iPod Nanos

Through the Teacher “Best Buy” is purchased seven nanos and external speakers. I have loaded the nanos with songs that students can rehearse. No more CD players that don’t work, plus I find some students don’t even know how to work a CD player. Students all know how to use an iPod.  The speakers are battery-operated, so no more cords. Students rehearse in groups of seven, their songs and presentations to music. This is going to work fabulous in the music classroom. FASTER LEARNING

Google Docs

What an incredible addition to the classroom. This will transform the lab in collecting data. I have two forms already online with more to follow. These forms can be emailed or embedded into a website. You need a google account, but the people filling out the form do not. After they fill out the form, it will show up in your google docs, in an excel format. It can be exported and you know that excel docs can be placed in FileMaker. This is amazing. Here is my advisory form and Wonka form. MORE INFORMATION AND CONNECTED.

iTouch

I have had serious problems with my Palm Pilot. Last week I spent over fifteen hours trying to sync my Palm with my desktop. Having over two hundred passwords, being able to have them on my palm securely is the most important to me. Up until this month, there were no programs on the iTouch that could do the same things as the Palm. Well, not any more! 1passwords is the ticket. IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES, all my passwords were downloaded and secure! Then, on twitter I saw a program called Files. This $6.99 app lets you put documents on your iTouch. So, instead of typing all my class lists and using GradeKeeper, I just drop and dragged all the documents onto my iTouch. It takes time to set it up, but once you have it, it works seamlessly. I have my advisory locker/combos, master schedule, class lists, and much more my iTouch. So, students can ask me what their schedule is, locker combo, etc.  When there is a fire drill, I just grap my iTouch and all the information is there! MORE ORGANIZED

What a great year using these new technologies.

In education we have a saying – work horse or show horse. I think in technology we have communication or self-communication. Sounds strange. I present a lot in concerning “Let’s Communicate.” In this day and age there are so many ways to communicate your head can spin. Nothing, no matter what way technology moves, will replace the face-to-face communication. The eyes communicate 80% of our language. What strikes me strange is to see all the “techies” plugged into the own computer. I admit I can get that way as well. During the day I was concerned about my presentation and about me. I really should have been more concerned about others and talking to the vast amount of techies here.

I love presenting, but I should “share,” or networking more. Yes, there are the SIG groups, but it was the informal get-togethers I really enjoyed. I was invited on Sunday to attend the Discovery Education Network “dude ranch.” What was so amazing the person I was sitting next to was a twittered “friend” and yes, you guessed it, we follow each other!! The more we got to talk, the more we realized that we have so much in common.

The evening with the Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) was cool as well. I saw a lot of people I already knew, but branched to talk to others to broaden my techie world.

So, when I am around techies, I will push myself to talk and communicate, not be plugged in to others in the “techie world.” The more we share and learn from each other eye-to-eye the more we can “rock” the world.

With the last days of school approaching, I am finished with the curriculum for the year. I try to end early in the year, thus allowing enough time for new activities and time to experiment. I have Guitar Hero II, III, and Rock the ‘80’s, along with Singstar and High School Musical for Playstation 2. Things get broken and unusable, so maintenance is always on the schedule. I had one guitar completely broken, what to do? Well, there are always some students that delight in fixing and seeing what inside any tech toy. I sent three students on a mission: open up the Guitar Hero guitar and figure out how to fix it. If they broke it in the mission, no problem, it didn’t work anyway so they really didn’t break it. They opened up the guitar and were fascinated with the “guts’ of the guitar. So, let your students experiment and discover how things work. “It was so cool,” was the comment of the day.

What an amazing group of educators, with incredible stories. People that know me know that I can get somewhat emotional, the happy tears were flowing as got to know each other and began to realize how this is going to change me and my teaching. These nine people will forever be a part of my life and part of my journey this year. Thank you Golden Apple for giving me the opportunity to “soar like an eagle.”

Then on Wednesday afternoon, the Golden Apple Foundation surprised me with a life-changing visit. I am one the the ten winners of the Golden Apple. I am so humbled at this honor. The Chicago Tribune and the Pioneer Press was there for pictures and interviews. I will post pictures once I get them. This morning in the Metro section was a wonderful picture with an article. Additionally, the amount of emails that I have received from parents, students, fellow teachers, and the community has been overwhelming. I am truly touched. For once I am speechless.