As everyone prepares to make the journey to downtown Detroit and searches for just the right “traveling music”, consider downloading a few podcasts. I was was fortunate enough to sit down and have a virtual conversation with Steve Dembo, Online Community Manager for the Discovery Educator Network, and one of this year’s featured speakers. Always a crowd favorite, Steve brings a youthful enthusiasm to his presentations, quickly darting between web 2.0 tools, and practical applications for them in the classroom.
A former Kindergarten teacher, Steve understands just how important it is for tools that we use online to be simple and engaging. As a blogger, Steve shares his wisdom with thousands of educators across the Internet, and has a unique view on how students are using the web for both their personal and educational purposes. Steve had a chance to talk about some of his favorite “up and coming” websites for use in the classroom, and he gave some pointers on which sessions of his that would be perfect for first time attendees. Listen to the podcast below, or download it for later on your trip to MACUL09.
My apologies for any “static”, as the interview was done using Skype, and the connection fuzzed out a couple of times. During the conversation Steve mentioned a LOT of great websites, which you’ll find below:
Kerpoof (one of my favorite for early elementary)
This year’s Macul conference keynote speaker Hall Davidson and fellow Discovery Education Network colleague Steve Dembo with host several sessions at our 2008 gathering.
Both recently participated in DEN’s Virtual Conference and posted their talks online. Take a peak and then meet each of them in person next month.
Hall Davidson: Revenge of the Digital Immigrants
I’ve been excited about Steve Dembo’s work ever since I saw his New Permanent Record presentation a few years back while attending a conference in Holland. He has an amazing amount of energy, and presents from a very enlightening, and encouraging point of view; that the technology students bring into our schools isn’t going to go away, so why not put it to good use? His presentations range from cool and engaging uses for all of those gadgets kids have to why it’s important that we educate our students now about how their appropriate (and innappropriate) use of social networking sites will create a record that will follow them through all their lives and careers.
Steve is the community manager for the Discovery Educator Network, and does a fantastic job of connecting teachers with resources that they can immediately use in their classroom, as well as thinking about the bigger picture. As a former Kindergarten teacher, Steve has a very relaxing presentational style, and is hands down my favorite presenter when it comes to chatting with him after the session. His presentations are never too commercialized, and help teachers that are new to MACUL or using technology understand that the rapidly changing pace of technology isn’t scary, but wonderful opportunities for new ways to engage students. I’m looking forward to sitting in on his “10 Best Web 2.0 Sites” presentation this year, and get some more great resources to use in my classroom.
Who are you excited to listen to or see at MACUL this year? I’m sure some of the other conference bloggers will be sharing in the coming weeks leading up to the conference, but in the meantime, check out the Featured Speakers page on macul.org to see who will be there.
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