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Monica Kissel and Adina Popa from Loudoun County Public Schools, both Innovative Educators of the Year, will discuss kinesthetic learning. Sponsored by the Innovations Committee. How do we engage our 21st Century students? How do we help them understand that the material covered in class is relevant to their lives? In his book "Motivating Students to Learn," Jere Brophy suggests that students learn best when they are actively engaged with the content. Through kinesthetic learning, they develop lasting skills that many times translate into higher levels of student achievement. But how does kinesthetic learning look in a 21st Century classroom? The answer is simple: gesture-based learning. Does this initiative belong to the future? Not according to the 2011 Horizon Report which highlights Gesture-Based Computing as one of the six emerging technologies that will likely enter mainstream use within the next four to five years. The purpose of this session is to identify current technologies that employ gesture recognition, and then present innovative and replicable ways through which these technologies have been used at Steuart Weller Elementary. From turning shy students into persuasive public speakers through Avatar Kinect, to opening a world of possibilities to students with special needs though Kinect Adventures, to saving animal species with partner classrooms across the globe using multiple technologies, to exergaming, children have been immersed in a world of learning that they love. Attendees learn not only what relevant technologies are available, but also how to use these technologies in any curriculum area

"Loudoun County Public Library now offers customers access to Beanstack, an online portal that provides free personalized recommendations of children's books and apps. The new, online service is free to all customers with an LCPL library card. Customers can sign up here and use Beanstack from their home computer, mobile device, or in any of the Library's branch locations.   Beanstack is an innovative new way to connect children and their families with books and educational apps that match each child's interests, age and reading level."

Innovative ways to present books and literature.

EdReach provides a platform for passionate, outspoken educators- aiming to strengthen their voices by highlighting innovation in the field of education, through reporting critical educational news, providing commentary, and offering criticism of the educational issues of the day.

"Excel 2010 is a spreadsheet application in the Microsoft 2010 Office Suite. Excel allows you to store, manipulate, and analyze data in organized workbooks for home and business tasks. New innovations in Excel 2010 include the enhanced data viewing features of Sparklines and Slicers."

"Recognizing that CVI is the leading cause of visual impairment among children and cognizant of the need for highly qualified interventionists, four state deaf-blind projects embarked on a ten-year collaboration known as the "Cortical Visual Impairment Community of Practice". The Deaf-Blind Projects from Delaware, Maryland, Vermont, and West Virginia developed and implemented an innovative and successful professional development program which trained an interdisciplinary team of "CVI Mentors""

A candid interview with John Medina. Very interesting!

Learn anything, anytime, anywhere. iTunes U - a powerful distribution system for everything from lectures to language lessons, films to labs, audiobooks to tours - is an innovative way to get educational content into the hands of students.

This site highlights the employment successes of people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) who are working in paid jobs in their communities. Through the use of innovative, front-line employment support practices, these individuals are earning money, forming networks, and contributing to their communities. Learn more about these people and the promising practices that led to their success. 

"The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas: astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, new ways to think and create. Based on Talks given by riveting speakers on the world-renowned TED stage, each show is centered on a common theme - such as the source of happiness, crowd-sourcing innovation, power shifts, or inexplicable connections. The TED Radio Hour is hosted by Guy Raz, and is a co-production of NPR & TED. Follow the show @TEDRadioHour."

Episode #46 features another excerpt from the presentation for the Individual Differences in Learning Association in Howard County, Maryland. This excerpt describes WordTalk; a free text-to-speech plug-in for Microsoft Word. The episode features a bumper from Karen Janowski who is an assistive technology consultant, an assistive technology specialist for a school district in Massachusetts, adjunct faculty member at Simmons College, and school board member in her town. She is also one of the innovators behind the UDLTechToolKit wiki, which contains a plethora of resources useful for differentiating instruction.

"Newsela is an innovative way to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that's always relevant: daily news. It's easy and amazing. Register now to see the impact Newsela can have on your classroom."

The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity serves as a nexus for research on dyslexia, and is as well a leading source of advocacy and information to better the lives of people with dyslexia. Our mission is to uncover and illuminate the strengths of those with dyslexia, disseminate the latest innovations from scientific research and practical advice, and transform the treatment of children and adults with dyslexia.

Reading Bear, a project of WatchKnowLearn.org, is the first free program online to teach beginning readers vocabulary and concepts while systematically introducing all the main phonetic patterns of written English, all using innovative rich media. We spent an enormous amount of time developing 50 presentations, covering even more phonics principles and illustrating over 1,200 vocabulary items. There is nothing else like it, free or otherwise.

As a professional, you are in charge of your own learning. Edchat Interactive is live peer‐to‐peer video sharing best practices in education. The webinars are hosted by innovators working to transform outcomes through sharing their knowledge and techniques. Find, access, and engage in the archive to locate topics pertinent to your practice!

TEDxAshburn talk by Christopher Bugaj