards as he discusses teaching techniques with educators. Here are the slides.

I Know a Student With a Problem Just Like That with Chris BugajWho hasn't had a student that's been frustrated, we just have not been able to reach (yet), had untapped potential, or that others reported as disruptive?

Talking Games with The Tribe and Matt FarberMatthew Farber shows how master teachers promote deep learning through the use of video games. He goes behind the scenes to model how these teachers use both common pedagogical techniques and novel approaches to reach their students. We discussed topics like

• What are the students learning?

• What are the results of using games?

• How is it different teaching with games and teaching more traditionally?

• What do they do to prepare and plan their classes?

• How did they do to get to the point where they knew enough to teach this way?

• What help, support, and advice do they have for you with your students?

Make the Shift: How to Leverage Open Educational Resources, led by Kristina IshmaelWe discussed topics like:

1. Who is using OER, what for, and what are the results?

2. How are educators, schools, and districts finding good OER?

3. What changes, if any, do teachers need to make when moving from textbooks to OER?

4. What are the potential downsides or risks, and what are the different ways of avoiding or overcoming them?

5. How did different educators and districts start the journey to OER; what are the first steps?

Here are the slides.

April, 2018

Students and Screen Time: What Does it Mean for Schools? led by Lori Gerstein RamneyIn this session, we engaged in discussions on topics such as:

• What is the national narrative regarding technology and children?

• What does the research say about technology and children?

• How does this impact the use of technology in schools for teaching and learning?

• What can be done to ensure that technology is used well in schools nationally?

• What educational technologies (or methods of implementation) have been most meaningful for you or your students?

March, 2018

Personalized Professional Learning led by The Friday Institute's Mary Ann Wolf and Nancy MangumWe discussed the following topics:

• What professional learning has been most meaningful for you, and why did they work better than other instances?

• What are some models of professional learning that work?

• What strategies can we deploy to increase opportunities for personalized professional learning?

Here are the slides.

February, 2018

Empowering Students and Learning Agency led by The Friday Institute's Shayla Rexrode and Nancy MangumPersonalized learning requires that all learners in a school have ownership in the work and the community. We talked about the following topics: What does empowering students and developing learner agency look like, What are some tangible strategies that move us in this direction, and what are some examples and models of where this has worked.

Are your children's classes Dangerously Irrelevant (and what you can do about it) Led by Scott McLeodQuestions discussed:

• How are schools shifting, or resisting the shift, from an industrial model to a global, innovation model?

• How are teachers and schools making that shift? What's working?

• What can we all, as parents, teachers, administrators, voters, or policy makers, do to help?

Here is a link to Scott's slides.