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== = = = = =**Another fantastic WOW Conference is over! What a great learning experience for all of us thanks to the hard work, talent and organizational ability of our Conference Chair, Dr. Ruth Catalano and her excellent team of volunteers!**=

We couldn’t have done it without you. Amanda Hughens, Ann Lumm, Barbara Baum, Cathy Poplin, Diana Smith, Dr. Alice Christie, Dr. Chris Johnson, Dr. Helen Padgett, Dr. Keith Wetzel, Dr. Peggy George, Dr. Seu Hee Kim, Gary Lewallen, Jacque Nelson, Jan Irvin, Judith Romero, Kim Thomas, Priscilla Lundberg, Laurie King, Melissa Frey, Nan Williams, Rosalinda Escandon, Shawn Wheeler, Girl Scout Troop 303, Lorena Cardena and Passionate Amukamara (5th Grade Glenn Burton Elementary)
 * WOW Conference Volunteers**


 * Special thanks to CCS for sponsoring Friday night’s Administrators’ Dinner with Dr. Tyson.** Dr. Tyson provided a special workshop for invited administrator and educational technology leaders. We truly appreciate the extra support.

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9dc5025f60ee6f5cb429 media type="custom" key="732465"**
 * Enjoy some of the photo memories from the slideshow created by Dr. Seu Hee Kim and her 5th grade students!

=**7th Annual Way Out West (WOW) Technology Conference**= Saturday, May 3, 2008 Arizona State University at the West Campus Part Three of a Three-Part Series, 2007-2008 Teaching and Learning on a Small Planet: Transforming Classrooms Dr. Tim Tyson, Keynote AzTEA’s yearlong conference series provides sustained, on-going professional development based on NCLB. Sponsored by: Westside Chapter of AzTEA Arizona Department of Education
 * Students in the Global Village

Final Reflections from Dr. Tim Tyson media type="google" key="-3005393075698319480&hl=en" width="400" height="326"

WOW Final Program

WOW Scavenger Hunt ** This scavenger hunt was created to encourage conference participants to expan their personal learning networks by collecting the initials of people listed on the form and turning it in at the closing for a chance to win an AzTEA 1GB flash drive.

7th Annual Way WOW Conference
7:00 - 8:15 am Registration: Foyer Breakfast/Music in La Sala 8:15 - 9:45 am Welcome, Web Awards and Keynote Address: La Sala 9:45 - 10:15 am Partner Booths: Foyer and La Sala C Concurrent Sessions 10:30 - 11:20 am Breakout Session 1: CLCC, Sands and CCS Lab 11:35 am-12:25 pm Breakout Session 2: CLCC, Sands and CCS Lab 12:25 - 1:15 pm Lunch Buffet and Partner Booths: UCB 1:15 - 2:05 pm Breakout Session 3: CLCC, Sands and CCS Lab 2:20 - 3:10 pm Breakout Session 4: CLCC, Sands and CCS Lab 3:20 - 4:00 pm Breakout Session 5: CLCC, Sands and CCS Lab 4:10 - 4:30 pm Closing remarks from Dr. Tyson, slide show and door prizes: La Sala Attendees will receive an e-mail requesting that they complete a SurveyMonkey survey. We appreciate your comments and suggestions which will help us prepare for future conferences. Link by email, but listed here “just in case”. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=zqcoAvj3M_2fAyYwYRHSYT8A_3d_3d Four hour (4) at lunch and eight hour (8) at the last session or at the registration desk at closing.
 * WOW Conference Evaluation**
 * Professional Development Credits Certificates**

**Sessions by Dr. Tim Tyson at WOW on Saturday, May 3**
Digital natives are living with podcasting, YouTube, TeacherTube, Flickr, Zoomr, RSS, the Social Web, mp3 players, FaceBook, My Space, Blogger, Twitter, Tweet, Skypecasting, Slideshare, photocasting, Second Life, online gaming, (the list could go on and on), and every other "new" and exciting Web 2.0 technology that was "just announced today." But the reality of school is that we work, teach, and learn in the Age of Accountability. This presentation will reflect on the continuous partial attention of the students in what is now becoming a hyper connected classroom. What is the teacher to do?! Dr. Tyson will explore learning beyond minimum standards but within the grasp of limited resources.
 * Keynote: The Hyper-Connected Student in the Accountability-Driven Classroom 8:15-9:45am La Sala**

Administrators - Conversation with the Keynote Speaker** Administrators, here's your chance to get "up close and personal" with Dr. Tyson in an informal conversation breakout. You will have the opportunity to interact, ask questions and get a better picture of the "real story".
 * Breakout Session One: 10:30-11:20am Kiva

• Teaching in the Hyper-Connected Classroom** OK, you know how to create a podcast. You know how to blog. You know what an RSS feed is and have your own Bloglines and del.icio.us accounts. You can even make movies. So, now what? In this session Dr. Tyson deconstructs the hyper-connected classroom in a quest for practical practice. This presentation reverse engineers the "classroom on the grid" from an educator's perspective with a focus on understanding by design, essential questions, and curriculum performance standards. In an effort to "put it all together" this presentation takes apart several high performing classrooms.
 * Breakout Session Three: 1:15-2:05pm Kiva

• Is It Time to Upgrade: Making the Case for Change** This session explores some of the unprecedented changes that have taken place in the last 100 years, including the role of children and the nature of childhood, the transition from an agricultural society to an industrial society to the information age, and the impact of globalization on our lives. With the ever increasing pace of change, how do we prepare our students not to just be competitive in the job market they will face, but to lead and shape the future? Dr. Tyson makes the case for creating a educational framework that strives to make learning irresistible within this context. Can today's children make our world a better place? This is a repeat of Dr. Tyson's keynote address at the Peak Performance Conference.
 * Breakout Session Four: 2:20-3:10pm Kiva


 * 4:10 - 4:30 pm Closing remarks from Dr. Tyson, slide show and door prizes: La Sala

About Dr. Tyson and His Work** Called the “Pied Piper of Educational Technology” by The School Library Journal, Tim has worked in the field of education for nearly 30 years as a teacher (on the middle school, high school, and college levels) and an administrator. He served the students in the Cobb County School District for about 20 years, where, before his retirement, he was the principal of Mabry Middle School. He was named one of Georgia’s High Performance Principals by Governor Sonny Purdue.
 * Website: http://drtimtyson.com**

Tim has a passion for meaningful, authentic student engagement, and technology is seen as a centerpiece for irresistible academic achievement through creative, global, project-based learning activities. He has now turned his attention to supporting the profession on a national and international level by sharing his passion and practical expertise for integrating technology into the entire school plan—a proven vision that works.

Dr. Tyson served as the principal of Mabry Middle School in Cobb County School District for six years, and one of the best sources of information about that work experience is MabryOnline.org, the school web presence from August, 2005, until June, 2007. Tim developed the site, which served up over 1.5 million files each month (a total of nearly 375 gigabytes of data in the first two years), and averaged almost 6,000 requests per day!

The site, now archived as an example of best practices, was self-sustaining and kept active by every staff member. MabryOnline.org is really a collection of about 100 blogs that include podcasts, video, pdfs of class work on the interactive whiteboards, homework assignments, review activities, learning extension activities, etc.

In 2001 Tim created the Annual Mabry Film Festival, which is nothing short of the Oscars for education—red carpet, lights in the sky, pre-parties, tuxes and gowns, but above all: students wildly excited about the world premier of their school work. The festival has attained international recognition, even from people in the industry. The George Lucas Foundation’s Magazine, Edutopia, said that Mabry’s Film Festival is “like the Oscars but not lame.” All of the movies from the 2006 and 2007 film festivals are online and on the iTunes store. You will be amazed that 11, 12 and 13 year old children produced this exemplary, deeply-moving work. But don't just read about it. Experience it!

The program director of Georgia Public Broadcasting, Patrice Weaver, said, “This is as good as anything I've ever seen.” In fact, she said that the movie on human embryonic stem cell research was better than most of the things she has aired on TV!

In April, 2006, Leslie Connery, Deputy CEO and Conference Chair for ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) referred to Dr. Tyson’s work at Mabry as "a national treasure." He was invited to be the closing keynote speaker for NECC in June of 2007.

As a result of Mabry’s enormous web presence, Mabry has welcomed hundreds of visitors from around the USA. In fact, having seen the students' work online, visitors have even come from around the world to visit the school to see how teachers and students leverage technology to achieve his vision for students and teachers: learn, create, connect, and contribute.

Under Tim's leadership Mabry was awarded the prestigious School’s of Distinction Award for Technology Innovation from Intel Corporation and Scholastic.

Georgia Public Broadcasting has produced a special TV program aired around the state that features Mabry’s amazing technology innovations.

Invited to Washington, DC, by the US Department of Education’s Office of Instructional Technology, Tim has participated in a think tank to develop a strategic plan and resources for principals to advance America’s public school’s implementation of creative, engaging, technology-based instructional practice in the nation’s classrooms.

Dr. Tyson routinely teaches students, parents, teachers, curriculum specialists, and administrators empowering ways to use technology with an emphasis on making the classroom transparent and making our world a better place. He can often be heard saying “If using these tools isn’t fun and empowering, then I have accomplished my personal goal for you!” He has been quoted in USAToday and quoted or featured in a variety of professional magazines and journals.

His passion is unmistakable, and his goal in every keynote address and workshop is the same: to empower people by making learning irresistible.

=Innovation Award Winners 2008= Technology Teacher of the Year** Robert Walling Amphitheater Unified District
 * Technology Rookie of the Year Allison Fazio Murphy Elementary District
 * Technology Specialist of the Year** Cherie Stafford Paradise Valley Unified District
 * Technology Coordinator of the Year** Gina Pinch Maricopa Unified School District
 * Technology Support Person of the Year** Wayne Gritis Vail Unified District
 * Librarian of the Year** Beth Malapanes Amphitheater Unified District
 * Administrator of the Year** Frank Garcia Principal South Beaver Elementary Flagstaff Unified School District
 * Friend of Educational Technology** Erik Hanson Troxell Communication

Will Dunham- **CCS** Chris Niemeyer- **Learning.com** Erik Hanson-**Troxell Communications** Kathy Wiebke- **Arizona K-12 Center**
 * Corporate Partners**--**Special Thanks for “Over and Above”**
 * Non-Profit Partner:**

This award is to honor AzTEA’s board members enduring contributions and leadership to Arizona educators. We were pleased to announce two awards for 2007-2008
 * Leadership Award**
 * Melissa Frey** Consultant, 21st Century Literacy
 * Dr. Peggy George** Retired Educator, Lifelong Learner

Please check the planning website and share with everyone you know. Thanks Ruth [| AzTEA Tri Flyer.pdf]
 * AzTEA Tri-Conference Update and Flyer**

Site: WOW Planning Committee Page: General File Library Category: Publicity Owner: Ruth Catalano Status: Final

Notes: Please share with everyone you know. Posted in the library section of the WOW planning URL.

Link to file: http://grovesite.com/files/sites/549/2732/34893/AzTEA%20Tri%20Flyer.jpg

Access the site: http://grovesite.com/page.asp?o=aztea&s=WOW&p=2490


 * || **AzTEA '07-'08 Conference Series** ||  ||
 * Teaching and Learning on a Small Planet: Transforming Classrooms.**
 * Keynote: Dr. Tim Tyson** [|(http://mabryonline.org/blogs/tyson/ (from the Desk of)]

Dr. Tim Tyson's NECC 2007 Closing Keynote Speech (podcast) http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/06/28/podcast164-dr-tim-tysons-necc-2007-closing-keynote/

This is a podcast recording of the closing keynote at NECC 2007 in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference description of the session was: Dr. Tim Tyson, principal of Mabry Middle School, has been called “the Pied Piper of Educational Technology” by the School Library Journal … and we agree! Sticking with our keynote theme on creativity and innovation, Tim wraps up NECC with concrete examples of how the creative process can enliven teaching and learning while investing community in student success. Tim will discuss how Mabry, in just over five years, has made learning irresistible by closing the gap between content and meaningfulness in the classroom. Students are both content-creators and standard-setting, world-wide publishers of digital media. Through MabryOnline.org, which serves up over 1.5 million files a month, and the iTunes store, digital media content created by Mabry students, teachers, and administrators is shared with viewers all over the world. Each May, Mabry students participate in the annual Mabry Film Festival, an “Oscar-like” gala celebration of the digital academic content they have created that attracts attendees from all over Atlanta. Students Josh Schwarz and Tia Riedlinger join Tim in this inspirational, can-do story of how technology, innovation, and creativity are transforming how an entire community thinks about the role of education in preparing students for the 21st century.

• **Technology Fair** (Eastside Chapter co-sponsor) .... 10/6/2007 .... ASU Polytechnic Campus (East) • **Peak Performance** (Flagstaff Northern Arizona Chapter) .... 11/3/2007 .... Northern Arizona University • **Teaching & Technology** (Tucson Southern Chapter) .... 1/26/2008 .... Pueblo High School • **WOW Way-Out-West** (Westside Chapter) .... 5/3/2008 .... ASU at the West Campus [|Click here] to submit a proposal to present (after Sept. 7, 2007) As a professional organization we firmly believe that sharing expertise and experience is valuable not only to the participants, but to the presenter. Each of the three conferences (individual committees) has established guidelines for acceptance and closing of proposals. This is based on rooms, knowledge of our various demographics and equipment. All proposals are submitted through one database, and a proposal may be submitted for one or all three conferences. Our data, however, shows that the same presentation or workshop will experience declining attendance as it is repeated. Further, we strongly discourage more than 3 people as presenters at a time unless there are very special circumstances. Finally, this year for economics purposes all presenters will not only need to register (BEFORE a final acceptance) but pay to attend. We apologize for the inconvenience, but believe it is essential for an all volunteer organization to be able to provide the quality of program we have established as a standard. • Peak - Closes Oct 15 • Teaching and Technology - Closes Dec 13 • WOW - Closes April 5
 * [[image:http://www.aztea.org/images/red_title_l.gif width="20" height="22" caption="external image red_title_l.gif"]] || **Call for Presenters** || [[image:http://www.aztea.org/images/red_title_r.gif width="20" height="22" caption="external image red_title_r.gif"]] ||
 * Presentation proposals will be accepted beginning Sept. 7, 2007.**

Help us spread the word about the Tri-Conference Series!
All of this information, as well as details of each conference, is now available on the [|AzTEA] website. You can download a PDF of the flyer to either email and/or print and distribute to invite and encourage people to attend. Our target date for registration to open is Sept. 7. In addition to registering for 1, 2, or 3 conferences at the set cost, the following registration options will be available:

Sign up as a school team to take advantage of the special pricing for a team of 4 teachers from the same school - 4 for $400. Register for all three conferences for $100 per person. Administrators - Be one of the first 30 administrators to register for a conference to receive a free registration! All registrations include program, breakfast, lunch and appropriate resource materials. Conference registration no longer includes the annual AzTEA membership. If you are not a current member, you can pay the $35 membership fee and then pay the member pricing for the conference. Credit cards accepted. Payment is due at the time of registration.
 * **Prices** || **Member** || **Non-Member** ||
 * **3 conferences** || $125 || $125 + $35 Membership* ||
 * **2 conferences** || $80 || $80 + $35 Membership* ||
 * **1 conference** || $50 || $50 + $35 Membership* ||
 * Includes membership for the 2007-08 school year