BELLOWS FALLS — This summer, Marlboro College Graduate School will be offering two professional development workshops for area educators.
“Transforming with Technology” will meet June 14, 15, and 16, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., at the Central Elementary School in Bellows Falls.
This workshop is designed for teachers to take a unit of study and transform it so your students will participate as creative designers, producers and developers of their own learning. The transformed units will provide engaging opportunities for your students to explore and experience learning on a higher level and give them a variety of ways to show their proficiency.
Topics will include pedagogy related to Backwards Design SAMR model as a way for teachers to evaluate how they are incorporating technology into their instructional practice; constructivist and constructionist theories of learning as they apply to emerging technology to foster creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and communication; project based learning; makerspace learning; flipped classrooms; incorporating flexible pathways to proficiency; using Google Apps for Education; video, and other current creation tech tools.
Leading the workshop will be Christina Smith. She was among the first southern Vermonters to receive the Educational Technology Specialist Endorsement in 2006. She holds a Masters of Teaching with Technology from Marlboro College and is the regional coordinator for VITA-Learn South East.
The second offering, “Cracking the Code of Proficiency,” will meet at Bellows Falls Union High School in Westminster on June 20, 21, and 22, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
In this hands-on course, you will learn how to integrate a variety of current technology to provide flexible pathways toward mastery. The tech tools will focus on fostering student innovation through use of project based learning, maker-spaces, google apps for education, social media tools, and digital media tools.
Workshop leader Michael Norkun is a veteran science teacher at Bellows Falls Union High School and science department coordinator. He holds a master's degree in educational technology from Southern New Hampshire University.