KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Chris Lehmann
Chris Lehmann is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia, PA. He returned to his native Philadelphia after nine years as a technology coordinator, English teacher, girls' basketball coach and Ultimate Frisbee coach at the Beacon School in New York City, one of the leading urban public schools for technology integration. Lehmann was an honoree for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development's 2009 Outstanding Young Educator Award. He was named as one of "40 Under 40" by Philadelphia Business Journal in 2009 and as one of "20 to Watch" among American administrators by the National School Board Association in 2006. In 2001, he was honored by MOUSE as a Champion of Technology and Education for his work on building the portal at the Beacon School. Lehmann has spoken at educational conferences all over the world and has worked with many schools and districts in the U.S. and England as a consultant. He is the author of the education blog Practical Theory.
OTHER SPEAKERS
Alisa Berger
Co-principal
NYC iSchool
Alisa Berger is a founding co-principal at the NYC iSchool, a New York City public high school. Previously, she has worked in the New York City central offices as a director of leadership and organizational learning, overseeing 250 schools in achieving their goal of increased student achievement by developing, aligning, and delivering cutting edge training and professional development. Initiatives she was involved with included the Children First Intensive (CFI), an action research initiative designed to help build schools' capacity to use accountability tools to differentiate, individualize, and improve instruction. Berger also served as a facilitator for the SAM (Scaffolded Apprenticeship Model) Masters program, a comprehensive school reform program, run through Baruch College, City University, that supports schools in strengthening their distributive leadership and creating an adaptive environment that is able to continuously improve itself. Sbe began her career in school administration as the founding leader of the Mott Hall II school, a small, progressive NYC public middle school.
Tim Best
Teacher
Science Leadership Academy, PA
Tim Best is a 10th and 12th grade biology, chemistry, and anatomy teacher at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, PA. Prior to moving to Philly, he worked as a high school technology integration specialist outside Boston, collaborating with teachers to develop technology-based projects. His current role at SLA extends beyond the classroom as he helps develop technology curriculum for teachers in his school and district. He enjoys suffering through the use of new technologies so you don't have to.
Kim Carter
Executive Director
QED Foundation, NH
Kim Carter is executive director of QED Foundation, a multigenerational nonprofit organization of adults and youth working together to create and sustain student-centered school communities. With over 30 years of experience as an educator, she has taught preK through graduate school. She was the founding principal of Monadnock Community Connections School, which received a New Hampshire Excellence in Education Special Recognition Award in 2009 for its commitment to and excellence in personalization and meeting the needs of students. A 1991 New Hampshire Teacher of the Year and 1996 New Hampshire Media Educator of the Year, Carter has engaged in leveraging the power of technology for high school redesign, social justice and equity, and democratic schooling for over 25 years.
Terrence Clark
Superintendent
Bethpage Schools, NY
Before assuming his current position as superintendent of Bethpage Schools, Terrence Clark held several other jobs in the district, including director for technology and telecommunications and assistant superintendent. He is the recipient of the 2005 Leaders in Learning Award from the National Cable and Telecommunications Association. He has been working with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills for the past two years and his article on Bethpage's 21st Century Scholars' program appeared in the September edition of Educational Leadership.
Kristine Goldhawk
Social Studies Teacher
New Canaan, CT
For the past three years, as a teacher in New Canaan, Kristine Goldhawk has been developing hybrid-style courses for freshmen and sophomores. A major part of these courses is the use of Moodle as a course management system (CMS). In the past year, she and her colleagues have begun implementing social networking within the classroom using tools such as Google Apps, Facebook, Twitter and Wikia Novellas. The use of Moodle and other social networking tools has increased student achievement in her classroom and allowed her to craft assignments more specifically to student interest and ability level. Goldhawk's ultimate professional goal would be to teach a course to high school students from around the world.
Aaron Grill
Director of Technology
The Browning School, NYC
In addition to being director of technology at the Browning School, Aaron Grill was the President of NYCIST (New York Consortium of Independent Technologists) for the 2008-2009 school year. Open source has been a passion of his for several years, since he first began utilizing open source web applications such as moodle and wordpress. Over time his familiarity and the overall improvement of many open source projects has allowed for implementation of open source for every aspect of Browning's website. The software used for the website includes Moodle, WordpressMU, Media Wiki, Joomla and Gallery2. In addition, implementing Netbooks in the Browning School Library has opened up the possibilities for open source operating systems to be used widely by faculty and students.
Patrick Higgins
Director of Curriculum, Humanities
Sparta Township Public Schools, NJ
Patrick Higgins, Jr. has been a teacher of English and social studies, a technology coordinator, and an administrator at various schools in New Jersey. In his current position he focuses on developing curriculum to meet the needs of the 21st Century student, coordinating professional development opportunities for teachers and administrators, and facilitating change across a large organization. He has presented at the local and state level on topics such as Research 2.0, Creating Personal Learning Environments, Tablet PC use in the High School classroom, and Data Visualization. His focus within the past year has been on introducing teachers to the disruptive nature of social technology and the pedagogical shifts they bring about, and creating new curriculum that leverages the literacies these new technologies bring about. He currently writes his own blog, Chalkdust101, and is a contributor to his district blog, The TechDossier.
Bruce Lai
Chief of Staff to the Chief Information Officer
New York City Department of Education
As chief of staff to the CIO of the largest public school district in the United States, Bruce Lai is a key strategist for the DOE's technology organization (with 500+ staff and consultants) and plays the role of thought leader on all district-wide learning management and collaboration systems and tools used by students, educators, school leaders and parents to improve communication, collaboration, teaching and learning, inside and outside the classroom. He is also in charge of many of the new district-wide technology initiatives/innovations, including the piloting of low-cost computing devices, the CUNY tech intern program (on-site tech support by college students), free e-mail accounts for all students and parents, and the introduction of Apple's iTunes U as a educational publishing and distribution platform. Formerly, Lai was chief of staff to Council Member Gale A. Brewer, serving as a policy, legislative, press and political advisor and helping to direct the activities of the committee on Technology in Government of the New York City Council. He also has extensive experience in design, creation and implementation of performance management systems including one of the largest data warehouses for human services in New York City government.
Dr. Robert MacNaughton
Superintendent
Ramap Central School District, NY
Robert MacNaughton has served as superintendent of the Ramapo Central School District since 1998, where his level of involvement as an instructional leader is significant. He works hands-on with his professional staff to design, implement and evaluate educational programs with an emphasis on the use of technology as a tool to enhance learning. He encourages innovation and provides students with options that tap into their interests and talents. Dr. MacNaughton has also served as a superintendent for various districts over the past 23 years in Bettendorf, Iowa; Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, and Penn-Harris Madison, Indiana. He has held positions as an assistant superintendent in the Bettendorf Community School District and has taught physics and calculus in the Marcus Whitman Central School District in Rushville, New York. He constantly seeks ideas that will empower schools to respond to the needs of today's students who will be living and working in a "flatter world." His vision of how the world is changing and how education and schools need to respond to these changes provides a thought-provoking, powerful message.
Marianne Malmstrom
Middle School Technology Teacher/Specialist
Elisabeth Morrow School, NJ
Marianne Malmstrom (http://www.knowclue.com) has been an educator for over 25 years. Her fascination with using emerging technologies in the classroom led to her current position as a middle school technology teacher at the Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ. She has worked with colleagues to develop a program rich in the use of multimedia. Her school has received two JPMorgan Chase awards for "Excellence in the Use of Multimedia" as part of WLIW's Teaching & Learning Celebration. In Second Life, Marianne is known as Knowclue Kidd. She has volunteered as an ISTE docent since May 2007 and has been responsible for organizing several online media projects such as the SLEDcc 2008 Machinia Festival. As an early adopter of machinima (video created using 3D virtual worlds), Marianne has been keenly interested in how this new medium can be used for education. Her machinima work includes "ISTE in Second Life". and "No Future Left Behind". Working with her 8th grade tech club, she is currently exploring the use of machinima in the classroom to teach media literacy skills.
Scott Meech
Technology Facilitator
The Joseph Sears School, Kenilworth, IL
Scott Meech is in his 15th year of teaching and is currently working at the Joseph Sears School in Kenilworth, Illinois as the district technology facilitator. While he began his teaching career in social studies, he quickly realized his greatest educational interest was in the transformative nature of technology. He was an early adopter and was regularly the test pilot for any and all new tech initiatives. His teaching quickly transformed from a traditional teacher-centered paradigm to a constructivist, student-centered approach. Meech earned his masters in education in curriculum and technology in 2005 and is currently enrolled in The Johns Hopkins University Leadership program in conjunction with the International Society of Technology and Education. While he has a myriad of interests, his favorite pastime is studying the impact technology is making and can make on education. He believes that education is on the brink of major change and that technology will finally fulfill its promise. Meech blogs at www.smeech.net and has a repository of his work at smeech-presos.wikispaces.com. Additionally, he has started an educational community that is focused on studying mobile devices and their educational value called I Education Apps Review.
Robert Miller
Director of Information and Communication Technologies
New Canaan Public Schools, CT
Robert Miller is entering his sixth year as director of ICT for the New Canaan Public Schools, where he is responsible for the technology infrastructure, technology support, data services, state reporting, and the instructional program for technology and library media. Before that, he spent five years in a similar role in a neighboring school district. Miller is currently finishing his Doctorate of Education at North Central University in e-learning and teaching online. His dissertation focused on the development of 21st century communication, collaboration, and digital literacy skills through the use of social network tools at the high school level.
Dr. Kathleen W. Monks
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum
Sparta Township Public Schools, NJ
Prior to becoming assistant superintendent for curriculum in Sparta Township, Kathleen Monks was a building level administrator and a teacher. She has also worked as an educational consultant, has presented at conferences on technology utilization and instructional strategies, and currently works with aspiring administrators as an adjunct professor at Centenary College. In her position as assistant superintendent, she is responsible for curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, and educational technology in the PK-12 district. Her focus has been on expanding the technology tools available in the district in order to enhance instruction and facilitate the integration of technology to improve student outcomes.
Mary Moss
Co-principal
NYC iSchool
Mary Moss currently serves as a founding co-principal of the NYC iSchool, a New York City public high school. Prior to her work at NYC iSchool, she was a teacher of young adolescents for seven years before becoming principal of Mott Hall II, a progressive middle school in NYC. At Mott Hall II, she expanded classroom technology practices, instituted a differentiated professional development program, and developed student-centered initiatives such as student-led conferences, a comprehensive advisory system, and college/career awareness programs. While at Mott Hall II, Moss led her teachers to adopt a project-based instructional approach, developing the planning and professional development tools that inform her current work in a real-world, problem-based model at iSchool. She graduated from Bates College with a self-designed major in Children's Studies, then earned her Masters at Harvard Graduate School of Education in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, followed by a doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College, with a focus on adolescent education and schools' preservation of developmentally appropriate practices in an age of high-stakes accountability.
Jon Orech
Instructional Technology Coordinator
Downers Grove South High School, IL
Jon Orech taught English for 24 years before becoming the instructional technology coordinator at Downers Grove South High School. He also is an instructor for Aurora University where he teaches digital storytelling workshops. In the classroom, he has always promoted best technology approaches to ensure student learning. He is a frequent speaker at conferences; his presentations include a wide variety of topics on teaching digital storytelling, hi-tech lit circles, learning with wikis, and student-generated assessment. Currently, Orech's focus of research is in the area of collaborative technology – specifically, embedding structured cooperative learning pedagogy into teaching with Web 2.0 tools to improve student learning. Away from school, Jon savors the "Four F's": Family, Football, Fishing, and Food!
Sarah Rolle
Director of Technology
The Elisabeth Morrow School, NJ
Sarah Rolle has been involved in education since 1989. She has experience in both private and public schools and has worked as a learning specialist, computer support staff for a Semester at Sea college program, an instructional technology trainer and, currently, director of technology. She is particularly interested in training teachers to integrate technology in the classroom. Rolle has presented at such conferences as NECC, the Microcomputers in Education Conference (at Arizona State University), the New Jersey Educational Computing Cooperative Conference and the NJ Association of Independent Schools, on topics including media literacy, virtual worlds for students and Google. She is a Google Certified Teacher and holds a Master of Education in Educational Media and Computers from Arizona State University.
Peggy Sheehy
Instructional Technology Facilitator and Media Specialist
Suffern Middle School, Ramapo Central School District, NY
Peggy Sheehy began teaching in 1997 at Mt. Sinai Elementary School in New York and also served as a district technology trainer. After receiving her master's Degree in educational technology she was named Technology Teacher of the Year from ASSET, for her work with "Tomorrow's Classroom Today." In 2001, she moved to Greenville, SC and taught at Stone Academy of Communication Arts, where, in 2002, she was named Teacher of the Year. As a media specialist in the Ramapo Central School District, she established the first middle school in Teen Second Life, Ramapo Islands, which hosts 1400 students and teachers. Sheehy has presented and delivered keynote addresses at numerous conferences. She has also published articles for Tech & Learning and several other educational journals and magazines. She was awarded the coveted "Making It Happen" Award this year at NECC and is a guest host for the ISTE Eduverse TV Program on ISTE Island in Second Life. A true pioneer in virtual worlds and games for education, she also offers consulting services in virtual world curriculum design and professional development. Her latest passion is the adaptation of World of Warcraft to enhance middle school curriculum.
William Stites
Director of Technology
The Montclair Kimberley Academy, NJ
William Stites has been at the Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, New Jersey, since 1994. He has taught third grade and has worked in the technology department the entire time, assuming the position of director of technology in 1999. He is a contributing blogger for edSociaMedia.com and has served as an advisor for the New Jersey Educational Computer Cooperative (http://www.njecc.org) since 2001. He has been a presenter at the National Association of Independent Schools conferences over the years, winning the Leading Edge Award for Technology in 2004 for MKA's online faculty development program.
Cathy Swan
Technology Integration Teacher
New Canaan High School, New Canaan, CT
Cathy Swan has been the technology integration teacher at New Canaan High School since 2002, collaborating with classroom teachers to integrate technology into the existing curriculum and conducting training as needed for staff and students. Prior to that, she taught French and Spanish in New Canaan and also in New Haven, CT, Pittsburgh, PA, and at West Virginia University on their main campus and in their exchange program in Deauville, France. Since 2005, Swan has held a position on the board of the Connecticut Educators Computer Association (CECA). She has served on the New Canaan Public Schools Professional Development Team for the past decade where she is responsible for the planning and implementation of district and High School professional learning days and events throughout the school year.
