Vermont Fest 2024

Infinite Campus User Group Meeting hosted by Infinite Campus. An opportunity for IC users to share, collaborate, and learn from one another and representatives of Infinite Campus

Charlotte Cheng will share how she brings authentic representation to children's books, video games, and EdTech learning experiences. We'll then explore ways you can foster authentic representation in your students' day to day environment through strategies that include identity maps, design thinking, focus groups, and so much more!

The Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) offers many different grants to schools and libraries that help increase literacy skills by inspiring a love of reading and writing for children in under-resourced communities across VT and NH. Join Cassie Willner and Jana Brown, program managers from CLiF, to learn about these free grant programs and how CLiF can support your innovative efforts to inspire your students! We’ll talk about our grants for elementary schools, eligibility requirements, how to apply, and what we’re looking for with funding priorities. We’ll also share some recent examples of funded projects with creative librarians and educators who utilized technology to enhance their libraries and literacy instruction.

This presentation features hands-on projects that compliment good digital citizenship practices.

My projects were inspired by the 6 core topics addressed in the educator’s section of Common Sense Media. During my presentation, I will show projects related to: Balance, Privacy, Digital Footprint, and Kindness. I use the Common Sense Media lessons, and then extend the main ideas into a makerspace project.

These projects are for students in grades K-6. Some projects can be adapted for different grade levels.

You will come away from the presentation with many ideas that you can use right away in your classroom. I will include a few paper templates to take with you. They can be copied and used for a lesson right away.

In this hands-on workshop, attendees will learn how digital storytelling and immersive gameplay can transform learning. The fast-paced session will introduce you to the interactive digital narrative, Inanimate Alice, and see how to integrate it to support your SEL curriculum. Attendees will:
- Learn the History of Inanimate Alice
- Explore what research says about the transformative power of interactive digital narratives in learning spaces
- Hear from one educator who is using Inanimate Alice to dive into digital storytelling with 3rd - 6th graders
- Explore Inanimate Alice using their own devices
All attendees will have access to the first episode of the series and the Kick off with Inanimate Alice course so you and your students can begin your adventure.

Teachers will learn how to effectively use tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, Bing AI, and Magic Schools AI to enhance lesson planning, curriculum development, and classroom instruction. Discover how these tools can work for you to create differentiated lessons, generate lesson summaries that meet IEP accommodations or provide summaries for students who miss class due to illness, adjust reading assignments to appropriate Lexile levels, create newsletters for families, brainstorm project ideas of various DOK levels, and even provide feedback on simple formative assessments.

These tools can also be valuable for generating and proofreading email responses to challenging interactions. Beyond being a search engine or a tool for asking questions, AI can serve as a collaborative partner, helping teachers continually evolve their lessons to be more engaging.

By the end of the session, participants will gain valuable insights into how to make these tools work effectively in their specific educational areas. They will also have a better understanding of why these tools should not be blindly banned and how to incorporate them into lessons to demonstrate appropriate AI usage.

While most students may not have direct access to these tools at school, the reality is that they are likely using them on their personal devices and accounts. As educators, we can teach and model appropriate use of these tools to help students understand how they can be used to assist learning. For example, we can demonstrate how to ask effective questions to AI to get started on a large research project, such as "Gemini, can you provide me with a list of 10 resources to help me understand the use of electromagnetism in MRI machines?"

A real challenge, and opportunity, for educators, is to learn how to use AI thoughtfully, safely, and productively.  Hear about concerns and cautionary tales, as well as ways to address the challenges. The primary focus, however, will be on the positive ways you can use AI.  Using AI to summarize the vast AI offerings, this human will add current research, teaching strategies, and a comprehensive overview. See AI apps that will save you time, and quickly create teaching materials that supplement your current curriculum.  Other apps will demonstrate how AI can be used for brainstorming, creating first drafts and editing.  There will be an overview of amazing apps that assist children and adults with special needs.  A collection of anecdotes, research findings, and interviews will provide examples of successful uses of AI for professional productivity, instruction, and activities that will stir your imagination.  Come be amazed, inspired and informed.  Bring your spirit of adventure and sense of humor. At the end there will be a light-hearted summary and raffle prizes.

This interactive workshop is designed to introduce beginning and intermediate OPALS users to some of the essential features that BES Librarian Cheryl Doubleday has used to invigorate and promote a languishing school library. Participants will discover how to use OPALS as their Library’s home page, create engaging topic and genre walls, get their notices noticed, and personalize MARC records for more successful organizing and searching, plus more! Everyone will learn a trick or two, and there will be time for other experienced OPALS users to share their own OPALS wins.

Middle school teachers hear it all the time: “You teach middle school? Wow, how do you do it?” Yes, middle schoolers are hormonal, immature, wacky, awkward, and kind of all over the place. But, they are also hilarious, creative, and enthusiastic learners, if you can just tap into their energy and engagement! Join a panel of seasoned middle school librarians to discuss the unique issues facing those of us who teach this age level. We will discuss library collection development, events and activities, and developing engaging lessons.