Thursday, 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm
Session#: 145 Title: Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to Improve Secondary Instruction
Presented By: Marc Dastous - Clayton County Public Schools Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 40 Location: Room 106 Strand: Admin. Tech. Secon. MediaGeographic Information Systems (GIS) is a computer-based system used to store, manipulate, and display geographically referenced data. In recent years, the role of GIS in improving the quality of learning in secondary education has been widely recognized. Research on the use of GIS in the secondary classroom shows that GIS provides the opportunity for students to deal with real-life problems, improve critical and higher-order thinking, and advance geographic skills. GIS technology has one other major advantage in secondary classrooms, the possibility of a continuous update of current geographic information. Today, it is possible to download the most currently available spatial information in digital format from several sources and clearinghouses via the Internet. Secondary instructors can maintain a current knowledge of geographic information, hence enhancing the mastery of learning standards. Participants will be introduced to GIS and shown how to implement GIS instruction. Participants will receive GIS lesson plans, a free version of GIS software and additional information on a full suite of GIS products.
Session#: 146 Title: Student Achievement is the Bottom Line Presented By: Pat Wall - River Trial Middle School, Alison Zorilla - River Trail Middle School Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 40 Location: Room 107 Strand: ALL
Collaboration between teacher, administration, media specialist, and technology specialist is essential to provide quality work for students. Too often, media and technology are perceived as competitive areas, each vying for control of computers, servers, and software. The control issues get in the way of productivity. The common goal of student learning and achievement is, and should always be, at the forefront of technology use. The Media-Technology Team at River Trail Middle School combines resources, professional learning, and expertise to create an environment that promotes effective and efficient use of technology. In this presentation, examples of best
practices, procedures, and products used to support our teachers and students will be outlined. Technology to be highlighted include: Research Pathfinders NetSupport software, USB Drives, Outlook Mentoring Program, ACTIVboard Wireless Notebook Cards, portable wireless laptops, TechFair, CD writers, and teacher websites.
Session#: 147 Title: Technology Resources for Fun and Effective Reading and Writing Activities Presented By: Joe Tompkins - Rockdale County Schools Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 40 Location: Room 303 Strand: ALL
This session is derived from a 10-hour staff development course created for Rockdale County Schools titled Reading and Writing with Technology. The full course is state-approved to meet the technology training requirements of the GSPC as well as the requirements for reading training for Middle School re-certification. It was one of the first courses to receive approval from the state committee. The session is an overview of effective technology resources available to enhance instruction of vocabulary skills, grammar topics, spelling, reading comprehension, and the writing process. Teacher-created software developed at our school to support and enhance our reading and writing instruction will be included. Although the focus is primarily on middle school, many of the resources are flexible enough to be used with instruction from kindergarten through graduate school.
Session#: 148 Title: So You Want to be in the Movie Business Presented By: Michael Perry - Kennesaw State University/Chapel Hill High School Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 230 Location: Room 306 Strand: ALL
A short visit to film school will help you learn general film making tips and tricks to use before and during your filming. Once the raw footage is shot, then the post-production begins with editing and creative effects. The real magic happens when you get to the computer and begin post production of your raw footage. Today, it is possible to make excellent student film projects and demonstrations with easy-to-use powerful video editing software. The Adobe family of video products will be discussed and demonstrated in this session. Your students will be engaged in learning using video technology that helps bring projects and demonstrations to life.
For years teachers have been reading classic picture books to their students and incorporating extension activities and projects to enhance the content of the story. The focus of this session is to show how technology can be integrated into literature studies. A variety of creative projects/lesson plans will be shared and student examples will be shown. The technology projects include the use of Kidspiration, Inspiration, Timeliner, Kid Pix, PowerPoint and the Internet. Attendees will receive the link to a website to view student examples and download templates. This session is geared toward elementary classroom teachers.
Session#: 150 Title: Bring the World to Your Class with Video Conferencing Presented By: Beau Sherman - Colquitt County BOE, Mike Griffith - Gobal Leap Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 110 Location: Room 309 Strand: ALL
During this session a live link will be made with another site to show the technology. We will be conferencing with Mike Griffith from Global Leap, an educational video conferencing agency based in the UK. This session will emphasize the area of curriculum integration and enhancement of subject matter with interactive video conferencing. No cost or low cost session will be discussed.
Session#: 151 Title: Mind Mapping: Visual Learning and Thinking
Presented By: Adam Martingano
Time: Thursday - 3:15-4:15 Location: Room 310
Description: The presenter will demonstrate how MatchWare OpenMind allows students and teachers to rapidly visualize, organize, and implement ideas and export them to HTML, Word, PowerPoint or MatchWare Mediator.
Session#: 152 Title: Mentors Use Online Training to Improve Teacher Retention
Presented By: Kathy Politis - Fulton County Schools, Barbara McGuire - Fulton County Schools Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 50 Location: Room 312 Strand: Elem. Secon.Fulton County is over 70 miles long and supports over 9000 employees. Most professional development is held during off-contract hours. Attending some face-to-face trainings may require teachers to travel over an hour, sit in training until 9:00 p.m., then travel an additional hour to get home. In an effort to provide alternative means of training for classroom mentors, Fulton County's Professional Learning Department has developed an online course that is self-paced and available at any time over the Internet. Five interactive modules provide learners with the newest and best practices in mentoring. The modules were designed by content experts in an effort to improve the knowledge and skills of mentors. Fulton County employs approximately 800 new teachers each year. Each new teacher is assigned a school-based mentor for support. Statistically, a minimum of 10% of new teachers leave teaching their first year. By the end of the second year, 30% have left, and in some urban areas over 50% have left by the end of their fourth year. Mentors can make a significant difference in these numbers. Trained mentors have an even greater impact. Attendees will see the Mentoring Online course and gain insight into its design, development and implementation. Presenters will share experiences from start to finish.
Session#: 153 Title: Seeing Like a Scientist
Presented By: Judy Baxter - Berrien Elementary-Berrien County, Steven Roberts - Berrien Elementary School, Kevin Hampton Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 55 Location: Room 313 Strand: Elem.
This presentation is based on experiences of a GIFT (Georgia Internship for Teachers) project. Using inquiry-based learning, the presenter learned how scientists at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus' Experiment Station found, photographed, captured, and identified hundreds of arthropods affecting Georgia's agricultural fields. This knowledge was taken into a classroom of third graders where students were taught how to look and think like a scientist. Inquiry-based learning allows the students to ask their own questions, discover ways of answering these questions, and share their method of discovery with others, thus promoting a range of unique ideas known as True Learning. Other examples of inquiry-based learning in third through fifth grade classrooms will be presented by a panel of teachers.
Session#: 154 Title: ACTIV Lesson: Leaping into Learning Presented By: Betsy Stewart - Upson-Lee North Elementary, Pam McKinley - Upson-Lee North Elementary Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 55 Location: Room 324 Strand: Elem.
'Leap' into your day by using the ACTIVboard technology for Daily Oral Language and the Morning Math board that aligns with Saxon Math. Through these interACTIV lessons, your students will be able to cheerfully 'leap' into the day! Once these lessons have been saved in a flipchart, they never have to be recreated.
Session#: 155 Title: Where in the Online World is all the Good Stuff? (The Internet in Social Studies)
Presented By: Gail Lovely - Featured Speaker Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 230 Location: Ballroom A Strand: Elem. Second.
During this session, teachers will explore numerous social studies Web sites. Teachers will learn about different Internet and computer-based projects in the area of social studies and how they can be integrated into other curriculum areas, as well. We will also discuss how to evaluate Internet and computer-based projects in these areas.
Session#: 156 Title: The Technology? Skills Every Student Needs
Presented By: Doug Johnson - Featured Speaker Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 230 Location: Ballroom B Strand: ALLThe world in which our students will all be working and living will be different from our own. We will examine: What’s happening outside school in the workplace because of information technologies? What skills does every student need to be a productive citizen? What curricula and methodologies best teach those skills? How will schools, classrooms and libraries change as a result? This presentation looks at change strategies that will help assure that all students become "technology and information literate" and looks at real ways schools can implement those changes.
Session#: 157 Title: The Technology Race: Who Wins, the Tortoise or the Hare? Presented By: Annette Lamb - Featured Speaker Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 230 Location: Ballroom C Strand: ALL
This session explores strategies for creating practical K-12 activities that combine the power of technology with active learning and thinking to address standards and meet individual needs. The hare focuses on the technology, while the tortoise concentrates on active learning and thinking. They're both important elements of an engaging learning environment. Which will win the race? This session explores strategies for creating practical K 12 classroom activities that combine the power of popular technology tools and resources with active learning and thinking to address important standards and meet individual needs. From multimedia tools to Internet resources explore ways that you can use technology to help students succeed. The session places particular emphasis on asking the question: what value does technology add to the learning experience? Then describes a dozen ways technology facilitates learning experiences: How can you use technology to provide… data for comparison, alternative perspectives, another sense, more reading resources, connections with parents, promote reading, global discussions, interesting starting points, quick resources, both critical and creative thinking, both content and information skills, and different ways of thinking? Next, the session discusses how to use technology to facilitate life experiences and promote life long learning through a combination of content standards, information standards, critical thinking, and creative thinking. Finally, the presenter challenges teachers to find their “tipping point”, specifically identifying those small changes that can make a big difference in teaching and learning with technology.
Session#: 158 Title: Professional Learning Resources Online and Ready to Use
Presented By: Susan Sams - Georgia Department of Education
Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 130 Location: Ballroom D/E Strand: ALL
The Professional Development Center houses 600+ individual resources contained in over 100 packages. These resources can be used by individual teachers or in groups. Most of the resource packages contain a facilitator's guide. The resource packages are ready to use and make professional development easy to implement.
Session#: 159 Title: System Website Management Strategies Presented By: Craig Liggett - DeKalb County School System Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 75 Location: Suite A Strand: Admin. Tech.
There are many ways of managing a system website. The scale and complexity of the site, plus the number of authors responsible for content, all contribute to making the webmaster's job difficult. There are techniques that can be employed that make this job easier.
Session#: 160 Title: Improving Student Achievement through Hand-Held Presented By: Wilbur Garner - Thurgood Marshall Elementary, Jeff Olive - Brainchild Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 75 Location: Suite B Strand: ALL
This session looks at how teachers from Mundy's Mill Middle School in Clayton County used Brainchild to motivate students and enhance student achievement. The session will explore how teachers integrated hands-on extended learning techniques to keep middle school students excited about learning beyond the regular school day. Attendees will receive successful tips and strategies for implementing hand-held technology into a classroom setting. The session will include fun, hands-on activities involving Brainchild.
Session#: 161 Title: Using Technology with International Students Presented By: Andrew Smith - Georgia State University Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 75 Location: Suite C Strand: ALL
Students from international cultural backgrounds bring different experiences and alternative viewpoints to enrich the classroom, but they can also bring problems for the teacher. Technology in the classroom can be both a source of some problems and a solution to others. This session will discuss some of the technology-related problems encountered by a variety of teachers with varying levels of experience teaching students from international backgrounds. Practical solution strategies to overcome or mitigate these problems will be discussed. Although focusing on students from international backgrounds, many, if not all, of the solution strategies can be used to improve the learning environment for all students, regardless of background.
Session#: 162 Title: Fixing Digital Images with the New Adobe Photoshop
Presented By: Patrick Crispen - Featured Speaker
Time: Thurs. 3:15 pm - 4:15 pm Seats: 800 Location: Monument Strand: ALL
Is your computer or digital camera overflowing with image files so bright they look like they were taken on the surface of the Sun, so dark they look like they were taken inside of a coat closet during a rolling blackout, or so covered with dust they look like deleted scenes from Lawrence of Arabia? This workshop is for you! This one-hour, PC-based workshop introduces you to Adobe Photoshop Elements, an affordable software package that helps you quickly and easily enhance almost any digital image or photograph. With Photoshop Elements you can transform useless images into something you'll be proud to display in your very own PowerPoint presentations, post to your website or Blackboard course, print on a color printer, or email to your friends and colleagues.