EdTechTeacher

May 10th: Leveraging iPads, laptops, and other technologies to differentiate learning & teaching

As today's classrooms become increasingly diverse, teachers frequently find themselves working to address the varying needs of their students. Emerging technologies allow teachers to create flexible, individualized, curricula that can scaffold as well as enrich. The goal of this webinar is to explore how technologies can facilitate differentiation, support diverse learners, and create rich learning environments that meet the needs of all students.

Confirmed Presenters: EdTechTeacher's Beth Holland will host this discussion with educator, Tracy Sockalosky. Prior to joining EdTechTeacher, Beth spent six years collaborating with teachers and student services specialists to use technology in order to customize learning for students with special needs. Tracy, an Instructional Technology Specialist and Digital Media and Technology Literacy teacher in the Natick Public Schools, has over ten years of experience working with students who have language-based learning disabilities.

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May 3rd: iPads, ePubs, & iBooks Author

With iPads increasingly becoming the device of choice for 1:1 programs, especially in light of Apple's recent launch of iBooks2, iBooks Author, and the improved iTunesU, school districts and classroom teachers no longer have to rely on expensive and often outdated paper based textbooks to provide course content to their students. Educators now have the ability to create their own, custom content that can be published as an ePub or PDF and distributed to students online and then directly to the iPad or any other mobile device.

In this webinar, we address the multiple formats available for digital content, including the pros and cons of each one for student learning, as well as how to manage the dissemination of custom digital content. This webinar is also an opportunity to learn more about the upcoming July 26-27 summer workshop: iPads, ePubs, & iBooks Author - Creating Your Own Digital Course Content.

Confirmed Presenters: EdTechTeacher's Greg Kulowiec and Beth Holland will be hosting this discussion. Greg and Beth have actively been researching innovative uses of iPads in the classroom, leading workshops to for teachers looking to integrate them into the curriculum, and developing new teaching tools such as their iPad As... page on the EdTechTeacher web site. They also maintain a Diigo Group - iPads for ETT, and publish a weekly digest of iPad apps, resources, and implementations to theEdTechTeacher blog.

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April 26th: Building A Community of Readers with Carla Beard

How might we use technology to develop, support, and encourage students as readers? Join Carla Beard of Web English Teacher to discuss digital book talks, literature circles, pecha kuchas, and other ways to celebrate reading.

Confirmed Presenter: Carla Beard is a veteran English teacher and educational technology specialist for the state of Indiana who has presented at conventions and workshops nationally. She is creator and webmaster of the award-winning Web English Teacher, a popular web portal that presents the best of K-12 English/Language Arts teaching resources: lesson plans, WebQuests, videos, biographies, e-texts, criticism, classroom activities and more. She has written and presented extensively on technology in the English/Language Arts curriculum, including a National Council of Teachers of English presentation entitled "Technology and English/Language Arts." In 2004, Carla was named to the Educator Advisory Board of AOL@School, and has served as National Teacher Advisor for Cable in the Classroom. Carla has also evaluated National Endowment for the Humanities grant applications in technology. Currently the English Department Chair at Connersville High School in Indiana, Ms. Beard has converted all English/Language Arts classrooms at her school to computer classrooms and regularly leads in-service sessions on using technology effectively.

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April 19th: Primary Sources 2.0

Primary sources - the heart of historical analysis - are increasingly available on the Web and will become predominantly digital in the future. Furthermore, as conventional, print-based text gives way to screen-based "multimodal" communication, the historian of the 21st Century will be as likely to encounter multimedia primary sources as print-based ones. As such, historians, educators, and students must improve their skills of accessing, evaluating, and collaborating with digital primary sources in networked environments. This webinar will explore some of the skills and strategies for accessing, evaluating, and teaching with digital primary sources.

Confirmed Presenter: EdTechTeacher's Greg Kulowiec brings eight years of teaching experience as a Social Studies teacher and Technology Integration Specialist to EdTechTeacher. An award-winning history teacher who was recognized by the Massachusetts Council for the Social Studies with the Aieta Promising Teacher Award in 2009, Greg’s expertise and influence in technology integration has grown to a national level. As a co-creator of #sschat on twitter, Greg has been featured in both the New York Times and the Washington Post regarding the impact of social media with educators. While in the classroom, Greg was a proponent of expanding the audience of his student’s work by having them publish text, audio and video online. His student’s video projects exploring the protests of the Arab Spring were featured on WBUR’s “Here and Now” program in 2011. Greg has also been an early adopter of iPads in the classroom. Student projects integrating iPads have included a student created digital math textbook, iPad podcasting, paperless iPad research and iPad screencasting across the curriculum. Greg presents at regional and national conferences on his teaching strategies and technology integration ideas including MassCue, The National Council for the Social Studies, The New England 1:1 Summitt, EdTechTeacher Winter Conference and multiple EdCamps. Greg has been at the forefront of integrating cell phones into the classroom and has been featured on Public Radio International’s, “The World Technology Podcast” in 2009 and contributed to the 2009 ISTE Fall Newsletter, both about cell phones in the classroom.

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March 29th: Best Selling Author Kenneth C. Davis

Bestselling author Ken Davis invites teachers to join in an interactive discussion about teaching American History in more exciting ways. Davis, known for his down-to-earth, non-academic style, will present a brief introduction on what excites him in his study of American History, and what he’s learned in twenty years of talking to Americans about what they “need to know about American History.” Then he will open up the webinar to questions and comments from teachers. “This is not a lecture, but a dialog,” says Davis, who hopes you will join the session and share your ideas and experiences about what works in the classroom. You can also contact Kenneth Davis at www.dontknowmuch.com.

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March 28th: Teaching Physics with Technology

This webinar is an opportunity to learn more about the upcoming summer workshop June 21-22, 2012. We will explore innovative ideas, effective techniques, and thoughtful plans for incorporating Web-based resources, desktop software packages, and new and emerging technologies into the Physics classroom. Participants will explore examples of the best science-related web sites, and will work with innovative tools to help improve Physics education, such as wikis, embedded maps, graphs, charts, and online social networks.

Confirmed Presenters: David Strasburger is Science Department Head, Physics Teacher, and Faculty Evaluation Member at the Noble and Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts. Winner of the Vernon L. Greene award for Faculty Excellence, David has a long interest in thoughtful integration of technology into the classroom and in the delicate interface between new, constantly-evolving tools and a teacher's instructional style and goals. He led EdTechTeacher's "Teaching Science with Technology" summer workshop the past two summers and presented at several educational technology events, including the 2008 Teaching with New and Emerging Technologies Conference. Jon Jasinski fulfills his passion for teaching at Medway High School in Medway, Massachusetts. He teaches Introductory Physics and Principles of Engineering, a part of the Project Lead The Way program. Jon creates a blended learning environment combining the best of online and face-to-face classrooms. Using technology to embed collaborative learning, critical thinking, creative problem solving, and communication skills into his classroom, Jon prepares his students for an ever changing future using 21st century skills.

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March 22nd: Teaching Foreign Languages With Technology

Explore practical ways to use technology to enhance instruction of the 5 C's framework (Communication, Culture, Community, Connections and Comparisons), with specific attention to listening, speaking and writing skills.

Confirmed Speaker: Erin McCloskey is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a graduate of the Learning and Teaching program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). At HGSE she researched online teacher professional development, focusing on the relationship between technologically-mediated learning and intercultural learning. She has taught professional development courses about sheltered instruction for ELLs through the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT, served as an advisor to pre-service secondary school teachers in the Boston Public Schools, advised HGSE faculty on the incorporation of technology in instruction, and served as a teaching fellow for several HGSE courses in the Technology, Innovation and Education program. Erin is the principal consultant on a project to develop online courses for Costa Rican Spanish-literacy teachers in collaboration with Costa Rica’s leading distance university. Prior to doctoral studies, Erin was a high school Spanish teacher, EFL teacher, and language curriculum developer at Phillips Academy at Andover, Concord Academy, Community Day Charter School in Lawrence, MA, and a public school outside of San José, Costa Rica. Erin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University, where she got her A.B. in Comparative Literature (Spanish/English), and received her Ed.M. in Technology, Innovation and Education from Harvard University.

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