Mind blown!

Life-long learners-it’s the goal of every teacher, every school and every district I’ve ever worked in… Technology is the key to motivating and inspiring students to become what we’ve always wanted them to become.  Although I’ve always thought of myself as a life-long learner, technology has created a new meaning of that term.  There is now so much to learn, we will never be able to take it all in.  HOWEVER:  we have some great teachers to help us tackle the world of technology-our students.  I witness my granddaughter, at the age of 18 months, tackling and learning how to operate an iPad and iPhone with ease.  She has NO FEAR of messing up.   That is an advantage in learning-an open mind without fear of messing things up.  It’s how I want to approach my life-long learning with technology. 

Students will eagerly embrace learning with technology.  They are more engaged, intrigued and involved when our lessons incorporate their world.  Their world is technology.  When I can present something new to them in the world of technology; their minds are blown!  So, I will make it my quest to continue to pursue technology to stay on the cutting edge. 

Coming up in January, my students will complete a research project on three colleges of their choice and look at future careers.  The assignment will be altered this year; the students will be working within Google Drive to access their work from school or home.  They’ll also use the Google Research to cite sources and build a works cited page with ease.  Google Book search will enable them to research multiple sources with no excuse of needing to go to the library or the book store – the resources are right at their fingertips!  The search tips will enable the students to find pertinent information quickly.  Technology is not only something to learn but a tool to enable us to learn better! 

My goal is to incorporate technology more, and to ask the students for their knowledge and expertise in this area.  If we are to be life-long learners and competent teachers – it is a must to continue to embrace technology. 

Here's a start-there are so many YouTube videos to get started. It's time for my students to begin investigate the things we've been delving into in our Master's Program!  

Twenty tips to get us started!

Pinterest Rocks! Say YES! to Social Media in your classroom!

I’ve been addicted to Pinterest for years now.  I can draw inspiration for art, teaching, and life from this one site that offers so much.  Before I discovered Pinterest, I was forever creating word documents in an attempt to keep great ideas in some format and then try to organize. TRY TO are the operate words of that sentence.  I needed the creators of Pinterest to give me a hand!  Now, I can tap into unlimited sources to teach any topic within the curriculum, find great gifts to create, garden with new ideas, find ways to refresh my closet-truly unlimited reasons to tap into this amazing website.  Get started with an email address and password.  It’s user friendly and you will get hooked immediately!  Join Pinterest!

Are you interested in social media in the classroom?  As for me-YES!!!!  Although there are a few disadvantages because students get distracted and can stumble across inappropriate content, the world is at the fingertips of our students if we can open our minds enough to allow them to explore and become engaged in connecting with the right people for the right reasons.  There are safe sites like Edmodo or Google Classroom to engage younger students in and hopefully allow them to expand to other social media sites as they mature.  This is an opportunity to provide rigorous, real-world, unpredictable problems for our students in a way that is very relevant to them.  There are some great articles to review if my opinion isn’t enough to persuade you.  Check out Pros and Cons of Social Media or The pros and cons of social media classrooms to read opinions of both the pros and the cons of social media in the classroom. 

Social media is the way kids and many adults function in today’s society.  It’s our responsibility as educators to teach the way students learn, not make them learn the way we teach.  

                                     

There's no end to the possibilities of ...  

Google forms, add-ons and templates offer the educator many conveniences to make their lives easier.  Spending time exploring to find a few to utilize is key because there are so many - there's no possible way to use them all.  This week, I will highlight a few I found this week to use in my own classroom.  I'm excited about the additions of these new-to-me features!  

First of all, let me introduce Flubaroo.  This is a wonderful add-on from Google documents and spreadsheets to assist teachers in grading.  After the first year of transferring tests to Flubaroo-this will save countless hours of time.  The program grades the tests for you and reports the grades to you.  It averages and gives information useful is helping us use data to drive the curriculum.  Great for formative as well as summative assessments.  View this short overview and add Flubaroo to the top of your list to use!  

Google also has add-ons-there are so many - there's something for everyone!  I've added another video and hopefully you will be curious enough to discover what's available.  A few I'm excited about...Easy Bib, Thesaurus and Pro Copy and Editing Quote.  There are so many options;  it's also very easy to use and will save educators more time once added and used! 

The templates available from Google are also amazing.  Risking sounding redundant-there are so many, everyone can benefit from exploring the options.  This school year, I am going to have my students use a resume template as part of our career unit, they will also use a scrap-booking template to illustrative a narrative story and also I will use a rubric template to create professional looking rubrics for projects, assignments and essays with ease.  Peruse this article to find a few you find valuable.  Google Template Gallery is a great place to look at a few to get you started.  Also, you can use this link to peruse even more.  Happy Hunting-you may discover something even better than a

Thanksgiving turkey if you look hard enough!  

Diigo is an answer to prayer for this right-brain, random-abstract, creative-not organized teacher!  I've tried keeping a notebook list of websites I love, bookmarked way too many to keep track of and even made little business cards with hole punches to a binder clip to flip through. Much to no-one's surprise...none of those really helped.  Diigo has me hopeful that I can not only save useful websites but categorize them and search for them later to actually use!!  It even has the option to collect websites to share with your students or co-workers.  There are numerous options to explore.  Diigo
Here's an article to read to illustrate the usefulness-Using Diigo in the Classroom  and a video to help you get started:

Another organizational tool I like is Remind.  It's a safe way to communicate with students and let them know of a test coming up, a special day to dress up for, or a project's due date.  The website takes care of the texting so you don't have to give out your cell number to the students.  iTunes Preview of Remind

Thought Boxes is the last organizational tool I'll focus on tonight...  it's like a web-based to-do list that is a bit more creative.  Thought Boxes article will enlighten you to the benefits of the website.  I'm eager to give this tool a try as it mixes organization with a little bit of creativity.  Sounds like a win-win to me!

I'm continuously amazed at how much technology offers to us if only we take the time to pursue.  It's in the attitude of progress that I've made a promise to myself to be a life-long learner, be a 21st century and use technology as much as possible and meet the students where they best learn.  Continuing to explore what the internet has to offer is the best way to be the life-long learner I want to be.

Edmodo!!!!

Edmodo is by far one of the places I visit on the internet most often.  To begin- a quick YouTube video to explain the basics.

Not David Letterman, but Anna Mitchell's Top Ten Reasons to LOVE Edmodo:

1. All resources for class in one place-no more paper shuffle
2. Students who are sick can still access the day's activities
3. Saves copies because students can easily view what they need on their computer screen and print only what they feel they need.
4. When students have questions at home-Edmodo allows them to ask their classmates or teachers the questions and they don't get stuck.  This makes it much easier to get their homework done!
5. Quizzes and assignments can be created, graded and the results posted for the teacher's convenience!
6. Documentation so no parent can say their student didn't know of an assignment, paper or due date!
7. Connecting with other teachers is as easy as setting up your own classes.
8. Teachers can share resources quickly and painlessly.
9. There are PLNs within Edmodo to find many resources from teachers around the country who like to share and network.
10. A text at 11 o'clock at night lets me know my kids are working!!!!

All it takes to get started is an email and a password.  Edmodo-give it a try!

Technology is truly an amazing gift if we just open it!  This week's topics are PLNs and Twitter. It was my first time to explore either and I'm amazed at the vast resources these two topics offer.

First of all, when PLN popped up as an assignment-I flipped through the rolodex in my brain and couldn't come up with a match.  Although, I'd actually used one, I didn't know the acronym or the name of this category.  The other piece of Personal Learning Networks that surprised me were the many PLNs available.  I could sit and home and learn all day!

Since I realize none of us can go overboard on the Professional Learning Networks, I am going to focus on learning more about Edmodo.  I use it with my students and their parents but feel I'm only accessing the tip of iceberg compared to the possibilities it offers.  It's like Facebook you set up with your classes.  It makes absences easier to deal with, it can help you organize your lessons, and allows students to ask questions while they're working on their homework.  I get texts from Edmodo, not the student, and can get on my phone app to answer their questions.  It benefits everyone involved.  

The PLN I just discovered and am very excited about is the English Companion.  There's so many topics to learn about, resources offered, a place where teachers of English can connect and brainstorm or ask one another questions.  As a fairly new Language Arts Teacher, I'm thrilled to tap into this new resource!  I'm equally excited about expanding my learning about Goodreads.  It's a great place to find books to interest everyone!  Books have been reviewed by others, quotes of great books available at your fingertips, and an authentic audience waiting for students.  My classroom is getting more techy all the time!

Full confession:  I have avoided Twitter for years.  I've been on Facebook for years and love it.  I've connected to students from 25 years ago, friends from high school and college, family and learn about new friends.  Other social networks just seemed unnecessary and overwhelming.  Much to my surprise,Twitter is amazing!  I was shocked at the ease and user-friendliness of the network.  I had NO idea it was a wealth of information and a hot spot for resources!  Resources I will be using this week in class and I'll be trolling Twitter and finding resources for years to come!  My favorite searches thus far:  #engchat, #edutopia, #teachertoolkit and #tlap.  Seriously, CHECK IT OUT!  

The biggest problem I foresee with all this technology is time.  I want to explore, download and plan exciting new lessons-teaching school is really going to get in my way!

Blogs, blogs and more blogs!

So many options, so little time!!  Before this week, I hadn't spent too much time looking at blogs.  WOW!!!  My thought now-why buy another magazine??  My focus this week was educational blogs but I am certain there are blogs about EVERYTHING you can imagine and eventually, I'll look into those blogs as well.

My favorite blog is Edutopia.  A wealth of current information about all things educational.  There are videos for inspiration and teaching activities and ideas as well.  The articles chosen are timely and intriguing.  I actually follow Edutopia on Facebook and seemingly always feel the need to go explore whichever article they post.  The other blogs I found interesting were The Tech Savvy Educator, The Thinking Stick and The Innovative Educator.  There are many, many ideas and articles of interest on this blogs.

As I reflect on my learning of blogs, I want to incorporate blogging into my classroom.  Kids are naturally tech savvy and spend a lot of their time in front of a screen so perhaps, as educators, we should ask them to write in their most comfortable venue.  I may start this project with this YouTube video:

Go ahead-explore some blogs and have a little fun with it!!! Here's a few to get you started- The 100 Best, Most Interesting Blogs and Websites!!