Edina Digital Age Learning

Carl Hooker, Digital specialist in Eames, Texas was the day 2 keynote. Carl started as a 1st grade teacher in 2001. Those students are now seniors in college, and WERE 21st Century learners. 1890's view of education in 2000 How much has changed in the last 15 years, and what will education look like, 15 years from now? He shared the image on the right, a view of education in 2000, from the 1890's.  Looking at technology in 2001, and how it has changed since then.  The iPhone, came out in 2007, and look at how far we've come... When we change the way we communicate, we change society. -Clay Shirky Hooker noted, I don't think this was what Shirky meant! Hooker noted that students today think that they are good at multitasking... While communication has evolved, instruction on new modes of communication like texting, posting, tweeting, commenting, livestreaming, snapchatting, etc. has not kept up! Mobile Learning Quadrants: via @eaparki...

Way back in November 2007, I joined Twitter. Finally, in the spring of 2008, I realized I needed to follow people. One of the first people I followed, was an educator from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Dean Shareski. Today, I had the pleasure of hearing Dean's presentation as a keynote of TIES 2016: Whatever Happened to Joy? And How Do We Get It Back? Joy should be integral to what we do every day! He had 3 moments in his teaching career that made him realize joy was so important... Looking at a photo from his first year, "Why doesn't Christina ever smile?" Did she ever find her joy? It was a moment that mattered most. He was walking through an elementary school, and kids were singing as the teacher played guitar. There is something powerful about community, coming together and doing things collectively. Around 6-7 years ago, and lip dubs first came out. and he saw this one: With regards to this video: Does it address outcomes? Do it and the heck w...

Pernille Ripp , educator and author of Empowered Schools, Empowered Students , was the opening keynote at the Edina Learning Institute .  She started by inviting the participants to connect with her, as she  If we were in school right now... Don't choose who we sit with Don't have food and/or drink Don't use the tools you might want to She fell in love with the building, staff and school that she works in. Teaching 7th graders has been her greatest challenge, but also most rewarding. Her students are the reason she is here, and why she advocates for changing education. Growing up in Denmark, her first english words were "yes, no, and bathroom!"  "I used to think that when students were disengaged, it was their own fault!" Then someone told her, "You cannot change the students, but you CAN change the way you teach!!" Would you want to be a student in your own classroom? Her daughter on the 5th day of Kindergarte...

Michelle Cordy, a Third Grade educator from Ontario, Canada, blogger of " Hack the Classroom ," was the closing keynote at ISTE 2016.   She got jumped right in, and challenged the audience to think about who we are and our place in the world. It is her school's last day, and she'd rather be there, but chose to come speak to us! In 2012, she got her, "Magic Schoolbus!" a grant for 1:1 iPads. She was considered a "rougue" teacher, as her classroom was the only one. She sought out ideas online and found Howard Reingold, author of Netsmart. She tweeted to him, he commented on her blog, and she was shocked. He noted: "That's how it works, Michelle!" She wants her students to be seen and heard, in her classroom and beyond. She needed to connect with a PLN, because there was nobody in her district to help.  Here is what she has learned from the community Be a Connected Educator. Coming to ISTE is like an oxygen mask.  Going...

Michelle Cordy, a Third Grade educator from Ontario, Canada, blogger of " Hack the Classroom ," was the closing keynote at ISTE 2016.   She got jumped right in, and challenged the audience to think about who we are and our place in the world. It is her school's last day, and she'd rather be there, but chose to come speak to us! In 2012, she got her, "Magic Schoolbus!" a grant for 1:1 iPads. She was considered a "rougue" teacher, as her classroom was the only one. She sought out ideas online and found Howard Reingold, author of Netsmart. She tweeted to him, he commented on her blog, and she was shocked. He noted: "That's how it works, Michelle!" She wants her students to be seen and heard, in her classroom and beyond. She needed to connect with a PLN, because there was nobody in her district to help.  Here is what she has learned from the community Be a Connected Educator. Coming to ISTE is like an oxygen mask.  Going...

Dr. Ruha Benjamin, assistant professor of African American Studies at Princeton University was the Tuesday Keynote at the I STE 2016 Conference .  Her talk centered on the question, "How can we harness science and technology for greater equality?" What is the purpose of education? She is hoping to stretch our thinking on education and equity.  Big Picture There is little doubt we are living in social crisis. Most can't look to Hospitals for health, police for safety, politicians for leadership or even schools for imparting knowledge. The world is at war with itself. All manner of social struggle over material and social resources.  At the same time, the very idea of a society where we care and sacrifice for one another is undermined. In this context, the question is how do we make our schools laboratories of democratic participation? Where the potential for each individual child is realized, and we experiment with technologies of love, reciprocity and j...

Disclaimer ; These thoughts are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer. This post has been ruminating for a few months. Glad to finally get all my thoughts down. What is Personalized Learning? Last December, Pernille Ripp , educator and author of “ Passionate Learners: How to Engage and Inspire Your Students ,” posted on her blog about 5 Tenets of Personalized Learning . This post resonated with me, as I believe she really hit on a key aspect: Start with the STUDENT! Here are the 5: Student Voice Student Choice Student Planning Student Reflection Student Action My Take Giving students voice, and REALLY getting to know the students, fits in perfectly with our district’s embrace of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Instruction , along with Doug Fischer’s work on “really getting to KNOW your students! Student Choice does NOT mean everything is a free-for-all. The idea is to give them choice in What they learn, How th...