Edina Digital Age Learning

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...

Michio Kaku was the opening keynote speaker at ISTE 2016 . Kaku, author of " The Future of the Mind " is currently the professor of Theoretical Physics at City College of New York and a popularizer of science.    He noted that he was listed among the smartest people in New York, but also noted Madonna made the list! Physicists developed the laser, the World Wide Web, radio, the microwave, the X-Ray, and the space program and GPS! They kind of have a leg up on what the future might look like! One physicist predicted that the Internet would become a place of high culture!  Kaku's talk was on a "world tour" of current thought on the future. He has interviewed 300 of the world's top scientists for his BBC program asking their thoughts on the future.  Is there intelligent life on earth? NO! Just look at the presidential election! His book on the future of the mind, h e asks the question, " Why do we have income inequality?" First we nee...