I am so looking forward to the MassCUE fall technology conference this year.

Title of conference and dates:
Tackling 21st-Century Learning
Be sure to save the dates: October 28 and October 29 with the pre-conference on October 27!
Registration is open now.

There are four big reasons that have me so pumped!

1) NEW LOCATION
The conference has moved from its location of the past several years to GILLETTE STADIUM. The location is awesome. We’ll be using the clubhouse level for keynotes, exhibitors, and food, while the breakout sessions will be in the corporate boxes. The space has made it possible for us to have hands-on sessions, a cyber-cafe, and more room to just sit together and chat between sessions.
An extra bonus of this location is that it is close to Rhode Island. I have heard from some of my friends from other New England ISTE affiliates that people will be coming from all over New England, but that we should especially expect an influx of attendees from our neighbors from Rhode Island. Nice for networking, getting fresh ideas, and meeting new friends.

2) NEW PARTNERSHIP
The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (M.A.S.S.) and MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) are co-sponsoring the event this year. Each organization has, in the past, each had a fall technology conference. Bringing them together, the resulting conference will be MORE than the sum of their parts. Technology using teachers will be at the same conference with superintendents…hearing the same messages, talking to vendors together, and talking over lunch about how they can move forward back in their school district. It’s a great opportunity to kick off new initiatives with a unified vision.

3) GREAT KEYNOTE SPEAKERS, SPOTLIGHT SPEAKERS, AND BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Tony Wagner, author of The Global Achievement Gap, will present a provocative talk about the skills that students need in order to get—and keep—a good job in the new global economy and to be an active and informed citizen.

Donald J. Leu, with J. Gregory McVerry, W. Ian O’Byrne, Lisa Zawilinski, all of the University of Connecticut and the New Literacies Research Lab, will talk about The New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension. Very timely and important topic!

In addition, there are so many really exciting and cutting edge breakout sessions that it is hard to select just a few to tell you about here. You can see the complete list at:
http://masscue.org/Conference2009/pdf/Complete-Workshop-Schedule.pdf

From Information Literacy to Information Leadership
In this interactive workshop, participants will have an opportunity to: 1) consider some implications of a focus on teaching and assessing 21st century skills; 2) look at a model for assessing 21st century skills; and 3) consider next steps for their classroom, school, or district.
Tony Wagner, Co-director, Change Leadership Group, Harvard Graduate School of Education

GoogleDocs/Netbooks/Moodle
Lee McCanne, Director of Technology and School Libraries, Weston Public Schools

SCORE: Winning Strategies to Conquer Information Overload
Kathy Schrock, Director of Technology, Nauset Public Schools, 1996 Pathfinder

Cyber-Bullying in Massachusetts: Current Trends & Compliance with the Broadband Data Act
Elizabeth Englander, Professor of Psychology and the founder and Director of the Massachusetts
Aggression Reduction Center (MARC), Bridgewater State
Sharon Grover-Renda, Director of Sales and Marketing, MECnet

The Educational Administrator’s Role in Advancing Technology: Issues, Considerations, and Challenges Inherent in Moving an Educational Organization Forward
Nicholas D. Young, Superintendent, Hadley Public Schools
Patrice Dardenne, Superintendent of Schools, Monson Public Schools
Suzanne Marotta, Superintendent, West Springfield Public Schools

The iPod Touch and Mobility Considerations for the School Leader
Paul Facteau, Marketing Development Executive, Apple Inc

There are sessions on using Moodle, Maximizing Collaboration using Technology, Creating Sustainable Professional Development Programs, Cloud Computing, and Using Data. I see sessions about the arts, science, math, writing, and more. Dr. Chris Moersch, the Executive Director of LoTi Connection will be presenting HEAT, and Beth Knittle, Massacusetts’ own second life expert is presenting a session. Do you use (or want to use) SCRATCH in your classroom? Want to meet Mitch Resnick, one of the primary developers? He will be presenting at the conference. Michael Purdy’s breakout on Classroom Twittering sounds really cutting edge and Isa Zimmerman’s session on STEM in pre-school should not be missed. You can learn about voicethread, robotics, universal design, smartboards, Eno boards, wikis, social bookmaking . . . . OK, you really have to check out the program yourself!

4) HANDS-ON!
Apple is back at our conference and will be running hands-on sessions all day both days.
At the pre-conference hands-on sessions attendees will take away software and all the tips and tricks about using the software.
During the main conference days there will be some hands-on (make it and take it) sessions. These will require a separate registration fee, but those who sign up for it will have a hands-on session learning to use something in the classroom (like a flip camera) and will take away the flip-camera at the end of the session – price included in the price of the session.

See you at GILLETTE in OCTOBER!!

I t’s that time of year. People are talking and writing about New Year’s resolutions. What promises are we making to ourselves for 2009? I decided to forgo a traditional resolution in favor of a commitment to a disposition. Aun aprendo – I am still learning (thank you, Goya) is a maxim that I hold dearly. In 2009 I plan to hew even more tenaciously to that concept. I have a strong belief that constant learning is fundamental to a happy life. But for educators, especially, the adoption of an open learning stance is indispensable.

• We continue to learn in order to renew our passion for our subject, our students, and our love of education.
• We continue to learn to model for our students and colleagues, a learning behavior and an openness to new ideas.
• We continue to learn to satisfy our own curiosity about the universe and our place in it.
• We continue to learn because that is the business we are in – the learning business.
• We continue to learn so as to improve our craft, learn new pedagogies, and master unfamiliar tools, strategies, and techniques.
• We continue to learn in order to renew ourselves.

I’m sure every single person who reads this list could add a number of substantive and important reasons for us to commit to lifelong learning. We all develop our own reasons, and if you are reading this post you are already likely to be one of those educators who has embarked on his/her own learning quest.

I believe that when we commit strongly to learning, the result will naturally infuse our teaching and influence others. It will help us to be thoughtful and reflective practitioners of the art of helping others to learn. Learning and mastering new ideas and being open to listening to others and “trying on” their points of view make us more critical and discriminating thinkers. My last thought I would like to share is that learning is fun. I want to have fun learning and pass on to others that they can take learning risks and have fun doing it.

Aun aprendo.
Happy 2009.

I have gathered some quotes about learning – enjoy the words of others:

“the illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

~ Alvin Toffler

“Learning is not compulsory… neither is survival.”

~ W. Edwards Deming (1900 – 1993)

“Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”

~ Hebrew Proverb

“Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.”

~ Eugene S. Wilson

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.”

~ Bill Gates

“Learning makes a man fit company for himself.”

~ Thomas Fuller (1608 – 1661)

“By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.”

~ Latin Proverb

“There are three ingredients in the good life: learning, earning, and yearning.”

~ Christopher Morley (1890 – 1957)