Building Learning Communities 2014

Do the challenges to flipping your class prevent you from getting started? Are you having a hard time seeing when the best time to start flipping would be? Learn how “Just In Time” recording – where you can record as you teach without having to take additional time from your day - helps you overcome the barriers to flipping your class and can get you up and running easily and quickly.  Finally, we will spend some time on what makes the best videos and digital content.  

Supported by current rigorous research on the power of student reflection and self- reporting, the desire to further refine our feedback / feed forward strategies and placing greater value on student voice, St Mary’s Primary School Tauranga has been guided by a learning vision ‘to develop Assessment Capable Students, Teachers, Leaders and Parents’.  These workshops will explore their journey, inspiration and development of a school vision incorporating a student centred pedagogy and how students have experienced a rich and receptive localised curriculum, designed to meet the needs of personalised learning.

The 21st century has been abuzz with cries to be innovative, creative and technologically savvy in teaching. However, if students do not commit wholeheartedly to the experience of learning, it is difficult to engage them in a sustained and meaningful manner. This presentation will explore the ways in which teaching must aim to address more than educational outcomes; in fact, the goals of education are far from achievable if we do not address the emotional, psychological, social and physical needs of young people. This session will offer strategies that encourage students to INVEST in their education.

Supported by current rigorous research on the power of student reflection and self- reporting, the desire to further refine our feedback / feed forward strategies and placing greater value on student voice, St Mary’s Primary School Tauranga has been guided by a learning vision ‘to develop Assessment Capable Students, Teachers, Leaders and Parents’.  These workshops will explore their journey, inspiration and development of a school vision incorporating a student centred pedagogy and how students have experienced a rich and receptive localised curriculum, designed to meet the needs of personalised learning.

Creating novel solutions to real-world problems intrinsically motivates students to realize deep, lasting learning. With today’s technological tools, it is easier than ever for students to be empowered to solve problems by creating real products for real audiences, both locally and globally. During this session, we will discuss how to use current standards to create problem-based units and demonstrate how problem-based, authentic learning can be used with any standards/content to provide an environment in which students are naturally motivated and in which teachers can differentiate in a sophisticated manner.
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Take a walk around the planet with Paul Salopek, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and National Geographic Fellow now in the second of his seven-year trek. The walk, which began in the Rift Valley of east Africa in January 2013, is an exercise in "slow journalism" through a retracing of the steps of our ancestors' first migration. Join partners like Harvard University's Project Zero, MIT's Media Lab, National Geographic, and a host of students and teachers around the world who are doing amazing projects inspired by the walk.

Providing students with the opportunities to be involved in all stages of a district or school 1:1 plan and implementation allows for high levels of ownership and engagement. Community Consolidated School District 21 in Wheeling, Illinois included students in all stages of the process of identifying which device would best serve the District’s needs--from having students, first, select a platform to then meet with experts, decide on a device, outline their rationale for the staff committee simultaneously working on the same project, and then presenting alongside staff members to the Board of Education. Following the decision to proceed with the purchase of Chromebooks, students have continued to maintain ownership for the process by participating in other projects, including identifying locations in the community that provide free access to the Internet and creating policies and guidelines for other students.

With more than 300 reporting projects by some 200 grantee journalists working in video, photography, radio, print and web, the Pulitzer Center is a rich resource for educators seeking to bring global issues into their classes through compelling storytelling. Our placements in National Geographic, the New York Times, the Atlantic, PBS and dozens of other outlets are just the beginning. Learn about the ways our education team works with teachers, including e-Books, social media, student awareness campaigns, video and photo workshops, Skype sessions with journalists and more. From water and sanitation to women and children's issues to fragile states to global commodities, the Pulitzer Center has a unique media focus on the under-told stories that affect millions.