Looking Forward to TIES11!

Next week I'll be in downtown Minneapolis, for the 2011 TIES Conference. I'm really excited this year, because our district will have a large presence at the conference, both attending AND presenting! We were fortunate to have 14 staff get accepted this year, including many from our Teaching and Technology Cohort! I'm proud to see how that group has stepped up and taken a leadership role within the district, as well as outside! It's great to share!

When I attend a conference, I try to strike a balance between:

• Attending sessions (Ones that "sound good" and Speakers I'm interested in learning from)
• Networking with colleagues face-to-face (As opposed to Virtually Here)
• Visiting the vendor area to explore trends

Here are some of the highlights and sessions that I'm looking forward to.
This year's strands include:

• Personal learning and digital-age learning experiences
• Personal growth and leadership practice for educators
• Personal responsibility and digital-age citizenship
• Technical support and infrastructure

Monday:

8:00 
Flipped Classroom Community of Interest with Jason Just
I taught with Jason and his wife in Lakeville, and he has been working towards flipped instruction for quite some time. His work was recently featured in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Using Google Docs and Moodle to Teach Collaboratively
Our district uses both, and it's always good to learn how others are incorporating to compare notes!
Leslie Fischer-Cell Phones in the Classroom
Leslie will share tips for harnessing tools for learning that exist in students pockets!

9:00 Keynote: Joel Rose-School of One Founder 

Mr. Rose will be speaking on Designing the New Classroom, though I am not sure that it's the type of classroom I would like to work in, or send my children to. While I like the concept of personalizing learning, the methods the School of One employ to provide this seem to "depersonalize" learning. I'll try to keep an open mind!

10:40 
Claude Sigmund in the 21st Century Classroom! 

Troy Cherry from TIES has helped to put together a 21st Century Classroom demonstration room at the conference, and we are fortunate to have Claude and some of his students there to model learning in that space by "Interconnecting Primary Documents in Social Studies! I hope all of our contingent has a chance to stop by to see this learning space at some point during the conference to gather ideas on the essential instructional and learning tools in a 21st Century classroom.

Karen Cator: Transforming American Education, Learning Powered by Technology 
Karen is the Director of Educational Technology for the U.S. Department of Education, and developed the National Educational Technology Plan. Personally, I think it should be our National Education Plan! (Note: Cator may not be there, but this session will still take place and the information is important!)

11:40 
Claude and students continued...
Bernajean Porter-I-imagine: Waking Up a Generation for Their Own Greatness
Bernajean  is a internationally renowned leader in Educational Technology and Digital Storytelling.  Learn how students can create multimedia docudramas tied to their own life goals.
Hilary Goldmann- The Election, Policy and You: How You Can Affect Change
Hilary Goldmann, ISTE's Director of Government Affairs will share the importance of advocacy with our governmental leaders. Even if you are unable to attend the session, stop by the ETAN booth at the conference and let your voice be heard!
Project Based Learning for Global Competence
Strategies for including 21st Century Skills and Project based learning to increase global literacy

2:20
Christian Long-Design Thinking: An Agile Teaching and Learning Methodology

I first was introduced to Christian when he was still in the classroom, and followed two of the most interesting learning projects I have ever seen, the Alice Project and the TED Project. Now, Christian works for Cannon Design and is an international leader in designing learning spaces.

Tuesday

8:00
Laurie Toll and Lisa Koch- Creating Digital Science Stories
Laurie and Lisa from Weaver Lake Elementary in Osseo have been pioneers not only in science instruction, but also implementation of Bring Your Own Devices. In this session they will share methods of incorporating that methodology using Digital Stories.

9:00
Keynote: Jane McGonigal: Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How they Can Change the World
McGonigal's TED Talk and book, has catapulted her to the forefront of the "gamification" movement. TIES has really stepped up the last few years with getting top-notch keynote speakers, and McGonigal is no exception!


10:40 Lot's of good sessions here!
Bring Your Own Device Community of Interest
Osseo's Dawn Nelson will lead this session exploring best practice.
Flipped Professional Development
Stillwater's Wayne Feller and Kristin Daniels have done some innovative things flipping their PD. In this session they will share their methodology and resources.
Going Ga Ga for Googlios: Google Based ePortfolios
Jen Hegna and her team from Byron, MN will be sharing some of their work on the integration of electronic portfolios at the High School Level.
Images Before Words
Ben Friesen shares how to leverage images and media to engage your students.
Chris Dede- Transforming Education for the 21st Century
Harvard Professor Chris Dede has been a leader in educational technology for many years, and I am a big fan. Here he shares how schools utilize tools to improve our teaching, assessment and links between schools and communities.

11:45
Mark Garrison's 50 Sites in 50 Minutes
Get there early! This one is always a crowd pleaser, and showcases some great tools for learning!
Data-Driven Personalized Learning Through iCivics and Gamified Learning
Minnesota Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie, along with teacher Ananth Pai will showcase how this site, developed by former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor has engaged students in Minnesota.


1:20
Are Open-Source Flexbooks in Your Future?
Anoka staff share their implementation of an electronic text-book for Probability and Statistics.
Gaming in Classrooms: The Possibilities and Realities
This should be a fascinating panel discussion featuring Chris Dede, Jane McGonigal and Bernajean Porter.

Increasing Student Access with Personal Owned Devices
Tim Wilson, Chief Technology Officer in Osseo Public Schools will share

2:25
Student Created Common Craft Videos

Teachers from St. Michael-Albertville will share the process that goes into this fun, engaging assignment.
Doug Johnson-Using Personal Devices to Motivate Rather Than Distract
Doug Johnson is one of my favorite presenters and bloggers! Here, he shares some simple rules that help you make the most of these devices that are increasingly common in the classroom. 

Whew! There are MANY OTHER great sessions, these are just a few of the highlights. The conference planning tool can be found here, and  the Wiki with presenter materials can be found here.

Now off to finish my presentation on PD for Blended Instruction (Tuesday December 13, 2011 1:20pm - 2:10pm @ Greenway F/G)!! See you there! ;-)