Break the learning limits!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/frants/1464952138/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Recently, I was trying to purchase a belt and socks that would work for my son's t-ball uniform.  He is playing t-ball for the first time and is on the Red Sox team for his age group.  Now, I don't claim to know anything about baseball.  I've never really played baseball, and it is probably one of my least favorite sports to watch (unless I actually get to go to the stadium).  However, I want my son to try every sport he is interested in, and I plan to help encourage him wherever possible.  I don't want my knowledge of the sport to limit him from learning/enjoying it.

As I stood there with a light blue belt and a dark blue belt in my hand, I struggled to remember which color of blue are in the Red Sox uniforms.  I tried to Google it, but I couldn't get any great images on my phone that really told me for sure.  I decided to post a picture of both belts to twitter and see if my PLN could help me.  I quickly got a number of replies, and was told that the dark blue belt was the one to go with.

What as great about this, is that my limited knowledge of baseball did not limit my son's education/experience in baseball.  Even though I didn't know the correct colors, I was able to figure them out, and make sure he didn't end up looking like he was on Spiderman's team instead of the Boston Red Sox.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/6306983152/sizes/l/in/photostream/

I think this draws an important parallel with education.  Just because I don't know the answer to a question, doesn't mean that should limit a student's education.  We now have the power of PLNs to rely on.  We all have Google in our pocket.  We can always find the answer!

There is no longer an excuse for education to be limited by an individual's knowledge!

Love the kids! #edtech #edchat

At the closing keynote for TCEA2012 Stacy Bess told an emotional story about loss, and love.  It pulled on our heart strings, yet at the same time it was inspiring.  I saw more than one person fighting back tears and for me this capped off an amazing and inspiring convention.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34726560@N00/2630535974/

My favorite quote from Stacy Bess was: "Don't hide behind your credentials. Get down on the floor and be a human being."  I thought that was a great quote, and it really inspired me.  I think some times we do get caught up in what our title is.  Or maybe we just get caught up in all of the little things that we have to get done each and every day.  Either way I think we sometimes forget what our job really is.  Our job is to love children.  To care about them, motivate them, inspire them, and teach them.  In this day and age, there are so many things that can distract us from that job.  I wish we could get rid of some of our labels: GT, LEP, SpEd, ELL, etc.  Because I believe that some times those labels can also serve to prevent us from seeing the kids.  We must focus on the kids, and remember that they are kids, not labels.  The kids needs us.  They need us to see them, to know them.  They need us to understand them, and to motivate them.  They need us to inspire them.  And above all else, they need us to love them.  It might be the only love they get that day.


I had the pleasure of subbing in a 4th grade classroom a few weeks ago.  My goal was to live that quote from Stacy Bess.  I didn't want to hide behind my title.  I didn't want to just get through the day, and worry about all of my tech director duties.  I wanted to get down on the floor and connect with those kids.  One of the first things we did that day was a timed math quiz on multiplication tables.  One little girl told me "I don't want to take this test because I'm not good at math."  Before I started the timer I got down on my knees in front of her desk.  I told her she was amazing at math.  I told her she could do it.  I told her "I can't believe you don't know was 6 x 0 is!  Or what 6 x 1 is."  She said, "Well, of course I know those ones."  I quickly showed her how many times those appeared on the test and then urged her to do her best.  I started the timer and she got right to work.  When I collected her test, I gave her a high five.  I told her she did an amazing job!  The smile on her face told me that maybe, just maybe, she didn't think she was as bad at math as she did before the quiz.  For the rest of that day, I tried my best to inspire her and her classmates.  We ended up having a lot of fun learning together!  And I can't wait to go back!


Don't forget to the love the kids!

Living in an iWorld #TCEA2012

Here are the resources for my Living in an iWorld presentation.

Slides - Keynote / PPT

Apptivity Template

Apptivity Example

We are talking about iPad management from a cart perspective.  How the VPP works and how you can give your teachers more control over this.  I will also demo the use of an Apple TV and how you can use this to potentially replace an interactive white board.

What Content Are You Filtering? #TCEA2012

Here are the resources for my presentation today at TCEA2012.
I am presenting on Content Filtering and what the requirements of CIPA are.  Hopefully we will have a great discussion about what we are required to filter, and why we might think about the positive aspects of opening up certain types of content.  We will also discuss the need for teaching our students responsible use.  The shared notes is an editable google document that you can use to take live notes (and even ask questions) during the presentation.

Prezi

Shared Notes (Google Doc)

Poll

Let me know what you think!

Apple Education Event Summary

Here are my notes from the Apple Event (from twitter/liveblogs):

New Book Experience

• iBooks 2 App - awesome new reading/interactivity options
• iBook Author App (for the Mac) - easy to use tool for creating these new books (comes with templates)
• Both of these are free

Textbooks

• Textbook Store now in the iBooks Store (broken down by grade and subject)
• Books will be $14.99, owned forever, and continuously updated (may be re-downloaded from the cloud at any time)
• Pearson has two books available today
• McGraw Hill has five books available today

iTunes U

• iTunes U has a new app
• Features include the ability to create online courses
• Hundreds of online courses already available from Duke, Yale, Stanford, MIT and others
• K-12 Institutions can sign up as an institution for free starting today

Lots to think about!

The iBooks 2 App is an update to the existing iBooks app.  All three new apps iBooks 2, iBook Author, and iTunes U are all available now!

How are you supporting robotics?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7791881@N04/4115004912/

We have had a robotics program in our district for many years and I have always wanted to be more involved in building this program.  I have finally gotten that chance over the last year.  And I am continuously amazed by the things our students do in robotics.  

This past weekend we took our high school clubs to our regional TCEA robotics competition.  I have been working with one of the clubs for the last few weeks trying to help them prepare for this competition.  After making connections with these students it was that much more fun to see them in their first competition.

What I saw were students engaged in problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.  Only they didn't really know they were engaged in any of that.  Mostly because they were having so much fun with their robots!  Having fun when you learn makes such a difference!

My favorite pieces of the competition:

1. In the arena competition they have to compete in multiple rounds.  In between those rounds they get about 30 minutes to adjust their bot (either through physical or program modifications).  They must work together to identify the needed adjustments, and the divide and conquer to enact those adjustments.  And they must do it quickly in order to test the outcome and make sure they haven't broken anything that was already working.
2. In the invention competition, they are not only judged on the invention itself, but also on how they present and 'sell' their idea.  They have to create marketing materials, and give an oral presentation.  They also have to show their robot in action.  This is practice that our students desperately need if they are ever going to successfully sell and idea, or a project in the future.

These are skills that aren't measured on standardized tests.  They aren't reflected in accountability ratings.  Yet, they are (in my mind) absolutely critical to our student's success in their future endeavors.  I can't think of many better experiences for our students to have.  And on top of that they are getting a great STEM foundation.  I am very proud the successes we have had (two of our teams even qualified for the state TCEA competition!).  But more than that I am excited about the direction our program is headed. 

So my question to you is:  How are you supporting robotics?  :)

'Appy' Hour! #edtech

I recently got a great idea from Carl Hooker (@mrhooker) to have an 'Appy' Hour in my district.  Carl has been doing these in his district this semester, and his implementation was influenced by the ideas of Lisa Johnson (@computerexplore).

The idea is to get a group of iDevice users together and facilitate the sharing of their favorite Apps.  One of Carl's great ideas was to create an App menu.  I love this idea as it fits in so well with the happy hour theme, and then it gives the group some specific Apps to explore/discuss.  The App menu is created as a PDF with embedded links to the provided apps.  When you open this PDF in either your iPad browser or iBooks the links are clickable, and the users can easily navigate the App Store to research and install the apps.  This really makes it simple, AND FUN!

My first Appy Hour will be for our Principals.  The apps I pulled together for them focus mostly on note taking and audio recording/translation.  I added in a few creative Apps (like puppetpals) for when they might need a laugh at a staff meeting!  Here is the App menu I have created for them:

I used the open source Scribus software to create this App menu.  It was my first try at using Scribus, but I was impressed.  It took a little getting used to at first, but then it started to go pretty smoothly.  If you are looking for an open source desktop publishing package, I recommend it.

What Apps would you include on your App menu for Principals/Administrators?