The Lake Michigan Technology Conference is beyond excited for this year’s theme, using technology to answer Dr. DuFour’s four essential questions of a professional learning community. If you are a traditional technology conference facilitator or not sure what something at this year’s event might look like, check out this guide to help you determine if this is a conference that you would like to be a part of as a facilitator (or an attendee).
First and foremost, most of us are doing these things in our classrooms already to benefit our students. We are usually answering these questions when we teach and integrate technology into our lessons. In the last few months, and over the course of the next few months, many teachers across the state (as well as principals, directors, and superintendents) will continue to use technology to answer these questions.
To look at each of the four questions, we can get some ideas on what might be an appropriate topic or item to cover. Check out the list below:
- What do we want students to know?
- In this category, we should focus on purposeful planning for integration (think SAMR, Triple E, TPACK), the ISTE Standards, the MITECS, Open Educational Resources, and more. In a non-technology sense, this question is about identifying essentials that students need to know. The goal of this strand is to help teachers identify the reason for technology in the classroom and how the technology complements the need-to-know learning.
- How will we know students know it?
- This category is all about how we assess our students. Topics could include items like choice boards, Google Forms, formative assessment tools, project-based learning with technology, and more. This category relates to the assessment of students in a typical classroom. How can technology help us with the assessment of students? This is about how we assess our students and know whether or not they have learned the essential need-to-know standards from question one.
- How will we respond when students do not know the essential standards?
- This strategy is one that must start with the following assumption: not every student will learn it the same way, at the same time. This is no one’s fault. This is just the reality. In this category, we are looking for help with remediation techniques, strategies, and tools. This category is all about Response to Intervention (RtI). For instance, the personalization of assignments in Google Classroom is a wonderful place to start. We want to explore ways of re-teaching or connecting with kids in multiple ways.
- What will we do when students know it?
- This strategy is all about the extension. If our students have mastered the essential need-to-know standards, what else can we give them? This category is one that involves emerging technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and more. This category is related to moving students forward. What can we provide our students with to help move them forward?
In addition to the four questions, we will also be hosting a Google Crash Course. This Google Crash Course is meant to provide sessions that help to increase proficiencies with tools within the Google Suite of products (Google Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets, Classroom, etc.) as well as ChromeOS and Chromebooks. This is really meant to lift up competencies for people using these tools.
If you are interested in presenting, please use the button below to access our Call for Facilitators. If you have further questions, you can email us at info[at]lakemichigantechconference.org to learn more. We hope to close the Call for Facilitators on May 31st, 2020.
