Upcoming Opening Minds Conference in Chicago

     If you happen to be in the Chicago area at the end of January (It's likely because you chose to live in the area - not the height of tourist season for sure!), The Chicago Metro Association for the Education of Young Children is hosting their annual conference at McCormick Place January 31-February 1, 2014.  Gail Conway and her crew always stage a quality conference.  I will be presenting a half day session on technology use with young children on Thursday morning with Tracey Conners from the great state of Wis-Connnn-sin (pronounced like Discount Daaable-check)  Tracey is a principal and has some great ideas about how to use iPads in schools.  Me?  I'll be tapping into the collective genius of the audience to once and for all settle the question, "How should we be using technology with our youngest learners?"  Hope to see you there.

Here is the link to the conference if you are interested in learning more, and hopefully attending:

http://www.chicagometroaeyc.org/opening-minds

The State of the APP Market

There's nothing like a professional conference to get you re-energized.  I just returned to the East Coast after presenting at the NAEYC Conference in Chicago.  What a great organization they have out there in the Chicago Metro Area. Hats off to Gail Conway and Brian Puerling for their roles in organizing the event.  I would highly recommend attending anything they put together in the future.  As part of my presentation in Chicago, I included a recently published article (January 2012) from the Sesame Street Cooney Center which examined the content of the education category of the ITunes Store.  It makes for a most interesting read. The thing that struck me the most was how many app developers are targeting preschoolers and toddlers.  There is so much work that needs to be done in order to identify the most effective ways to use mobile technology with our youngest students.  I'll be sharing my thinking about technology and early childhood education in upcoming posts.  For now, check out the article below:

http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/upload_kits/ilearnii.pdf