Presentations
Meg offers all types of presentations from small-group curriculum work to highly motivational keynote presentations. All sessions can be customized to meet your specific needs.Keynote Sessions
Teaching in the Digital Age
Teachers today need to catch up and keep up with the rapidly changing digital landscape, or risk disengaging an entire generation of students. We need updated methods and strategies to take advantage of the new opportunities that digital tools bring to the classroom. New curriculum delivery methods include using video curriculum, podcasting direct instruction, and harnessing the power of online resources. Change the way you teach to better align to the research about how the students of today learn.
Marinating in Media: Engaging the 21st Century Learners
Outside of school students are immersed in multimedia; they are continuously plugged in and connected to the outside world. They are engaged in what they are learning, playing and doing. In school, however, they are required to power down, and they quickly become disengaged with the traditional stand-and-deliver teaching model. Research indicates that these 21st Century learners are different, yet the old methods prevail. Changes can be implemented immediately by better understanding the brains of our students today.
Lights, Camera, Engagement!
Imagine a classroom designed for engagement: groups of students are clustered around the computer editing their public service announcement, while another group is producing their weekly podcast in the hallway, and a third group is filming a segment they plan on mashing up. This is what is possible in an active learning classroom. The teacher serves as the conductor, keeping things running smoothly as he moves from group to group. These students are engaged with the curriculum as they work on producing multimedia projects. As opposed to just passively consuming media, this group is incorporating higher order thinking skills. Their understanding of content is much deeper as they work with the media to teach it to others. See the examples of what is possible when learning is restructured.
The Digital Leader @ School
As the challenges for the school leader mount, it is important not to lose the focus of serving as the instructional leader in the building. The digital leader needs to have a strong technology foundation in order to model and share new discoveries. Today it is much more than how to send email, text on the phone, or answer voicemail. Web 2.0 tools can help streamline communication, bring the world to your classrooms, and create new learning opportunities. Daily personal professional development becomes a reality when new technology tools streamline the process. See how administrators are capitalizing on all of these new possibilities.
Playing School or Preparing for Life?
Playing school means sitting still quietly, listening to the teacher, and completing paperwork. If the purpose of education is to prepare students to be successful when they graduate, we need to look at how different the real world is outside of schools. Today people are hired to Twitter on behalf of their employers, utilize social networking tools to spread the company message, and multitask online. Most schools today are blocking and filtering the very experiences our students will have when they enter the workforce. Investigate how to bring these collaborative tools into the classroom to better prepare students for the world beyond the classroom.
Culture Clash! Wired Kids in Text Driven Classrooms
Outside of school kids have their earbuds in, with a music device in one hand cell phone in the other. In school the same students struggle with text driven instruction. Instead of just delivering instruction in print form, use the multimedia their brains crave. The combination of digital images, videos, and music engages students and encourages them to “read” the message delivered through the media. This type of instruction helps cross the cultural divide while still aligning to the standards. See how student projects can move away from posters and dioramas as students produce multimedia that summarizes their understanding of a topic. Today it is important to remember that there are many different types of literacies, and students need to learn to read messages delivered in various formats.
Bringing the World to Your Classroom Using Web 2.0 Tools
Start Twittering, Skyping, Jinging, and blogging, just to name a few. Web 2.0 tools, or online collaborative tools, make it possible to have classrooms interconnected on a global scale. Continuously evolving, these tools make learning possible from almost any device inside of school and after hours. Restructure the learning possibilities with the read/write Web 2.0 tools by changing the assignments we ask students to complete. Make the learning relevant by using real world collaborative tools that they are expected to use outside of school.
Paper-Trained Teachers in a Video-Game World
Methods classes in pre-service programs are still creating paper trained teachers with a heavy focus on text driven instruction. Entering schools they have trouble engaging the brains that are screen trained. These students know how to solve complex problems in their video games, yet in school we give them yet another worksheet. We have to update the instructional skills of our educators or risk losing the video game generation.
One size Does NOT Fit All; Custom Learning in the Classroom
Teaching today should be about differentiating. Outside of school students customize their music, their television viewing, their gaming and their online experience. Inside of school they have to power back and get the same instruction as everyone else in the classroom. We herd them from room to room, but it is more of the same. We must engage these learners, and technology is the hook to grab their attention and customize their education. Stream and download videos to stretch one learner, while modifying an online assignment for another.
Breakout Sessions
InfoClutter: Processing Information in New Ways
I coined the phrase “infoclutter,” and wrote the book on it, yet I am still inundated with information flowing from all sources. New online tools are helping to manage the influx of data. Learn some of the secrets, strategies, and tools that will help you tame the infoclutter in your life. This practical session will have you building and developing your digital filing cabinet that is the foundation of your new clutter-free life.
Multimedia in the Differentiated Classroom
Students today are virtually marinating in media, continually engaged and connected. Bring that multimedia into the classroom to reinvigorate the curriculum. Sound clips embedded in lessons, streaming video converted off YouTube, music, speeches and web cams are all part of delivering instruction in the way they learn best. This practical session will have you ready to return to the classroom with specific strategies for change.
Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis and Social Networking Sites to Increase Engagement and Achievement
Investigate how Web 2.0 tools are being used in classrooms with students of all ages. Specifically we will focus on blogs for the writing process and continued learning; wikis for collaborative learning inside and outside of school; and how teachers are using podcasts to extend learning beyond the classroom, check for understanding and as accommodations for those learners who need them. Everything will be linked to curriculum and aligned to standards delivered instruction.
Web 2.0 Tools for Professional Learning Networks
Learn the tips and tricks of creating and participating in professional learning networks through the use of Web 2.0 tools. Tools change, but the importance of establishing and participating in professional learning networks will not. Every professional educator today needs a network to help sift through the information, collaborate with others and connect globally. This session will show you how to utilize the social media tools for personal professional growth.
Digital Storytelling: The Key to Reaching Learners of all Abilities
Weaving a good story has always been important; now new media help you create and spread the message. Based on proven strategies, yet practical and focused, this presentation will help you learn the techniques to bring digital storytelling to your classroom. The process and the specific “how to” will be shared through examples from across the curriculum.
If a Picture Says a Thousand Words STOP TALKING!
Research supports the importance of using images in the classroom: still images linked to learning vocabulary, video for assessment, primary source images in history and student created images to demonstrate comprehension. All of this is possible today with free and low cost tools. Find out how to put the research into practice starting with basic projects and ideas and build from there.
Power Googling for Educators
Come see what Google has in store for you today. This ever changing presentation brings you the best Google is serving up today. All the tools presented will be connected to curriculum with specific classroom examples woven throughout. Bring back the best Google has for your classroom: learn how to create a virtual field trip using Google earth, build 3-D models with Google Sketch-Up, explore the latest developments from Google Labs, and much more.
Technology Tools to Support Students with Learning Disabilities
Practical strategies, solutions and resources are the basis of this session. Meet the needs of all learners with technology tools that break down barriers. Explore new ideas, technology solutions and tools to help all children feel successful.
Math and Technology: Practical Strategies for Teachers
You will leave this hands-on session with hundreds of new ways to use technology in mathematics classes. We will explore a variety of resources including free online games, virtual manipulatives, assessment tools and websites filled with practical ways to engage students. We will focus on resources and assessments that align to the state Learning Standards.
Reading and Writing across the Curriculum: Empowering Students with Technology Workshop
Empower students of all ages with great ways to infuse reading and writing across the curriculum. This workshop is filled with practical, real strategies to take back to the classroom. Hundreds of websites have been organized into a literacy web that is available to not only workshop participants but also others back at school.
Presentations for School Leaders
The Future of Leadership – Technology and the School Leader
This course is about change and the power of technology tools to help create a learning environment of excellence. In the course, participants will understand the dramatic changes in the world of business and why education needs to change to prepare workers for the global economy, establish a deeper understanding of the importance of collaboration, explore the critical importance of establishing a personal learning network, and synthesize the many variables of change and resistance within a school system.
Technology for Administrators: How to Lead Change in the Classroom with Blogs, WIKIS and Podcasts
Participants will learn a variety of technologies of the read/write Web that will move educators to think differently about technology’s potential for strengthening students’ critical thinking, writing, reflection and interactive learning. Participants will learn how to apply these tools to the classroom in order to engage students in the world of information and interactive learning through technology. Additionally, administrators will learn strategies to teach students how to navigate the web using responsibility, appropriateness and common sense.
Web 2.0 Tools Every Instructional Leader Should Have in Their Backpack
Twitter, Skype, UStream, Jing, and Moodle are just a few of the Web 2.0 tools being used by educators today. As the instructional leader you need to understand the power of these tools to engage students in authentic learning experiences, showcase student products, and collaborate in ways never before possible. These Web 2.0 tools will transform the way you think about your role as instructional leader.
