innovate25

Learn: Discover Cisco’s Global Problem Solvers (GPS) program as a powerful framework for Genius Hour, guiding students to tackle real-world issues. Learn how GPS cultivates critical thinking and digital storytelling to address local, national and global challenges.

Engage: Through live polls, collaborative brainstorming and Q&A, actively explore digital storytelling techniques and educational tools to enrich student-led projects. Small group discussions will foster idea-sharing and practical insights.

Apply: Gain ready to implement Genius Hour projects with Cisco's GPS resources, using digital storytelling to empower students to address contemporary challenges with creativity and precision.

Learn: Discover how to design, implement and teach students to create their own personal learning hubs. These hubs can focus on a single content area or serve as a tool across multiple subjects, empowering students to organize and manage their learning.

Engage: Actively explore the structure and benefits of a learning hub, with dedicated time to develop your own hub template. Collaborate with peers and experiment with different components to create a model tailored to your classroom needs.

Apply: Gain a completed or partially developed hub, along with the knowledge to guide students in building their own. Be equipped to implement this tool in your classroom, fostering student ownership and supporting independent, organized learning.

Learn: Discover how Discovery Education Experience supports career exploration from kindergarten through high school. Explore engaging tools like career path quizzes and career-focused resource collections to inspire students about their future possibilities.

Engage: Participate in an interactive career path quiz to align your interests with potential careers and discuss ways to implement similar activities with your students. Collaborate with peers to explore curated career-focused resources and strategies for integrating them into your teaching.

Apply: Gain practical methods for sharing career-focused collections within Discovery Education Experience and actionable strategies to guide students on their career journey and spark excitement about their future aspirations.

Learn: Discover how to harness the features of your learning management system (LMS) to support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and create more inclusive, accessible learning experiences. Explore insights from a district collaboration with the DESE AEM Cohort, demonstrating how UDL principles were translated into actionable goals to make the LMS a tool for diverse learners.

Engage: Explore district-created UDL resources and experiment with tools in an Open Canvas Course designed around UDL principles. Gain insights into how other districts are addressing barriers to learning and making their LMS more inclusive.

Apply: Put UDL into action by mapping UDL principles to your LMS, adapting shared Canvas examples, and developing personalized implementation goals that make your LMS a dynamic platform for learner-centered education.

Learn: Explore how Open-Source Learning not only builds knowledge and skills but also strengthens self-awareness and cognitive capacity. Discover the science behind neuroplasticity and how daily habits can boost brain function and protect against conditions like Alzheimer’s. 

Engage: Participate in practical exercises designed to enhance mindfulness, focus, memory and creativity. Experience firsthand how intentional mental workouts can sharpen your thinking and emotional awareness. 

Apply: Discover techniques you can use daily to build healthier brain habits and improve cognitive performance. Gain actionable strategies to help both you and your students think, feel, and remember more effectively. 

Attendance of this session will earn you an NFT-backed digital badge; and earn a grand slam badge by attending all 4 sessions.  

Learn: Discover how to incorporate students' personal vocabulary and experiences into literacy instruction, making the learning more meaningful and relevant. Identify various literary structures found across curriculums and learn how to use these structures to enhance students' reading and writing skills. Explore how dictation technology can be leveraged to support struggling readers and writers in capturing their thoughts and ideas.

Engage: Participate in interactive activities that model classroom practices and foster a positive learning environment. Create your own literary examples and experiment with dictation technology on your own device to understand its application for students.

Apply: Gain practical examples of literary structures and techniques for integrating students' personal language into literacy instruction. Reflect on how to use dictation technology to support struggling students and leave with strategies that can be transferred directly into your teaching practice.

Learn: Examine what effective learning looks like for young students and how it aligns with their developmental needs. Explore how technology can be purposefully integrated to enhance learning experiences.

Engage: Participate in a discussion on the importance of using technology in ways that feel intentional, natural and age-appropriate for early learners. Share ideas and strategies with peers to meet the diverse abilities of young students.

Apply: Discover how iPad can empower your youngest learners to communicate, create and learn at their own pace. Gain practical approaches to incorporate technology into your classroom in meaningful ways.

Learn: Explore the findings of our nationwide survey involving 119 high school English teachers regarding their attitudes toward ChatGPT integration in instructional practices. Gain insights into ethical concerns, common usage patterns and current perceptions of ChatGPT in the classroom.

Engage: Learn how English teachers are utilizing ChatGPT for personal planning and classroom instruction as you are guided through the process of creating a ChatGPT account. Learn how to differentiate lesson plans for various learning levels, develop new lesson plans and streamline administrative tasks. Depending on compurter availability, work independently or interact with demonstrations.

Apply: Get hands-on experience with ChatGPT as you explore its capabilities using your own classroom materials. Gain practical strategies for integrating ChatGPT into your teaching, along with take-home materials such as printouts and access to our presentation to support future application.

If you have ever sat in a class or a faculty meeting and asked yourself, "When are we going to learn?" the answer is NOW and this keynote is for YOU. Open-Source Learning is an educational philosophy that celebrates the humane, optimizes the digital, and connects both the people and the dots in service to preparing for an increasingly complex and uncertain future. Learn how Open-Source Learning accounts for every great teaching practice in history and invites you to develop your own. Discover the transformations that take place when students become learners and pursue interdisciplinary goals through unique personal explorations that go beyond traditional classroom experiences. Dive into the five fitnesses of Open-Source Learning, and then you'll unlock the Sixth Fitness to validate and launch your own action plan. Transform the way you view your life and your teaching – and the work starts now, with a deceptively simple question: What do you want to learn?

Learn: Discover how great teaching combined with effective technology creates impactful learning experiences. Explore Apple’s latest products, tools and programs designed specifically for education.

Engage: In this interactive session, explore how Apple’s innovative solutions enhance productivity and collaboration in the classroom. Connect with peers and experts to discuss practical applications of these tools in education.

Apply: Gain actionable insights to integrate Apple technology into your teaching practice. Discover strategies to empower educators and students with tools that drive engagement and success.

Learn: Discover the expansive, free curriculum offered by Code.org, created to make computer science education accessible in every classroom. Attendees will explore the K-12 resources that align with state standards, focusing on foundational digital skills and computer science principles.

Engage: Through interactive discussion, participants will examine how Code.org’s curriculum integrates with their own teaching goals and classroom settings. We’ll also dive into available support, including teacher training funded through DESE, ensuring a fully supported rollout of these resources.

Apply: By the end of this session, participants will be prepared to bring Code.org's curriculum into their schools. They will leave with actionable steps and knowledge on accessing the resources, securing teacher training, and engaging students in computer science.

Learn: Discover the latest AI resources and how to leverage them to streamline daily tasks, enhance instructional practices and engage students meaningfully, prioritizing effective learning outcomes.

Engage: Actively explore and utilize AI tools to design a classroom-ready lesson that incorporates practical applications, enabling students to engage actively with an AI platform.

Apply: Gain a ready-to-implement lesson plan that integrates AI, enhancing student engagement and facilitating deeper learning experiences in the classroom.

Learn: Discover how music can enhance STEM education! Explore the power of creating songs as a tool to reinforce key concepts, making learning both memorable and engaging.

Engage: Dive into a hands-on STEM activity, then work in groups to create a simple, catchy song about the STEM principles you explored. Through collaboration, experience the excitement of combining learning with creativity and discover firsthand how music can deepen understanding and retention in any subject area.

Apply: Each group will showcase their song teaching a STEM concept, modeling how this approach can spark interest and aid retention for students. Gain a memorable strategy to energize learning in your classroom.