What’s included here is a select list of presentations I’ve given professionally. I really do not have a comprehensive list of what presentations I’ve given at specific dates, venues, and locations, but will do my best to provide some context with these examples.
- Action Research on Teacher Coaching for Deeper Learning by Students. We presented this twice, at VSTE in 2019 and at MERC in 2019 (VCU Research-based conference). Our study was supported by a project initiated by Apple to support action research inside Apple Distinguished Schools. We wanted do see if we could measure the impact of continual coaching support with teachers and if that coaching resulted in evidence of deeper learning inside the classroom.
- Blogging Best Practices for Educators (2009). In 2009, blogging was a common word that everyone might recognize, but it wasn’t as commonplace as drinking coffee in the morning. I promoted blogging for two reasons: one, I saw it at the time as the easiest way for teachers to share content online for the benefit of students and parents before we had LMS in schools. The second reason was that if teachers had a positive experience with publishing online, they might encourage the practice for students as a type of hypertext learning journal.
- Keynote Clean and Clear. As a presentation junkie and someone who is always looking to improve his own game, this presentation is a short primer on some ideas I’ve gleaned on supporting your message with clean slides.
- Podcasting 101. Since 2004, when I first began to evangelize the power of podcasting, it’s come back thanks to Serial and other popular podcasts. This was designed for a training session for those interested in getting started.
- Senior Project Executive Summary (2013). This report was provided as part of a larger study of the Senior Project program at Goochland High School as part of my doctoral study in how to create a program evaluation. This project was begun by a colleague of mine around 2000 and I thought it had such powerful potential. This was personal for me because I was really interested in seeing if the original tenets of the program were still being addressed.
- Sharing: It’s a Two-Way Street (2009). For may years I’d promoted the idea of using the Internet as a place to exchange high-quality content that teachers might create. I saw a situation where many teachers would turn to a search engine to find content to use in the classroom but then not contribute back to the Internet. Since 2009, there have been many efforts to provide what we might otherwise call a commons for exchange: personal websites, formal repositories of content, and sharing libraries within learning management systems. The flaw in my thinking was that every teacher was a voracious creator and consumer. My experience has shown me that those who feel comfortable is less than the need that exists to use good content. And that’s okay, but the gist of this presentation still rings true: the overall quality of content that can be used in instructional settings will increase if there are more contributors. There has yet, however, become a singular platform or methodology for determining the gems among shared content.
- Strategic Innovation Grants (2019). This was a description of the program we’d cultivated in Goochland County with the Goochland Education Foundation to support deeper learning with 21st century skills by providing a local grant program to support project-based learning at the 2019 Virginia School Boards Association conference.
- Teacher Technology Plans (2004). This was presented at EdTech, a Richmond-area local technology conference, probably around 2003. The idea at the time was to develop a structure by which teachers could develop their own plan around increasing their knowledge and experience with using technology as part of their teaching. The idea was to allow everyone to self-select their own plan related to something they’d like to work on. It had some integration with the LoTI scale and was later abandoned when the district took on a twenty-first century skills focus with project-based learning.
- Values-Based Leadership Essentials (2020). Slides produced to work with several teams who were interested in knowing more about how to leverage Values Based Leadership into their office’s culture.
- Well-Being (2021). These slides were produced to talk with leaders at the Virginia Department of Education on how to promote employee well-being.