Professional development workshops led by leading edge educators.
Join us on Wednesday, June 22nd for an exciting series of professional development workshops led by some of the most innovative and creative professionals we know. (See their bios here.) When you register, choose one workshop that intrigues you from each of the following two blocks.
[Full Gathering Schedule | Register now]
Workshop Block I: 1:00-3:00pm
Enhancing Playfulness
This workshop will engage participants in drawing and a look at why drawing can be seen as play. Participants will have an opportunity to draw with varied materials, reflect on drawing as a playful activity, and consider intentionality as a process not a goal orientation. Using drawing as an entryway, we will then look at characteristics of play and have an opportunity to analyze projects and other work or learning activities with an eye toward enhancing their playfulness.
Presenter: Aviva Dorfman, Associate Professor, UM-Flint
Layered Meanings: Helping Students Analyze Multimedia Texts
This session focuses on developing participants’ understandings of the layered meanings in multimedia texts and then introduces an instructional approach to help students access these layers as well. Multimedia texts are multimodal, meaning they communicate information in many different ways. Commercials, political advertisements, propaganda materials, and other multimedia texts designed to convince use text, images, color, and sounds to communicate, but we often only direct students to look at the printed words or numbers. Workshop participants will engage in their own exploration and analysis of layered texts in a jigsaw activity, and then learn how to develop similar activities for their students. Instruction using this approach to multimedia analysis will help students understand a wider range of texts and develop a form of critical literacy they most definitely need. Educators who want to develop critical media literacy with students across the content areas will find this workshop relevant and applicable.
Presenter: Darin Stockdill, PhD., Instructional and Program Design Coordinator, Center for Education Design, Evaluation, and Research (CEDER), School of Education, University of Michigan
Place Out of Time: A Card Game for Exploring History and Culture through Character Play
Based on the online simulation run since 2001 by Interactive Communications & Simulations at the University of Michigan, in the Place Out of Time card game players assume the role of an important figure from throughout time. They are expected to discuss and make a decision about a scenario card as that person. Come experience the game first hand, and learn about the process involved with making an educational game experience. Copies of the card game will be available for purchase. Take a peek at the game here — hot off the press!
Presenter: Bob Larson, University of Michigan Flint Educational Technology Program
Breaking Down Curricular Walls in the Teaching of Science and the Humanities
Explore an array of new tech tools and resources for enlivening teaching and learning in middle school/high school english, history and science. The workshop leaders are a group of energetic young teachers who have created hands-on learning experiences that cover everything from photosynthesis and World War II propaganda to leveraging the music of Pink Floyd for student learning. Now, they’re ready to share their classroom-ready discoveries with you!
Presenters: Joseph Bliven, Emily Jaffe, Ali Khalid, Marc Mens, Andy Peters, Jake Topp, Jonathan White and Joshua Wiggins, University of Michigan School of Education MAC Program
Workshop Block II: 3:30-5:30pm
Figuring I.T. Out: Oh, the Places You’ll Go
Using Gameful Learning and Growth Mindset concepts my students and I practice creation rather than just consumption of technology. Showcasing the Goose Chase App, in this workshop we will create, play, and debrief a scavenger hunt learning experience. We will discuss exploring our ledges of learning, outside of our comfort zones, where the most growth can take place. What obstacles do we face on our journey for meaningful learning experiences?
Presenter: Amanda Dawes, Dean of Technology Integration, Claire & Emanuel G. Rosenblatt High School at Donna Klein Jewish Academy
Five Steps to Better Homework
The workshop will be about how I used a website to create student/parent engagement in homework by making homework fun, open-ended, and exploratory.I formatted the site based on some research on how to increase student engagement, what makes “good” homework, and what types of homework actually increases academic achievement. I will also display how I gathered data from a surveymonkey from the students/parents, data that support my project in increasing student engagement, and samples of the journals the students recorded their information in.
Presenter: Joe Posante, Science Teacher, Laurus Academy
The Sustainable Societies Simulation
The SSS is a semester-long social sciences curriculum that puts students in the role of leader of their own fictional society, and requires them to make consequential decisions about their society based on the content they learn in class. This workshop will explain how the SSS works, as well as providing some tips and tools for educators who wish to try similar activities in their own classrooms.
Presenter: Noah Weber, Critical Thinking Instructor, Washtenaw Technical Middle College
Using Learning Experience Organizers to Enhance Collaborative Multimedia Literacy Learning
Literature Circles have been a hallmark of successful language arts classrooms. This presentation builds on the rich tradition of Literature Circles through the use of collaborative interdisciplinary Learning Experience Organizers (LEOS) that can be used across all content areas. Teachers will engage in a research-based active learning experience where they experience innovative ways to explore print & non-print texts (film, audio, graphs, cartoons, etc.) with students.
Presenter: Ryan Goble, Teaching & Learning Coordinator, Glenbard Township (Illinois) HS District 87; co-author of Making Curriculum Pop: Developing Literacies in All Content Areas
Getting Started with a Flipped Classroom
Explore a flipped classroom toolkit and talk about suggested strategies for getting started with this approach in school or at work. There will be a brief demo of some tools, such screencasting options, Merlot.org free online modules, and Zaption. There will be time for a brainstorming /sharing session in this workshop. As a group, we will talk about some favorite tools and websites for work, play , and study that you may choose to integrate in your flipped or partially flipped classroom.
Presenter: Irene Knokh, M.A., M.Ed, Instructional Design Consultant, Professional Development and Education, University of Michigan Health System