Ripper's Chatter

I attended this conference on Saturday at the Friday Institute on NC State Campus . It was a great day for learning new strategies and learning about the future of textbooks. Discovery introduced some of the the features that are included with Science Techbooks.

The first presentation was given by Lance Rougeux, his talk centered around the proper use of technology. “We have to ask the right questions!”. A little strategy he introduced to everyone was the AEIOU- Adjective, Emotion and Interest, Oh! and Umm? Pretty Cool I thought. Creates a meaningful learning experience for students. Lance then went on to talk about how we can engage students of different learning styles. He recommended the book “Disrupting the Class", looks interesting hoping to read it in the future. He also introduced  the Framework for 21st Century Learning from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website.

Lance included a trailer of “Frozen Planet”, which looked really awesome.

After the introduction presentation we split into our sessions, one of the sessions was given by Dr. Lodge on FIZZ Learning. He focused on his FIZZ framework- Understanding, Applying, Analyzing, Evaluating, Creating and Publishing. During the session we were given a chance to create a paperslide video. It was a great opportunity to learn about FIZZ and what you could do in your classroom with this teaching strategy.

One of the other sessions was Patti Duncan’s “Sounds” Like a 21st Century Lesson. This session included a hands on experience with the new Science Techbooks. Using the 5 E’s (Engage, Explore, Evaluate, Explain and Elaborate) we were shown a section of the Techbook and how it could be used in the classroom. I thought the one important point made during this session was that the new Techbooks are constantly being updated and information is current because it is digital based. Definitely an advantage!

The last session I attended was Brad Fountain’s “What’s the GIST? Bridging Literacy and Science”. Every time I attend Brad’s presentation, I always come away with something new to use in the class. A site Brad introduced today was Online Converter a site that converted all types of files. This is a real big help to me! I don’t know how many times I have files that are not in the correct format for certain programs etc. Big help! Thanks Brad.

Brad also introduced a couple of formative assessments such as K-W-L, Predication Guides and Exit Ticket. His new one was the GIST strategy- which started with summarizing information and ending with the two to three sentences that were the most important. Meaning FOCUS!! The last part of the session Brad introduced the editable section of Discovery Streaming. How can this be used in class? By downloading an editable clip in Discovery Streaming you can import it into a video editor and narrate over it. This is something the students could do if you have the proper software. He also introduced “green screening” technique, this is something that can be done on a Mac in iMovie. For the PC you need to obtain a program that you can edit green screens. Brad recommended Adobe Premiere Elements, which I can vouch for, it does work with green screen editing. We use it in our Digital Video Class at school.

The day ended with a raffle and goodbyes. Thanks Discovery for a great day!!