CFF Communities

I know several of the TIME2INNOVATE teachers attended the 2008 NECC conference in Texas last week and would invite them to post some of their insights and experiences from the ocngerence.  I've recieved a few updates on the conference from a tech news service but I'm most interested in the views from the teachers that attended.  If you did not attend here is the website to get additional information and details on the program.

http://center.uoregon.edu/ISTE/NECC2008/ 

Regards,

Bruce 

Bruce and all,

I had the pleasure of attending NECC, and also a couple events prior to the start of NECC. One such event was the Constructivist Consortium, which was sponsored by software vendors who truly value student creativity over just drill-type work. Here are some of the notes I took from Gary Stager, PhD, who was the morning keynote: 

A lot of teachers are using digital storytelling/movies these days. There should be a poster in these classrooms that reads: 

1. your movie should be shorter
2. it should be edited one more time
3. respect your audience!
4. make something enduring, beautiful

Make your classroom an oasis where kids love to learn
Question assumptions

Does the kid program the computer, or does the computer program the kid?
Technocentrism VS. relevancy
. .
Peter Reynolds, from FableVision, spoke in the afternoon about the power of art. He said teachers need to stop defining the process so much, and let kids be creative. He also said, "Don't ever say your art is bad - it inhibits students' creativity." I thought this was powerful because I used to alwas criticize drawings I made, but if a student's drawing looks similar to mine, then I am sending a message to that student that s/he should be criticized as well.

 At other events, I noticed a lot of attention on digital storytelling and podcasting. There definitely seems to be a need for more creativity infusion, and not just Office-based productivity. People are looking to Web 2.0 tools. I even learned how to create a presence on Second Life!

One of my concerns was the size of the exhibit hall. I presented there three times for Tech4Learning, and one of the things I noticed is a lot of focus on the hype and the giveaways, and not as much on the impact on student learning. There are always booths that generate learning - Discovery Ed, Apple, Gateway, and Adobe, to name a few - but there were also booths in which I walked away knowing nothing of the product, but got a "neat toy" or even rode a mechanical bull. If this is the gimmick to woo educators, are we making smart product decisions?

My other concern was that a lot of the sesssions, which seemed to be about a topic of interest to me, turned out to be commercial sessions. For example, I wanted to attend a session about using pen-based technologies in the classroom because we bought Gateway tablets for teachers. The session was nothing more than a product pitch for DyKnow.

Overall, I did get some great information, but I left feeling like, if I had to choose, I would attend CUE over NECC next year.

But hey, that's just my two cents' worth. :-)

Laura -

 Thanks for sharing your experience at NECC with the group.  Now that you've had some time to reflect on the workshops, seminars, and exhibits what would be the one thing (technology, promising practice, strategy, etc) you would like incorporate into your work this year in your distrcit.

Regards,

Bruce 

Bruce,

There's a few things I hope to bring to the district this year:

1.  I heard a presentation called, "Research without Copying." It used the Big 6 technique to show teachers how to change their research assignments to foster higher level thinking while also eliminating the copy/paste technique used by students. The basic message was that teachers need to adjust their approach, instead of just reproaching the students. I'm working with principals at all school sites to let me present this workshop to all teachers.

2.  Flexibility with Creativity. I'm not sure how yet, but I really liked the message of the Constructivist Consortium that the technology supports students' creativity, and should not dictate it. I need to find ways to empower teachers to feel okay with letting students choose their medium. For example, our 2nd grade teachers work on animal reports as their end of year culminating activity. At the end of the research process, students present a Power Point. How can we help students choose their own presentation mode? Perhaps some would do a digital story, or a Power Point, or a ComicLife comic strip... This is much more powerful than everyone following the same template.

3.  More just in time training. I kept hearing teachers complain that the district/county workshops aren't effective because they had no follow up, or no time to get comfortable with the new technique/strategy/technology. So I want to make sure that any workshops I give are followed by classroom visits to help teachers incorporate the skill in to their teaching.

That should keep me busy for a bit! :-)

Laura