ICE 2017: Barrington Breaks Through!

In the past four years, Barrington 220 has been well represented at the Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) conference.

Keynote Presentation by Eric Sheninger on 03.02.17 at ICE

This year marked a spike in the number of staff members who were chosen to present at this prestigious conference that draws participants from all over the Midwest. The conference offers opportunities for educators to network, learn about new software and hardware directly from vendors, and validate the tremendous impact that educational technology has on learners.

Barrington 220 staff members dotted the ICE registration booklet with at least eight different presentations this year, a record number in the four years I've been in the district. Please feel free to contact these teachers to learn more about their presentations, described below.

Robotics Playtime
Becky McDowell and Beth Nelson, our STEM coaches for Grades 4 and 5, led a three-hour workshop designed to provide teachers the opportunity to learn about the many different robotics that can be used to help students learn to code.

Amplify Literacy Workshop
Katie Muhtaris, an Instructional Digital Age Learning coach at Hough and Lines Schools, drew upon the tenets of the book she co-authored, Amplify, to lead teachers to ideas on how to use technology to improve instructional practices, motivation, and student performance.

Swift Playground Kids & Clubs
Ted deBruin (with Diane Powell from Marie Murphy School in the Avoca School District in Wilmette) shared a passion to learn the Swift coding language used to program iOS apps. Ted and Diane talked about the after school clubs they created to help students with an interest in coding work through the Swift Playgrounds app on iPad devices.

iPads Going Home with Primary Students?!?!
Grove Grade 2 teachers who participated in the 2015–16 LaunchPad program Jenny Siegel, Melissa deBruin, and Becky Johnson shared their experience developing skills and responsibility in students with iPad devices in order to reach a point where seven- and eight year-old students can demonstrate learning through creative projects using apps independently and appropriately, both in school and at home.

Inquiry-starters and PBL: Constructing Digital Narratives
Four librarians, Becky Banach, Stacey Lang, Mary Marks, and Amy Rolain, shared their vision and practices for students in the library space and in the classroom to explore the literacy skill of writing a narrative, while using the practices of inquiry and preparing authentic activities.

Technology and the Impact of Classroom Design
Heather Crandall, a Grade 2 teacher at Rose, shared the philosophy behind creating flexible learning spaces for students—thanks to the mobility of the iPad device. In her presentation, Heather showed pictures of her classroom and recommended different types of furniture and how to acquire it at a reasonable cost.

Targeting TPACK to Redefine Learning
Eliza Aliotta (Instructional Digital Age Learning Coach), Derek Straight (Principal), Pam Meiser (Librarian), Eden Mosoff (Library/Technology Assistant), Heather Crandall (Grade 3), Kim Gillengerten (Grade 3), Neva Hillard (Grade 2), Kim Ryder (Grade 2), Christa Makrounis (Grade 5), and Ilona Solymossy (Cross-Categorical)—all LaunchPad program alumni and Barbara Rose staff—shared their journey to supporting teachers through the lens of TPACK to seamlessly embed technology into lessons and amplify their instructional practices.

Build What Matters Ignite Talk
In a presentation centered on the One to World program and our district-wide theme of Build What Matters, Becky Wiegel (Director of Elementary Teaching and Learning), Matt Fuller (Assistant Superintendent of Technology & Innovation), Becky Gill (Assistant Superintendent of Elementary & Operations), and Instructional Digital Age Learning Coaches Katie Muhtaris, Joslyn Katz, Eliza Aliotta, Lisa Riley, Kelly Pinta, Jen Burton, Becky McDowell, Beth Nelson, Laura Meehan, Amy Pellettieri, Sharon Kranz,  and Loretta Johnson, spoke individually and in groups to highlight aspects of how technology impacts instruction to help Build What Matters for our students. Each segmented focused on a word associated with the Build What Matters theme, such as "Blueprint," "Foundation," and "Assemble."