Marco Antonio Torres is a 10-year high school teacher, media coach, and education technology director for San Fernando High School, one of the nation's largest urban schools in Los Angeles. He is also a professional filmmaker and photographer who uses these digital storytelling skills to add value to his curriculum.

Torres has been recognized locally and internationally, including honored as a California Teacher of the Year, for his accomplishments in the classroom, creative program building, administering complex budgets, and for the use of technology to empower minority students. He has received honors and awards from the US government, educational leadership organizations, the creative arts community, business groups, and also from his students.

Once referred to as "Jaime Escalante.com" by Escalante himself, Torres is empowering students, teaches them how to celebrate their culture, build communities, and how (and why) to use multimedia tools to share their very special stories and ideas with the world. Consequently, his students are regularly recruited by some of the nation's finest universities and businesses. As a teacher and media professional artist, Torres is involved with many professional organizations where he is an advocate for more collaboration between the media arts world and education. He was recruited to serve as a board member for the George Lucas Educational Foundation--a foundation created by filmmaker George Lucas -- to promote digital technology, change, community, and learning everywhere. He also is an Apple Distinguished Educator, an honor sponsored by Apple computer that recognizes innovators in today's classrooms.

Torres has keynoted and presented at numerous conferences throughout the world and his practical workshops help teachers push their teaching and learning to new exciting levels. In addition, many television, radio, online, magazines, books, and news periodicals have highlighted his media rich program.

Topics

Digital Storytelling and Curriculum

Making meaning today requires a narrative. PERIOD! Just ask any business, any university, any leader! With information as ubiquitous as it is now-- its what we do with it that will separate us from others.

Digital storytelling, in his opinion, is probably the coolest form of teaching. It's about idea generation, sharing, convincing others to participate, giving people a function and a purpose, and managing a process. It's about being aware of product and process goals, and knowing what is the best way to tell the story or parts of the story. In the hour, we will (un)cover the basics to remix your classroom into a studio!

Multi-Media in the Classroom

Using multimedia in the classroom means just that. Multi-media: multi forms of communication. Students and teachers today (not tomorrow) need options. They need to find the appropriate channels for the students. Some media may work better than others. We can now offer more individualized attention to our learners. As teachers, we, too, can the right media for us. The function of this 1 hour breakout session is talk about planning, managing a classroom with options. It may be ideal to offer a variety of options, pathways to our kids, but how do we manage it all, assess it, archive it? Its not easy, but we have tools now that can help us project manage the coolest classroom. This session opens the discussion to this new direction.

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