February 13, 2014 - In This Issue:
UPCOMING EVENTS
February 15, 2014

Proposal Deadline ICE COLD Mini-Conference
February 24, 2014

February 25-28, 2014

ICE Annual Meeting @ICE 2014
February 28, 2014

March 12, 2014

March 15, 2014

March 22, 2014

ICE CHIP Spring Mini-Conference
March 29, 2014


CORPORATE PARTNERS

Rolling Snowballs Downhill: A Metaphor for Creating Cultural Change

Dave Burgess

If you want to make a giant snowball, the worst thing you can do is to try to reach down and grab all of the snow at once. You 'll lose most of it as you lift it and the rest will fall apart. A far better approach is to grab a manageable handful and then shape it and compact it into a nice solid ball. You add a little a more around the edges and then set it on the ground and roll it. If you're lucky enough to be by a hill, you can roll it down and the momentum will build. The hardest part is overcoming inertia and getting it rolling in the first place, so that's why it's best to start it rolling while it's still small. It doesn't matter that it started small because it will gather and pick up snow as it makes its way down the hill.

The best way to make a giant snowball is also the most effective way to change the culture of your school or district. Cultural change isn't something that is announced from the podium or simply declared in a vision statement. The leader who tries to just single-handedly lift his staff to excellence or to a cultural paradigm shift will inevitably see it crumble. Change is created by starting small and building powerful relationships ...Continue Reading
Dave Burgess is a teacher, professional development speaker, and the New York Times Best-Selling author of Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator.
Teach Like A Pirate Book

This New York Times Best Selling book by Author Dave Burgess has inspired teachers all over the world to be the best they can be for their students using the PIRATE method. PIRATE is an acronym standing for Passion, Immersion, Rapport, Ask and Analyze, Transformation, and Enthusiasm. This book offers inspiration, practical techniques, and innovative ideas that will help you to design an incredibly engaging class that will have students knocking down the doors to get in. Teach Like a Pirate contains over 30 "hooks" specially designed to captivate your class and 170 brainstorming questions that will skyrocket your creativity. There is a weekly twitter chat on Mondays from 8:00-9:00pm using the #tlap hashtag.   

 

Dave Burgess is one of four Featured Presenters on Wednesday, February 26th during the ICE Build Your Own Conference (BYOC) day. He will be presenting three different sessions, as will Molly Schroeder and Steve Dembo.  You can mix and match to see all of these speakers or choose to see three sessions in a row by one favorite speaker.   All BYOC attendees will also see Jim Knight's afternoon keynote.  Registration for BYOC Featured Presentations is still open and onsite registration is also available. 

ICE Leader You Should Know: Luke 

Luke Allen is a retired teacher who has spent over 33 years in the classroom. He is a member of ICE, (Illinois Computing Educators), and has served on the planning committee for the ICE Conference (formally known as The Illinois Technology Conference for Educators). For the past eight years, Luke has helped in recruiting tech staff volunteers, and has helped in establishing the Conference's presence in social media.

In addition to presenting at ICE IllinoisLuke has been a conference presenter at ICE Indiana, MECC in Minneapolis, IETC in Springfield, FETC in Florida, ITEC in Iowa, MACUL in Michigan, TETC in Nashville, METC in St. Louis, GaETC in Atlanta, eTech Ohio, the Southern Illinois Technology Showcase in Carterville and the Mt. Vernon Conference.

He was recently honored with ISTE's "Making IT Happen" Award at the 2011 ICE Conference.

Since retiring, Luke keeps himself busy with substitute teaching and managing his websites. He enjoys golf, the outdoors, reading, digital photography and, of course," fiddling around with stuff on the computer."   

Follow Luke on twitter at @luke1946.


 

STAY CONNECTED

          Like us on Facebook 
  Follow us on Twitter