Tag Archives: TIES Conference

CMLE, Conference

Report from TIES conference: Ryan Hiltner

This is a guest post from Ryan Hiltner, Instructional Technology Specialist at Sartell High School. Need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in Professional Development? Apply today! 

Attending any conference should help a person to build on previous knowledge and to learn new strategies and techniques. The TIES conference did that and more for me, I was able to realize that some of the implementations we do here are valid as well as having a plethora of new and expansive knowledge available.

I attended sessions on a variety of topics including Google applications, substitute folders, and expanding professional development and many more. The theme of the conference was “What’s My Story” and the two keynote speakers hit on just that. They focused on their stories while tying in the growing media presence that is available to us. While that social media aspect of school can be a scary world for students it is also a powerful medium for them to share their visions and their work with the world.

The biggest take away that I had at the conference is that we should be doing more on demand and online professional development. There are school districts that are much larger than ours that are having their staff go through on demand professional development instead of a day off in the building professional development. This allows the teachers to differentiate more, a concept that we hope is happening for students as well, which in turn makes the time more meaningful and in line with the teachers needs. This is a topic that I plan to try to pursue more in the coming weeks and years so that we can build a system of professional development that is teacher centered.

I would like to thank you for supporting me and helping me to attend this two day conference. I enjoy all of the learning that took place and will implement many of the techniques I learned with the teachers and staff I work with.

Thank you,

Ryan Hiltner

Communication, School Media Specialist

TIES Digital Learning Day coming soon!

TIES will be having a one day professional development event on Saturday, April 22, 2017 – the 2017 TIES Digital Learning Day.

We are looking for presenters, and of course, attendees! Are you or someone you know interested in presenting at the 2017 TIES Digital Learning Day? If you would like to present and share a project or practice using technology that impacts student learning, we are looking for you!

We will offer a range of hands-on workshops and Student Keynote Speakers. The day will be filled with game-based learning, app-smashing, makerspaces, and chances to see what digital educators are doing to improve the learning experience for their students.

Proposal form here, feel free to share: https://goo.gl/forms/SqEaDZODdn1CG7K52

Event information here: http://events.ties.k12.mn.us/digital-learning-day/

Book your calendars for April 22!

Look for more information on registration is coming soon! Sincerely, Mary — Mary Mehsikomer, CETL Technology Integration Development & Outreach Facilitator TIES 651-999-6510 Mary.mehsikomer@ties.k12.mn.us @MaryTMM

Guest Blogger, School Media Specialist

TIES 2016 Conference Summary: A CMLE Scholarship

 

Reflection on TIES Conference
Brad Scherer
Instructional Technology Specialist
Sartell Middle School

I love going to the TIES conference! It is so refreshing and helps motivate me to constantly be pushing forward for our students.  I have two main takeaways. The first being more about paradigm than practice; I need continue to strive to bring joy to my job and the school.  I want to get to a place where, as Dean Shareski (Monday Keynote) stated, ‘Learning is a joyful act all by itself!’ Shareski points out that this can be done by living in constant wonder, embracing play, and eliminating busyness. I love these tips, as they seem such practical steps to making life more joyous. I have already tried to implement this. We have embraced place in the Makerspace and have even upped the use of Spheros in curriculum since TIES!

My second takeaway is learning about the use of drones in education. This is really fresh and new technology. I learned how some schools are using the drones to teach coding and also explore other applications: videography, photography, agriculture, and more. I plan to explore this more and see how we can incorporate this into our Makerspace and other areas of curriculum. I think there are lots of opportunities to engage students with drones and potential for them to explore this new technology.

I am grateful for the opportunity to attend TIES! Thanks to CMLE for allowing me to go and connect with other passionate educators and better my practice!

Conference, Guest Blogger, School Media Specialist

TIES Conference Summary: A CMLE Scholarship

 

Reflection on TIES Conference
Katherine Vinje Stark
Pine Meadow Elementary, Sartell, MN Instructional Technology Specialist
December 14, 2016

The TIES 2016 Conference was a success. It fulfilled my expectations in that I went with the hope of more tools for our 21st century learners, including maker space and to feel better equipped for more job embedded professional development in our school. The keynote speaker on Monday could not have stated better, “Do not postpone joy.” Too often we are stuck in the rush of life and forget that we need to have those joyful moments if not extended periods of time to truly soak it all in and learn. If we are joyful we can retain so much more and if we make learning joyful, we are putting everyone first.

The first session I attended was to get to know and exchange experiences with other tech coaches in the Midwest. This session helped me gauge where we are at here in Sartell and I felt that we are on track. We were able to share philosophies and missions of districts and bring back feedback/ideas to ours. This was a great takeaway as it helped me get a feel for a support group in the area as well.

Another very valuable session was on flipped professional development. A school district in Wisconsin started to flip their professional development after they noticed teachers were very disengaged. They talked about PD and how teachers need: active engagement, voice, choice, collaboration, effective use of time, teacher centered meetings, meaningful application to take back with them and put into practice, modeling, teacher leadership, and a personalized agenda. I definitely feel that I can put this into practice here at Pine Meadow Elementary. I’m excited to start the conversation with my administration.

This is a very brief summary of what I soaked in. Thank you so much for supporting our library by allowing me to attend and become more in awe and wonder as to how we can get our maker space up and running (fresh maker ideas were out yesterday helping to embed STEM and language arts) as well as continue to educate our teachers, students and community.

 

Conference, Guest Blogger

Amanda TIES Conference Summary: A CMLE Scholarship

Amanda Holstrom
Sartell Middle School
Instructional Technology Specialist

At TIES this year I was exposed to many great things and returned with more ideas than I can count. The two things that come to mind as great takeaways are: the importance of giving children choice and makers spaces are not just for technology gadgets. Buddy Berry talked about surprise and delight with education including giving children the choice to find their own educational path. This thinking amplifies the needs for free learning and exploration in schools. The session on Makers Spaces opened my eyes to the importance of incorporating non-tech items into the Learning Lab. This need was highlighted over and over again throughout the presentation. Makers Spaces are about making, not just working with electronics.

In our Learning Lab this year we have done many robotics and coding items that take some level of patience and background knowledge. I plan to incorporate crocheting into our Learning Lab and link it with coding to provide that needed background knowledge. Reading a crochet patterns is a “code” that needs to be followed in order to reach a desired end. I feel that bringing that into out Learning Lab will teach and highlight a skill many do not have as well as provide background knowledge for those not experienced with coding. By bridging this gap in our lab I hope to reach more diverse students with the desire to learn hands on and gravitate towards our space. I am very excited to see what other ideas we come up with to add to our space that are non-tech. I think the students will be excited to build and take things home.