VSTE

Virginia Society for Technology in Education

vste2017

Two Virginia Education Leaders Receive VSTE ‘Making It Happen’ Award

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Dr. Pam Moran, Superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools, and Dr. Jan Streich, Executive Director of Learning and Organizational Development of Stafford County Public Schools, were honored with the coveted Making IT Happen jacket for their contributions to the successful integration of technology in education in K−12 schools. The Making IT Happen award is provided by the International Society for Technology in Education, of which the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) is an affiliate.

The Making IT Happen program has made a commitment to work with state and national organizations to identify individuals who are truly Making IT Happen within their respective state or region and to recognize them publicly.

photograph of pam moran

Dr. Pam Moran has served as the Superintendent of Albemarle County Public Schools since January 2006. Under her leadership, Albemarle has been ranked in the top five of all school divisions in Virginia and among the top two percent of all school divisions in the county. The school division has developed a nationally recognized maker curriculum and opened one of the first CoderDojo Academies where the focus is on teaching computer coding and science skills to students. Albemarle County Public Schools is a member of the League of Innovative Schools, a nonprofit organization authorized by the U.S. Congress to accelerate innovation in education. Dr. Moran has been recognized with numerous awards including Virginia’s 2016 Superintendent of the Year.

Dr. Jan Streich has been a leader in Virginia educational Photograph of Jan Streichtechnology for over twenty years. A former elementary classroom teacher, Jan served as assistive technology coordinator in the Stafford County Public Schools during the early 2000s before becoming the Director of Growth and Innovation for the Spotsylvania County Public Schools, where she oversaw a tremendous expansion and improvement of instructional technology and professional learning practices in a burgeoning system. Returning to Stafford recently, she is combining the roles of directors of instruction and professional learning, she continues to work with teachers and leaders to improve student learning and teaching excellence. A regular public speaker and conference presenter, Dr. Streich shares her insights and significant professional knowledge with colleagues around the state and the region.

Moran and Streich join a prestigious group of Making It Happen honorees, including classroom teachers, school principals, district superintendents, legislators, governors, and even former Secretary of Education, Richard Riley. Founded in 1995, the Making IT Happen program highlights the dramatic role educators are having on the learning process by using technology and rewards those individuals for their commitment and innovation. To date, over 500 individuals have been awarded this recognition through ISTE and its affiliates. The impact of this program has been felt at numerous conferences around the world. The focus of the Making IT Happen program is on current practitioners, highlighting their significant contribution and encouraging them to continue their work. Making IT Happen recipients are in the classroom, making it happen for learners every day.

Finding Your Next Big Idea at VSTE 2017

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While we hope everyone leaves the VSTE Conference with many new ideas to improve your professional practice, the best is always that one big "aha" that you can turn around and use immediately.

In this post, VSTE member Tracey Zaval talks about the great idea she brought back to her classroom from VSTE 2016.

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Last year I attended the VSTE conference for the first time. Not only was I looking forward to attending the conference as a presenter, I was also looking forward to the conference as an attendee. As I veteran teacher of 19 years, I know the mark of a great conference is one where you instantly get excited about something you learn and you can’t wait to get back into the classroom to try it out with your students, and I had high hopes for the VSTE conference. Well, let me tell you, that conference last year was a GREAT one!Photo of students working on a Breakout E D U project

One of the first sessions I attended was a “pop-up” session in the hall of the convention center. The one I attended taught participants about digital breakouts, a computer version of the very-popular escape room concept that require students to work collaboratively and think critically. I had never heard of digital breakouts but within 20 minutes of the presentation, I was excited and I was hooked. I couldn’t wait for the session to be over so I could start looking around the digital breakout site for myself to see how I could adapt their ready-made breakouts for my class.

As soon as the session was over, I found an empty table to sit at as I checked out the available resources on the digital breakout site. I very quickly decided I would need to create my own digital breakout in order to support my students’ learning, so I got right to work. There are a series of videos on that site that teach people how to make their own digital breakout - everything from how to build a google site, how to embed secret clues, and how to create a google form to house all the digital locks. I pretty much spent the next two days of the conference working on my digital breakout in between sessions until I had a finished product.

Photo of students working on a Breakout E D U project.I debuted my first digital breakout, “It’s a Wrap”, in my classroom right before the winter holiday break. The premise of the breakout was to breakout out of the town that ran out of gift-wrapping paper and make it to the town of Wrappinville to buy more. My students had such a great time participating in this activity, they asked right away if they could do another one. At that point, I had already begun working on my next one, a content-related breakout involving James Madison as he was writing the U. S. Constitution. My students were so excited, three weeks later, when they got an attempt to break James Madison out of his office to help him find where he put his draft of the Constitution.

Since the conference, I have created three additional digital breakouts and each time I use one in class, my students’ excitement and engagement goes through the roof. I am so thankful I attended the VSTE conference last year. If there is anyone who is looking for a great conference to attend to enhance the use of technology in their classroom, the VSTE conference is exactly what you are looking for!

Tracy is an 8th grade civics teacher at Midlothian Middle School. Photos are of her students at work on their Breakout EDU.

Join us at VSTE 2017, December 3-5 at the Hotel Roanoke to discover your next big idea. Due to the size of the convention center, space is very limited and is filling fast. Register now!

It Won’t Be All Work at VSTE 2017

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The best reasons to attend the VSTE Conference are, of course, the many, many opportunities to learn and collaborate with your colleagues. But that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun during our three days in Roanoke.

To that end, we hope everyone will be able to join us for the annual VSTE Karaoke Night party. Sing along to your favorite tunes or just enjoy watching your friends warm up for their Voice audition. Either way, it is always a great evening.

Karaoke B-52s

Since our theme this year is about the superhero that is inside everyone, we also invite you to do a little cosplay and come to the party in costume. Whether you are channeling Batman or Ms. Marvel, or maybe you choose to go the alter-ego route and show up as Peter Parker or Diana Prince, this is always a highlight of the conference.

Galactic Stinkeye

While the VSTE Conference is primarily about feeding your hunger for knowledge, we don’t ignore your need for real food (and snacks, of course). VSTE is one of the few conferences you will attend that goes all out to keep you fed.

Your Conference registration includes lunch all three days, snacks and beverages every afternoon, and lots of M&Ms, the official VSTE candy. And, since we are at the Hotel Roanoke, keep an eye out in the afternoon for their famous candied bacon. Because we know everything is better with bacon. But pay attention since this treat always goes quickly.

Bacon

Registration for the 2017 VSTE Conference is now open but spaces are going fast. Because our Roanoke venue is smaller than in Virginia Beach, the number of people we can accommodate is also smaller. The conference will sell out.

So don’t delay. Register now and we’ll see you December 3 - 5 for lots of learning and fun in Roanoke.

Learning Together at the VSTE Conference

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Attending the VSTE Conference is a great learning experience.

Attending with a team from your school or district can make that experience even better.

VSTE member Margaret Sisler came to the 2016 Conference in Virginia Beach with more than fifty of her colleagues and reflected on those three days in this post from last December.

Learning Together

Last week each school in our pyramid sent a team of educators (a mix of admin, teachers, tech coaches, and tech specialists) to the Virginia Society for Technology in Education (VSTE) annual conference.  This is our state conference, attended by over 1200 educators from all parts and regions of our state.  Presenters are educators, administrators, tech coaches, vendors and cover so many topics I couldn’t even list them all here!

I’ve been to VSTE many times and serve on the Outreach Committee.  I usually attend on my own and present a session or two.  Attending with a team was both awesome and sooo different than what I was used to!

Divide & Conquer: When I’ve attended on my own (or with a friend or two from another school), I’m usually very conflicted about what sessions to attend.  I was presenting 4 times this year, so that meant 4 sessions that I couldn’t attend and there were so many great offerings!  When there was a session I was super interested in, I asked if someone on my team could present.  It was incredible to work together this way because it meant we learned and gathered the resources from all of the sessions that anyone on our team attended.  We used a note-taking template that I got from my #TOSAchat friends.  I made a copy of the template for our team and we all added our notes to the template as we went.  My team took notes on one google slide deck.  Other teams from our pyramid took notes collaboratively in google as well and we all shared those notes.

Relationship Building: Being together with teachers, admin, tech coaches and tech specialists from my school and these 9 other schools allowed us to relax and really get to know each other and build connections.  THIS is what going to these conferences does for me.  I’ve now got this huge network of people that I can reach out to.  I KNOW that I don’t have the answers to every question, but I bet someone in this group does!!   We were also able to connect with folks from around the state who are deep in the work we are all doing.  It’s so interesting to hear this wider perspective.  We often get bogged down by the district way of doing it and this helps us to open that up view of things!

Read the rest of the post on Margaret's site, Edutechnically Speaking. VSTE thanks her for allowing us to share her experience with our members.

Margaret is an Instructional Technology Coach in Chantilly, Virginia.  She works in a large high school with over 3000 students and is passionate about building relationships with staff and students, engagement, Google Apps for Education and innovative teaching ideas! She is a former elementary teacher and has been a Tech Coach in both Elementary and High Schools. In addition to her blog, Margaret frequently shares her thoughts on Twitter: @TechyMargaret.

Registration for the 2017 VSTE Conference, December 3 - 5 in Roanoke, is filling fast. Plan now to join us.

If you write about learning and technology on your blog, related to the Conference or not, and would like to share one of your posts here at VSTE.org, we would love to hear from you.  Send us the link and your email address, and we will get back to you very quickly.

Playing in the Halls at the VSTE Conference

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Most education conferences have a typical structure, with one or two keynote talks for all attendees and the bulk of the time devoted to hour long lecture/demo sessions of varying sizes. Tech education conferences also feature longer, hands-on sessions.

At the VSTE Conference, we've been trying to shake up that model to encourage our members to interact with each other throughout the three days.


In the past few years we have been setting activities out in the halls, inviting people to stop, participate, ask questions and play. Like playing with robots or making collaborative music. Stay as long as you like with no set time commitment.

At this year's conference in Roanoke, we are planning two areas in the conference hall for these kinds of informal, interactive activities. Look for them in the program, or just stop by and join the learning.

In addition, we will be adding something new in the form of mini-unconferences. In the style of an edcamp, these will be sessions where the topics will be decided by you and the format is about conversation, rather than presentation.

All of this and much, much more will be packed into three days of great learning and collaboration at the Hotel Roanoke, December 3 - 5. Registration is now open, and it includes options for one or two days if you are unable to join us for the full conference.

We look forward to seeing you at VSTE 2017!