Carmel McNaught is RED, Retired and Extremely Dangerous, Keynote speaker. As an educator, "playing in the sandpit is no longer enough." To many times teachers get a new app or find something digitally, then use it in the most basic way. In order to get better results we need to think holistically about a systematic implementation, we need to become digitally literate.

Information is NOT knowledge. There is masses of information at the fingertips of our students, but the roll of educators is to facilitate the relationship of "internet resources" and the students. Smart devices does not make a knowledgable student, there needs to be the switch in education from a "what you know" mentality to "show me what you can do."

I have been blessed to have a teacher training program at the University of Minnesota-Duluth that did not just drive home pedagogy, philosophy and other "information" essential for all teachers to know. It gave opportunities to innovate and challenged me to perfect the process of creation. The education for new teachers needs to change, but that's not the end all. We need to have continued development of our current teachers as well. If we want our students to be innovative and creative, our teachers need to lead by example.

In order to change the current school understanding, we need to change the RESULT, that will lead to changing the process. Changing the result specifically highlights the way we assess. Changing the way things are assessed, will allow students to break out of the constraints of this current boring educational system and develop their OWN education.

A worthwhile pedagogy that will lead to student learning needs to look something like the following. 

iPads bring students personalized learning and allow students to practice skills throughout the many educational apps. It caters to specialized subjects especially Chinese. 

If you don't know, the Chinese written language is very specific which makes it difficult to master. Certain strokes need to be done at specific times. After talking to a Chinese IB teacher, we brainstormed a way to use the @Educreation app to not only video record strokes, but also record the student talk through their thought process. A great thought about how we are redefining the assessment process for writing. This could be manipulated for younger ages to copy the alphabet and practice other words. Simply upload a photo of what you want the student to copy and then let them copy and practice whilst recording. 

That is about it for this one. Interesting non the less.

After sitting through a morning session with a couple of Aussies, I was able to walk away with some great video resources that can help integrate video into the classroom. These two come from a school where they have been 1:1 laptops for 20 years. 

Shared from the conference, here is another link to 197 Video Resources. They are listed by subject area to make things a little bit easier. Below were some of my favorites. Video resources are a great way to engage students and give them another voice to learn. 

After a short conversation with Ana Parra who is currently teaching IB Spanish in Thailand, we had some trouble finding videos specifically on the Spanish language. Regardless, we stumbled across something she could use with her higher level learners. If you ever go to a TED Talks video, on the bottom right you can TRANSLATE the video. We talked about having students find a subject they are interested in, watch the video and then translate from English to Spanish. They can check their translation afterwords to see how close they are to a professional translator. Just one way to engage and challenge some students. 

Many people are wondering, "where do I start when flipping my classroom?" "What are some qualities of a video?" "What's going to be engaging for your students?" Have a look at this man, Jon Bergmann, who has some great insight when it comes to answer the previous questions. Here is his website, have a look and begging the flip!

Here is a really cool video that is show science experiments in only 6 seconds. By having the students create a video and display their knowledge in 6 seconds allows educators to get a very thought out response. Gareth from Hong Kong and I talked about how students could make a vine video as an EXIT TICKET and post it to a @Twitter #hashtag. Imagine twenty 6 second responses about your lesson posted to #SubtractionWithMrX.

As I continue to get ready for the 21CLHK conference I keep thinking about what I can do to prepare myself and the participants for a great experience. The reason teachers go to conferences like this are for professional development and at this point in my career, I am excited to share some of my best practices with some future colleagues. 

I think the international teacher is a special bread of person. Their mindsets are always geared towards learning new pedagogy, exploring new technology and increasing their own educational IQ. Quite honestly it is an intimidating position, to be standing up in front of these types of people and giving them something walk away with after the conference lights dim.

I have put a lot of time already and will continue to go over my presentation about the use of @Edmodo in the classroom. Here is a little video a colleague and I made showing just how dynamic you can make the learning environment by using Edmodo as an assessment tool. Thanks Dr. Cody Gifford for the use of your classroom. 

To all of those that are planing on coming to the @21cli conference, see you in Hong Kong!