Lisa speaks to groups of educators throughout the year.  Here are some of her past and upcoming speaking engagements.

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YOU WERE FANTASTIC! At this point in my tech abilities both personally and as an educator, I have sat through many conferences hoping to get one tiny treasure to "push on" to the next great thing...only to have the dialogue turned by an 'immigrant' in the audience speaking of the good ole days in the OLD COUNTRY! Yesterday, I left with a boatload of new info and was positively GIDDY about it...and that there is a Lisa Nielsen out there who is not only uber-talented...but also uses words like "balls and ass." And...on simply a fun girly note...you get style points as well on your beautiful outfit! I am also a teacher of models on the weekend (Tech teacher by day...Model instructor by night...busy, single working mother syndrome!) and you looked fabulous! Just as your presentation was edgy and stylish ...so were you! Yeah I'm a FAN!

Maureen Kelly Rossi
Conference participant

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Keynote Presentations

Thinking Outside of the Ban - Taking Risks to Prepare Students for Success

Lisa Nielsen shares real-life anecdotes of the risk-taking experiences she felt were necessary to do what what was in the best interest of 21st students despite the protests of educational administrators stuck in the past.  Passionate about educator voice and thinking outside the ban Ms. Nielsen blogs, promotes cell phone use for educators and students, and friends students on Facebook even though an outdated educational system tried to stop her from moving ahead.  Author of The Innovative Educator blog, Ms. Nielsen was ultimately able to break free from the old way of doing things as her district eventually moved to embracing innovation and recognizing that some of these ideas are not so bad after all.  The presentation concludes with a  six-step guide any educator can take to get on the path to taking risks for student success in their own school or district.

• The Tri-State Educational Technology Conference is the technology and learning conference devoted to educators in the tri-state area.- New Millford, NJ (October 2, 2010)
• Program website: http://www.tsetc.org/program 

From the event organizer:  It was an honor to have you represent yourself as the Keynote Speaker for the inaugural Tri-State Education Technology Conference (TSETC). It was a great success and we owe a big thanks to you! The feedback and hype that was running through the conference after your session was amazing. TSETC drew over 400 educators to NMHS and honestly could not have started off the day with a better presentation than yours. It was the perfect way to set up the mood and have everyone excited to continue their interaction through other sessions.

Participant quote in blog post recap:  WOW! Lisa sure knows how to put together an awesome prezi. If you aren’t in the know about Lisa and her work... get in the know! Check out her blog at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com. - Megan Wilson, iPodsibilities

There is Such a Thing as A Free Lunch - Free and Easy Ways to Begin Educating Innovatively

In this fast-paced and interactive presentation Lisa Nielsen shares that teaching our digital native students in engaging ways may in fact be easier and less costly than you may think. In this lively presentation, she'll display, discuss, and even demonstrate numerous free and simple ways every teacher can begin educating innovatively- starting now. Audience members will leave this presentation knowing exactly how to begin transforming the way they teach and their students learn.

• Nassau TRACT Teachers Center Tech Conference - Long Island, NY (January 19, 2010)
• Conference flyer
• Keynote video
  

Innovative and FREE Strategies to Support English Language Learners in Becoming Information Consumers and Producers

Discover how to unlock the language barrier and support all students in reading, understanding and communicating in multiple languages with some fluency. The world is changing. This workshop introduces innovative educators to a variety of resources available to support students in understanding and communicating with basic fluency in their non-native language, for free, and without Rosetta Stone. Upon completion of this workshop participants will have concrete and innovative ways to support speakers of other languages in CONSUMING and PRODUCING content.

• NYS TESOL Tech in the Classroom Conference - New York, NY (October 2009)
  

Google Teacher Academy - Free and Easy Ways to Educate Innovatively with Google

In this fast-paced and interactive presentation Lisa Nielsen shares that teaching our digital native students in engaging ways may in fact be easier and less costly than you may think. In this lively presentation, she'll display, discuss, and even demonstrate numerous free and simple ways every teacher can begin using Google to begin educating innovatively - starting now. The Google Teacher Academy is a FREE professional development experience designed to help K-12 educators get the most from innovative technologies. Each Academy is an intensive, one-day event where participants get hands-on experience with Google's free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, receive resources to share with colleagues, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, Academy participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.

• Google Headquarters - New York, NY (Postponed)

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Our participants left the conference feeling motivated and ready to try their new found skills. Thank you for making me look good!

Les Cohn - Conference Organizer

Director, Nassau TRACT Teacher Center

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Participants Tweets during an Innovative Educator presentation

Renny Fong Awesome keynote, Lisa! You did us Manhattanites proud! While you were presenting, I heard someone say, "I LOVE her Blog Family Tree! That's so cool!" ;)

Deven Black Lisa rocked. People were blown away by the humor, the pathos, and all the technology. Not to mention the important points made!

patriciasmeyers @InnovativeEdu You were great today. I am so sparked to teach monday. I can't believe I said that on sat. night! #tsetc

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Workshops:

Descriptions of The Innovative Educator's upcoming or recent workshops.

The Great Prohibition - Using Cell Phones Outside the Ban
Participants discover free and easy mobile learning activities that will engage students outside of the classroom. Activities include
(1) Using cell phones as part of an embedded student response system for collaborative discussion and reflection
(2) Creating and publishing podcasts/audiocasts relevant to curricula
(3) Using photo sharing sites to develop and present work
(4) Strengthening the home-school connection with Twitter
Workshop participants will collaboratively design mobile learning activities that they will share with the group and be able to begin implementing in their schools.

• Nassau TRACT Teachers Center Tech Conference - Long Island, NY (January 2011)
• EduCon - Philadelphia, PA (January 2011)

The 9 Step Plan to Combating illTWITTERacy
The illTwitteracy epidemic that has afflicted many educators can be eradicated with a simple 9-step plan that will have those who follow it all aTwitter with plenty of ideas for harnessing the power of the Tweet. In this session participants will be introduced to this plan which will enable Tweeps (Twitter using peeps) to not only learn how to Tweet from their phone or computer, but they’ll also discover why they’d even want to by looking at real examples of education Tweeple (Twitter people) who use Twitter to enrich teaching and learning. Upon completion of the plan Tweeps will be on the road to achieving the basic Twitteracy necessary for success in the Twittersphere.

• Nassau TRACT Teachers Center Tech Conference - Long Island, NY (January 2011)

Free and Easy Ways to Educate Innovatively

This workshop provides a hands-on opportunity for participants to learn how to begin educating innovatively with free and simple tools. Despite what educators may have been led to believe, there are many free and powerful tools available that require no purchase, no training and nothing to download. Participants will learn how to begin educating innovatively with free programs that will enhance reading, writing, arithmetic, and more, using tools like student response systems, Twitter, Voki, Google SMS, and Chacha. As part of the class participants will create at least one lesson they can begin using to engage learners. Lessons will be placed in a bank available to all class members. Upon completion of this class students will have several lessons containing concrete, free, and simple ways they can begin transforming the way they teach and their students learn.

• Nassau TRACT Teachers Center Tech Conference - Long Island, NY (January 2010)
• Malverne Teachers Center - Long Island, NY (April 24 and May 1 2010)

Create Your Own Social Learning Network to Keep Students (and Educators) Engaged All Year Long

Whether it's Facebook, MySpace, or Twitter, our students are using social networking tools to communicate, collaborate, and connect in ways never before possible. In this workshop, participants learn how to tap into the number one passion of adolescents...being social. Participants learn how to keep their students engaged in the world they love with the tools they love and at the same time foster the ability to communicate, collaborate, and connect in new ways that will enrich the learning experience for all. In this hands-on workshop, participants won't just learn "about" social networks. Lisa Nielsen, creator of two popular social learning networks along with Dana Lawitt teacher and author of the top-rated article, “How I Kept My Students Engaged All Summer Long with Social Networking," will work with educators to "create and launch" their own learning network that they can begin using with students or teachers by the end of the workshop.

• Nassau TRACT Teachers Center Tech Conference - Long Island, NY (January 2010)
• Innovation Series, iZone Schools - New York, NY (December 2009)
• New York City Department of Education Tech Liaison Meeting - New York, NY (November 2009)

Partnering with our Digital Natives to Launch a 21st Century Student Empowerment and Tech Support Team

Learn how to launch a student tech-support team designed to provide a cost-effective, student-powered solution to the technical-support challenge facing schools while improving students' 21st century educational and career opportunities with a hands-on, standards-based, information-technology-support program.

• New York City Department of Education - New York, NY (Ongoing)

Educate Innovatively with Cell Phones Even in Schools that Ban Them

94% of Americans under age 45 have access to a personal learning device that could greatly enrich the way teachers teach and students learn. Unfortunately, many schools and districts ban student-owned learning devices such as cell phones and iTouches. In this workshop, participants learn to embrace these powerful learning tools and discover how they can enrich student learning by doing so. Participants also learn how to use cell phones for student-response polling or pop quizzes (no need to invest in costly hardware or software), to convert currency, translate language, define vocabulary, and calculate as well as use Google Voice to capture oral presentations and improve speaking skills.

• Columbia University's Teachers College - Guest Speaker Series - New York, NY (February 11, 2010)

The 5-Step Plan to Move from Banning to Embracing Cells in Education

94% of Americans under age 45 have a personal learning device that could greatly enrich the way teachers teach and students learn. Unfortunately, many schools and districts ban student-owned learning learning devices such as cell phones. In this session we'll reveal a sensible and progressive 5-step plan that will enable all stakeholders (parents, teachers, administrators, and students) to embrace these powerful learning tools and discover how doing so can enrich student learning and strengthen the home-school connection.

• International Society of Technology Educators - Denver Colorado (June 28, 2010)
• Tech Forum - New York (October 22, 2010)

Support Research-Based Instructional Strategies with Cells

Support research-based instructional strategies that you are already using with cell phones. In this session you will gain a wealth of lesson ideas to support the 9 strategies in the classic, "Classroom Instruction that Works" by Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, all using FREE cell phone technologies. The audience will use cell phone technologies to determine the strategies they're most interested in exploring.

• International Society of Technology Educators - Denver Colorado (June 28, 2010)

8 Ways To Use A School Wiki to Increase Communication, Collaboration, and Enrich Instruction

Wikis are a great tool to help a school enrich instruction, and increase communication and collaboration among staff. They are also free (for educators using wikispaces) and provide unlimited storage for digital materials including video, screencasts, presentations, pdfs, etc. In this workshop participants will be introduced to 8 ways to launch and use a school wiki to support school goals in a variety of ways including 1) Decrease Disruption of Instructional Time with Digital Daily Announcements 2) Conduct More Efficient and Effective Team Meetings and Planning 3) Collaborate On Important Documents Like School Comprehensive Education Plans 4) Enhance School Professional Development Using a Wiki 5) Share and Collaborate On Curriculum Maps 6) Save Trees /Save Time and Unclutterize Your Room or Office by Posting School Resources 7) Know Where Everyone Is When Schedules/Programs Are Posted 8) Serve As A Portal for All Your Lessons.

• Building Learning Communities Conference - Boston, MA (July 2009)

Helping Students Develop Personal Learning Networks to Extend and Enrich Learning

Personal Learning Networks provide individuals with access to learners, leaders and experts around the world and bring together communities, resources and information impossible to access solely from within school walls. In this workshop, participants will discover how they and their students can begin building personal learning networks specific to the learner's needs, thereby extending relevant learning connections to like-interested people around the globe. Participants will leave this workshop ready to begin using blogging, RSS, and social networks with their students to extend student learning, collaboration, engagement, and motivation.

• Prepared for ConFraTute - Connecticut (Summer 2009)
  

Roundtables and Panels

Innovation Field Trips: A Path to Growing Innovative Projects Within and Among Schools
During this interactive sessions panelists will share how innovation field trips can support schools in trying to develop and strengthen innovative practices that will best help prepare students for real-world success.

• Tech Forum - Palisades, New York (October 2010)
  

Innovative Strategies for Educators Teaching English to Speakers of Language Other Than English and World Languages

In this engaging and interactive roundtable participants will learn innovative ways to enhance teaching and learning and have an opportunity to discuss how this could possibly impact the work they do.

• Tech Forum - Palisades, New York (October 2009)

Twitter and Education Panel

This panel explores the disruptive nature of Twitter in education in education with a specific focus on 1) Why Social Media Curriculum is critical in schools and 2) Teaching Kids how to manage their Digital Footprint. Jeff Pulver email to speakers

• 140 Characters Conference - New York, NY (April 20, 2010)
• Video of the Panel

Web Broadcasts

Creating the schools that empower students to find their sentence
Lisa Nielsen explains why we need to help students break out of the boring prison of school if we want to prepare them for the real world in which they live.  In this lively and interactive presentation Nielsen shatters the myths that have been used as excuses for administrators and policy makers to take the easy way out keeping 21st century students stuck in the past. Nielsen brings in voices of real students and educators who have experienced the success that ensues when they were empowered to think outside the ban and allow students the freedom to communicate, connect, and create in real ways with real audiences. 

Classroom 2.0 Live - 5 Steps for Harnessing the Power of Cells in Ed

The Classroom 2.0 team Kim Caise, Lorna Costantini, Peggy George, Steve Hargadon are joined by Lisa Nielsen and Willyn Webb as they share a five-step plan for harnessing the power of cell phones and education.
Steps include:

• Teacher Use of Cell Phones for Professional Purposes
• Teacher Models Appropriate Use for Learning
• Strengthen the Home-School Connection
• Students Use Cell Phones for Homework
• Students Use Cell Phones for Classwork

Saturday, November 13th 12:00 Eastern Standard Time
Join at http://tinyurl.com/cr20live