CONFERENC E
Creating A Culture Of Learning
By Jim Peterson
There will be a lot of sessions at the MACUL conference this spring that will help you learn really practical things to do with your students. You will meet leaders using iPads, netbooks, laptops, and cell phones in their schools. Presenters will demonstrate strategies for using Moodle, Google Docs and Edmodo. You will be told all the wonderful benefits of joining PLNs, Twitter, Ning and Posterous. When the whole conference is wrapped up and the closing keynote echoes in the halls, how will you decide what you bring back to your school, classroom and students?
There is a current at MACUL that will help you answer this question. You have to look for it because it is not the strongest or the loudest part of the stream. It is hidden in a conference room that is hard to find. It is a single line in the opening keynote. It will be a link shared in passing or an email address exchanged. It might be a conversation that you have in the car on the way home. You will know you have found it when you think to yourself, “I could not have spoken the truth more clearly myself.”
By being open you will start to see the quiet but strong current of educational philosophy at MACUL. It is these moments that shape your educational decisions and lesson plans. Your classroom intuition is carved by these experiences. By looking for and evaluating this current you become a learner and help create the culture of learning that makes MACUL a rich experience. Take notes on these moments and put an alarm in your calendar to read those notes in thirty days and again before next school year starts. Enjoy all of the conference, but immerse yourself in the moments that form you.
Jim Peterson is a physics teacher and instructional specialist at Holland Christian Schools, where he works to integrate faith, instruction and technology in every class. He is vice-president elect of the Christian Educators Association. Twitter: @ weathertation. If you want to hear about his ideas for creating a culture of learning in classrooms and schools, come to his session at the conference this year. It may be in one of those hard to find conference rooms!
20 |
INFOBYTES
E-READERS E-READERS E-READERS
By Ann Post
E-readers (Kindle, etc.) are the wave of the future, both for readers and non-readers. How does one appropriately mix e-readers into the classroom, while maintaining the integrity of reading itself? This session about e-readers, presented by teachers Ann Post and Liesha Crawford, will show how listening comprehension as well as writ- ing scores can increase with the use of e-readers. Our classroom has incorporated mandatory e-reading into daily classroom work for the past 2 years. We will discuss and demonstrate the use of various e-readers (Kindle, Classmate Readers by Humanware, Book Ports), downloads from
bookshare.org, Calibre software, as well as student testimonials and work demonstrations.
Our classroom of 20+ Physically and Otherwise Health Impaired students began integrating e-readers during Fall 2010. Many of our students are unable to read above a Pre Kindergarten level, however we feel that increasing their listening comprehension will benefit these middle school students in the future work force. Although strapped for money, we were able to begin with 3 Classmate Readers using Federal Stimulus monies. As students began to clamor to use them on a daily basis, it became apparent that more e-readers were needed. Multiple parent meetings were held and as parents became aware of the affordability of some e-readers (Kindle), many began purchasing them on their own. As school district administrators became aware of the rise in test scores in these students, money was allocated to purchase more Classmate Readers. Because several stu- dents in these classrooms have visual impairments, the department that services their needs was able to further provide these classrooms with Book Ports specifically designed for visually impaired students.
Attend the 2012 MACUL Conference session called E Readers E Readers E Readers to hear the success story about these unique stu- dents in their unique classroom setting.
Ann Post and Liesha Crawford are Special Education teachers for the Physically and Otherwise Health Impaired students for the Grand Rapids Public Schools in a center-based program at Alger Middle School. This program is also part of the Kent Intermediate School District. Ann and Liesha are known for spearheading technology integration into the classroom for Grand Rapids Public Schools.
Conference 2012 | MACULJOURNAL
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32