Monday, September 16, 2013

Mr. Manning, after taking my three credit graduate class this summer, decided to use Quizlet on the iPad to build relationships in speech class.  As he stated, "Students need to feel comfortable in the presence of others in order to successfully deliver a speech."  Because of this, students provided details about themselves as students in the class documented information about the students.  Quizlet provided a great tool to learn who each person was in the class.

Mr. Manning also states a great observation as to how the iPads, and the iPads alone, engage the students.



Video Link
Mr. Goodness continues to utilize seamless integration with his iPad, the Google Drive app, and a Google Spreadsheet on his computer to document student progress.  View how the organization is allowing him to know the specific accomplishments and areas of work for each student.  In addition, all of this information is at his fingertips for parent viewing during IEP meetings.

Awesome!



Video Link
Mrs. Schmidt is in her second year of implementing Chromebooks on a "as needed basis".  That means, she has Chromebooks present in her classroom whenever she needs them.  More importantly, whenever the students need them.

View how she efficiently guided her students to log in for the first time and set up their web browsing experience.

Seamless!




Wednesday, September 11, 2013

A colleague in the education world, @helpreaders , is starting his schools version of Lunch N' Learn or Breakfast Bytes.  He wanted to know tips for making it successful.  Since we have conducted these over the school year and started year two, I thought I would outline successful strategies to include while conducting optional tech tool tip sessions.  We have Lunch N' Learn every Tuesday for high school teachers and Breakfast Bytes every other Thursday morning for middle school teachers.
  • Play music as teachers enter!  Make it as festive and non intimidating as possible!  Food a few times throughout the year.
  • Choose a topic to begin that they already have...Google is a great place to start!  Our topics from last year are located here.
  • Create something that you can send to teachers so they can follow up on their own.  Blog posts serve as a great tool for this.
  • Promote the crap out of it!  Send Google forms once in a awhile with choices of topics.  Most votes for a topic is the one that is discussed.  Plan ahead for this!
  • Personal face to face interaction with teachers inviting them is THE single best way to get people to attend.
  • Post, tweet, and brag about teachers who attend!
Of course videos like the one below are a great help as well.  This is our 2013-2014 promotional video for the middle school Breakfast Bytes.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Last year, the civics teachers, Mr. Nickerson and Mrs. McCumber, had the students complete a black and white map labeling the areas of the library.  This year, with the help of Pic Collage on the iPad, creates an authentic picture of the areas in the library with pictures of the students.

Check it out actual video footage and reflection from Mrs. McCumber!

Google Plus is an application that our school district has enabled for staff only.  One teacher stated, I made time for it (Google Plus) because teachers were posting so many great resources and conversation."

Why would you want to use it?
  • Professional Learning Network
  • Meetings
  • Hangouts-Video Conference Calls (Up To Ten People)
  • Sharing Your Screen For Tech Help
  • Learning From Educators From Around The World
  • Study Group With Students (If students have personal Google Accounts)
Give Me This In A Picture


How Do I Get There?



What Are Circles?



I would like to know more!



Really, I haven't had enough Google Plus!  Please Give Me The Complete Guide!
HERE IT IS!

Chad Kafka & Jennifer Magiera Explanation
Help!  Johnny Circled Me On Google Plus

Monday, September 9, 2013

Creating a promotional video for our Pulaski High School weekly Lunch N' Learn provided me with a great opportunity to use a technology tool that I learned about at the Apple Distinguished Educator Institute in Austin.

Final Cut Pro X provided me with so many eye catching graphics that no other program has provided me.  I decided that I would use the great people of Pulaski High School to promote our Lunch N' Learn.  I recorded as many people as I could saying, "I'm there!" using my iPad 2.  I then used the fantastically efficient Photosync app and Mac client to seamlessly and efficiently transfer the video clips from my iPad to a Mac wirelessly.  I imported the different media clips into Final Cut Pro X and combined them with the amazing graphics that Final Cut Pro X provides.  I decided that the best song for this video would be OK Go's Here It Goes Again! because it's our second year! Through the sharing options that Final Cut Pro X provides, I was able to easily upload it to my YouTube channel.

The entire process of recording, editing, and producing took just under three hours.  I am thankful that I am able to use Final Cut Pro X and look forward to finding more features and uses for this amazing production tool.

The promotional video is being sent out this morning to over 80 high school staff members as tomorrow starts year two of our wildly famous (ok, just famous) Lunch N' Learn.  I truly appreciate the energy and enthusiasm that our staff brings to these volunteer learning sessions.  Our staff also did a fantastic job of demonstrating their unique personalities when stating, "I'm there!"

Awesome!



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