Late last week, a very simple, but very IMPORTANT update was sent out from the MACUL office about the upcoming awards for the 2010 conference. While most people have heard of the awards, I think there’s often a misconception about how these honors are awarded to our members. Because MACUL is a member-oriented organization, the membership is responsible for nominating individuals. It would be difficult for the small Grants & Awards Committee to come up with a list of nominations on their own, as MACUL has more than 3,000 members! So we on the MACUL Board rely on you, the members to nominate your picks. Then following the scoring rubric, the Grants & Awards Committee can choose the winners from the nominations.
Which takes me back to that misconception; MACUL can’t award such wonderful prizes as an interactive whiteboard, digital projector, wireless slates, and “clickers” without the help of the membership. That’s right, thanks to our sponsors, the SMARTer Kids Foundation, there’s a seriously awesome amount of technology that will be awarded to the both the Outstanding Educator AND Teacher of the year! And all it takes is to nominate one of your colleagues. Follow the link below to read about the nomination process, and what you have to submit in order to honor one of your colleagues, and possibly score a really nice setup for them to expand their teaching and learning opportunities in their classroom! Hurry, because the deadline is January 14th!
On September 29th, the call for speakers for the 2010 MACUL Conference will be closed, along with your best chance to attend the conference for free!
Each year, MACUL invites educators from all levels to apply to speak at the conference. Whether you’re a Kindergarten teacher that has some great early language websites that you’ve successfully integrated with your teaching, or a college professor using Moodle or Blackboard in creative new ways, MACUL loves to showcase its members! And to say thank you, each and every speaker received a complimentary registration for presenting.
Just visit the Call for Speaker’s page on the MACUL website for more details, or go directly to the Conference Speaker Submission if you already know all the details.
Got a great idea for a cool project involving technology in your classroom? Happen to be a MACUL member? Then let us hook you up with the funds to make your idea happen with the 2009-2010 MACUL Grant program. With a possibility of securing $1500 towards a project that will help benefit the students in your classroom/school, and a deadline of June 27th, 2009, why not make the most of this summer (and your MACUL membership), by taking advantage of this opportunity?
All of the details for the 2009-2010 MACUL Grant Program can be found here on the MACUL website. Links to the scoring rubric, the official time line, and the application form can be found there. Remember though, you must be a MACUL member in order to apply for this opportunity; thankfully, you can renew your membership, or join for the first time right here!
Image: ‘$‘ www.flickr.com/photos/50318388@N00/2349119664
I can not remember a MACUL conference flying by so quickly. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that I was so busy. I was busy live blogging, bumping into old friends, trying out products in the exhibit hall, getting ready for my presentation and then all of the social functions.
It sure was different from my first conference in 2003. That year I had a great time and learned a lot but it was a lot quieter. I went to all of the sessions, sat toward the back, and didn’t talk to anybody. I didn’t ask any questions. I think I even had dinner by myself down in Greektown. The only person I really interacted with much was the cabbie who was trying to job me with the “busted meter” routine.
I still came away with a great experience, but far different than the ones I come away with now.
Have I made a huge conversion in my life from an introvert to Mr. Social? No, not at all. Over the last six years, I have begin to understand that MACUL is not just the annual state edtech conference. MACUL is the association and all of the people that are involved in it the other 50 weeks of the year. There were 3300 others of us in Detroit this year. The amount of brain power that convened at Cobo this year is immeasurable…and that power is not hard to harness or tap.
I have gotten to know many of these people over years in my grad program at Western Michigan University. We have attended and presented at other conferences together. Macul Space has made a huge difference in my career, as have other web 2.0 tools like Facebook and Twitter. We share ideas, successes, and a laughs…mostly we share ideas.
People rave about what a great conference it is…and without a doubt it is. I have just come to learn over the years that the people that make up the organization offer even more than what we can get out of each annual gathering in March.
If this was your first conference, or if you have been going for years, get to know your fellow MACUL members. Technology is making it easier and easier for us to all connect. Your MACUL experience won’t be just a couple of days out of the building, it will be a year-round part of your career.
I presented my session, Elementary Wiki Wonderland on Friday morning. I wanted to share the links to my presentation wiki and class wiki. I was thrilled with the amazing teachers I met who are as excited about wikis and Web tools as I am. It is so fun to share! The MACUL conference is where I learned about wikis from Julie Myrmel and Diane Rich in Hudsonville two years ago and I am happy to be able to share this with others. My presentation wiki also has information on how I use Blogs in my classroom as well as blogging resources. Be sure to check out the Wiki and Blog links to see how other educators around the world are using these tools with their students, as well as the Web 2.0 Tools page. I will continue to add to the presentation wiki. I plan to create tutorials on how to add users to your wiki and how to use the manage wiki settings. I am happy to answer questions, feel free to email me or contact me through the MACUL space ning (and while you are there, Join the MACUL space ning. It is another great way to connect with amazing eductors in Michigan.)
Session presented by Julia VanderMolen and Maryly Skallos
Second Life is a 3D Virtual World entirely built and owned by its residents….with…a resident population of over 12,997,840 (and growing)…” (Alliance Library System 2009)
Residents come to the world from over 100 countries, span in age from teen – 85 and are about 50% male and 50% female.
There is a Teen Second Life – for ages 13-18. Second Life is not intended for the very young to navigate on their own. Caution should be exercised before entering with children. Teachers of Teens have the opportunity to have their class meet in Second Life and interact. This is an opportunity for the teachers of these teens to explore this world with their students and help them to be the good digital citizens.
There are PD opportunities for Teachers. Webinars are conducted in Second Life. Check out the ISTE island, Discovery Educator Network island, EdTech Island, Newcomer Castle, and more.
Second Life has only been around for 10 years and is growing. I am sure there will be an elementary classroom version of it soon. It is important for teachers (and parents) to learn Second Life so we can guide our students. We can’t teach them tech that we don’t know. We need to know what they are doing, and let’s have some fun in Second Life while we learn. Go to Second Life, download it and create an avatar! See you later in Second Life.
I was very disappointed when I learned earlier this week that I have pneumonia. I was bummed because I feel bad, but even more bummed because my physician told me I could not attend the MACUL Conference! I look forward to the conference every year. This year, I had more responsibilites than ever before… facilitating sessions, writing/posting to the MACUL blog, helping run the SIG-EE annual meeting, manning the MACUL booth, and supporting all the presenters from my district.
So I decided to do what I can virtually. I started with Twitter. The conference has Twitter buzzing for sure! I started following everyone who was following MACUL. People at the conference share tips, links, and ideas. As people share links, I tag them in my delicious account as macul09. If you would like to see all the links I tagged, you can see them here.
I attended Thursday’s Alan November keynote through the eyes of Ben Rimes and Kevin Clark as they used Cover it Live. It was almost as if I was there. When they wrote about students being creators of content, with Audacity being one of the tools mentioned, I shared some Audacity video tutorials. Shortly afterwords, I received a nice note by email from Kent Manning, a technology coordinator from Belleville, Ontatio, Canada. He also was not able to be at the conference and was “attending” the keynote virtually. We have similar jobs. He wondered if my tutorials were on iTunes (they weren’t) and told me an easy way to get them there. We are now Twitter friends and I’ve invited him to try out Plurk. Plurk is a Twitter-like network that allows more conversations. Try it out if you have not yet. Steve Dembo likes it; if Steve likes it, you probably will, too. Anyhow, this is an example of how a PLN can help you learn and grow professionally.
Later, a friend (Krista Hanna), saw that I was online and had Skype open. She called me and I was able to listen in on two of the sessions she attended. Awesome. Krista and I were to co-present this morning. Since Skype worked so well, we planned that if I was feeling up to it, that she would Skype me in for the presentation. I don’t look too great, so I did not turn on my webcam; I didn’t want to horrify the participants and have them run out of the room! However, I was able to pipe in with comments during the presentation. VERY COOL.
I’m also taking the opportunity to reflect on the conference, something that is difficult to do when you are rushing from place to place and networking with others. I have some ideas for the conference planners on ways to make MACUL 2010 even better!
I haven’t heard Joe speak before…he’s back in Michigan having grown up in Saugatuck.
Handouts are online http://denblogs.com/digital_storytelling
Couple of resources…also linked off his DEN blog.
The first thing that Joe is showing is a clip featuring Sean Astin. It highlights AFI Screen Education, a program that encourages using video to create movies. These are the key terms, sound familiar? It what teachers want.
- Research
- [Script] Writing
- Storyboarding
- Filming
- Editing
- Exhibiting
Joe is highlighting The 21st Century Educator’s Handbook.
Why should students create movies?
To help all student have a deeper understanding of course content. It’s important for teachers to understand that they do not have to understand film theory etc. to make a good movie. It’s just like writing an essay. Start with the Introduction, move to the Body, and finish with the conclusion. Or, as Joe put it, “Tell ‘em what you’re going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em. tell ‘em what you told ‘em.”
What kind of videos can you create?
- PSAs…Public Service Announcements
- “Olds”…History told from a news perspective
- Reenactment of historical events
- Retelling a peice of literature…like Romeo and Juliet.
- Movie Trailers
Joe is highlighting a lot of visual aspects of the movie examples, easy techniques for conveying emotion as well as information.
Check out FOX Hilites. Student shot highlights.
If you’re a teacher, then Joe’s resources are very valuable. He has a lot of experiences working with students.
