Technology In Education Online

I arrived wondering what I will discover during my time here.  The trip down went fairly well.  For those who can relate, my anxiety of getting from school to the airport was happily relieved when I was sitting in the airport reading a book on my Kindle.  It is nice having a Kindle to pull out and easily carry around my book collection without taking up a lot of space in my carry-on backpack.  Also, when going out to dinner once I arrived being able to take it with me to read sure makes it nice! 

Getting ready to go I fine tuned my presentation, The Project-based 2.0 Buffet! Eating it all up!  In presenting in the fall at CECA 2009 conference on this topic, I wanted to refine what I presented to make it a valuable experience for those that will attend the presentation at FETC 2010.  I believe that in any presentation it is imperative to be open to changing directions according to what the audience is looking for.    I think in the presentations I’ve attended in the past, I’ve always worried when the presenter will not move away from their PowerPoint presentation.  It is as if  the audience doesn’t even need to be there for the person to continue their presentation.  I know I’m in trouble when I see the presenter being chained to their laptop.  They dare not venture being arms reach of the laptop.  And to make matters worst, they basically read their bullet points to you. 

So as I get ready for the confercence, I will see how far as stay on my presentation and how far a stray from my initial thinking on what I will present.

There were four sessions throughout the day. Here is a brief review of the sessions:

 Session 1 – Project Based Learning That Works - Great Ideas for You – Thematic Planning – The LEADS model (Literacy is Essential to Adolescent Development and Success ) is built around thematic, cross-curricular units.  The core reading materials, novels and expository/informational text are utilized to incorporate this cross-curricular approach.  The presenters gave an example of Project-based Learning by presenting YouTube videos showing this model in action.  Integrating curriculum through ideas – LA teacher, SS teacher, and Math teacher are thinking of ways to integrate these themes/ideas.  They pointed out that collaboration time is essential.   

Session 2 – Drop-in Time- Web 2.0 tools- They spoke of how they could be used in the classroom with students. The presenters demonstrated interesting sites:

For more information go to: http://dropintimewithweb20.wikispaces.com/

Session 3 – I presented “The Project-Based Web 2.0 Buffet! Eating It All Up! I spoke about the collaborative 6^th grade project. I’ll be posting my presentation on my website.

Session 4 – Developing and Supporting Teacher Leaders – The Academy of Teaching and Learning – http://southjerseyacademy.com/. It is run by teachers for teachers and started in 2000. 

All sessions are free. The only responsibility of the school districts are providing teachers with substitutes while attending.

There are 4 components -

1. governance committee – gets feedback from others to determine who are speakers, i.e. teacher leaders in the area then plan/organize
2. EIRC – take care of cost, meeting place, etc.
3. Quarterly meetings – meet on a specific topic – teachers drive the topics based on feedback
   1. Keynote in AM, breakout, lunch, return for big group activity, burning issues
4. Website – collaboration, professional growth

Once again a very enjoyable day at this annual conference. Thanks to all the folks at SRI – ETTC for putting this together!