Edina Digital Age Learning

Trying the Blogger iPad app for this post. I still think it's clunky, but wanted to give myself the experience. Here is a synopsis of the luncheon keynote yesterday at MEMO. For blogging, I still like my laptop. The MEMO Pre-Conference Luncheon Keynote was from Laurie Conzemius, She started by talking about NECC 2001, as a new user. (I was there) She shared her tips for getting to this great PD Opportunity. I decided Tips: 1. Volunteers get a reduced rate. 2. Planning committee members get free access. 3. It's in the summer,so no need for sub 4. Free vendor meals The biggest reason is Professional Development. Osseo will be offering ISTE aligned tech integration this January.

Kristin Daniels, Technology Integration Specialist for Stillwater Schools presented the keynote presentation at the MEMO Pre-Conference on " Personal Portable Learning ." The strands today included BYOD, Flipped Learning, 1:1 and iPads.  Here experience began at the elementary level in Stillwater looking at the learning experience the students were having. They began implementing a Flipped Classroom pilot , where a group of 6 teachers began creating video lecture content and having students watch that at home. She and her colleague, Wayne Feller thought about "How do we want to spend our time together with teachers?" They developed a Flipped Professional Development model where the staff could view video of the "how to," and then spend face to face time looking at the best way to implement that in their classroom. She shared stories from the "Learning Culture" that has been impacted by the Flipped pilot. After each video, they included a...

Recently, I was interviewed on "Beyond the Badge," a program produced by the City of Edina. Police Liason Officer, Aaron White and I visited on what parents can do to get more informed about Cyberbullying. Here are some additional resources to help parents become informed about this important issue: Parenting in the Digital Age Presentation Parent's Guide to 21st Century Learning ThinkB4U -Great site for parents interested in learning more about Digital Literacy. Parent Further - A Search Institute Site for Families Kids and Tech-Parenting Tips for the Digital Age Facebook Terms of Service  Facebook Tools for Parents and Educators Common Sense Media-Facebook for Parents

Dr. Gerry Swan discussing rigor in assessment This week, I have been participating in a workshop with our administrators on developing a Standards Based Report Card for Minnesota. Dr Lee Ann Jung, Dr. Gerry Swan, & Dr. Thomas Guskey are leading us through three days of training using a model they developed in Kentucky. Here are the shared notes our group put together on all of the sessions thus far. Here are some of key take-aways thus far: 1.  The Kentucky Model 1st State to adopt Common Core No parents on development Gave parents the option of both, they picked Standards Based 3 the first year, 10 the second, now 17 using it (177 total) Now, Department of Ed is funding and could be state wide in 2-3 years 2.  This is the FOUNDATION-3 Types of Grading Criteria Grading and Reporting should ALWAYS be done in reference to LEARNING CRITERIA, never “on the curve.” Grade on what they learned, not in how they did in relation to others. Why would I h...

I created this document today using Google Draw. One of things I really like about it is that I can embed links in both the text and the graphics. For example, if you're not sure how create a Youtube channel in Edina Apps, click on the text below the YouTube graphic, and it will take you to a page we created to help with that. I hope that as Docs continue to improve and increase in sophistication that more robust features will be included. I think for students, Draw is at a point where it could be an effective way to communicate ideas graphically.  After embedding the graphic on the blog here, I see that the interactivity isn't there. Not sure if that has to do with re-sizing to fit the page width or not. I'll need to do some additional investigating.

Recently, one of my colleagues forwarded an e-mail that his daughter wrote to her teachers at the start of the school year. She is a 9th grader, who has participated in our "Go Wireless" Bring Your Own Device Initiative the last two years.  Dear Teachers , My name is Cristiana H, and I'll be in your class this coming year. As a certified bring your own device student, I'm interested in ways to further digitize my learning environment. Currently I use my iPad as a note taking and organizational tool (Notability), as an E agenda and calendar (myHomework), and as an internet research tool. I also use it as a collaborative communication device in between teacher and student and student and student (Email). I'm hoping with your support to continue this practice, and further realize the potential of E learning. I'd be interested in exploring ways to turn in paperless assignments, presentations, and assessments. I'm confident, with your assistances, that I...

As part of the Edina Staff Kick-off, Candace Doerr-Stevens, a facilitator in the Minnesota Writing Project , and doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota , spoke to staff about Tinkering Towards Fluency: Digital Literacy for All. The talk was timely, as this year, staff will begin implementing new language arts standards into science, social studies as well as language arts curriculum. She has been looking at how technology can be used to tell stories.  She began with a story of a boy who loved to write, and wrote an 8 page story. He loves to create, but doesn't love to read as much. She asked us to think about... Tinkering -to play or fiddle with things Taking risks and trying things is an important thing to be able to do, and creating space for ourselves and our students to take risks is very important.  Technology can give us tools to tinker and create and explore students. What is something remarkable that happened to you in 1995? (For me, it was get...