IETA 2025

Escape the ordinary at IETA with this one-of-a-kind variety session! This unique interactive session, curated by a seasoned educator, combines a variety show format with a curiosity-driven algorithm your students are attracted to on social media platforms. You will discover prompts, multi-modal tools, and strategies to enhance your teaching and ignite your student's interest. If you want a session palette cleanser, don't miss this opportunity to refresh your teaching toolkit, leave with artifacts to ponder post-IETA, and have fun!

Part of the barrier to innovative assessment practices is often just having the resources in place to facilitate new methods of grading and assessing students. In this blazingly-fast session, participants will be given 25 resources to support innovative assessment practices with an explanation of the purpose and function of each one.

The purpose of this session is to provide an overview of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and platforms for K-12 education. We will discuss the definitions and types of AI for education, identify and review currently available and popular AI tools, and provide a quick reference for teachers. Additionally, we will address ethical concerns such as data privacy and algorithmic biases. The goal of this session is to provide information for teachers to choose specific AI tools for different purposes. The use of AI tools and their associated concerns in the K-12 classroom will also be discussed, encouraging teachers to create more dynamic, inclusive, and effective learning environments while preparing students for the future. This session is connected with a submitted article under review in the AI, Computer Science, and Robotics Technology Journal.

Teaching Computer Science: How I use Project STEM in my classroom and what it can offer. How to use a program that offers coding lessons that are easy to follow and easy to understand. This program is very scaffolded and can be taught / used in a variety of ways. Includes : Scratch, Micro:bit, and Earsketch, python and block coding.

Children are increasingly interacting with resources online, often outside of controlled environments in which teachers can curate, guide, and scaffold how they access information. Developing search literacy skills and effective strategies for locating and utilizing information on the internet has become essential. Each step of the search process (choice of search tool, task definition, query formulation, search result evaluation, etc.) presents specific challenges for children that adults do not often face, so additional scaffolding and support is needed to provide children with the tools they need to become better searchers. In this workshop, we will explore the obstacles encountered by children at each of these steps in the search process and discuss strategies for addressing these aspects across different search tools. We highlight the importance of learning to search and the necessity of providing tools that empower children to determine what is appropriate for them and their unique and individual information needs.

Please join us as we discuss the new AI innovations from Microsoft. We elaborate on how districts are using AI to save teachers and administrators significant time on a weekly and monthly basis. We will also dive into how AI is improving student outcomes.

This presentation explores the critical role of morning meetings in fostering a positive classroom environment. Morning meetings are a foundational practice that sets the tone for respectful and engaged learning, creating a sense of community among students and teachers. We will discuss how these gatherings facilitate the modeling and practice of essential social and emotional skills, enabling students to develop empathy, communication, and collaboration abilities. By merging social, emotional, and academic learning, morning meetings enhance individual growth and promote a cohesive classroom culture. Join us to discover the effective use of technology to create strategies for implementing morning meetings and their profound impact on student relationships and overall classroom dynamics.