The 2008 FNO Melbourne Seminar
Monday, 5 May
and Tuesday, 6 May
Join Jamie McKenzie
at the Hawthorne Campus of Swinburne University

NEW CENTURY RESEARCH
How can we best equip the young with the thinking, problem-solving and inquiry skills they will need in this century?

Jamie McKenzie leads the group through the planning needed to transform school research so that students are grappling with demanding questions instead of scooping and smushing heaps of information.


Participants will bring their own wireless laptops as many of the activities will be hands-on.

Venue - The Hawthorne campus of Swinburne University. Download map in PDF.

Detailed outline below.

Register and pay online at http://mckenzieseminar.com/
You can register and pay on line for this conference at
http://mckenzieseminar.com

Schedule of Events
Monday, 5 May, 2008

8:30 AM  - 9:00 AM
Coffee, Tea and Registration

9:00 AM  -  10:30 PM 
Moving from Topical to Essential
Learn how to transform school research from hunting and gathering (topical research) to engage students in quests that demand fresh thought, synthesis and originality. Take students past scooping and smushing. Enlist the entire school staff in the journey of change so that all teachers are asking students to explore demanding questions and make up their own minds about the pressing issues of our times and their lives.

10:30 - 10:50
Morning Tea

10:50 - Noon

Questioning 101
Demanding Questions
Learn practical strategies to blend demanding (but not necessarily essential) questions into daily lessons so that students are engaged in the kinds of powerful strategies employed by proficient readers and thinkers:

• Inferring
• Questioning
• Picturing
• Recalling prior knowledge
• Synthesizing
• Flexing

Training in essential questions sometimes imposes a heavy burden on librarians and teachers. Demanding questions are a much more reasonable expectation to apply to daily lesson planning, as the teacher orchestrates a series of lessons that ultimately help students to "piece together" answers to unit questions over a number of days and weeks.

Noon  -  12:30 PM
Lunch
A light lunch of sandwiches will be served.
.

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM -
Biographies and Character Studies
that Stir Thinking
Learn how to set up biographical studies that require more from students than mere cut-and-paste thinking. Participants will employ mind mapping software and online digital resources to consider the character of one person from history, exploring questions of import. While a full study might require 20-30 hours or more of reading and inquiry, this session will introduce the learning strategies required.

2:00  - 3:00 PM 

Powerful Searching
In this session, Jamie equips teachers with a basic toolkit of search strategies to help them cope with the info-glut that can be so frustrating to them and their students. Learn these ten strategies and you are on your way to information that is pertinent, cogent and worth saving:

  1. Question and draw before you search
  2. Use only the best
  3. Learn the syntax
  4. Learn the features
  5. Start big and broad
  6. Browse before grazing
  7. Go to the source
  8. Be discrete
  9. Cull your findings
  10. Be playful

In addition to good search logic, Jamie will introduce the group to the Deep Internet and resources not easily found with Google and other search engines.
Tuesday, 6 May, 2008

DESIGNING GREAT LESSONS

Note: Participants must bring wireless laptop for lesson construction. Most will leave with five new lessons by the end of the day.

8:00 AM  - 8:30 AM
Coffee, Tea and Registration

8:30 AM  -  10:00 PM 
The NoTime Slam Dunk Digital Lesson
Introduction
Learn how to construct highly demanding lessons in no time at all, combining challenging questions with fertile digital resources. These brief 30-40 minute lessons are meant to slide comfortably into existing units of study where they enhance learning. They are designed to match the busy work life of teachers, allowing lesson development on a Tuesday night for Wednesday morning.

10:00 - 10:20
Morning Tea

10:20 - Noon
The NoTime Slam Dunk Digital Lesson
Creation of Visal Slam Dunk Digital Lessons
Participants will build lessons using paintings, photographs and other visual images requiring interpretation, analysis, synthesis and inference.

Noon  -  12:30 PM
Lunch
A light lunch of sandwiches will be served.

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM The NoTime Slam Dunk Digital Lesson
Creation of Numerical and Text Based Slam Dunk Digital Lessons
Participants will build lessons using data sets, statistics and textg sources such as news articles, poetry and literature.
Costs

Full Conference - $ 250.00 USD ($266 AUD on 3 March)

Early payment and registration (31 March deadline)
$ 220.00 USD

5 May only - Regular price: US $150.00
Sale price: US $125.00

6 May only - Regular price: US $130.00
Sale price: US $110.00

Payment is by credit card or by bank draft in US Dollars mailed to the USA and received prior to April 20. Sales price for payments received no later than 31 March.

Network 609
917 12th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225
USA


Registration cost includes GST and a tax invoice will be emailed to all after payment equating payment to AUD.