180 Tech Tips

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Frustrating Thursday

Hello All,
First of all, Diane, I sent you three different comments on your latest post and each time I got to the post part and it didn't save or send or whatever. So, good job on you last blog. I guess I just wasn't meant to comment on that one.
Lori had some posts about texting and cell phones in the classroom and in schools, and I am really struggling with that. In a different week, I might feel better. But this week our kids have decided to make bad choices with their phones in schools, so I am "frustrated". It's not the phone; it's the way the kids use them. I get that but....
I saw and played with an IPad yesterday. I have seen more emails and invitations to meet about IPod use in the classrooms lately. Many schools in our area are buying classroom sets of IPod Touches for use in the primary grades with skill development. Seems like a neat idea. How long will it take the IPad, or a similar product, to become common in our schools??
On a different, non-ranting, note, Diane and I interviewed for an IMC/Librarian position. A candidate used the term "Cybrarian" Think about how that position has changed over the years and will continue to change. I like the term.
Here is a link to a blog about IPod Touch in the classroom - http://www.classroom20.com/group/macclassroom20/forum/topics/649749:Topic:103645
Andy

Boiler Plate

It's Wednesday, and I am just trying to hang on. Our admin team had and all day meeting to review school board policy on Tuesday. I heard the word Boilerplate throughout the day. So I checked into the origin of the phrase. Folks suspect that it comes from the newspaper industy that used large metal sheets to set type and that the sheets looked like metal used to make large boilers. Who knows.
In the world of technology, I am hearing a greater number of schools who are experimenting with IPod Touches in classrooms. Almost all of the apps are free and the IPod can be used for many review activities. Besides, the kids will love using them. There is a conference in Green Bay in a week about how that large school district is using them.
I continue to have my ongoing issues with cell phones in the school and with social networking (Facebook) outside school. The kids just can't seem to learn to use the cell phone appropriately - or at an appropriate time. Texting in class and taking pictures and sending them to other kids.... Am I just ancient?? I am not opposed to the phone; I just want the kids to learn some manners about use. And Facebook creeps into the school because of the content that is posted. Our parents are getting run over by what their kids can do and are doing. Then they look to us to fix it.
I welcome suggestions
Andy

Monday Morning

I made it through the weekend and am back in the land of teens. I clicked on the Module and was initially confused by the Google Reader. I did everything right, but I guess I just expected something different. Seems a bit busy.
I made the RSS feed to my blog. That was simply. I have subscribed to my blog on Google Reader. I have subscribed to some other sites on the reader as well. There is a cool site about web 2.0 tools in education Steve Hargadon is the author. He discusses how we must learn to look at our children differently because of their exposure to tech. This weekend I also purchased the book Born Digital - Understanding the first generation of Digital Natives. The book is written by John Palfrey. Search him for ideas.
On a personal note, I subscribed to some mushroom hunting blogs as well. It's Morel Season.
I am a bit overwhelmed by the size and scope of what one can do in this world of blogging and such.
Andy

Principal's Page

I found another blog that I have bookmarked and have an RSS feed. The blog is http://www.principalspage.com/theblog/. This is a blog wirtten by Michael Smith,a blog he began in 2009. He has been in education for 15 years and began the blog 6 years into his principalship. I am impressed by the depth of his blog and he has some nice links. The narrative is really more about coping and the funny parts of the job and about family. But, sometimes that's what we all need. There are valuable educational links on the page, but it's intent is to lighten the load with some wit and humor. This is a blog I will follow because of it's humorous nature and because it will link me to other administrators. Check it out!

Free Tech for Teachers

A blog site that I think is great, and it is vast and huge, is:http://www.freetech4teachers.com/. The blog's author is Richard Bryne. I do not know how long this blog has been available or why he started it. He has 19,000 daily readers, and he is a Google Certified Teacher. This site deals with newly developed software trends and their application in an educational environment. He offers help with starting a PLN - professional learning environment, Google Tutorials, projects with web tools, video creation, and creating blogs and websites. In addition, there are content specific links to curriculum and instruction. This is an impressive site. He also helps with RSS feeds and the posts are label for categorization.
The most recent post is for an application called Spaaze. It is an online "sticky note" function that teachers can use to organize and highlight information found on the web. Seems like an interesting application. He also offers several links to uses of Spaaze.
I encourage you all to visit this site.

Professional Development Round Two

My last post had the same title, but I got off track and didn't address the topic of professional development. I am interested in creating an INTRANET in our building where teachers blog and comment about instructional, assessment, or curricular issues. For example, a teacher is trying a new strategy in reading and blogs about how to do it and its success. If a email is sent to all staff that there is an update on the blog, they would read it and thus could comment on the strategy or use it. I can see so many positive applications. And, this is easy to do. We would simply need to make this a part of the teacher's behavior or a part of their day. We have a staff member who is looking into setting up this type of intranet. Exciting times.
Andy

Professional Development

Here is my second attempt in one day!! I have continued to review the MANY blogs out there and I find that many are just not that good. So many are not up to date! It seems like lots of blogs are just initial attempts without follow through, and they lack real substance.
Here's one I like:http://www.freetech4teachers.com/. On a daily basis this site gives useable and practical information. I would encourage you to bookmark this site.
As practice blogging and linking, here are two other athletics related blogs I look at. Phil C. http://cycleciola.bravejournal.com/ is a local bike rider who blogs about his rides and Chrissie Wellington http://www.chrissiewellington.org/blog/ is the current Ironman World Champ. I will try to stay on task and search more educational sites. I will look for some by administrators.
Andy

My First Post

I guess that everyone has a first time or a first day for everything that happens in life. This is my first attempt at a blog. I am thinking of the movie Julie and Julia - I think that is the title - where the young author attempts to recreate a year's worth of Julia Child's recipes. The young author is not a chef, but she used a blog as her medium of communication to a world that might be interested. What I like most about the movie was watching her blog and react to the responses.
Setting up this blog was certainly not a difficult process. I did have to work to get a url that was not used and to find a title. I don't think that is a great barrier. I think that the success of a blog is the consistency with which the author posts or the reader reads. I do not read many blogs. There is a bicycle racer who blogs everyday about his training rides and how fast and how many miles etc. I read that daily, but I do not at this point read a professional blog. I have found this process to be easy and the post fun. Will I do this on a daily basis??? A few years ago when I was training to race a half ironman triathlon, I wrote in a journal what I had done to train each day. I could have used this forum and I tried to find something easy. I was not diligent enough to find a blog spot. Now I can. I like the ease of setting this up and maybe this is a place, other than Facebook, where I can communicate with family.
I suppose I should comment on something in education. First, our school is hiring a new IMC specialist. What a change that job - the librarian - has undergone. I am excited to see what the candidates see as the future of a library. Diane and I begin interviewing next week.
Second, now that spring is herre in the midwest, we are starting to see the attitudes of the middle schoolers changing, and keeping them focused and positive about learning is a challenge. The student attitudes ends up affecting the attitudes of the staff. The teachers feel bad when the kids don't care. How do I keep the staff's morale high? How do I convince them that what they're doing is right and that the kids will get it soon?