ACE PIR Days
September 12, 2011 PIR Day
Yong Zhao, author of the book Catching Up or Leading the Way, was the speaker for the September 12, 2011, ACE PIR Day at the Laurel High School.
Yong Zhao speaks around the world on educational issues, particularly on issues related to globalization and education, creativity, global competitiveness, educational reforms, and educational technology. His main messages are:
- Education should focus on developing children's strengths, not "fixing their deficiencies."
- Education is much more than the addition of instruction of course content, especially in a number of limited subjects.
- National standards/standardization have serious negative consequences.
- What makes a nation, a community strong is diversity of talents and creative citizens.
- To succeed in the globalized world, we need to cultivate global competencies.
Learn more about Yong Zhao at his website: Yong Zhao Learning
March 5, 2012 PIR Day
Bill Shesky, Director of Curriculum 21 Projects
Bill Sheskey is the Director of Curriculum 21 Projects for Curriculum Designers Inc. and an independent consultant. He is a lifetime educator with experience as a school district Instructional Technology Specialist, classroom teacher, and athletic coach. Bill designed and facilitates a series of engaging workshops for educators at national, state and local education conferences where participants leave the workshops with interactive tools to engage in the curriculum mapping process. These dynamic experiences for all levels of educators provide hands on experience in the development of authentic assessment strategies, essential question writing, and using Web 2.0 tools to enhance the mapping process. These multimedia and web based applications guide educators in the design of high quality curriculum maps that produce rich and relevant curriculum in all content areas.
Bill is a contributing author in Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacob's book Curriculum 21: An Essential Education for a Changing World. His writing focuses on connecting with today's tech savvy students and engaging them with communication tools that they use in their daily lives.
Bill holds a Master Degree in Instructional Technology and a Specialist Certificate in Online Learning and Distance Education.
Note: Links to Understanding by Design lessons created by participants of the March 7, 2011, PIR Day are available here:
ACE PIR Day Archives
| September 13, 2010 September 12, 2011 September 24, 2012 September 9, 2013 |
March 7, 2011 March 5, 2012 March 4, 2013 March 3, 2014 |
PIR Days Archives
Visit the following link to find information about past ACE PIR Day presentations: 2007-11 PIR Day Archives