Monday, January 20, 2014

New Orleans Annual meeting Technology Preview

Top 10 Key Words @ NCTM 2014 (to see count of all
key words, click on image above.)
Welcome to my annual technology preview of the NCTM conference in New Orleans next April. There are 653 sessions of all shapes, sizes and themes. I read them all and again as in previous years I highlight a subset of sessions that have the technology principle (TP) in mind. Supporting that principle has been CLIME’s goal since TP's introduction in "Principles and Standards for School Mathematics" in 2000. More recently a new bolder theme has emerged to be CLIME’s focus something that I refer to as Math 2.0. I realize that it is not something easily defined though I keep on trying to capture its essence. My working definition of Math 2.0 is:
The New Orleans conference program committee designated several strands but only one had a technology theme: “Teachers leveraging Technology.”

At first glance I was surprised there were only 5 sessions, but what a treat these sessions appear to be! I plan to attend 4 of them skipping only Karim’s because that happens at the same time as my session. They all take place on Friday. Here’s a rundown of the sessions.

309
Math Teachers and Social Media: Professional Collaboration or Support Group?
Raymond Johnson
Jasperwood (Hilton)
8:00 AM-9:00 AM

335
Video Games and Making Math More like Things Student Like
Dan Meyer
Great Hall A/D (Convention Center)
9:30 AM-10:30 AM

402
Keeping It Real: Teaching Math through Real-World Topics
Karim K. Ani
Great Hall B/C (Convention Center)
11:00 AM-12:00 PM

465
The Mathtwitterblogosphere: Creating Your Own Online Professional Learning Communities
Ashli J. Black and Chris Hunter
225/226/227 (Convention Center)
12:30 PM-1:30 PM

495
One of Us: Every Teacher a Blogging Teacher
Kate Nowak
Grade Band Audience: General Interest/All Audiences
2:00 PM-3:00 PM

I’m not exactly sure why mine was left off the list since I think leveraging (using something to maximum advantage) technology is a big part of what Math 2.0 is all about.

Each of the 5 sessions focuses on themes that are significant in a Math 2.0 classroom environment: Social media, video games, real world applications and blogging as a significant new form of professional development.

Of the 653 descriptions of sessions that I read (with this vision of Math 2.0 on my mind) 161 sessions have a technology theme.  That’s almost 21% which is down from a high of 38% at the Philly Annual Meeting in 2012 and 28% in Denver in 2013.

I’ve highlighted 16 that are on my "plan to attend" list. (This list includes my session #398 on Math 2.0 at the Hilton at 11am.)

If you would like to have your session highlighted let me know. I can also add a photo and additional links to your listing.

It’s been a long time since you submitted your proposal and you might want me to add some updates to your session listing on the CLIME conference technology site. Send me an email ihor@clime.org with the updates (your photo, links, etc.) and I will immediately post them to the website.