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The Connected Classroom

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

Category Archives: Collaboration

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 How-to Grade Digital Work

We’re excited to share this new professional development opportunity with you, coming up next week-  Grading Digital Work. What does good feedback look like? How does one provide proper feedback on student created multi-media projects? How do you create formative and summative assessments for use in today’s classrooms?

In this workshop, come learn how to create rubrics, scoring guides, checklists, and other forms of assessments for and of learning that truly measure what students have learned. With the digital technologies that we have available, it opens up a wealth of new ways for students to show their learning. Many of these tools also make it easy for students to work collaboratively. We will take a look at how these assessments differentiate instruction and how they allow for student creativity. Models will be shown, and online access to information and examples will be given. You’ll have an opportunity to explore grading tools like RubiStar, Google Forms, Flubaroo, and DE Quiz Builder.

We will also show tips & tricks for providing feedback on digital work through commenting by text and voice. Come with an open mind and discover new, flexible feedback and evaluation methods. This full-day workshop is July 25 from  8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The cost is  $110 for a CSD member and $140 for a non-member. In addition, 1 graduate credit is available for this workshop. Find online registration at this link.

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Tuesday, May 29, 2012 Looking for Midwest Spotlight Educators in 2013 for METC!

The Call for Proposals for METC 2013 is officially open! Our submission process has changed, so be sure to read over the details carefully on the Call for Proposals info page on the Midwest Education Technology Conference’s website, METCconference.org.

In our 30th year, here’s some of what we’re looking for:

  • How is your district implementing the Common Core State Standards?
  • How do you manage all of those mobile devices?
  • What tech tools do you use to reach and teach your students?
  • How do you engage your tech savvy students? Does it make a difference in your classroom, library, school or district?
  • How do you use technology to differentiate lessons and meet the needs of all students?

Here’s some extra incentive: as a presenter, you would register at a presenter rate of $50 for the day of the presentation, and just $90 for an additional day. Any preconference (half-day or full day) presenter would attend one day of the general conference for free. Also, please note that this year we have two separate deadlines for submissions:

• Preconference Session Submission Deadline: August 24, 2012
• General Session Submission Deadline: September 14, 2012

Also, new this year… do you feel you are a leader in education technology? Apply to be one of our Midwest Spotlight Educators! You may also nominate a colleague for this special recognition at METC 2013. Those who are accepted will not only present at the conference, but will also receive free registration for the general conference as well as other benefits.

Spotlight Requirements:

  • Demonstrate motivation, engagement, transformation, and connection using technology to improve teaching and learning. (the METC theme)
  • Provides a minimum of two references.
  • Must be a certified educator in Missouri or Illinois.
  • If accepted, presents at least 2 sessions at the conference. (does not include precon workshops or panel sessions)

Click here to learn more about the Midwest Spotlight Educator speaking opportunity and apply or nominate a colleague today. Questions about any of the above? Contact Megan Moncure at mmoncure@csd.org.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012 Why spend time recreating the wheel when someone else has already done it for you?

Do you want to make your life as a teacher easier? Are you wanting to integrate technology into your lessons, but don’t know where to start?  Come to this two-day workshop, Cool Tools for Educators: FREE Online Resources, lead by Stephanie Madlinger, and fill your technology toolbox. You’ll be amazed how many free online tools are out there for you to use. In this face-paced class, we plan to take a look at numerous online tools you can use in your role as an educator. Come learn how to access resources such as lesson plans, rubric makers, web page creators, online quizzes, Internet bookmarking storage, etc., all for free online! Why spend time recreating the wheel when someone else has already done it for you? Explore the wealth of online resources for educators and come away with tips and techniques to make your life easier.

Learn how online file management and social bookmarking sites will save you time. Discover how the ALTEC Star Tools, like RubiStar, QuizStar and TrackStar can make lesson planning and assessments easier. Then dive deeper into the Thinkfinity tools; ReadWriteThink, Illuminations, Wonderopolis and others. Finally, we will explore the many uses of free online tools like Stixy, Glogster, and VoiceThread to collaborate and display student work. Learn about the wealth of online resources for teachers and walk away with tips and techniques to make your life easier. Bonus: the tools shared can be used in your classroom or professional development activities.

Cool Tools for Educators: FREE Online Resources
Friday & Saturday, April 27 & 28th
8:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. at CSD in St. Louis
$279 CSD member; $349 non-member
(Two Graduate Credits Available)  
Register by April 24th

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Tuesday, March 6, 2012 Great Google PD this March in St. Louis!

Support Staff Academy Session:
Google Mania presented by Google Certified Teacher Stephanie Madlinger
Date: Friday, March 16, 2012
Times: 8:30-3:30 P.M. 
Location: Cooperating School Districts, 1460 Craig Road, St. Louis, MO  
Cost: CSD Member: $95 | Nonmember: $119

In this all day SSA workshop, you will learn how to create slide presentations, documents, spreadsheets, forms & surveys, as well as drawings all online for free! And the best part is, you can share with coworkers & friends, allowing them access to help edit and refine. No more emailing back and forth, trying to keep track of which version is the latest. Moving online & providing 24/7 access means you will be paperless – and green!

Be sure to bring your laptop & learn even more about other Google Tools available to make your job easier! Please set up a free Google Account prior to attending the SSA session & bring your username and password on March 16th. Register by going here (note that online registrations require a Purchase Order, Credit Card or CSD/Network credit; the reference number is 24033-11).

The annual Support Staff Academy is a Virtual Learning Center program designed to provide professional development to area schools’ educational support professionals (i.e., administrative assistants, secretaries/office personnel, maintenance/custodial, food service, security, teachers’ and library aides). The topics vary each year based upon the Advisory Committee recommendations. At the end of each year is the Support Staff Mini-Conference (June 6 this year). The VLC and SSA are programs of Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis.

Interested in using Google but you are not support staff? We have several other upcoming Google PD opportunities:

• March 14th, 4 PM CT: free Webinar Wednesday session: Google Tools for Education Save time and become more efficient! During this webinar we will spend time learning about Google’s Hidden Treasures. Participants will be empowered by their new knowledge about Google Apps.

• March 28-29th, 4-7 PM CT: Google Tools for Educators Participants will learn Advanced Search techniques, develop a Custom Search Engine, and discover easier ways to find images, resources and websites, plus much more! ($149 CSD member; $189 non-member | plus 1 Graduate Credit Available | register here)

• March 30th, All Day: Online Classroom Collaboration with Google Docs Participants will learn how Google Documents and Google Sites can support learning 24/7 because you can use the basic abilities of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel in an online collaborative environment. ($149 CSD member; $189 non-member | plus 1 Graduate Credit Available | register here)

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Our “Printing Press” Moment: Educational Transformation, Hold on to your Hats!

We are eleven years into the 21st century, and the world has changed. Technology has created a “printing press” moment in the history of mankind and is affecting every system we now know. The emerging educational system is giving students a voice in their education and empowering them to THINK, LEAD and SERVE. The realization that our present, “industrial model,” educational system is no longer viable is both very scary and very exciting at the same time. We have before us the opportunity to create something new!

In our special Leadership Breakfast at the Midwest Education Technology Conference, speaker John C. Carver, Superintendent of the Van Meter School District in Iowa, will share thinking on how technology infused into the characteristics of effective instruction impacts teaching and learning. With web 2.0 tools, students are moving from being consumers of knowledge to creators of knowledge. Van Meter School District learners have stepped through the looking glass by utilizing mobile and stationary computer labs.

Attend METC’s Leadership Breakfast and learn more about the school district’s transformation while interacting with other area administrators and board members! Special pre-registration is required- sign up for this event when registering for the general conference. METC is a program of the Virtual Learning Center of Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis.

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Thursday, September 1, 2011 Want to Learn more about your ActivBoard?

Our first Promethean ActivBoard training session of the year scheduled!

Come learn how to use the Promethean ActivBoard and the ActivInspire software in your classroom in Transforming Learning with a Promethean Activboard (Level 1 Training) on November 16 and 17th, from 4-7 o’clock at Cooperating School Districts’ tele.

A Promethean ActivBoard combines the look and feel of a regular whiteboard with the power of a computer. In this class, you’ll discover how to locate hundreds of lessons that have already been created for use on the Activboard and become familiar with features such as Focus tools, Power tools and the Resource Browser that make your lessons more interactive. This class is for beginners; no prior knowledge of ActivInspire required — for costs and to register, click here.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 Classes Starting this Week!

Summer tele classes start at the end of this week! If you haven’t already signed up, do so today- spaces are filling fast: CSD.org.

New classes include: Tech4Learning Classes: Pixie 3 and Share, Google Feng Shui (see below), Best Practices in SMART Notebook Lesson Creation (Level 3 Training) and Integrating Media Literacy Across the Curriculum. Returning favorites include: Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, Creating Technology-Rich Lessons to Increase Student Achievement and Movie-Making in the Classroom: Creating Digital Stories and Photo Essays.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2011 Apple Recycling Program for Education

From Apple In Education-

Apple will recycle your school’s old, unwanted Mac computers, PCs, and qualifying peripherals from any manufacturer — for free.

To take advantage of this opportunity, you’ll need to register by September 2, 2011. You must recycle a minimum of 25 items in order to participate.

Apple will accept all brands of the following equipment: computers, monitors, laptops, printers, fax machines, scanners, desktop-size copy machines, CD drives, hard drives, TVs, VCRs, projectors, overhead projectors, networking equipment, cables, keyboards, and mice.

Leveraging the Apple Recycling Program for Education ensures that your retired equipment will be disposed of in an environmentally responsible manner, with special consideration given to data security:

  • All recycled hard drives are ground into confetti-size pieces.
  • Customers receive a certificate of destruction for each lot recycled through the program.
  • All asset tags and other identifying information are destroyed.
  • All of the electronic waste collected through the program is processed in North America.

For more detailed information including packing instructions,
visit http://www.apple.com/education/recycling/.

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Thursday, March 17, 2011 More SMART Classes @ CSD this June

Does our new class Best Practices in SMART Notebook Lesson Creation sound interesting to you, but you are a newbie to the product? Well, good news- before we offer this Level 3 training on June 10, 2011, we will also hold our Level 1 and Level 2 training! Check it out:

Transforming Learning with a SMART Board (Level 1 Training)
June 2, 8:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m.  | $149 CSD member; $189 non-member
(No Graduate Credit Available)

The SMART Board is an interactive whiteboard that can improve the way you teach. Come learn how to use this technology tool in your classroom— no prior knowledge of SMART Boards required!  This is a class for beginners with no prior knowledge of SMART Boards.  Discover how to find and develop lesson plans that make use of this fabulous tool and motivate 21st century students.

Creating SMART Board Lessons to Engage and Motivate Students
(Level 2 Training – One Graduate Credit Available)
June 3, 8:30 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. | $149 CSD member; $189 non-member
PREREQUISITE: Level 1 Training or equivalent; not a class for beginners

Do you already have a SMART Board and consider yourself a user? This intermediate class is for you!  Come learn some of the advanced features of the SMART Board.  Become adept at creating recordings of what you do on the SMART Board for future playback! Find out how to use the video player that comes with your SMART Board to annotate videos. Learn how to attach audio files to objects on the SMART Board, and how to save items that you use often and want to share to the My Content folder. We’ll show you how to find hundreds of Notebook files that have already been created for use on the SMART Board. You’ll be able to find usable files and tweak them.

(Can’t make these Level 1 and Level 2 trainings in June? No worries- Level 1 will also be offered July 7 and July 28; Level 2 will be offered again July 14!)

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Thursday, February 10, 2011 #virtualMETC

Live Stream of Sessions: 2011 Midwest Education Technology keynote and featured speakers’ sessions will be streamed live at METCconference.org during the conference and also archived on the website. This will allow remote participants to watch some of the high-quality program as live video streams and as archived videos. Streaming and recording is compliments of IDSolutions.

Back Channel Chatting & Conversation: Twitter will be used throughout the conference to inform, remind and discuss the events and sessions. Following #METC_CSD will allow participants to stay up-to-date with happenings at the 2011 conference whether they are in attendance or not. Twitter will be utilized as a back channel during the streamed keynote and selected featured speakers’ sessions. All streamed sessions will be assigned the unique hashtag #virtualMETC in addition to the #METC_CSD, so those interested in following the discussion can easily read and participate from within or outside the St. Charles Convention Center.

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