Will Richardson
Author, Chief Learning Officer, Connective Learning, Flemington, NJ
Will Richardson is an internationally known "evangelist" for the use of Weblogs, RSS and related Internet technologies in classrooms and schools. He is the author of An Educator's Guide to Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Cool Web Tools that are Transforming the Classroom (Corwin Press), and over the past three years has spoken to thousands of educators on the merits of "The Read/Write Web." A classroom teacher for over 20 years, he has integrated these technologies into his
Friday, November 30
curricula for over four years. In various Weblog projects, his students have collaborated with best-selling authors, Pulitzer Prize winning journalists, and with students in classrooms from around the world. One of the first educator bloggers, his own Weblog at http://www.weblogg-ed.com/ has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Times, Syllabus and others, and it is a primary resource for the creation and implementation of Weblog technologies on the K-12 level. His articles have appeared in Educational Leadership, English Journal and Principal Leadership, among others, and he has presented and given workshops about Weblogs and RSS and other technologies at national conventions such as the NECC, ASCD, Journalism Education Association and many others. He is also a featured blogger at Ed Tech Insider (http://www.eschoolnews.com/eti) and is a regular on the bi-weekly "Ed Tech Coast to Coast Podcast" (http://www.edtechcoasttocoast.com).
Saturday, December 1
Marco Torres
Teacher, Educational Technology Director, Media Coach, Sylmar, CA
Marco is a Social Studies teacher, Media Coach, and Educational Technology Director at San Fernando High School in California. He has received numerous honors and awards for his work helping students empower themselves through the mastery of multimedia. He serves as one of Apple’s Distinguished Educators and is an advisory board member of The George Lucas Educational Foundation.
Torres acknowledges that the problems facing educators are huge but not
insurmountable. “We can innovate our way out of our problems.” Torres inspires his students to achieve by providing them with lessons that are meaningful and relevant and through a media they’re most familiar with. That means video, music, and video. Students media projects have focused on gangs, violence, and migration issues. At the end of each semester, Torres showcase the projects in what he call the iCan film festival. Torres set high standards for his students. “I want to blur the line between students and professional, in a lesson, in a week, in a month.” The results are phenomenal. “I have students who can’t read or write English that have made movies that were shown to politicians in Sacramento and have influenced policy,” Torres says.
Cristin Frodella
K-12 Education Outreach, Google
Cristin Frodella heads up the K-12 education efforts at Google, where they've recently launched the Google for Educators site and just conducted the two pilot Google Teacher Academy, hosting more than fifty innovative education leaders from the Bay Area in CA and New York. Cristin has a background in theater but has been working in the interactive space since 1997, and has been at Google since
2001. She's very excited to be able to work on two of her passions - education and technology and looks forward to continue to learn from all of the amazing educators she's been lucky enough to meet.
Keynote Speakers
Vincent Laforet
Internationally Renowned Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographer
Vincent Laforet is a New York-based commercial and editorial photographer who is regularly commissioned to work on a variety of fine art, advertising, corporate editorial projects. His approach to aerial photography has been singled out as one of the most unique and interpretive amongst photographers today.
At the age of 32, his work has been published in most major publications around the world and he has been sent on assignment by Vanity Fair, New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, and Life Magazine. In 2006, Laforet modified his staff position at the New York Times to become the Time’s first national contract photographer. His photographs have been exhibited at the International Center of Photography in New York City, and Visa Pour L’Image in Perpignan.