6th Annual Preschool-Kindergarten Summit: Reimagining Connections in Early Learning: Innovation & Tech Expo Collaboration

Tuesday, August 11, 2020
9:00 AM 3:45 PM 09:00 15:45

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SESSION 3: The Alliance for Early Childhood’s Innovation & Tech Expo Collaboration

Session #1- 9:00-9:45AM CDT

Zooming from the Clean Corner of Your House: Teaching and Innovating While Imperfect, Molly Pope

There were A LOT of hurdles to get over these past couple months of e-learning. It’s one thing to try something new in your classroom and quite another to try MANY new things in front of a stressed, captive audience! Come learn how to unlock your calm teacher confidence in this challenging time. Leave ready to embrace the possibilities, try something out, and “put something silly in the world that ain’t been there before.”

Molly Pope has been working with early childhood and elementary age children for over 15 years as a school psychologist. Using a neurodevelopmental relationship-based approach, she works with teachers, parents, and administrators to help build connected relationships and supportive learning environments for children. She currently provides mental health consultation to preschools and child care settings, as well as parent coaching and education. Her work is guided by the “Diversity-Informed Tenets for Work with Infants, Children, and Families”, which emphasize inclusion, equity and diversity in all settings. She lives in Evanston with her husband, two sons, and pets.

Session #2- 10:00-10:45AM CDT

Maintaining an In-Person Connection Through Interactive Distance Learning, Serena Murison (Pediatric Speech Language Pathologist)

I am a pediatric speech language pathologist who was thrust into a new and foreign distance learning platform during COVID 19. Over the past three months, I have found the key elements to achieving genuine connection online with students and families. My goal is to demonstrate and coach educators on achieving the highest quality distance learning possible through an innovative approach using a green screen and various other tools.

Serena Murison is a bilingual pediatric speech language pathologist working a wide range of clients, from early intervention clients to school age. She specializes in working with children on the autism spectrum. She is the administrator of a rapidly growing online group of over 6,000 educators who are engaging in Green Screen Distance Learning. Visit her YouTube channel, Green Screen Speech Therapy.

Session #3- 11:00-11:45AM CDT

Introduction to Seesaw- A Digital Portfolio and Communication Tool, Taylor Duckman

Seesaw is a platform for student engagement that inspires students of all ages to do their best and saves teachers time! Students use creative tools to take pictures, draw, record videos and more to capture learning in a portfolio. Teachers can also find or create activities to share with students. This session will cover how to use Seesaw as a digital portfolio, and how to use it to connect with parents. It will also touch on how to teach students to use it independently. Lastly, I will discuss how to use it to assign activities for remote learning or classroom use.

Taylor Duckman is a kindergarten teacher at Indian Trail school in North Shore School District 112. She has taught kindergarten for five years and believes in incorporating play and hands on experiences into learning as much as possible. She has used Seesaw for five years and absolutely loves it and uses it to document student work and communicate with parents. She has found that students are able to independently upload their own work onto their iPads which has been really powerful. During remote learning this Spring, she used Seesaw exclusively to assign home learning activities and found it to be very easy and user-friendly for teachers, parents, and students.

Session #4- 1:00-1:45 PM CDT

Together, On The Screen, Stacy Buehler & Nichola Roberts-Jones

Tried and true techniques to spruce up your online classroom community. Educators will come away with an eLearning toolkit to promote engagement and play in young children. We address four areas of learning: Music, Movement, Yoga and synchronous learning activities. Participants will learn songs and fingerplays that encourage participation and playfulness. We will share synchronous learning activities that were successful during our time in online learning. As wellness and mindfulness are paramount in these challenging times, educators will learn yoga techniques, such as breathwork, movement and meditation.

Stacy Buehler has worked as a preschool teacher in a multi-age classroom at Baker Demonstration School for the past 14 years. She is passionate about the role of music in the classroom. It teaches unity, empathy and understanding on an emotional level. Stacy is an accomplished artist, with three decades of studio experience and has previously created music for the Disney English curriculum and McGraw Hill Publishing Company. She has also created children's musical content for Old Town School of Folk Music's Wiggleworms program and Baker Demonstration School.

Nichola Roberts-Jones moved to Chicago from Knutsford, Cheshire, UK eight years ago with her husband and two children. Nichola was drawn to early childhood education as she was intrigued by how children learn through play. Seeing children engage and interact with their peers and the world around them while developing their social and interpersonal skills brings great delight to Nichola. She currently works in Pre-K at Baker Demonstration school and is the Summer Camp Art Teacher at North Shore Country Day School. Nichola utilizes yoga instruction and principles of mindfulness and meditation in her classroom. It brings her so much joy to share her passions with her school community.

Session #5- 2:00-2:45 PM CDT

How to Recreate Your classroom Circle Time into an Interactive Zoom Circle Time, Debbie Yakoubek

Create an interactive Zoom Circle time for your students with the use of various materials. Puppets, story and song props, interactive flannel board stories and finger plays, and interactive games. Continue the same structure of your classroom circle time by using the same good morning song and classroom jobs on Zoom. Have a form of show and tell each day. For example, come to circle time in your favorite pjs.

Debbie Yakoubek holds a Bachelor's in Elementary Education and a Masters Degree in Early Childhood Education. She has taught kindergarten for seven years and three year old preschool for the past thirteen years. She believes in order to successfully teach young children remotely, we need to be engaged with them each day and provide a platform where they can be active participants. Debbie has five children of her own.

Session #6- 3:00-3:45 PM CDT

Documenting Learning Through Digital Photography and Video, Molly Dolkart

During the Early Childhood years children do not yet possess verbal and cognitive skills which would allow them to reflect upon and communicate what they know verbally. Teachers, parents, and caregivers are witnesses to their learning through our senses, much like youngsters are witnessing the world they are so curious about. Documenting learning through the use of digital imaging can be a powerful way to begin the reflective process with students by mirroring back to them what we see. In a disrupted learning environment it also has the potential to provide continuity to documenting student growth if educators use it as a tool to engage families to document learning at home.

Molly studied Photography at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned an MEd in Early Childhood Education at DePaul University. She currently teaches toddler 2’s at The Goddard School in Skokie and am Board Chair for The Winnetka Youth Organization. She is passionate about sustainability, and supporting organizations that guide children and teens during developmental stages where they are forming their identity. She has found that it is crucial to simultaneously cultivate youth leadership while also developing community valuation and understanding of what youth have to offer our society. She currently lives in Winnetka with her son, who attends the same elementary school that she did at his age; her family has lived in the same community for over thirty years.

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