Interviewed by Wes Fryer

I had the privilege of being interviewed by Wes Fryer for his Speed of Creativity Podcast back in October. We discussed the mission of the Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence, experiences and lessons learned from our inaugural conference, rethinking professional development, and my appreciation for educators throughout the Midsouth. Listen to the podcast by clicking on the play button below the photo.

Wes Fryer and Clif Mims

 

Show Notes

  1. The Martin Institute
  2. The Martin Institute Conference Wiki (with links to presentation resources)
  3. Video: About the Martin Institute

About the Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence [Video]

The Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence provides world-class professional development for educators. The Institute provides on-site seminars, workshops and conferences; a teacher residency program; and funding for off-site professional development, especially Project Zero at Harvard University. The Institute draws on the research and ideas of leading educational thinkers and child development experts, and it blends theory with practical application, including the opportunity for teachers to observe, network and/or develop their craft.

Summer Conference
The 2011 Martin Institute Summer Conference will be in Memphis, TN on June 15-16. This year’s theme is Teaching for Tomorrow, which focuses on 21st century skills. The world-class slate of presenters and workshop facilitators includes Bill Nye the Science Guy, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, Tom Barrett (@tombarrett), Paul R. Wood (@paulrwood), and many other outstanding educators and thought leaders.

Upcoming EduEvents

Arkansas Association of Instructional Media Conference
Hot Spring, AR
April 3-5, 2011
Website

InnovatEd
Memphis, TN
April 7, 2011
Website

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Conference
Indianapolis, Indiana
April 13-16, 2011
Website, Blog

TAIS Technology Institute 2011
Memphis, TN
April 15, 2011
Website

2011 Forum for Innovative Leadership
Memphis, TN
Memphis City Schools’ Urban Education Center Memphis City Schools
June 7-9, 2011
Website

Cure4Kids Global Summit
Memphis, TN
June 9-11, 2011
Website

2011 Martin Institute Summer Conference
Memphis, TN
June 15-16, 2011
Website

iSummit 2011
Nashville, TN
June 22-24, 2011
Website

EduBloggerCon
Philadelphia, PA
June 25, 2011
Website

International Society for Technology in Education Conference
Philadelphia, PA
June 26-29, 2011
Website

Lausanne Laptop Institute
Memphis, TN
July 10-13, 2011
Website

Martin Institute Special Education Summit
Memphis, TN
Sept. 27-28, 2011
martininstitute.org

Fun Invitation to the 2011 Martin Institute Summer Conference #micon11

Bill Nye the Science Guy is among the many outstanding speakers and workshop facilitators that will be at our innaurural Summer Conference. Make your plans to join us in Memphis, TN, on June 15-16, 2011.

Image Source: BillNye.com

Bill Nye Headlines 2011 Martin Institute Summer Conference

The Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence is excited to announce that Bill Nye will be the keynote speaker for the 2011 Summer Conference.

About Bill Nye
Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life. “My family is funny,” he says, “I mean funny in the sense that we make people laugh, not just funny looking.” Bill discovered that he had a talent for tutoring in high school, and while growing up in Washington, DC. He spent afternoons and summers de-mystifying math for his fellow students. When he wasn’t hitting the books, Bill was hitting the road on his bicycle. He spent hours taking it apart to “see how it worked.” <Read More>

Featured Speakers
Other featured speakers at the Summer Conference include Tom Barrett (a.k.a. @tombarrett), 21st century educator from Nottingham, England; Vaija Wagle, Harvard University Project Zero Group Leader; Carol Vukelich, distinguished educator in early literacy; and Tiffany Boyd, literacy coach and consultant with Heinemann Publishing.

Registration
Registration details for the Summer Conference are forthcoming. Sign-up to receive an email notification once registration begins. The 2011 Summer Conference will be held on Wednesday, June 15 and Thursday June 16, 2011, in Memphis, TN, USA.

Notes & Resources from Midsouth EduTweetUp & Web 2.0 Smackdown (Jan. 2011)

The first Midsouth EduTweetUp of 2011 was held Tuesday evening at the IDT Studio. Approximately 10 educators representing several school districts and area independent schools enjoyed an informative evening of networking and idea-sharing.

The evening’s festivities included opportunities for requesting advice/advice sharing, a tour of the IDT Studio, discussion about upcoming events, and concluded with a Web 2.0 Smackdown, where attendees had the opportunity to demonstrate their favorite Web 2.0 tool and share how it can be integrated with teaching and learning.

Thanks to everyone that participated and made this a fun and informative event.

A special thanks to Philip Cummings for coordinating the barbecue dinner and to Trey Martindale for hosting us in the IDT Studio.

Below are the slides from the meeting followed by a few notes and resources from the evening.

Notes

Educational Technology CertificateUM IDT‘s K-12 certificate in instructional computing applications is a series of four Instructional Design and Technology courses designed to prepare inservice and preservice teachers to meaningfully integrate technology into teaching and learning.

Graduate degrees in Instructional Design and Technology and School Library Information

2011 Martin Institute Spring Conference – Those who come to feast with us can choose from the a la carte menu of learning sessions, attending as few or as many as time allows. Registration in each session will be limited to the first hungry learners to “make their dinner reservations.

The 2011 Martin Institute Summer Conference will focus on PK-6 grade literacy and STEM. The call for presentation proposals will be posted in the coming weeks.

E-Learning Network – Monthly lunch meetings for professionals to learn about and share e-learning technologies and strategies.

Web 2.0 Smackdown

Here are the links from the Web 2.0 Smackdown.

Waze – Real-time maps and traffic information based on the wisdom of the crowd

Twitterfall – Twitterfall is a Twitter client specialising in real-time tweet searches. New tweets fall into the page.

Big Huge Labs and Education

SweetSearch – A search engine for students.

SweetSites – Collections of sites organized by subject and academic level for teachers and students.

Haiku – A lesson-centric learning management system built to bring the advantages of the web to your students and classes.

Digital Wish – Putting technology in the hands of teachers and students.

Wetoku – Easily conduct video interviews.

Skype Education – A free directory for teachers who want to use Skype to bring education to life in their classrooms.

Sqworl – A clean and simple way to visually bookmark multiple URLs.

NextUp and Meetzi – In-meeting management tools that helps make your meetings more focused, actionable, and on time.

Kids’ Vid – An instructional web site that gives teachers and students the tools necessary to implement video production in the classroom.

Review the tweets and links using the event tag: #metu.

Future EduTweetUps are already in the works. Please add your information to the Memphis EduTweetUp database to receive information about future events.

Event Tag: #metu

Midsouth EduTweetUp on Jan. 18, 2011

All PK-12 educators (and future 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 18, 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 or contacting Philip Cummings.

Event Tag: #metu

Waze for Smart Phones: The Wisdom of the Crowd for Driving

Waze provides “real-time maps and traffic information based on the wisdom of the crowd.”

Here are a few items of note from the Waze website. (Source)

  • At waze, our vision is to work in cooperation with drivers worldwide to create the world’s first live driving map, providing users with the real-time road intelligence they need for better everyday driving.
  • Waze is a social mobile application providing free turn-by-turn navigation based on the live conditions of the road. 100% powered by users, the more you drive, the better it gets. Join the community of drivers in your area today!
  • Waze is a social mobile application that enables drivers to build and use real-time road intelligence. The service includes constantly-updated road maps, alerts on traffic and accidents, and data providing users with the fastest route to get to wherever they need to go.

(Hat Tip to Wes Fryer for bringing Waze to my attention.)

Educational Uses

Waze could be integrated with geography, driver’s education, and social studies.

Data generated by Waze (collected from the live maps) could be used in math and science classrooms.

Please share additional educational uses in the comments.

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