ACTEM Mini-conference 2015

Once again ACTEM is offering some half day sessions for teachers and school technology personnel. The southern sessions are being held at South Portland High School. Sessions are described here: http://actem.wildapricot.org/event-1819928 and the website for all the workshop resources is here: https://sites.google.com/a/yarmouthschools.org/actem-2015-mini-conference. It's great to have the opportunity to work with small groups of teachers from many school districts. Thursday we will be at Hampden Academy to work with teachers from schools in that area.

Thinking about 1:1 Laptops and Innovation Learning

I came away from the annual ACTEM conference this year with questions about where we are going in Maine with personalized learning (Inevitable: Mass Customized Learning was published in early 2011 and sent to all Superintendents). The schools that have been piloting standards-based learning and 1:1 iPads are modeling an ungraded, individualized approach to elementary education that is far from the more traditional, whole group instruction going on in most schools. What is best for students? I wonder what direction we will be going in the majority of districts that have not been included in the pilot programs.

Based on the powerful learning opportunities I heard about in some sessions I couldn't help but wish for more iPads and a 1:1 scenario for our early learners, perhaps even through 4th grade. I'm trying to figure out if that is a proposal that we should be putting forward as we think about the next few years of planning and K-12 expenditures for technology. In the meantime I want to push us to make the most use of the the 1:1 laptops we have in the 3rd and 4th grade classrooms.

What does that look like? It looks like using the computers to record reading, take pictures and videos, having kids draw, using online tools like WeVideo for collaborative video, Voicethread, Animoto, and Comic creators. Teachers can use Kahoot!, Socrative and Google Forms for interactions between teachers and students on their laptops.

Upcoming team meetings and times in classrooms are important times for conversations with teachers about these expanded ways of using the laptops. We have an energetic set of teachers who are all using all of our technology resources as part of their instructional process. A challenge I see is putting more of the autonomy on the students to show us how they choose to learn and then to share that learning through writing, drawing, video or whatever medium they find best for expressing their ideas.

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Google Apps for Education and iPads - ACTEM 2014 Session

Hour of Code - Grades K-5

ACTEM Mini-Conference

This year for ACTEM offered a mini-conference for a day during February vacation at the newly renovated South Portland High School. I collaborate with Alice Barr on a session on Enhancing Your Classroom using Google Drive and Kern Kelley on Empowering Students with Presentations, and Blogger for the classroom with tips on using Picasa and YouTube to portray learning in the classroom.

This is the updated presentation I included on Blogger in the classroom:

ACTEM MaineED Conference October 11, 2013

I worked with Amy Finnen on a session about classroom blogging. Most classrooms are using this tool and the three Kindergarten teachers who took the Yarmouth summer course worked together to fine tune their approach to sharing learning with families in their blogs.

This is the presentation we used for the session:

ACTEM MaineEd Conference October 2011

One of the opportunities I look forward to each year is the MaineEd ACTEM conference each fall. This year I chose not to present, but attended sessions on Global Learning with Lucy Gray, iPads in first grade and the implementation of iPads in the Auburn Kindergartens. My focus was on attending sessions with the many teachers from Yarmouth who attended. In a conversation with Tara Maker from Apple I became interested in attending the three day workshop that Apple was coordinating with Auburn on the literacy research being launched in Auburn. I was able to register for the conference and to gain a spot for a representative from the new Yarmouth Education Foundation. I also learned from Peter Robinson (Auburn) and Lars (Apple Engineer) about some of the particulars of setting up iPads for classroom use.

MAINEducation (ACTEM) Conference Fall 2010

It's always a challenge to go from the rush of the start of the year to the days away from school at the Fall Maine Education Technology Conference. That said, it is always an energizer as well. I had another opportunity to collaborate with Bob Sprankle from Wells Elementary School on a Thursday afternoon session with 26 educators learning to use Flip cameras to present student work, manage student portfolios and a multitude of other possible uses. I took away many ideas from Bob and the participants. Our presentation is available online:

Flip video in the classroom

On Friday I was inspired by the collaborative keynote by Vicki Davis and Angela Maiers. Not only was it revolutionary that they were willing to co-keynote, their combined energies of reminding us of what we "can" do (as opposed to all the "can'ts") were invigorating. I hope to go back to school and think about every child as a genius who has a unique contribution to make in the world. I know, it sounds hokey, but it is one of many little things I can do to change the conversation.

ACTEM Maine Education09

This is the presentation that Bob Sprankle and I did at the ACTEM Maine Education Conference today. Thanks to Bob for collaborating with me and sharing so many of the great ideas he uses at Wells Elementary School.

Learning 24/7: How to teach our elementary students so they will keep learning on their own.

View more presentations from Yarmouth Schools.