EdTechTeacher

Providing Learning Opportunities for Teachers, Schools, and School Leaders

All of us at EdTechTeacher have been classroom teachers at some point in our careers and value quality professional development. We know that in all schools, time and money are tight. For that reason, we offer a variety of programs to help you and your school.

Professional Learning for Teachers

If you are looking to improve your teaching and transform your curriculum, then our summer workshops may be a great starting point. We also travel to schools across the country (and abroad) to deliver workshops and presentations. We also offer a variety of free webinars as well as guides and resources for Teaching with Technology.

In addition, you may want to also visit our other web sites: Teaching History with Technology, Teaching English with Technology, and Best of History Websites.

Professional Learning for Schools

Our Teach for the 21st Century (T21) Program is a year long professional development program offered to schools and districts to develop teacher leaders in technology integration. The T21 program provides cohorts of teachers with the opportunity to develop their technology integration skills over a one-year period through the coaching and support of educators who have extensive experience teaching with technology. Participants in the program leave with a greater confidence in their computing skills, practical approaches for integrating technology in the curriculum, and a readiness to take a leadership role in promoting thoughtful computer use in their schools.

Professional Learning for Administrators

As technology and globalization transform our economy and civic sphere, educators must rise to the challenge of preparing students for an ever more complex and cognitively demanding world. We realize that school leaders perform a critical role in working to make 21st century learning an essential element of school culture and intellectual life. With our school leaders, we focus on three core themes during workshops and presentations:

1. Why Change? Making the case for 21st century skills instruction
2. What Does Change Look Like? Envisioning and enacting 21st century skills instruction across schools
3. Assessing Change in Changing Times: Monitoring school progress towards 21st century skill goals

During the summer, we offer a workshop titled Leading Change in Changing Times; however, we are also available to meet with school leaders throughout the school year to consult on and teach a variety of topics.

Workshop and Presentation Topics

Whether you bring us in for the year, the day, or even just an afternoon, our presentations and workshops address a range of topics:

Nurturing the 21st Century Classroom: Research, Exemplars, Resources (Presentation)
Emerging technologies, a globalized world, and a changing labor market demand innovative approaches to education. We'll examine empirical research on recent changes to the labor market -- research that sits at the core of the notion of "21st century" skills. We'll look at the most important roles that computers play in the classroom and, in particular, how technology can support essential skill areas: expert thinking, complex communication, and new media literacy. The presentation highlights innovative educational uses of the "Read-Write" Web and shows how teachers can use technology to empower students and facilitate creative, student-centric learning environments.  It builds on research regarding effective professional development and shares models and resources to help teachers effectively integrate 21st century skills into their courses.

Why Johnny Can't Search: Teaching Effective Search Strategies and Web Literacy (Workshop)
This workshop provides a variety of teaching strategies for helping teachers and students develop skills for effectively searching and navigating the Web and evaluating Web resources. We will begin by reviewing the “grammar of the Internet” and Web site structure, then compare search directories with search engines, and then learn to use advanced search tools in Google. Participants will also learn effective uses of specialized search engines. We’ll also cover “proactive” searching techniques that create ongoing Web filters. Teachers will benefit in two ways from this workshop: they will develop their own Web literacy considerably and become more efficient Web users, and they will learn a set frameworks, lessons and techniques for developing student Web literacy. The workshop is suitable for all teachers who ask students to search the Web, and the only technological proficiency assumed is the ability to use a Web browser.

Developing School and District Cultures and Policies to Support 21st Century Learning (Presentation for School Leaders)
Schools and districts face similar challenges in navigating the emerging technologies that are transforming society: new technologies create new forums for relationships among teachers, students, parents, and administrator; students bring new personal technologies that can enhance or interrupt learning routines; new online learning tools offer unprecedented opportunities to develop personalized, student-centered learning environments but these new spaces come without established norms or policies. While policies are an essential tool for managing these changes, policies alone cannot keep up with the pace of innovation. Effective leaders who seek to nurture 21st Century learning environments, therefore, have to nurture school and district cultures that promote digital citizenship and conscientious innovation with new learning technologies. In this workshop will discuss how to develop school cultures where stakeholders share a vision of meaningful technology integration to support 21st Century learning. We’ll examine schools and districts that participate in a cycle of experiment and experience: where administrators provide structured support for new online ventures in order to develop an institutional capacity for technology integration. Then we’ll examine the specific policy strategies that can steer teachers and students towards safe, meaningful online learning.

Not Another Paper! Alternative Projects & Social Media (Presentation)
In the Digital Age the dominance of conventional, linear text of the last few centuries is eroding and giving way to multimodal communication, with a screen-based, non-linear, and visual emphasis. While strong conventional prose remains a critical component of effective communication, a literate 21st century global citizen can communicate effectively in multiple modalities and often combines varied media and messages. Join in reviewing alternative activities and projects using interactive technologies and see how online social media is empowering student-centered leaning. By the end of the session participants will be able to:

1. Describe the qualities of effective alternative activities and assessment 
2. Explain how powerful activities emerge from effective prompts and questions 
3. Identify several Read/Write Web and Social Media tools that can be used to create alternative activities
4. Construct a summative assessment process for evaluating Web 2.0 projects. 

The session will focus on models for alternative online communication and collaboration using wikis, online social networks, Google Docs, storytelling animation, e-book creation and other technologies.

Assessment 2.0 (Presentation)
What does assessment look like in a Digital Age classroom of Web 2.0 integration and multimodal projects? How do we distinguish between higher-order thinking and and "bells-and-whistles?" In this session we will explore the role of a "logic model" and backward-design principles in developing effective Assessment 2.0 strategies. We will look at storyboarding techniques and rubrics that help establish a clear relationship between project goals and skill benchmarks. We will also focus on the critical role of formative assessments and timely intervention. Furthermore, we will also examine how a "2.0" assessment differ from a traditional assessment. A fundamental goal is to identify characteristics of effective assessments that link to and measure student mastery of worthwhile learning goals.

Using Google Docs in the Collaborative Classroom (Workshop)
Google Docs encourage collaborative learning, information sharing, and student engagement. They facilitate communication and community building between teachers, students, colleagues, and parents. Google Docs allows for real-time and asynchronous collaborative content construction and editing from anywhere with an Internet connection. This hands-on Google Docs workshop will feature innovative educational uses of Google Docs in the classroom and provide participants with a hands-on opportunity to explore features and uses of Google "Documents" (word processor), "Presentation" (slideshow), "Spreadsheet," 'Drawing," or "Form" (polls and surveys). Participants will also learn about classroom-ready Google Docs lessons and activities and instructional videos.

The iPad Classroom (Workshop)
Handhelds are increasingly finding their way into 21st century classrooms and the iPad is quickly emerging as a favorite of primary and middle school educators for a variety of reasons: flexibility, portability, engagement, intriguing apps, and more. In addition, great possibilities exist for integration with Web 2.0: slideshows, podcasts, whiteboards, photo galleries, videos, ebooks, and more. Moreover, as the iPad evolves -- and apps become more powerful -- the device becomes more versatile and its creative potential increases. This session focus on effective iPad integration from both a conceptual and practical standpoint. It begins with understanding what the iPad device provides -- and what it doesn't - and how to maximize its features. The session includes helfpful iPad "tips and tricks," the best and 'essential' apps to boost productivity and ensure smooth workflow. It also provides a look at some of the most intriguing free and low-cost educational apps that up the device's creative potential. Finally, it outlines some of the effective ways that K-8 educators are already integrating the iPad in their classrooms.

The Best Web 2.0 Tools & Apps for Teachers (Workshop)
This workshop highlights innovative educational uses of the Read-Write Web and shows how teachers can use Web 2.0 to empower students and facilitate creative and collaborative learning opportunities. The session provides an overview of some of the best and latest Web 2.0 tools and apps for education, and outlines classroom-tested projects and techniques for using Web 2.0 in the classroom. Classroom examples feature blogs, wikis, social networks, podcasts, screencasts, e-book creation, and more. The intuitive, free, and interactive Web 2.0 tools featured in this session allow educators to create online connections that support both classroom instruction and professional growth. Participants will work with a few free and simple tools and may also choose to explore a particular tool of interest in detail.

Digital Storytelling (Workshop)
Digital storytelling, in the broadest sense, is about weaving together narrative, imagery, voice and music into media-rich presentations. Educators from various disciplines are using online tools to create engaging and powerful "digital stories" in their classroom. In this workshop we will look at the "Hows and Whys" of facilitating digital storytelling projects. We will look at examples of successful projects including identity narratives, oral histories, social issue documentaries, language activities, math and science demonstrations, and presentations of art and music. We will experience the process of creating a digital story through a hands-on exploration of the popular VoiceThread online digital storytelling platform. Finally we will look at ways teachers can evaluate these projects through process and product rubrics.

Primary Sources 2.0 & Inquiry Learning (Workshop)
Primary sources are increasingly available on the Web and will become predominantly digitally based in the future. Furthermore, as conventional, print-based text gives way to screen-based "multimodal" communication, researchers will be as likely to encounter multimedia primary sources as print-based ones. This workshop develops skills for accessing and teaching with digital primary sources in inquiry learning environments. Participants will learn search techniques for uncovering primary sources and will explore cutting-edge interactive collections from the British Library and National Archives. Participants will also explore interactive e-reader creation with new Web 2.0 technologies.

Subject specific workshops include:

• Teaching History with Technology
• Teaching English and Language Arts with Technology
• Teaching Elementary Grades with Technology
• Teaching Science with Technology.