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Collaboration of the Minds 2020

Thursday, August 6 from 8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Virtual Event

It’s time to turn obstacles into opportunities! Connect with innovative teachers from all over Michigan at Collaboration of the Minds, an annual event where you’ll acquire practical strategies for using technology to personalize student learning and leave inspired to return to the classroom.

Register now!

Turn obstacles into opportunities

As a teacher, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the pressure to switch to new methods of teaching (e.g., blended, personalized, online, and student-centered, to name a few). There’s a common misconception that once you know how to teach in one format, you can easily switch to another. But each approach has its own unique pedagogy and purpose. It’s not something you or your students can be expected to embrace overnight. 

Our philosophy is that little changes can have a ripple effect on your classroom. That’s why our goal is to leave you with easy-to-implement strategies for using technology purposefully in your classroom. At this year’s Collaboration of the Minds, teachers from all across the state of Michigan will come together to share how they’ve turned obstacles into opportunities in their classrooms.

Price = FREE (including 5 SCECHs)

Reserve your seat

At this event, you will:

  • Explore what different roles teachers take in the modern classroom
  • Acquire easy-to-implement strategies for using technology to personalize learning
  • Get tech tips & tools to support your students and your teaching
  • Collaborate with other teachers who have similar interests and face similar challenges
  • Leave feeling re-energized and inspired to innovate learning in your classroom
  • Walk away with 5 SCECHs

Itinerary

  • Keynote — Laugh along with our inspiring keynote speaker.
  • Breakout Sessions — Choose two 60-minute sessions that provide a deeper dive into a particular strategy
  • Workshop Time — Apply what you've learned to your classroom and network with other teachers
  • Experience It For Yourself — Experience student-centered learning from the student perspective and explore strategies for personalizing learning for each of your student’s unique needs.

You know your students best

Because you know your students best, this event involves both collaborative and workshop-based elements that allow you to hear from fellow teachers and apply what you’ve learned to your unique teaching situation.

This is important because your students’ needs may be different than another teacher’s students. Rather than telling you how to run your classroom, we will empower you to share stories and practical strategies with one another. We’re all in this together with the ultimate goal of improving learning for our students!

Reserve your seat

Keynote Speaker: Sandy Morden

Sandy Morden of Positive Space Consulting, is a motivational speaker helping people remove obstacles and fear that prevent growth and success.

Additionally, Sandy is a flight attendant, a wife for thirty-five years, a mother of two daughters and “Nonnie” to six homeschooled grandchildren under 8.

Before homeschooling her own daughters, Sandy spent many years working at the St Clair County Children’s Shelter caring for abused and neglected children and Port Huron Area School District as an interpreter in the Hearing Impaired Program.

Sandy enjoys traveling and talking to strangers on her travels. She lives by, “You are exactly where you are supposed to be” and “Everything happens for a reason.”

Day One: 2020 Crisis Edition

So, 2020 didn’t bring what many were hoping it would. Instead, it’s brought crisis, fear and more crisis. How can we assist our students when so much around them is in turmoil? By modeling steadfast courage with sincere belief that we will all be stronger when these troubling times are over.

I want to encourage you, as educators, to be bold and excite you for the school year ahead.

Sandy Morden

What last year's participants had to say:

"I enjoy learning practical ways to make teaching online better."
"The atmosphere was very positive and encouraging."
"Every year I leave COM feeling refreshed and recharged and I truly walk away learning so many new things, whether it be something new to try in terms of technology or a teaching strategy."
"Excellent as always. COM is by far the best PD event I have ever attended. I actually get excited to attend."
"I think this is a very worthwhile event for instructors to attend."
"Loved the energy and positive affirmation. I love that everyone is building others up."
"This was well organized with great sessions. I look forward to this every year."
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Join us on Thursday, August 6, 2020

Interested in attending Collaboration of the Minds? How wonderful! We can’t wait to meet you, hear your story, and share some new tips & tricks with you!
Register now!
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Limited Course Capacity

We’re sorry to inform you that we have reached capacity for several of our Semester 1 and Trimester 1 courses. You’ll notice when attempting to enroll students in our Student Learning Portal that some courses are unavailable. While we are no longer accepting new enrollments for these courses at this time, many courses continue to remain open for enrollment.

With many students across the state 100% remote, demand for our online courses is greater than ever before. Because every course we offer is taught by a Michigan-certified teacher, this high volume of enrollments has created capacity issues for our teachers who provide each and every student with individual feedback.

While the Michigan Virtual team anticipated and planned for significant increases in student enrollments this Fall, the increased demand we’ve experienced has been unprecedented. As a result, we are taking steps to hire even more part-and full-time teachers to support larger numbers of student enrollments for Semester 2 as well as for Trimester 2 and 3. 

For schools that still need online learning options this year, please fill out the form at the bottom of our virtual pathways page to meet with someone to discuss other solutions. While some of our teacher-led courses are full, we may still have the capacity to help you in upcoming terms or can discuss timing to implement a whole-school or collaborative program in which local teachers from your school/district use our online course content to teach students. We also have free course content and resources available for you to use.

We know this is an incredibly stressful time for all, and we’re sorry if the courses you’re looking for are unavailable. We never want to turn away a student who wants to learn from us. Our top concern, however, is student success, and we have a policy to not take on additional enrollments if we cannot guarantee that all students will have a quality online learning experience. 

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate the unusually high volume of enrollments we are receiving.