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The Connected Classroom

“Information on and from Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis' Learning Division”

Monthly Archives: June 2011

29/06/11 ISTE’s Playground

Today is the last day of ISTE’s conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here’s a snapshot of the SIGVC (Special Interest Group – Videoconferencing) Pirate-themed Playground- all sorts of vc tools were on display, including, but not limited to: LifeSize, Polycom, Tandberg (Cisco). Content providers from all over where connected for demos, like this  one from the Royal Botanical Garden in Canada!

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28/06/11 follow #ISTE11 on Twitter

If you couldn’t make it to the 2011 ISTE Conference in Philadelphia, be sure to follow the hashtag #ISTE11 on Twitter. There are a lot of great conversations going on.

Also, educators from Missouri are using the hashtag #MOedtech as well. See what your Show-Me State colleagues are learning!

27/06/11 Lest We Forget at ISTE

PHOTO: IVC Showcase at ISTE: Lest We Forget – Interview War Veterans via Videoconferences

22/06/11 Two St. Louis area Educators are Making IT Happen

For nearly a decade, instructional technology professional development at Cooperating School Districts has been provided by the Virtual Learning Center. Last year, the Virtual Learning Center of CSD became an ISTE Affiliate. The CSDVLC ISTE Affiliate is proud to have nominated two fellow Missouri educators for the Making IT Happen program. Making IT Happen is an internationally recognized awards program for educators and leaders in the field of educational technology integration in K–12 schools from ISTE. The program identifies and rewards educational technology leaders around the world for their commitment and innovation.

Referred to as the eight components of the Formula of Success, these following criteria are in place to assist state, regional, and national, and international educational organizations in selecting awardees.

Recipients of the awards are educators who:

  1. Apply available technology now
  2. Move forward and don’t look back
  3. See students as real people
  4. Teach through relationships, inspiring, encouraging, nurturing
  5. Recognize that further change is necessary, but understand that it is a process
  6. Realize that teacher empowerment is the key element to technology integration
  7. Expect success
  8. Motivate through awareness and access to information

In St. Louis, Diana Dell and Ruth Litman-Block were nominated by the CSDVLC ISTE Affiliate and met the criteria listed above. Congratulations ladies for all your accomplishments! Ruth attended our last Midwest Education Technology Conference Advisory Committee meeting and was presented with her new pink jacket and certificate by Stephanie Madlinger. Diana was unable to make it but will collect her’s soon and we’ll definitely post a photo of her in her new jacket!

Both educators have a long history of instructional technology integration in St. Louis area schools; briefly, in 1998, Ruth created the videoconferencing program New Links to New Learning from a $3 million grant from AT&T. In June 2010, Ruth retired as the Director of the Virtual Learning Center at Cooperating School Districts. During her time in the VLC, she became a certified SMART Master teacher and a PD4ETS instructional specialist for the eMINTS program. Ruth also became the recipient of a Laureate Award for New Links  from The Computerworld Honors Program. She now works as a consultant. As for Diana, she recently retired from Valley Park School District where she served as the district Instructional Technology Specialist for 3 years. Since then, she along with a partner, developed and created SqoolTechs, LLC. For the past 4 years, the SqoolTechs have worked together to benefit the education of students and improve the quality of online instruction at the K-12 level. Diana is one of Missouri’s Google Certified Teachers. Additionally, Diana continues to support educators around the world through her self-created website Gamequarium, winning numerous awards for being the best educational online resource.

This only scratches the surface of the many accomplishments and talents Ruth and Diana have between them. The CSDVLC ISTE Affiliate has known for years Ruth and Diana were Making IT Happen, and we are pleased ISTE felt the same way.

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22/06/11 Museum of Photographic Arts Collections’ Photostream on Flickr

Wow! When you have a moment, check out the latest on Flickr- the Museum of Photographic Arts Collections’ photostream. These 19th and 20th century images are just amazing! See portraits of Emile Zola, Victor Hugo, Queen Victoria, Alfred Tennyson and Czar Nicholas II, plus other photos of everyday people and places.

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21/06/11 VLC Spotlight: Stephanie Madlinger

Stephanie Madlinger is a Program Coordinator and Instructional Technology Specialist for the Virtual Learning Center of CSD. This year she celebrates twenty years of experience teaching preK- adults in traditional, technology-rich and online environments.

Stephanie began her teaching career in the Hazelwood School District, where she taught at the elementary level. Her family moved to Warrenton where she spent time as a Manager and Educational Consultant for Discovery Toys, Inc. Stephanie then became an eMINTS teacher in the Warren County School District. From there, she spent time as an eMINTS teacher in the Winfield School District, then as a Technology Integration Specialists in the Parkway School District. In 2005, Stephanie was hired by the VLC to provide educational technology instruction.

Stephanie graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education with emphasis in math & computers and then earned her master’s degree in Educational Administration from Lindenwood University. Stephanie returned to Mizzou for her specialist degree in Educational Technology, and intends to complete her doctorate.

Continuing her love for learning, Stephanie has completed extensive training in Cognitive Coaching, Missouri Reading Initiative, eMINTS, and Professional Learning Communities. She is internationally recognized as a Google Certified Teacher, and is a trainer for SMART, Promethean, Intel, and LoTi. Stephanie serves on the Missouri Leadership Council for Discovery Education and is a STAR DEN member. She was awarded the Tech4Learning Innovative Educator Award in 2009, and was recently awarded the Missouri Distance Learning Educator of the Year Award. Stephanie regularly attends and presents at regional and national education conferences.

As a lifelong resident of greater St. Louis, she enjoys family and friend gatherings across the Missouri and Illinois borders. Currently living in Kirkwood, Stephanie and her husband enjoy being involved in their community, and attending church, school and sporting events of their four children.

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21/06/11 Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works

Martha Bogart is teaching a three-day class this week called Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Today is the second day of the workshop; class started yesterday and concludes on Thursday.

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16/06/11 Using MS Office in Your Classroom: Word, PowerPoint, Excel Workshops Offered

June 24, 2011 • 8:30-3:30
Using MS Word in the Classroom  MS Word is a powerful word processing program that helps teachers create lessons, tests and letters. Students can use it for creative writing, basic reports or research papers. Learn the basics along with more advanced features such as inserting graphics, clip art, and spreadsheets, transforming text to html, and word art. Participants will also plan a lesson activity incorporating the use of Word such as having students create bookmarks that persuade readers to read the book. Learn how to help students create newsletters and brochures, and how you can create easy to use worksheets with embedded hyperlinks that can help support your students as they create their own projects.

June 27, 2011 •
8:30 – 3:30
Using MS PowerPoint in the Classroom Learn everything from the basics to the more advanced features that make PowerPoint a great tool for student learning. You will have the opportunity to create your own PowerPoint presentation for use in the classroom to introduce or clarify a lesson. Learn how to create photo albums, adventure stories, and Jeopardy games. During the second half of the class, learn how to design student PowerPoint assignments that require higher order thinking skills, such as a poetry analysis presentation, and examine assessment methods that will help you grade these student assignments. Walk away with your own presentation and ideas for integrating PowerPoint into your classroom!

June 28, 2011 •
8:30 – 3:30
Using MS Excel in the Classroom Learn the basics of creating a spreadsheet, making a chart from your data, formatting a spreadsheet and printing all or parts of it during the first half of the class. Then, find out how to design spreadsheet assignments for your students that require them to enter data, apply formulas, and graph and chart their data, such as graphing probability from coin tosses. This technology tool is great for teaching about the different types of charts and graphs and how data can be manipulated to look one way or another. Walk away with great lesson ideas that use spreadsheets to teach complex mathematical concepts in motivating and fun ways!

Each class is $149 for a CSD member and $189 for a non-member.
In addition, 1 gradute credit is available for each class. Register here.

16/06/11 Preparing Students for an Online World

NEW! Digital Citizenship: Preparing Students for an Online World is July 8 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Cooperating School Districts’ tele in St. Louis, Missouri.

Do you know what type of digital footprint you are creating? Anyone using the web and mobile devices leaves a digital footprint. We teach our children how to be safe within the physical community, but what about norms for appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use?

Class time will include discussion on:
Digital Access | Digital Commerce | Digital Communication | Digital Literacy | Digital Etiquette | Digital Law | Digital Rights & Responsibilities | Digital Health & Wellness (carpal tunnel, ergonomics, etc.) | Digital Security (self-protection)

Cost: $149 CSD member; $189 non-member (One Graduate Credit available at an additional fee) Register here.

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16/06/11 Support Staff Academy Mini-Conference a Success!

Last week, Virtual Learning Center staff Martha Bogart, Nancy George and Stephanie Madlinger presented at the Support Staff Academy Mini- Conference. The Mini-Conference, a program of Cooperating School Districts, is the last event each year for SSA. (In 2012, by the way, the Mini-Conferences takes place Wednesday, June 6th).

Karen Vaughan works with the SSA to get quality PD every year. Karen shared these pictures and some feedback she got on the program, which included:

  • “… found out that Google had more to offer than I knew…. very good presenter.”
  • “Great information! [I] will be able to use this info daily.”
  • “I love to hear [keynote] Dr. [Debra] Peppers, she always comes very prepared and engages her audience.”
  • “[We got] very knowledgeable-clear explanations, learned a lot from Brian Bax on retirement…”
  • “Learned useful information to manage interruptions at work!”

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