According to Meg Ormiston, the keynote speaker for the ending luncheon at NCTIES, it’s all about student engagement. She commented on the energy found at this conference and said that teachers need to bring that same energy back to the students.

She asked some of the students in her neighborhood to create a video about school:

Time is wasted with professional development if we’re not reaching the kids. She said that we actually need to re-educate our entire teaching force and stop abuse of technology. One example she gave was of a teacher using a SmartBoard but the students never touching it. In some situations, students simply move from desk to desk throughout the school day.

People need to touch and feel change. Help students make pictures in their heads. Mix up the projects we’re asking kids to do. For example: a teacher created and showed a video before beginning a difficult book to set it up

Let kids create book reports using slideshows, videos, etc. Focus on strengths of kids (especially those who are weak readers and writers.) We have to change what we’re doing. Their world is 3D. Worksheets are not.

Meg’s Wiki

Reel Disengagement Ning

More NCTIES Posts:

Opening Keynote
Photography Problems
Digital Tools for Digital Kids
Assessment with Technology
SmartBoard in Upper Elementary
Skype in the Classroom
More Than YouTube
Closing Keynote

Another favorite of mine was a presentation showing how to incorporate Marzano’s strategies from Classroom Instruction That Works using Kidspiration, PowerPoint, and other readily available software in our schools. Here is a link to lots of templates that are ready for you to use. Many thanks to Sherri Miller with Gloucester County Schools!

We’ve talked quite a bit recently about internet safety, and I would like to remind you to discuss with your students the importance of not sharing personal information online. In one of the sessions I attended, the ITRTs from Hanover County generously shared several activities that they had created for elementary students. Check them out!

There were numerous other wonderful sessions. You can click here if you’re interested in exploring more of what folks are saying about the VSTE conference this year.

Have you ever wanted to attend conference sessions from the comfort of your own home or classroom? Well, now you can! The K12 Online Conference begins with a pre-conference keynote on October 8th. The sessions begin October 15th and end October 27th. Most days there are 4 sessions scheduled. You can see the schedule here. Here’s a description from their website:

The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. The 2007 conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries”. This year’s conference begins with a pre-conference keynote the week of October 8, 2007. The following two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26, forty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog (this website) for participants to download and view. Live Events in the form of three “Fireside Chats” and a culminating “When Night Falls” event will be announced. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during the conference as well as asynchronous conversations.

Most of the sessions will be stored as either podcasts or videos so you can watch them at your leisure. In fact, last year’s sessions are still online too, and you might find something there that you would like to explore further.