Sparta's Tech Boot Camp Experience

This week I was a presenter at Naomi Harm's Mobile Literacy Boot Camp in Sparta, WI.  Kudos to Naomi and Jeff Harm for putting together this Technology Camp.  I can only imagine what it took to make this happen.  It was truly an amazing experience for many educators.

As a presenter, one of my sessions was on the topic of Flipped Teaching.  This is such a hot topic right now in education.  I was more than ready to share the pedagogy and benefits of using Flipped Instruction in a classroom.

My Presentation:

I made sure to include plenty of

• personal stories 
• engaging videos
• a video directly from our classroom
• a backchannel to "hear" from my audience
• digital tools to add to our digital toolbox
• examples of flipped videos
• time to work with the tools and practice making videos

The feedback I received from the audience was so positive and energizing.  One success story I just have to share is about these three lovely teachers:

After listening to my presentation and learning how to make a quality flipped video, these 4th grade teachers from Sparta sat down and collaboratively created two flipped math videos for their students.  Imagine how surprised their students will be next year when they watch and learn their math lesson from not just one, but three teachers taking turns teaching a math concept. Very impressive.

The other presentation I had the privilege to teach was on Schoology.   Schoology is a learning management system (LMS) for hosting content online.  Schoology and flipped teaching go hand in hand.  This session was very hands-on.  

We started with the participants joining a course I had created in Schoology.  They experienced Schoology from the student point of view and had to complete assignments, take a quiz, engage in a discussion and use a flipped video to create a web site.  The participants worked hard!

Next, the participants created a course of their own!  They learned what it takes to take a course and put it into Schoology, including creating assignments, pages, links, tests and quizzes, discussions, and embedding a video.  The participants were impressed with how much they were able to learn and accomplish on Schoology.

It is difficult to put into words what it meant to be a part of this Tech Boot Camp in Sparta, but let me try. 

It was exciting to see my name and picture being displayed as a presenter.  Not because of the recognition, but rather because I felt as though I had accomplished a goal I set out for myself, which was to pass on what I had learned about educational technology to other educators.  And as a result, students in other classrooms will gain a richer, more technological education.

And when the participants would thank me for teaching them and helping them, all I could think was how much they had helped themselves by being willing to try new things and better their teaching practice and knowledge base.

In the end, I feel I am the one who gained the most, because I met and spent time with the most amazing group of presenters with whom I have been connecting with on Twitter for some time now.  These friendships are invaluable and fill me will inspiration and motivation.  What a privilege it is to be a member of Naomi Harm's Consulting Team.

My Summer Goals (Caution: This Post is Not all About Technology)

Ahhhh!  Summer is almost here.  I am beginning to set some goals for myself.  Do you set summer goals?  Here is what I'm planning:

#1 Read.  I have not picked up my Kindle in over a month.  That makes me very sad.  My first goal is to read a book a week this summer.  My favorite ways to find good books are the New York Times Best Seller List on Amazon or Pixel of Ink.

#2 Walk.   I truly need to get out and walk more to get some exercise.  Perhaps I will use the Map My Walk app to get me motivated.  Losing weight would be wonderful too.  It will be much easier to work on this goal this summer when I have the time to dedicate myself to this goal.

#3 Cook.  During the school year I really struggle to create different meals each night.  I tend to rely on the typical tacos, spaghetti and pizza.  My goal is to find some healthier recipes to cook for my family.  One place I look for recipes is Allrecipes.com.  I also really like watching the Food Network channel and I have become a fan of The Pioneer Woman's blog and TV show.  Oh, and I also like Trisha Yearwood's Southern Kitchen show.

#4 Baseball.  I plan to attend every single baseball game possible this summer.  My son, Ryan, is such a talented baseball player.  He always amazes me with his quick thinking and skill as a catcher.  For me, baseball is a chance to laugh and relax with friends and to support my son in his love for this sport.

#5 Technology. You're not surprised by this one, are you?  My goals this summer are to participate in more webinars, expand my Google Plus circles, keep up with my Feedly, master Camtasia Studio and create new flipped videos for next year's math series, design more blended learning courses on Schoology,  spend more time on Twitter supporting my PLN, explore more Google Apps, have successful presentations in Sparta, WI as a member of Naomi Harm's Consulting Team, and finally make the most of attending ISTE in June.  I'm sure I will add to this list as the summer progresses.

Well, that should be enough to keep me busy.  However, there is one more goal that I have set for myself, and that is to continue to blog through out the summer and share technology with all of you. Blogging is something I enjoy so very much.  Thank you for taking time to read my blog and for giving me an audience to share it with.

Happy Summer Everyone!

A Wrap Up of Our Year In Student Blogging

This has been a very successful year for our student blogs.  This is the first year that we opened our blogs up to the community, state and nation.  It is also the first time that I have made sure to include more technology and web 2.0 tools into our blog posts.

Here is a recap of our year:

#1 - September- "All About Me"  Students wrote interesting facts about themselves.

#2 - October - Students created a Thinglink to show different places that they have been.This post tied into our unit on map skills in social studies.

#3 - November - Our students used iPads and Educreations to make video tutorials.

#4 - January - Students made New Year's Resolutions.

#5 - February/March We made eBooks during RTI time.

#7 - April / May Students created a survey using Google Forms.  We sent our surveys to Middle School students but also created a survey for our blogs.

A special thank you to all of my friends and colleagues that took the time to comment on our students' blogs through out the year.  I'm proud of my students and all that they have put into their blogs. Next year should be even better!

Connected in So Many Ways

This spring has been super busy for me.  There are track meets, baseball games, practices, school events, and of course teaching every day.

Because I like to stay connected to all of my social media outlets, I am finding that I use apps on my iPhone more than I do my laptop to keep up-to-date.

Here are the apps that I have been using a lot in between track events and baseball games:



Twitter - I check Twitter more than any other app. I love keeping up with all of the wonderful people in my PLN.




Feedly- This is really a wonderful app.  My RSS feeds build up fast and the Feedly app makes it easy to peruse through the long list of blog posts and articles.



Facebook - My friends and family are always with me through this app.  It seems that the Facebook app keeps getting better and better with each update.  I particularly like the new message feature.

Linkedin - It's nice to see the new connections that professionals are making as well as job opportunities.  Linkedin also has the new endorse feature, which is a nice way to support one another in our professional careers.



Instagram - I used to use Insagram quite a bit in the past, but now I only occasionally check it out.  I guess this is one social media outlet that just didn't stick with me.  I do still enjoy the posts made by my sons and friends.



Scoop.it - this is by far one of the best sites for curating the web that I have ever found.  I just love Scoop.it and the visual way that I am able to capture great finds on the Internet.  Check out my Scoop.it Project Showcase of sites and projects we have done through out the years.



Snapchat - I started using Snapchat to connect with my nieces while they are away at college.  Snapchat allows you to take a picture or video and send it to others.  The catch is that when you receive a Snapchat you can only view the picture for a few seconds and then it is gone.  You cannot save or capture the picture.  It's like getting a snapshot of a moment in time.  What I love is that I feel more connected to my nieces that I ever have in the past and it's due to this wonderful little app.

As you can see, each app connects me to different groups of people and serves a special purpose. Even though I love my social networking, my favorite way to connect with people is still face to face.

Here's hoping you have a wonderful, connected day!

Wireless Transfer App

I have found a wonderful app!  Let me tell you about the situation.

Last week a colleague of mine needed to get videos from one iPad onto another.  The goal was to get the videos into one photo stream so that the videos could be inserted into iMovie. 

Perhaps you've had the same idea of students using several iPads to capture video and then put all of the videos into one iMovie.  We discovered that this is actually not an easy task.

We tried several ways to transfer the videos through other apps without any luck.  We tried Dropbox and Google Drive, but neither offers an option to save the video to the Photo Gallery.  We tried emailing and the Bump App, but the videos were too large.  It seems that only videos under 30 seconds could be bumped.  So I started asking my Twitter friends, but no one seemed to have a solution. 

I began searching and came across an app that looked promising.  It was called Wireless Transfer App. The cost was $2.99.  

Here is what the app can do:

With Wireless Transfer App, you can transfer photos and videos from iPad to iPad, from iPad to iPhone, from iPhone to iPad, from iPhone to iPhone, from computer to iPad, from iPhone to computer and more. There is no need for USB cable or extra software. You just need to put your devices under the same Wi-Fi network.

We gave it a try and the app worked flawlessly. 

We made sure that each of the iPads was on the same wireless network.  The larger videos did take a little while, but transferred in a reasonable amount of time. 

If you are looking for an app that can transfer videos from one mobile device to another, I highly recommend giving the Wireless Transfer App a try.