Midsouth EduTweetUp (Jan. 11, 2011) – POSTPONED

NOTE: This event has been postponed due to inclement weather throughout the region.

All PK-12 educators are invited to join us for food and fun as teachers from schools and districts all around the Memphis area connect and share ideas. The evening will conclude with a Web 2.0 Smackdown during which attendees can volunteer to share quick demos (under 3 minutes) of some of their favorite Web 2.0 tools and services. Note that free wi-fi will be available in the studio. We’ll also have a computer projector and screen.

We’ll be meeting at the IDT Studio at the University of Memphis (320 Ball Hall) from 5:30 to 7:30 PM on Tuesday, January 11, 2011. Please help spread the word via Twitter, Facebook, on your blog(s), email, etc., and include the event tag: #metu. Non-Twitter-using teachers are absolutely welcome to join us, too. There is no registration fee, but we will be having the meal catered from Corky’s ($5/person). Please help us order the appropriate amount of food by RSVP-ing using the buttons in this Tweetvite.

Event Tag: #metu

Shhh!!! The Students Are Learning: Being an Effective Classroom Facilitator

This my presentation for the 2010 K-12 Online Conference.

Description

Be a facilitator of learning rather than a deliverer of information. Develop strategies for managing a classroom where students can have a leadership role and the teacher becomes the classroom coach. Strategies for designing and practical tips for implementing units will be shared.

Discussion

  • Please share your experiences with designing and implementing facilitated learning activities and units.
  • What worked well and what would you do differently next time?
  • What advice can you share with teachers preparing to facilitate learning?

Additional Notes and Resources

Please visit the related page on my wiki, Learning Telecollaboratively. I invite you to add your suggested resources related to this topic over there.

Requesting Your Assistance: Making the Curriculum POP!

One of the professional development workshops I’m facilitating this week is titled Making the Curriculum Pop. We’ll be focusing on the use of digital media and alternative text selections to engage students’ interest in “pop” culture. I would appreciate any ideas for connecting music, TV, movies, newspapers, magazines, etc. with the curriculum, as well as links to images, audio, video, resources, etc. that you can share. I’ll certainly credit you for your suggestions, too.

Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media (TAISTI)

I’m back in Nashville today for the TAIS Technology Institute. I’m excited about having opportunities to work with and learn from classroom teachers, media specialists, administrators, and more. I’ll be sharing a workshop on Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media. The PowerPoint presentation is below and the full workshop notes are available on my wiki. Note that the links and logos in the PowerPoint presentation are clickable.

Upcoming Opportunities for Professional Development

TeachMeet Nashville
April 1-2, 2010
An event organized by teachers, for teachers, at no cost.
Event Website

DEN Summer Institute Applications Due
April 12, 2010
“Attendees will have the opportunity to connect with fellow STAR Discovery Educators from all over during an exclusive, intensive, week-long networking and professional development event.”
Learn More

EdCamp Philly
May 22, 2010
“An unconference devoted to K-12 issues and ideas!”
Event Website

EduBloggerCon
June 26, 2010
“EduBloggerCons are about conversations that teach. Questions are asked, problems posed, experiences shared, and everyone learns.”
Event Website

ISTE Conference (Formerly NECC)
June 27-30, 2010
The premiere event for educational technology professionals.
Conference Website

Podstock
July 16-17
“It’s a conference. It’s a conversation. It’s family.”
Conference Website

Laptop Institute
July 18-20, 2010
“An international think tank for schools using or considering laptops or tablets as tools for learning.”
Institute Website

Web 2.0 Technologies for Elementary and Middle School Classrooms

These are the slides for today’s presentation at the NCTIES Conference. Examples of how both teachers and students have used these tools are included. The full set of notes and resources from this session are available on the wiki. Thanks to everyone that attended, participated, tweeted, shared resources and ideas, etc.

Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media (NCTIES)

I’m enjoying the North Carolina Technology in Education Society’s 2010 Conference in Raleigh, NC. I’m excited about being one of the featured speakers and having opportunities to work with and learn from classroom teachers, media specialists, administrators, and more.

Today I’ll be sharing a pre-conference workshop on Multiple Representations of Understanding through Digital Media. This energetic session will demonstrate that with freely available digital technologies students can demonstrate their understanding of course content in multiple ways (images, audio, video, presentations, artwork, and more). Each student’s end product (learning artifact) allows them to personally self-express their understanding/mastery of the content/skills. Although teachers may not be comfortable using all of today’s technology it is important to consider allowing students to use it to communicate their understanding as they are often more naturally able to more fully express themselves with digital media. The PowerPoint presentation is below and the full workshop notes are available on my wiki. Note that the links and logos in the PowerPoint presentation are clickable.

Planning District-Wide Technology Professional Development

Brenda McCombs, Drew Polly, Clif Mims and ALBHS Science Department
2009 Midsouth Technology Conference

We’ll be sharing information about the Impacting Kannapolis Program today at the MidSouth Technology Conference (MSTC). This program is in its 2nd year of funding through the IMPACT Technology Grant sponsored by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. My involvement with this program consists of providing several weeks of professional development in instructional design and technology integration each summer.

This presentation will describe the approaches to designing and implementing district-wide professional development in a high-need, Title I school district. The workshop will share approaches to supporting teacher learning and teacher leaders, and also highlight technologies and projects that have been used in schools.

NOTE: Visit the collaborative wiki page for this presentation at Learning Telecollaboratively for additional information and resources. Photos from this presentation are available at Lifestreaming from My iPhone (my Posterous).

View more presentations from Clif Mims.

Conference Tag: #mstc09

Connecting the Classroom and Outside World (Feedback Requested)

Educators, what are some strategies for connecting the classroom with the outside world?

NOTE: I’d like to share responses in an upcoming workshop/presentation and on my blog and wiki. You can submit your ideas using the form below, share your text/audio/video reply in the Comments section of this post or respond via Twitter, Plurk or on your blog using the tag #thruwalls. You can also view the compiled database of suggested strategies on my wiki, Learning Telecollaboratively.

Share this post using http://tr.im/104.

Conversation tag: #thruwalls

Great Opportunity to Learn More: BarCamp Memphis

BarCamp Memphis isn’t just a Web 2.0 conference. It’s an unconference. What does that mean, exactly? That’s up to you. The first half of the day will feature predetermined, scheduled sessions like any other conference you’d attend, but in the afternoon the topic curating is turned over to you. Throughout the morning, you’ll vote on what you’d like to discuss or learn more about in the afternoon sessions so that BarCamp is hand-crafted to meet the needs of the community. The afternoon sessions might be panels or Q-and-A with specific BarCampers, or they might be roundtable discussions — Core Conversations, as we call them — with groups of Campers looking to bounce ideas and learn from others’ experiences.” (Source)

I enjoyed SocialCamp Memphis back in March (Here are the resources from one of my presentations at that event.) and I’m looking forward to BarCamp Memphis. Please come join us.

Event Tag: #bcmem