LETS DO THIS!

I sit snuggled up under the blankets, coffee cup in one hand, one finger peck typing a post with the other.  This is my last day. This is my last day of summer.

My summers have changed over the years from the one before kids supplied with endless me time and no schedule to follow to the exhausting ones when my daughters were young to the ones now full of activity, play and jam packed memories.

My summers as an educator have been equally as different.  Some have been spent full of creating, making new lessons, building new units, others have been quiet with little time spent on anything school, still others have been spent packed full of summer projects and working with peers on projects.

None of those summers have been quite like this one.

I had no goals going into this summer, no projects to work on, no summer projects to work on, no extra meetings to attend and yet as I look back on my summer, never before have I collected, soaked up, +Evernote 'd, pinned, talked to other educators, collaborated and learned SO MUCH!

From...

Information flowed in on +Twitter and +Google+  supplying me with links, pictures, ideas, news and resources to

Pinterest decorated my screen with resources, activities and strategies to

+Google+  Communities offered me an opportunity to share what I had learned with others and see what others were trying to

+Google Hangouts  Hangouts transported me to a world of online education as I watched, participated, shared, was inspired and learned from the +The EdReach Network  to

I even went to +Edmodocon  in my pajamas. I listened to amazing teachers share their tools, techniques, strategies, ideas via live video and tweeted ideas I liked, how they inspired me and "talked" to teachers from around the country about it ...

As I head back into the classroom I am more inspired and filled then ever before.

I am inspired to take more risks, push more limits, bring even more awesomeness out of my students and share even more about what students can do with technology.  I am filled with ideas, eager to try them as they dangle and wait teasing me....try me, try me.

I am just so excited that I am filled with an energy and eagerness that I just can't help but stand up from my seat, make a fist, pump it and shout from the top of my lung..."Lets Do This!!!!"

My "Lets Do This" List for 2013-2014

(ideas, strategies, tools I can wait to try)

• Use +Subtext  to differentiate and improve accessibility 
• Use +Flipboard  to make projects, to collect, share and organize information 
• Improve my students use of +Edmodo
• Create an +Edmodo group to share classroom going ons with parents that ALL parents are a member of
• Make +SymbalooEDU our classroom app
• Use +SymbalooEDU  to organize information (videos) to share with students
• Utilize some of the new apps in +Edmodo  to optimize it as a tool for us
• Add to my library of Portable Lessons
• Improve my student communication with +Google Hangouts 
• Hold 3-4 "Technology for Parents" Sessions this school year
• Pair up with 1-2 staff members this year: show them the awesomeness of some of these tools, help them see how they can use them in their classrooms and work with them to implement them in their classrooms
• Develop/Find consistent tool that is available for daily drill and practice of basic skills my students need consistent practice  
• Implement 20% Time (Genius Hour) in my Language Arts class
• Continue to be an almost completely paperless classroom
• Increase and improve communication with the teaching assistants I work with through simple to use, efficient technology (not sure what that is yet?!)

What are we waiting for!  

Bring it 2013 School Year...

The Portable Lesson #1

As I prepare for my classroom's journey as a 1:1 iPad classroom I find myself thinking very differently more frequently then usual.  Aside from trying to predict what it will be like to be a 1:1 iPad classroom (that is a whollllleeee other post for another day) I have began to think how I can integrate my own iPad use into my classroom more frequently.

How can I model technology use more?

How can I use my technology to enhance my instruction more?

How can I utilize my technology during my instruction to better support my students learning needs?

Suddenly it hit me today in the middle of one of my math lessons....

retaining instruction (even with notes) is difficult for my students

their mastery of a concept significantly increases when I pair homework with reinforcements/informational videos

my current method of making videos is too time consuming

I am already using educreations as the whiteboard on my iPad with Reflections to display notes during instruction

I also write math notes, model problems and give examples

Soooooo.... If I become more conscientious of my use of educreations app.  If I create a new slide instead of erasing the slide each time I start a new problem, all I would need to do is add my own narrations and I would have a video my students could watch at home. 

So today during my math lesson...I added a slide each time I gave my students new information, an example or a new problem, after class I added my own slides, I taped my narration to go with the information, I added a few questions at the end and I had a educreations video done in less the 10 minutes.  I also had video of that days of instruction for my students to watch with questions that I could assign for homework that night.  A video with questions at the end that will reinforce my instruction, keep them engaged and monitor comprehension of the concept right at their level.

 

and you had one incredibly excited teacher!!!!

 

*in case you are having trouble viewing the video 'CLICK' here for the link