Aaron Slutsky to become a Google Certified Teacher

We are pleased to announce that Google has selected Aaron Slutsky as an attendee at the next Google Teacher Academy, to be held in Seattle, Washington on July 28, 2011.  Aaron is currently the Director of Technology for McDowell County Schools and serves on the NCTIES board of directors.

Aaron was also invited to be part of the inaugural class at the first YouTube Teacher's Studio.  Applications for the YouTube Teacher's Studio were only open to the 50 attending Google Teacher Academy and just 15 were invited to attend.  This workshop will occur the day before the Google Teacher.  Google believes that this program has the potential to spark a transformation in the way teachers connect with students, both in the classroom and outside.

I am very excited to attend both the Google Teacher Academy and the YouTube Teacher's Studio.  I hope to share what I learn at the 2012 NCTIES Conference. ~Aaron Slutsky

The Google Teacher Academy is a free professional development experience designed to help K-12 educational leaders get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's products and technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, and receive resources to share with colleagues. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local regions and beyond.

Google Certified Teachers are exceptional K-12 educators with a passion for using innovative tools to improve teaching and learning, as well as creative leaders and ambassadors for change. They are recognized experts and widely admired for their commitment to high expectations for students, life-long learning and collaboration.

The Google Certified Teacher program was launched in 2006 with the first Academy held at Google headquarters in Mountain View. The program has since held several academies around the globe, expanding the ranks of Google Certified Teachers. The Google Teacher Academy is produced by Google, in collaboration with CUE and WestEd, both educational non-profit organizations.

You can follow Aaron on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/aslutsky or circle him on Google + http://gplus.to/aslutsky

You can follow NCTIES on twitter at http://twitter.com/ncties

2011 Amended By-laws and Constitution

On behalf of our NCTIES board members, we have been working to review and make changes to our current bylaws. At our summer retreat, we passed a motion to send our proposed amended bylaws and constitution to our membership for a vote.

Current bylaws are in black
Deletions are represented with a strike through
Proposed changes are in red
(Click here to see our proposed amended bylaws and constitution)

Reason for amending the NCTIES Constitution and By-laws is...
to ensure representation for all areas of our state.

The NCTIES board currently has one regional director from each of the NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Instructional Technology regions defined in 2006 plus two at-large directors. In 2011, the NCDPI Instructional Technology division redefined state regions. Over the years, NCTIES has aligned our regions to match changes made by NCDPI in the instructional regions. The proposed change to our by-laws will more closely align the NCTIES board to the NC State Board of Education (NCSBE) education districts. Future changes to the NCTIES board will be made as there are changes made to the NCSBE education districts.

Reason for amending the "Standing and Other Committees" in the NCTIES By-Laws is...
to the align NCTIES awards with ISTE awards listed below:
SIGMS - Media Specialist Technology Innovation Award
ISTE Outstanding Teacher
ISTE Outstanding Leader
Making IT Happen


As required by our bylaws, all proposed bylaws and constitution amendments are scheduled for a 30 day posting period (July 16 - August 16) , after which they will be put to a vote (August 16 - 19) by our membership via a separate e-mail that will be sent August 16.

Sincerely,

2011-12
NCTIES Board Members

The Mooresville Technology Revolution

Three years ago, the Mooresville Graded School District began providing laptops to every student in grades 4-12. This made MGSD one of the only entirely digital districts in the US. John Tulenko and producer Audrey Baker of Learning Matters explored their work on a segment that aired on the PBS NewsHour for April 8, 2011.

Additionally, Mooresville's Superintendent, Dr. Mark Edwards, and their CTO, Dr. Scott Smith, were interviewed by the SAS Institute on the importance of creating a data-driven culture.

The interviews can be viewed here.

Dr. Scott Smith is on the Board of Directors for NCTIES.

Is your district doing something great? Please share it with NCTIES.

NCTIES 2011 - Sharing Our Learning

If your like me, NCTIES is one of the highlights of my year. Seeing old friends, learning new tools and sharing ideas is so much fun, but it goes by so quickly and I always feel that I missed out on some great sessions!

This year we wanted to continue our NCTIES conference experience with a sharing session webinar. The webinar will take place on Wednesday, March 16 @ 7:30pm. During this webinar we invite you to share the favorite things that YOU learned at the 2011 NCTIES Conference.

If you missed the conference we would love to have you join us to learn from other teachers who attended!

To access the Elluminate session, simply GO directly to this url:
http://bit.ly/fJHCxQ

First time Elluminate user? Follow these friendly directions to set up:
http://www.elluminate.com/Support/?id=62/

We look forward to seeing you Wednesday night!