Monthly Archives: September 2011

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Maybe I’ve been Thinking Wrongly : 2¢ Worth

Wrong Way

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64251830@N00/406285615

I have read David Warlick for many years so I am inclined to listen when he says something. I thought this worth the time to add to my blog. We are going to pilot some iPads with sixth grade students. While I think a “pilot” is sort of silly since I think the iPad is a worthy device, where we mostly ask the question worthy of a pilot, is it is enough device. David’s post got me not to think different but thinking differently.

Maybe I’ve been Thinking Wrongly : 2¢ Worth: “I have been reluctant to share the ecstatic delight that many have expressed about iPads and the classroom.  It’s partly a sense of skepticism that I am convinced comes with age.  I would also admit that part of it might be my own investment in information and communication technologies that have become less emblematic of the digital networked world.  When did you buy your last tower computer. Perhaps my problem is that I’ve been comparing iPads to laptops — when I should be comparing them to pencils and papers.”

 

 

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Still Sparkling After All These Years

Me2yrs

Today is my birthday so I am a bit reflective. I was born in Potosi, WI 55 years ago. I have travelled many roads on my journey to where I am today. I was 2 years old when this picture was taken. I see the spark in my eyes at two. There were days, probably years when I lost the spark, but through teaching, I am reminded able to rekindle the spark when I am in the Flow.  I was greeted at work today but some very different tasks. Task 1 was to meet with my new retirement benefit coordinator to determine how best to invest my 410K funds so I could retire in 10+/- years. The next task was to go through my email. I found some gifts that sparked my day due to their thoughtfulness and the fact they took the time to create something.

Besides the sparkles I get from my wife, children and grandchildren, my students give me sparkles as well. Here are some digital versions. I also got lots of bakery and a warm bagel with fresh fruit.

Ellie P. made this for me in Skitch which is a free drawing program we have been using (spell check not included). FYI Technology is in the Fine Arts Rotation and I do not have time to explain that before my next birthday.

EllieScott H. took a different approach as he created a VoiceThread with a simple message. He knows that I see every VoiceThread made at Durham Academy so his gift would be delivered automatically. He created it sometime yesterday.


There have been other gifts and acknowledgements as today, I am the topic. With that in mind, I thought I would share the project I did as part of the NCAIS Master Teacher Project. I was to tell my story and how being an NCAIS Master Teacher has impacted me and will impact my students. Using technological tools that were not available to that little boy of two, I decided to Google it. Enjoy.

 

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Listening and Teaching

Listen

‘listen closely‘ 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14784969@N08/2233417054

I read a blog post this summer from Steve Goldberg about this TEDx talk and added it as a favorite to my list of talks to listen to when I reconnected to the Internet. In addition, I finally purchased a set of hearing aids after going years asking my students and grandchildren to repeat what they said as my mild to moderate loss impacted me the most in these situations. Getting older and needing equipment to restore what I used to have naturally is all part of the process. I got my hearing aids at Costco and have been very happy.

 

With the equipment installed, I now am working on my intention and listening practice. I suggest that we all try to do a little bit better as our students and children/grandchildren have a lot that they are saying.

5 ways to listen better

 

4 Ways sound affects us

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Evernote and Skitch – Hey You Got Perfect in My Awesome!

Skitch is acquired by Evernote A Great Skitch Heart Love

 

Two of my favorite applications that I use on my desktop, laptop, iPad, and iPod Touch are now together. It reminds me of the old commercials where the person is eating chocolate and bumps into the person eating peanut butter. While at first upset, they realize it is a perfect match and the rest they say is confectionary history.

Skitch has been used at our school for the last 3 years and quickly became the most used piece of software next to a browser. In fact, it became a verb in my teaching as we skitch anything we need to add to documents, VoiceThreads, Portfolios, or to create a great desktop picture. It is the Swiss Army Knife of software tools. I have paid for others and know how to take a screenshot, but Skitch remained my go to tool. While the use of expiring betas did make it a source of frustration since each time the version expired, I had to blast out an update, the sheer power of what could be done with the software out weighed the 10 to 15 minute task of blasting out the latest version. When they announced Skitch Plus last year, I contacted them as I wanted to buy it for our school. Sorry, Keith said but they are working on an educational solution, but it is not ready. He then gave me a 5 year license to Skitch Plus for our school!

Evernote has become an integral part of my productivity and as I get older, the best way to remember what is so easily forgotten by my brain. As our school gets ready to pilot test iPads, I believe we need to put Evernote into the workflow for students and teachers since it will increase the efficiency of every member of the team. With the new groups and sponsored accounts, it is practical and economical to test out a new way of document workflow even within our existing systems of Moodle, Google Apps for Education, and FirstClass.

Here are two stories of how our school could use Evernote. Sixth and Eighth Grade Science Teacher from Evernote’s Blog and Montclair Kimberley Academy’s 1 to 1 program with Evernote.

I am excited to see what these two companies can do together and look forward to the day that we look back and cannot remember a time before they were together.

A side note, my granddaughter and I share our love of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups and I suspect someday, she will also share my love of Evernote and Skitch.