Goodbye Portland, Oregon!

 After an exhausting three days of technology workshops and sessions, Beth and I headed out to the Portland Airport.  The weather all week has been rainy and today is no different.  In reflecting back, I have learned so much, I now need to find the time when I return to revisit several bits of information and technology tools and try to get some of them integrated into my existing classes.

Closing Key Note Speaker - Jeff Corwin

 

Jeff Corwin

GO WILD: Environmental Education in the Age of Technology

This year NCCE's closing keynote speaker was Discovery Education's Jeff Corwin, an Emmy-ward winning biologist.  He gave an up-close and personal presentation about his work in the environment and ecology and how his experiences can be applied in the classroom to engage students and inspire an interest in learning.

30 in 60: 30 Take-Home Tools for Tech-Savvy Teachers

Mike Agostinelli

Presented by Mike Agostinelli and Jason Neiffer

Beth and I joined tech-savvy teachers, Mike and Jason, as they showed off 30 engaging, interesting and useful bits in just 60 minutes.  This face-paced session focused on Web 2.0 tools, e-learning master tools, productivity powerhouses and other things that we can start using RIGHT NOW.  Their presentation was delivered using http://livebinders.com/:

30 in 60: Great Tools for Tech–Savvy Teachers

Their session was streamed using ustream and a copy is below:

One of the handy things I learned was about Google Talk.  Would you like a way to give students access to you 24/7 on your terms?  I am sure most would say, “NO”, but stick with me.  If you use Google Talk, they have a way to embed into your Moodle, website, blog, etc.  Go to http://www.google.com/talk/service/badge/New You will have to sign in with your Google or Gmail account.  From there the website will generate code for you to embed in your site of choice.  When you are done it looks like this:

So for me this has done two things:  1. It has driven much more student traffic to my sites  &  2. It has allowed me to be more responsive to my students.  Give it a try and let me know how it is working for you  

http://techsavvyteacher.com/?paged=3

Integration with Stop Motion

Presentation by Joe Dockery

After a burger and fries for lunch, we headed back over to the convention center to Joe Dockery's Integration with Stop Motion session.  Joe tells us that stop motion animation is so much fun and educational it should be banned from schools. We learned how our students can create exciting and engaging digital stories through the use of stop motion animation. The session will explored how to use Adobe Premiere Elements as an easy to use stop motion tool. Online tutorials and resource materials we can use with our students are available online:  http://www.mountsihighschool.com/directory/_dockeryj/conferences/concurrent_sessions/stopmotion/web/index.html.  He also provided a link to video tutorials on Animation with Adobe Premiere Elements:  http://www.mountsihighschool.com/directory/_dockeryj/conferences/stopmotion/web/index.html.  Joe's sessions are always great because he provides all of his information and video tutorials that are linked online.  He welcomes us to use these in our classrooms. 

Lunch @ Burgerville!

After Annette Lamb's session, Beth and I headed over to Red Robin again for lunch only to find out it was packed with a long line outside.  So.....we headed to Burgerville.  We ordered right away and got our food pretty quick.

Graphic Inquiry & Visual Technologies

Presented by Annette Lamb

Beth and I both attended Annette's session on Graphic Inquiry.  We live in a high-tech, multimedia world filled with visual tools and resources, yet many of our classroom activities still emphasize print communication. Even inquiry-based approaches to learning often stress writing lists of questions, reading texts, and writing papers. We know that many of our young people are motivated by graphic communications. There’s a need to explore the potential of graphic inquiry in teaching and learning. Annette Lamb provides powerful resources for pursuing graphic inquiry in the classroom.  The link to her website is as follows:  http://www.eduscapes.com/sessions/graphic/graphicinquiry.htm.

The New Adobe Education Exchange

Presented by Joe Dockery

The Adobe Education Exchange is a free online resource for educators to meet, share, discuss, and collaborate on topics of interest to the Adobe education community.  Teachers share lesson plans, class projects, technical tutorials, background materials, and other resources and get feedback and recognition from the community.  You can network with other educators that share your interests and start a dialogue on the topics you’re thinking about and exploring.  You can discover new methods for teaching and learning, best practices for using Adobe software in the classroom, and guidance on a range of education topics. Explore the community for innovative new ideas and exciting and unique ways to integrate Adobe software into classroom teaching and learning.  I have been using the Adobe Education Exchange for a little over a year now and find it to be a valuable resource.  The link to the Adobe Education Exchange is:  http://edexchange.adobe.com/pages/home.