Education Workshops for Educators

Too many students are unable to separate fact from fiction on the Internet. We can teach students how to read the "grammar" of the Internet and apply strategies to validate information. This popular workshop provides step-by-step teaching tips for helping students, teachers and administrators think critically about Internet information.

In today's Web-driven world, it is essential to teach young children the grammar and literacy skills to be safe and skilled "Web detectives." This workshop will provide teachers and administrators with an overview of how to teach elementary students to choose the right search engine, find who controls the information, and develop early cross-referencing strategies. Participants will also learn how to incorporate age-appropriate bogus websites into the curriculum to help children question web-based content.

Placing easy-to-use digital tools in the hands of our students can result in creative solutions that help classmates learn. We know that many children prefer to learn from their peers, yet this technique is often underestimated and underused in today’s classrooms. Encouraging students to contribute to their learning community is a powerful and effective way to improve achievement. We'll show you how.

There is a significant opportunity in the first five days of school to set the tone concerning powerful, engaging and self-directed learning. By giving students ownership of their learning and having them develop tools and networks that will support them throughout the school year, we better prepare them for the global economy. In this session, participants will consider the broad opportunities that await in the first five days of school, including information literacy, student roles, global collaboration and more.

This session will focus on the ideas behind the contributions your students will make in the classroom and will introduce participants to a toolset that will get their students moving in the direction of empowered, purposeful learning. Examples include tutorial creators, student scribes, curriculum reviewers and more.

Access to timely information and communication tools can empower educators to focus on the individual learning needs of their students. These same tools can lead to a wealth of benefits, such as greater collegiality, stronger relationships, self-directed students, curriculum-aligned technology, authentic work, rigorous and motivating assignments, and the development of a strong learning community. Learn all about this potent new culture of empowered teaching and fearless learning.

Learning is social. An audience of one, the teacher, is no longer sufficient to prepare students for success in the global economy. Now is the time for educators to tap into safe and moderated social web-based tools to expand the audience for student work. At the same time, we can provide role models of appropriate, ethical behavior on the Web. Find out how building learning communities across all subject areas can encourages students to take greater responsibility for the quality of their work and to make contributions to other students.

Listen as we outline essential skills for leadership and offer both practical guidelines and creative solutions for building accountability into the planning and implementation process. Articulating vision and mission, managing change, and aligning technology to primary curricular goals are emphasized. We will explore the "leader as a role model" concept and look at various professional development opportunities, such as joining a global professional community.

Writing is an essential skill for life and a key to academic success. Technology can be harnessed to provide student writers with unlimited inspiration, boundless resources, and an authentic audience – all keys to improving students’ writing skills, as well as their motivation to write. With technology, students can publish their work, peer-edit, share ideas, and post projects in a global forum. This keynote/workshop is filled with concrete suggestions, website examples, and effective exercises to get your students excited about writing.

Have you been on Twitter for a while? Do you feel like something is missing? There's a good chance that you are not maximizing your experience. Signing up for and learning the basics of using social tools are generally pretty easy. But to really gain value, you need to understand the more advanced features of what these tools have to offer. This workshop will provide you with several examples of how to tweak your usage to gain the most value out of your time online.

Learn how to tap Google's free online toolset and knock down the walls of your classroom, engage students and make connections in new and exciting ways. During this session you will build robust learning solutions that you can immediately apply in your classroom. Develop a custom search engine based on your particular subject area or unit of study. Create an interactive map for your literature, history, math or science class. With these and other open-ended tools, the options are endless.

In a series of recent articles, Alan November and Brian Mull explain that Web literacy now expands beyond understanding how to effectively use a search engine for research. Now, it is vital for teachers and students to understand the three pillars of Web literacy to maximize the critical thinking process.

First, there must be an understanding of effective search and validation strategies when using search engines like Google. Secondly, there needs to be an organizational method for effectively harnessing this content. Finally, there is a need for students to connect and collaborate with others around the world to gain further insight into the knowledge they find.

This session will look at how effective search and validation techniques combined with tools like Diigo and Twitter can build better researchers.

Read more at http://nlrng.us/PxIADT, http://nlrng.us/R3kGPg and http://nlrng.us/TNGq60

As a parent purchasing cell phones, iPads and/or laptops for your kids, are you taking the necessary steps to understand the implications of these purchases? Schools are ramping up their ability to best prepare students for learning in a digital world, and it’s critical that they have your support. This session will outline the role parents must play, working in tandem with teachers, to help students understand the educational and ethical impact of their time online. You will learn how your kids can dig deeper into topics and better organize their learning, how they can connect globally with experts and peers, as well as how to help kids understand the ethics behind working and playing online.