VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

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CETL Certification Grant Available

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cosn logoVSTE has been awarded funding from the Virginia Department of Education to provide grants for up to eight leaders, one from each region, to pursue CETL™ certification, a nationally recognized program for education technology leaders. Grant winners will be enrolled in the facilitated online certification course taking place in Spring 2021 in preparation for the certification exam.

The CETL® program is the only practice-based certification program available to education technology leaders that bridges technical knowledge, understanding of the educational environment, leadership and vision, and the management of technology and support resources needed to integrate technology across the curriculum to advance student outcomes.
The CETL® credential is a true measure of today’s education technology leaders, identifying those who have mastered the framework skills and knowledge needed to bring 21st-Century skills to schools. The CETL® program is also a professional development tool that can be used to guide edtech leaders' study of learning technologies. This certification requires satisfaction of eligibility criteria, passage of a rigorous multiple-choice exam, adherence to a Code of Conduct, and a recertification process every three (3) years.

A short application form is required. Applications must include a short letter of support from an immediate supervisor and a current resumer.

Application deadline is December 4, 2020. Grants will be announced in mid-December 2020. CoSN membership is not required. Applications will be reviewed by state CETLs.

Application Form

Featured Resources from #GoOpenVA, October 26, 2020

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logo for go open vaJean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads the #GoOpenVA initiative in Virginia. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

The database is growing. Jean recently created a collection for resources specifically related to professional learning. Technology coaches from across the state have contributed and you can learn more here.

We asked her to periodically curate a few of the resources to give a sense of what is available. Start with these but stay for so much more! And be sure to follow Jean on Twitter.

Investigating Force: This student-facing lesson from Jane Brown of Hanover, young students think about forces and design an investigation. A PhET simulation is used to encourage the students to delve deeper.

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1637/overview

Three Takes on One Resource--All Spanish Tenses Chart Classroom Uses:  Three different World Language teachers looked at this simple tool from Spanish411 and determined how they would want to use it with their own students.

What Do You Notice? Tina Fuller of Buchanan wrote an inquiry lesson on proper fractions, improper fractions, whole numbers, and mixed numbers. This could be adapted into an online activity, using break-out rooms for student collaboration.

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1462/overview

Celebrate Fall with VE PLN

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Second Life AvatarThe Virtual Environments Professional Learning Network is hosting several fall activities for fun and learning.

Halloween Social
October 26, 2020, 7 - 8 PM ET, the VSTE crowd will dance and network in costume to “DJ Thunder’s” Halloween tunes at VSTE Space in Second Life. Come chat and laugh with us. Let your hair down and leave the stress at home for an hour. 

Costumes are optional but if you want help with one, come visit Jazmemo and Thunder at VSTE Space during office hours any Saturday morning between 9 and 11 AM ET. We are always there ready to help. You still have time on Saturday, October 24 so don't miss out!

 

Report from the Front Lines

The VE PLN is starting a new segment called Report from the Front Lines. This series will be held at VSTE Place in Second Life once a month. The next meeting will be Monday, November 9 at 7 PM ET. This is an opportunity for teachers from across the state of Virginia and beyond to share data from teaching online, hybrid (AABB model), or fully in class. We will discuss strategies for improving grades of students, problems teachers are having, and new tools for teaching online. We had an organizational meeting on Oct. 12 that went well. Please join us as we continue to learn and grow in this new environment. The conversation will be led by Dr. William Schmactenberg, High School Earth Science Teacher at Franklin County High School, AKA Dae Miami (sl).

Minecraft Mondays

The first Monday of every month the VSTE VE PLN meeting is held in Minecraft on VSTE’s own server. 

Banner making in Minecraft

On Monday, November 2, 2020, at 8 PM ET, we will have a basic lesson in building with redstone, Minecraft’s own “electricity.” Experienced redstone builders are invited to create something ahead of time to show off what they can do to inspire the beginners! The server is online all the time.

How to Connect to the VE PLN via Second Life and Minecraft

Join the Facebook Page to keep up with the VE PLN

Featured Resources from #GoOpenVA, October 19, 2020

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Swirl with word Go Open VAJean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads the #GoOpenVA initiative in Virginia. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

The database is growing. Jean recently created a collection for resources specifically related to professional learning. Technology coaches from across the state have contributed and you can learn more here.

We asked her to periodically curate a few of the resources to give a sense of what is available. Start with these but stay for so much more! And be sure to follow Jean on Twitter.

Out of My Mind Controller Design Challenge: Susan Lowman of Campbell County combines SEL and Engineering/Computer Science in a lesson plan that starts with a commercially-available chapter book and then calls on students to use their empathy to re-design a commonly used gaming tool.

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1633

C3 Teachers: Immigration Inquiry Remix: Amy Gaulton from Hanover customized a lesson originally from the C3 Teachers project.  It is an inquiry lesson about immigration and the American Dream, using examples from the turn of the century in New York City. Amy added a lot of scaffolding to help her students investigate the resources with sharpened critical thinking skills.

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1520/overview

Original Lesson:  http://www.c3teachers.org/inquiries/immigration/

Builders and Bulldozers Game: Seth Davis of Giles loves to use this simple motor skills lesson for kindergarten students. It is a game that also lends itself to social distancing, as students can be required to maintain 6 feet distance between themselves and other players (reference construction site safety rules!).

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1744/overview

Featured Resources from #GoOpenVA, October 13, 2020

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Swirl with word Go Open VASince its debut in January 2020, #GoOpenVA has been building its collections with the help of Virginia educators. This collaborative initiative enables educators and others throughout Virginia to create, share, and access openly-licensed educational resources (OER, also known as open education resources). OER are free digital materials that can be used or modified to adjust to student needs; they are openly-licensed unhampered by many traditional copyright limitations.

Jean Weller, VSTE Board Member and VDOE Technology Integration Specialist, leads this effort. We asked her to periodically curate a few of the resources to give a sense of what is available. Start with these but stay for so much more! And be sure to follow Jean on Twitter.

Virginia K-12 Computer Science Pipeline: This new Collection in #GoOpenVA has just been started, and includes lessons developed in a partnership between Chesapeake and Loudoun. Over time, new lessons will be added to help teachers at all grade levels integrate Computer Science. This is an example of how school divisions can share their burden of developing new resources with each other!

https://goopenva.org/curated-collections/30

Poetic Forms 9-10th Grade English: April Hobson of Giles added a lesson plan in which she shares her love of poetry with her students.  She notes how poetry can help address not just academic goals, but provide social-emotional outlets for students struggling with big emotions.

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/2061/overview

Equitable Teaching Resources: this Google Doc, created by Kim Wilkens, is a starting point for teachers who want to know more about equitable teaching, whether they want to address CRT or gender equity (or both!).  Add the resources you have found to be helpful and share your knowledge and experience.  With all of us mentoring each other, the journey will be much more beneficial!

https://goopenva.org/courseware/lesson/1320/overview