I promised myself this morning that I wouldn’t attend any sessions that mentioned the words “PowerPoint, “Office,” or “Inspiration.” Not because the programs are bad, but because conferences like this are often beyond saturated with sessions that show how to use those programs. I want something more. So now I’m sitting here waiting for this session about PowerPoint (Presented by Jeanne Noorisa and Marsye Kaplan) to start. Why? Because it’s about making books. Now that’s just cool. Hm, this is the first session I’ve been…Continue Reading “Session 3: Let’s Make Literacy Accessible for All!”
The last time I attended this conference was two years ago, and things have changed a lot since then. Most notable is the fact that MICCA is taking up a lot less real estate. Back then they took up three floors, with the sessions on the 2nd floor, administration, registration, souvenirs, etc. on the 1st floor, and the vendors all regulated to the basement. Now, except for registration and a small art exhibit, we’re all on the 2nd floor. If I hadn’t been here two…Continue Reading “Lunch Musings”
Woohoo! The next session doesn’t hae any outlets, but it’s about art, education, and technology. This is right up my alley. :) It’s being presented by Aileen Pugliese-Castro, who is forward thinking enough to not have a handout, but rather put things online. She used a company called Original Works to do some fund raising and buy all kinds of tech goodies for her art classroom. I’ll have to check that company out when I have the time. I’ve used Cafe Press in the past…Continue Reading “Session 2: The 21st Century Art Room”
Sally DeVincentis is a vendor, but she was a Special Education teacher for 25 years. With a background like that she’s got my interest. (This is why I love this WiFi connection. In less than a minute I looked up her business and linked in her website.) The key to this session seems to be “Visual Literacy,” a skill that begins to develop before verbal literacy. Ok, we’re 12 minutes in and she’s still talking about theory. I know a lot about this already, but…Continue Reading “Session 1: Making Better Readers with Digital Photography”
I’m at what will be my first session of the day: “Making Better Readers with Digital Photography.” Once again I’m in range of a strong WiFi signal, but this time it’s password protected so I’ll have to save this summary for later. As an added bonus I’m even close to a wall outlet! (No more putting my laptop to sleep between each burst of writing. Curse you, old battery!) I hope the network isn’t encrypted when I present tomorrow, or at the very least I…Continue Reading “Before the 1st session”
Today’s Keynote is unusual for me. Rather than having just one person standing in front of a PowerPoint presentation we have several individuals (Linda Roberts, Senator Patrick J. Hogan, Dr. Karen B. Salmon, Jim Potter, and Sterlind S. Burke, Sr.) discussing “21st century skills.” They’re having some microphone problems, but it’s not too bad. Jim Potter has a few good sound bits, including “We need a balance between perspiration and inspiration,” and “We don’t know what we don’t know.” Dr. Salmon started a 1:1 laptop…Continue Reading “MICCA Day 1 Keynote”
I’m about to head over to the Baltimore Convention Center or day 1 of MICCA. I’m presenting on blogging, but not until tomorrow. Today I’m just going to see what I can see and blog about it. If they have wireless access I’ll post from there. If not, I’ll post when I get home. UPDATE: I’m sitting in the room for the Keynote speaker. Obviously, MICCA has WiFi. Life is good, or at least it will be until my battery dies.
Wow! Yesterday I joined roughly 50 other educators in the DEN challenge to Capture the Inner Harbor. Kudos go out to Rachel for organizing this spiffy event, although so many others helped that I really don’t remember all the names I would have to list. If you head over to Rachel’s blog in the next few days I’m sure you’ll encounter more details. As for myself, I took a bunch of pictures and videos. Some are uploaded already (1 2 3 4 5 6 7…Continue Reading “Capture the Harbor – First Impressions”
Yanked from Presentation Zen: “A great teacher is one who realizes that he himself is also a student and whose goal is not to dictate the answers, but to stimulate his students creativity enough so that they go out and find the answers themselves.” (Herbie-Hancock) (I also have a podcast that’s been brewing since Spring Break. No, really! I’ll have it recorded soon.)
My 57th podcast touches on a theory about technology that is gaining strength among educators. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My school is handing out laptops to teachers, but not everyone’s excited. Why? Some say it’ll increase our workload. First things the laptops will most likely be used for: Grade Books Lesson Planning Presentations (PowerPoint) (I hint a bit about good design ideas and free alternatives here, but don’t get into it. So where does this extra work come from? Is it because these teachers see “disruptive” technology heading…Continue Reading “Academic Aesthetic Podcast 57 – Disruptive Laptops”