Martin Institute - Day 1

I had the honor of attending day 1 of The Martin Institute 2012 Conference in Memphis, Tennessee today. I am attending as a presenter and will be presenting tomorrow. Today, I had the honor of attending numerous sessions. I have already learned so much and there is no way I could write about everything I learned. However, I do want to write about some highlights.

The conference started with a screening of John Hunter's movie, World Peace and Other 4th Grade Achievements. More information on the movie can be found at www.worldpeacegame.org. It is truly a movie for all educators to see. The game utilizes critical thinking skills on a collaborative approach in which students find solutions to global issues. Here is a look at the game:

The first session I attended was Creative Content for the iPad it was presented by Mr. Tim Matheny (Apple Distinguished Education- Memphis, TN). I learned a lot about iTunesU and iBooks. I am definitely going to use those apps in the future.

Afterwards I went to Active Learning with the iPod Touch presented by Mr. Mason Grace and Mrs Kitty Hiltenbrand, both educators in Memphis. This was very informative on how to incorporate the iPod in everyday lessons. I have a class iPod that I have not used due to not really knowing where to get started, but I think I am ready after attending this session.

Our lunch was grab and go or sit down and eat and miss a session. I chose to grab and go to another session. I actually had enough time to gulp my food down before the session started. The third session that I went to was titled, Beyone Our Walls - Video Conferencing by Ms. Amy Moody from St.Agnes Academy in Memphis, TN. This was all about using such programs like Skype to connect to other parts of the world. This will be great to utilize in our new iPell lab.

The last session I went to was 21st Century Inclusion Classroom by Melanie Moss from the Department of Exceptional Children of Shelby County Schools. She challenged us to bring a quality education for every child.

As part of the conclusion to the day, we got to hear from John Hunter. The man behind the movie I mentioned earlier. He was truly inspirational!

I am looking forward to Day 2 of the conference. I just finished preparing for my presentation, and I think I am ready to go. I'll try to blog tomorrow on what I learn during Day 2 of the conference.