SC Midlands Summit Registration and Call for Presenters is open!

The SC Midlands Summit is back for year 2 and we need you to make it happen!

Mark Your Calendars!

June 12-13, 2013

Westwood High School

180 Turkey Farm Road, Blythewood,  SC

Registration is now open for everyone. Go to the SC Midlands Summit page and click on registration for details. 

We are also looking for presenters. Do you have what it takes? Are you trying new technology rich activities with your students that you can share? Do you have ideas on how to make technology professional development meaningful for your faculty and staff? Have you unlocked the key to assessment with technology tools? Are your students flipping over your 'flipped classroom?' If you answered yes to any of these questions and want to share with your fellow educators, submit a proposal today! 

Proposals for session and workshop presentations will be considered for inclusion in the program if they are received by midnight EST on Thursday, February 28, 2013.  Notifications of acceptance or regret will be e-mailed on or before March 28, 2013. The main presenter will receive a complimentary registration (workshop fee excluded).  Apply to present today!  

Have you seen the list of keynote/featured speakers? I think there is a little of something for everyone.

Lodge McCammon
A Specialist in Curriculum and Contemporary Media at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (www.fi.ncsu.edu). His work in education began in 2003 at Wakefield High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he taught Civics and AP Economics.  He finished a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in 2008 where his work at The Friday Institute continues to bring innovative practices to students, teachers and schools.  He developed a teaching and professional development process called FIZZ which encourages and models best practices in implementing user-generated video and online publishing in the classroom to enhance standards-based lessons.  He is also a studio composer who writes standards-based songs, with supporting materials, about advanced curriculum for K-12 classrooms. (https://www.fi.ncsu.edu/project/fizz/about)

Tammy Worcester Tang
Tammy Worcester Tang began her career in the classroom, teaching nearly every grade from kindergarten through middle school. Currently, Tammy works for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Kansas, as an Instructional Technology Specialist, providing staff development and training in the area of technology integration.

Tammy is extremely innovative and resourceful and specializes in finding unique and creative ways to use traditional computer tools in the classroom. She enjoys sharing her ideas with teachers throughout the nation, at conferences and in schools, and has a presentation style that can be described as inspiring.

Her website, “Tammy’s Technology Tips for Teachers” (www.tammyworcester.com) is a popular online resource for teachers around the world. Tammy is also the author of nearly a dozen best-selling technology resource books that are published and marketed nationally.

Greg Tang
A famed author and speaker, Greg’s goal is to to develop a more intuitive approach to teaching math, one that combines problem-solving and arithmetic and integrates math with language and art.

Greg has written a series of best-selling children’s books starting with “The Grapes of Math,” and has developed several award-winning math games and apps including Kakooma.

To see more about Greg, go to http://www.gregtang.com or http://gregtangmath.com.

We will be adding more featured speakers as we get closer to the SC Midlands Summit!

Register today!

App of the Week - The Plague

Description:
Plague Inc. is a unique mix of high strategy and terrifyingly realistic simulation from developer Ndemic Creations. Can you infect the world?  

Your pathogen has just infected 'Patient Zero'. Now you must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself. 

"Brilliantly executed with innovative gameplay and built from the ground up for mobile, Plague Inc. evolves the strategy genre and pushes mobile gaming (and you) to new levels. It’s You vs. the world -only the strongest can survive!" Google Play

iPad: 0.99
Android: Free  (unlock full version in app 0.99)
Chrome: not available

Classroom Use: 
The Plague Inc. will be used by Muller Road Middle students to create a multi-media project that demonstrates the connections between the history of infectious diseases, their impact on the human body, and the application of statistics to the spread/outbreak of infectious diseases.

Just as epidemics infected our world years ago, Plague, Inc. spreads diseases through animals and international travel. This allows the lesson on Epidemics to come to life for the students. They can choose and name a pathogen to infect the world. Students will research 10 different diseases before deciding which one they will use in both the project and the game. Students will use the app parallel to their unit on Epidemics.

Also in Plague, Inc., students have to select a country where the disease will originate. This is a strategic way to begin the game. Students will apply what they are learning in Social Studies about countries around the world. They will need to be familiar with the geography of the country, its demographics, and its climate to recognize how easily the epidemic will grow. 

In Science, students will study the human body. Looking at the major organs and tissues as well as how organs and tissue are infected by each disease. They will also learn about the DNA associated with each epidemic. Plague, Inc. allows the students to collect DNA points and spend them to avoid detection. It also allows the students to create the symptoms of their disease and the strength of it. Just as humans in real life, the people in Plague, Inc. do everything possible to fight the disease by either slowing it down or destroying it. Students will have to be strategic in using their DNA points as they decide how to react to the government’s counter-attack.

Plague, Inc. supplies all the necessary data the students need as they plan their attack on the world. The app shows various types of graphs to describe the number of people infected etc. It uses line graphs, circle graphs, and bar graphs. The students will be creating their own graphs in math class with the data they collect about their epidemic. Plague, Inc. has great examples of how scientists and mathematicians use displays of data to compare what is happening in the world. 

A design team at Muller Road Middle School will be implementing a new unit on Epidemics at the end of February. This team includes Lakeshia Mitchell, Marquis Ardoin, Michelle Mauney and Christy Stokes. 

The team looks forward to the implementation of this unit and how Plague, Inc. will aid the students as they discover the effect of epidemics on the world. Not only do they expect it to be a fun addition to the curriculum, but also expect it to grab the students’ interest and make an impact on their learning!

*Christy Stokes is our guest blogger! Thank you for the information on how students at Muller Road Middle will be using this app!