The 2010 FNO Sydney Seminar
Monday
, Tuesday and Thursday
September 13, 14 & 16
Join Jamie McKenzie
at the Radisson Hotel & Suites
Sydney

72 Liverpool Street
Sydney NSW 2029

Call 02 8268 8887 and say you are coming to the Network 609 conference in September and they will extend a conference rate of $195 AUD per room per night (room only) for a Studio Room.


Monday - Bringing the Australian
National History Curriculum to Life

Tuesday - Managing the Laptop Classroom for Results

Thursday - Beyond Cut-and-Paste

Those who register and pay for this seminar prior to 1 August will receive a free copy of Jamie's latest book, Beyond Cut-and-Paste, at the seminar.

Participants will bring their own wireless laptops as many of the activities will be hands-on.

Wireless connections will be available.

Venue

Detailed outline below.

You can register and pay on line for this conference at
http://fno.org/fnopress/books.html
Bring your wireless equipped laptop as many activities will involve use of online resources but participants may also work in pairs or trios sharing laptops.

Schedule of Events - Monday, 13 September

Bringing the Australian National History Curriculum to Life

8:30 AM  - 9:00 AM
Coffee, Tea and Registration

9:00 AM  -  10:15 PM 
The Importance of Curiosity and Imagination

For decades in many classrooms around the world, history and the social studies have been rated as pretty boring by many students, so it is refreshing when Australia sets national history goals that start right off with the goal of stimulating ". . . students' curiosity and imagination." (Download PDF)

In this opening session, Jamie leads the group through a number of activities designed to highlight the key process goals of the curriculum and illustrate the considerable Pro-D required to make curiosity and imagination ongoing realities for the history classroom.

10:15 - 10:45
Morning Tea

10:45 - 12:30
Six Strategies to Spark Curiosity, Engagement and Imagination
During this session, Jamie will lead the group through sample activities designed to illustrate six of the strategies shown in the diagram above.

  • Primary Source
  • Debunking
  • 20/20 Hindsight
  • What if?
  • Character Study
  • Adviser

12:30  -  1:30 PM
Lunch
A hot buffet lunch will be served.

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM Six More Strategies to Spark Curiosity, Engagement and Imaginations
During this session, Jamie will lead the group through sample activities designed to illustrate six more of the strategies shown in the diagram above.

  • Interview
  • Mystery
  • Trial
  • Suppose
  • Journal
  • Case Study

Note: Each of these strategies can take some time to master as a teacher. Today's session is meant to provide some samples of such learning but the number of hours is not sufficient to establish mastery of the techniques involved. That mastery is best achieved over time as teams of teachers work together in study groups, sharing stories of difficulty and triumph, honing the necessary skills, translating theory into practice.

Schedule of Events - Tuesday, 14 September

Managing the Laptop Classroom for Results

8:30 AM  - 9:00 AM

Coffee, Tea and Registration

9:00 AM  -  10:15 PM 
Introduction

Many schools have underfunded professional development to support teachers as they consider the best ways to use new technologies with students. The PD they do offer is usually about driving the software and equipment rather than effective instruction. In this session, Jamie outlines many of the moves, tactics, tricks and strategies required to win attention and student success in laptop classrooms. He argues that pedagogy does matter and that PD should focus on how to manage such learning environments.

A successful lesson results from mindful devotion to the following elements, each of which will be considered in this presentation:

1. Lesson objectives, content and design
2. Classroom landscape
3. Classroom culture
4. Teaching moves, strategies, tactics and procedures
5. Equipment
6. Assessment procedures



An effective teacher knows how to orchestrate these elements to match the characteristics of the students, adapting to each group as the lesson proceeds.

10:15 - 10:45
Morning Tea

10:45 - 12:30
A Series of Learning Experiences
to Illustrate Sound Lesson Design and Execution

Participants will participate in laptop learning challenges designed to show the choices smart teachers must make when launching activities that are digitally enhanced.

12:30  -  1:30 PM
Lunch
A hot buffet lunch will be served.

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Planning for Effective "Take Up"
This part of the day will be devoted to the change strategies required so that an influx of laptops will be met with enthusiasm and skill. What are the best ways to enlist and inspire the enthusiastic response of staff to the arrival of such equipment? How do we avoid the cart leading the horse? In addition to professional development strategies, the session will take a look at the "True Cost of Ownership" and a full array of program elements ranging from program development and assessment to technical support and leadership.

Schedule of Events - Thursday, 16 September

Beyond Cut-and-Paste: Engaging Students in Making Good New Ideas

8:30 AM  - 9:00 AM

Coffee, Tea and Registration

9:00 AM  -  10:15 PM 

Introduction

In this opening presentation Jamie outlines the prime strategies suggested in his new book by the same title. He begins with the need to replace topical research with inquiry that matters - questions of import - challenges that require students to make answers instead of just finding them. He stresses the value of original thinking and proposes ways to grow the synthesis skills of students so they are capable of making up their own minds and inventing smart solutions to irksome issues and problems. 

10:15 - 10:45
Morning Tea

10:45 - 12:30
Studying Complex Concepts such as Beauty, Truth and Courage in Depth
Students are rarely challenged to dig down deep in order to create rich definitions of complex ideas. In this session Jamie shows how teachers can use a series of digital explorations to deepen students' understanding of such concepts. Students learn that dictionaries usually pay short shrift to complex ideas, and they even learn to improve the definitions they encounter.  Participants will use their laptops to explore such ideas in much the same way they will ask their students to explore.

12:30  -  1:30 PM
Lunch
A hot buffet lunch will be served.

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
Beauty and the Beast: Using Digital Riches to Enhance Learning

Long an advocate of using new technologies in smart ways to deepen and enhance student thinking, communicating, inventing and problem-solving, Jamie will provide examples of ways that digital resources can take students to the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy as well as a new Taxonomy Jamie has created to measure the level of originality and synthesis shown in student work. He will also touch briefly on the limitations of digital life, pointing to Thoreau's words,
"In Wildness is the preservation of the world."




Costs

Full Conference (Three days) - $ 450.00 USD
Two days - $ 300.00 USD
Just Monday - $ 175.00 USD
Just Tuesday - $ 175.00 USD

Just Thursday - $ 175.00 USD

Equivalent costs in AUD
$ 450.00 USD = $ 506.00 AUD
$ 300.00 USD = $ 337.00 AUD
$ 175.00 USD = $ 196.00 AUD

Payment is by credit card at http://fno.org/fnopress/books.html

Discounts are available for teams of 5+. Contact Jamie McKenzie at for information. Payment by wire transfer is also possible with a service charge.


A note on cost: This seminar being held in a good hotel with wonderful food — Morning Tea, Lunch and Afternoon Tea — included in the package.

Registration cost includes GST and a tax invoice will be emailed to all after payment equating payment to AUD.