Barrington 220 Teacher Librarians Share Learning from the #ICE2018 Conference

Several teachers and administrators attended the ICE (Illinois Computing Educators) Conference #ICE2018 that was held February 26–28, 2018. The conference location moved closer to Barrington and was held for first time at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center in Schaumburg, IL. Over 3,500 educators attended the largest gathering in the state devoted to the use of technology in education.

In a recent district meeting, our Barrington 220 Teacher Librarians who attended ICE shared some of their learning from the #ICE2018 Conference:

Mary Marks (Hough) attended a session presented by EdTech pioneer Kathy Schrock, EdTEch Passion. The session included a great visual to explore meaningful use of technology. Schrock also discussed how educators can create tasks that target the higher-order cognitive skills (Bloom's), as well as design tasks that have a significant impact on student outcomes (SAMR). Also mentioned were technologies gaining momentum in schools across the world, including sketchnoting, sketchquoting, and coding as a literacy.

Amy Rolain (Lines) attended a session packed with resources from Steve Garton, Senior Manager Common Sense Education (@sgarton121), News and Media Literacy: Building Critical Consumers and Creators: Garton asserts, “Fake news is not new, but it’s harder to spot, easier to spread, and harder to control.” Some highlighted resources include:

• News and America’s Kids: How Young People Perceive and Are Impacted by the News
• Michael RobbGrieco’s 2012 Media Literacy Education Graphic
• Deconstructing Disney Curriculum
• News and Media Literacy Toolkit
• Five Key Questions Form Foundation for Media Inquiry

Becky Banach (Grove) attended the session Making Virtual Reality a Reality. The session described how to use VR in curricular topics and shared ways to help students become VR creators in the classroom.

Stacey Lang (Roslyn Road) attended a session by Julie Smith, author of Master the Media: How Teaching Media Literacy Can Save Our Plugged-In World. Smith's topic was Beyond Bullying: What We’re Missing in Digital Citizenship. Follow her on twitter (@julnilsmith).

Janet Anderson (Barrington High School) attended a day-long Administrator Academy with Eric Sheninger and Thomas C Murray. The academy included many great points which can be found in their recent book, now available in the BHS Library, Learning Transformed. One point that resonated with Janet was, "If you are not telling your own story, then who is?" The presenters shared the value of prioritizing the time to write and share your story to your stakeholders via vlogs, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and other online platforms.