Here is the video of a recent talk I gave on ebooks as instructional resources in early childhood and elementary classrooms.

For the past few days, I’ve been in beautiful Sedona, Arizona to attend and present to a group of early childhood educators from Arizona and New Mexico as part of the Southwest Institute Summer Literacy Institute.

Southwest Institute for Families and Children (SWI) is a non-profit research and development organization focusing on children’s health and education.

Below you will find the slidedeck from my presentation to this dedicated group of early childhood educators, many of whom serve high-poverty children and families from the Navajo nation.

Most educators are familiar with Twitter, but how do you put it into classroom practice? Join us and find out how to #teach w/ #tweet.

21st Century educators should exemplify how an individual uses digital tools and resources to become a skilled communicator, collaborator, and devoted lifelong learner. As a follow up to the immensely popular ISTE 2010 BYOL session, #tweet. #learn. #lead., Becker, Brueck and Craft return with a Model Lesson that will provide educators with sound pedagogical approaches to integrating Twitter into the classroom learning space. Participants in this session will learn how educators can use Twitter to support student learning goals while effectively modeling the path of the 21st Century skills.

Jon Becker, Jeremy Brueck and Christopher Craft will demonstrate ways classroom teachers can provide differentiated learning opportunities through the social microblogging platform Twitter. Participants will learn interactively during a focused and intense hands-on lesson that will leave them with an understanding of: How to use Twitter in the classroom for networked learning; How to use Twitter search, hashtags, groups and other 3rd party services to facilitate a classroom activity; Sound pedagogical approaches for integrating Twitter into the learning environment. After the session, participants will be prepared to create a personalized learning network in a virtual classroom space and lead students into a new era of networked learning.

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This election day, I’ll be presenting at G-Tech 2010, the annual Green Local School District Educational Technology conference. From the conference website:

The purpose of the day is to equip teachers with training in technical areas that will assist them in their classrooms as they prepare students to be 21st Century Learners. The conference will include presentations from Green Staff as well as from a wide range of vendors and other school districts.

My session description:

A New Way to Connect
Adobe Connect Professional is a cutting edge, web-based communication and collaboration solution that can be used to enhance face-to-face and online courses. With Adobe Connect, synchronous web classrooms are a reality. Learn how to use this great tool from the perspective of a participant, a presenter, or a host! Capabilities include chat, white board, document sharing, screen sharing as well as live audio and video. How can Green Local take next step in incorporating Adobe Connect into the district e-learning processes? Join us and find out!

Presentation Resources

• Adobe Connect URL: http://bit.ly/gtech2010
• G-Tech 2010 Session Outline
• Connect Recommended Equipment
• Connect Quick Start Guide
• Adobe Acrobat Connect User Guide
• Get a quick Adobe Connect overview: http://www.adobe.com/go/connectpro_overview

I had the opportunity to visit the campus of Ohio University – Lancaster today where I presented to a group of educators who are part of The Heart of Ohio Tech Prep Consortium. My session was titled ‘Teaching and Reaching the Millennial Learner: New Possibilities for the Information Age’ and was a part of their 2009 Summer Workshop. The session objectives were:

• Provide an in-depth look at a number of free Web 2.0 tools and applications that K-12 educators can use to create standards-based learning experiences that are engaging, foster creativity, and relevant to the current and future needs of their students.
• Address instructional strategies that enable teachers to promote collaborative, independent, and differentiated learning, adapting to the needs of each learner with a focus on content standards.

All of the resources demonstrated or referenced during this presentation can be accessed at http://brueckei.pbworks.com/ by clicking on the Heart of Ohio Tech Prep link located under PAST PRESENTATIONS in the wiki Sidebar. The Ustream.Tv recording of the session can be found below and on my Raised Digital-TV channel. I had a great time sharing, discussing and engaging in thoughtful conversation with a wonderful group of Ohio educators!

On Wednesday, June 10, 2009 I’ll be presenting at the Lorain City School’s Center for Early Literacy Excellence Summer Institute. The Summer Institute is a part of Lorain’s Early Reading First program.

Early Reading First, part of the President’s “Good Start, Grow Smart” initiative, is designed to transform existing early education programs into centers of excellence that provide high-quality, early education to young children, especially those from low-income families. The overall purpose of the Early Reading First Program is to prepare young children to enter kindergarten with the necessary language, cognitive, and early reading skills to prevent reading difficulties and ensure school success.

• Wikis: Getting Started
• Wikispaces
• PBworks
• Wetpaint
• VoiceThread
• Wesley Fryer’s “Teach Digital”
• Bill Ferriter’s “Using VoiceThread for Digital Conversations”
• VoiceThread 4 Education wiki
• VoiceThread Extends the Classroom with Interactive Multimedia Albums