Workshops and Presentations for Dynamic Landscapes
The Dynamic Landscapes conference committee is still accepting proposals for the conference. However, we are also excited to share with you a selection of the workshops that have been accepted to the conference.
Generative art is art or design generated by algorithms. Using a programming environment of choice, students can quickly get started writing code to create interesting shapes and patterns. The visual output increases students’ engagement and curiosity. I will be showing how my students were motivated to learn programming concepts (such as branching, looping, and functions) in the process of generating art. Participants in this workshop will create their own designs, using a choice of programming tools.
Presenter: Charlie MacFadyen
If you’ve used AI like ChatGPT and DALL-E then come share what you’ve learned.
Presenter: Caleb Clark
The focus of our digital wellness research and presentation is based largely on input we gathered from interviewing Dr Michael Rich, the founder and director of the Digital Wellness Lab and the Clinic for Interactive Media and Internet Disorders (CIMAID) at Boston Children’s Hospital. We have a slide show and interactive activities to offer as resources to participants. Participants would be introduced to a paradigm shift in thinking about students’ tech use back to their own schools to help us all address the digital distraction that has made our jobs in schools ever more challenging.
Presenter: Carrie Felice
This will be a fast-paced, lighthearted session guaranteed to tickle your geeky side and delight the teacher in you, an updated version of my 2022 Dynamic Landscapes session. It will highlight free tools you can master quickly, innovative virtual and augmented reality apps, artificial intelligence applications, and inexpensive little drones and robots. Learn how educators are embracing innovations such as ChatFPT and Dall-E, using them as powerful tools, and updating their media literacy curriculum to address the challenges. Hear about technologies and innovative ideas that do not yet exist at the time this session was proposed. The term “Electronic Constructivism” was coined by this presenter who will link these technologies to what it is all about: Good Teaching. No experience necessary – just your curiosity, enthusiasm about teaching, and a sense of humor. Participants will receive links to all resources. The session will end with a raffle for techy door prizes.
Presenter: Maureen Yoder
Not since the efforts to ban calculators, or Google, has an innovative technology caused as much concern to educators. Will this powerful tool lead to massive cheating and a threat to the teaching of writing? Seattle, Los Angeles and New York City Public Schools quickly banned it. Turnitin, and OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, immediately began developing methods to detect its use. But the real challenge, and opportunity, for educators, is to learn how to use it thoughtfully, ramp up their media literacy curriculum, and develop assignments that result in original and creative work by their students.
I asked ChatGPT to “Write about the concerns and challenges of using ChatGPT in K-12 classrooms.” The response: “The concerns and challenges of using ChatGPT in K-12 classrooms include the need for careful consideration of the quality and reliability of information provided, and the need for teacher training and support to effectively integrate the technology into the curriculum.”
This session will be a fast moving summary of the challenges and benefits of this impactful tool. Come with an open mind, curiosity, and your sense of humor. Participants will get links to all resources. The session will end with a raffle for techy prizes.
Presenter: Maureen Yoder
ChatGPT, the most famous of a new technology called “Generative AI”, has taken both the Tech and Academic Worlds by storm. It’s ability to respond to prompts by producing essays, poetry, computer code, lesson plans, and so much more is amazing. It also has caused the generation of a LOT of concerns!
This will be a facilitated discussion to familiarize you with ChatGPT and DALL-E2, the most well-known of the Generative AIs, and to consider both the positive and negative possibilities in the world we’re heading into.
Facilitators: Peter Drescher & Mark Kline
After their district adopted a new Portrait of a Graduate (PoG), a group of teachers asked themselves, “What kinds of teaching and learning will lead to ‘Academic Excellence, Self Direction, Skillful Communication, Stewardship, and Critical Thinking & Problem Solving’ for our students?” This teacher-led group will engage participants in facilitated brainstorming, thought provoking games, and tangible tools to promote this kind of teacher-inspired professional development for PoG outcomes in their schools. During this session, educators will share about how they leveraged their enthusiasm, collaboration, and summers to plant grass-root seeds for deeper learning in service of their Portrait of a Graduate and share a curated set of resources educators can use to make their own Portrait of a Graduate come to life.
Presenter: Timothy Brennan
Mote is the audio toolkit for educators and learners across the world – integrated into the products you know and love. In this session you will learn all about Mote by setting up a free account. Mote gives students and educators the ability to record voice comments anywhere on the web. These voice comments can be transcribed and translated as needed. Students and educators can respond to Mote comments with audio comments of their own! Want to know more? Come to this session and you will be guided through the process of using Mote, its key features and Google integrations and more.
Want a head start? Read this article to see how Mote supports UDL https://learn.mote.com/2021/05/14/6-ways-mote-supports-universal-design-for-learning/
Presenter: Jennifer Mitchell
We all know, and value, individual innovators. That teacher who is making use of that new tool or pedagogical practice in a way that is making a difference for the learners. The challenge is taking innovation school wide, embedding it in the practice, the culture of the institution.
In this panel discussion Jim will be joined by Meredith Williams who led systemic change in a North Carolina high school, Jon Smith who is Senior Teacher Success Manager at Book Creator, and Jon Pratt who is Assistant Head of School for Academics at Maine’s Foxcroft Academy. All have stories of harnessing the power of systemic innovation adoption in education – both the “why” and the “how”.
Presenter: Jim Moulton
MS-ISAC and CISA will review the no-cost cyber services available to State-Local-Tribal- & Territorial entities. We will also highlight assessments that can provide a roadmap to bolster your cybersecurity posture.
Presenter: Elijah Cedeno
This session feature Ozobots, desk-friendly coding robots that come with infinite ways to create, learn, and share. Participants will not only learn how Ozobots work, but they will also have a chance to code Ozobots in a variety of ways as well as learn how Ozobots can be integrated into the elementary curriculum.
Presenter: Adam Brua
Part 1 of a 2 part series.
Do you actively use Google Forms? Do you use Google Sheets?
Whether you actively use either of them, or are a new user, there are some great things already built in across both programs you can use to create a form that allows you to pull and combine data that helps to maintain records, check for understanding on the fly, and inform student learning across multiple data points.
In this session we will quickly explore the basic ins and outs of how a Google Form can be created and how the data from the form is shared both in Google Forms and Google Sheets.
Once complete, participants will spend our time creating a form which they can use for their own “launchpad” for practice back at their own schools.
Presenter: John Moton
This is Part 2 of a 2 part series.
Does working in Google Sheets or Excel seem intimidating for you? Are you a spreadsheet script and functions expert?
Regardless of where you are in your understanding of how to use a spreadsheet program, there are ways you can use it to simplify your day to day work in the classroom and beyond.
In this session we will quickly explore some basic functions within Sheets that takes your spreadsheet from being a “glorified table” to a tool which allows you to track, access, and maintain data for your classroom and workspace. We also will explore how you can use your housed data in a spreadsheet to complete other basic and advanced projects, working to save you time.
Depending on attendees, we will use the second half of our session to practice our learned skills from the session and also to share different strategies or uses of Sheets which can be taken back to our own schools.
Presenter: John Moton
Join Shelburne Community Schools’ DLL Leah Joly, middle school teachers Diana Rich and Eric Brunvand, and their students to learn about their dynamic Westward Expansion projects. Students used voice recording, Scratch coding, Makey Makey circuit boards, and lots of hot glue to create interactive maps and journals featuring information about the Westward Expansion Movement. They will share how these projects incorporate a wide variety of skills, tools, and learning across the curriculum.
Presenter: Leah Joly
Join us as we take a deep dive into the why of accessibility and leave with loads of FREE digital resources to support inclusive environments for ALL! The term “”accessible: has more than one meaning related to equitable access in education. It’s often confused with related terms about access for students with disabilities, such as accommodation, adaptation, or assistive technology. Throughout this session, participants will explore the meanings of “”accessible”” and clarify what “”accessible”” means in the context of access for students with disabilities. Come join this fun and engaging experience with the AEM Center’s Technical Assistance Specialists!
Presenter: Kelli Suding
Do you have students that can talk about what they read better than they can write about it? Why not offer them an alternate way to express what they know? From simple voice commenting or video assignments to choice boards, this session will provide you with an opportunity to challenge yourself with some “”on your own PD”” at your own level and pace. You get to choose whether you want to wade in or dive in to the process of using UDL practices and tools.
Presenter: Jennifer Mitchell
As innovative technology tools, such as 3D printers and laser cutters, are introduced in K-12 classroom settings, these tools are mostly used in the science, technology, engineering, art, and math field (Ford & Minshall, 2019), and some in social studies or history (Ford & Minshall, 2019; Malory et al., 2017). In the field of literacy education, various digital tools and technology softwares have been used (Pictor, 2019); however, innovative technology tools such as 3D printers or laser cutters are lesser known. As multimodal literacy is considered important in children’s literacy development, innovative technology tools, such as 3D printing, are introduced to support teachers in K-12 reading classrooms (Lynch, 2018). Some teachers have tried creative and engaging activities using these tools to help undergraduate preservice teachers respond to literature (Wargo, 2019) and to support under-represented students in developing basic STEM and reading skills (Easley et al., 2017). Even though there is a lack of using these innovative technology tools in literacy education, these tools can significantly support the teaching and learning of teachers and students. In this presentation, the researchers will share ideas for interdisciplinary lessons, engaging activities incorporating literacy, and the final products using these tools.
Presenter: Soo Joung Kim
Discover how third graders at Cambridge Elementary School have been demonstrating knowledge about the history of their town with Minecraft Education Edition!
Minecraft Education Edition is a school specific version of the popular game Minecraft, and is an interactive game based environment where students can create by using their imagination and a wide variety of materials and tools. The game comes with many predesigned lesson plans, or you can create your own.
In this session we’ll share a little about our local history unit and how Minecraft Education Edition has enhanced it, and we’ll review some tips and tricks (technical and non-technical!) to getting started with using Minecraft in your school or classroom. We’ll have some devices available so that you can try Minecraft, too!
Presenter: Jeremy LaClair
Teaching is a very personal act wrapped up in personal identity – and instructional coaching can make educators feel very vulnerable. After vetting a tool to ensure its effectiveness, I will volunteer to try new tool or resource with a teacher’s class; by purposefully weaving educational technologies into coaching partnership planning, I can model my own vulnerabilities. This can make our teacher-coach relationship one of mutual growth. Come and hear about this intersection of traditional instructional coaching and educational technologies. The development of at least two instructional coaching sequences will be shared, with a focus on how technology resources and tools strengthened teaching-learning dynamics. Evidence will be shared to illustrate coaching in action. Finally, ISTE standards in action will also be articulated and discussed. Two Technology tools highlighted: (1) Book Creator and (2) Google meets/Mystery Location.
Presenter: Laura King
What do a broomball player, a college soccer coach, and a geocacher have in common? They’re all on their way to becoming ISTE Certified Educators! At the start of 2023, a creative and curious group of Vermont educators completed the ISTE Educator Certification course and are excited to share their learning. Come see what the ISTE standards look like in action!
During our session, each educator will present a micro-PD (4 minutes or less) that is aligned with the ISTE Standards for Educators. Following each, the ISTE Certification course facilitators (Suzanne & Casey) will invite questions to examine nuances of the Standards. And if you want to learn more, many from the cohort will be presenting workshops later in the day, which expand upon their micro-PD.
Presenter: Suzanne Judson-Whitehouse
Personalized learning can look like many things: student voice, choice-based projects, student-created learning experiences,and even co-designing curriculum with learners. This workshop, co-planned and facilitated with middle level students, offers attendees a brief background in the onset of personalized learning in Vermont, an array of practices to spark personalization within classrooms, and built-in time to brainstorm and workshop personalized learning activities with student leaders who will provide insight and feedback.
Presenter: Sam Nelson
