DENapalooza Knoxville at L&N STEM Academy!
Dr Lodge McCammon @pocketlodge was the special guest at DENapoolza Knoxville. His positive vibe and music integration was just what I needed to energize and recharge. Check out some of his songs on Discovery Education Streaming and have your students make some moves to go along with the curriculum related lyrics to experience a deeper learning experience. Oh and check out his site website for more cool stuff like paper slides! http://lodgemccammon.com/1-take/paperslide. Porter Palmer @DENprincess flew in for this event, which was a big treat. She added a lot of life to the day!!!!! And... Tim Childers was the host of this event as the administrator of the L&N STEM Academy, which is a STEM school housed in a repurposed train stations!!!!! Thank you Tim and to everyone who made this event a huge success!!
Highlights from the Ga Educational Technology Conference GaETC) November 5-8, 2014
I won the Nov. 6th,12 noon Twitter Contest! Ever since
Jaime Vandergrift @jaimevanderg took over social media at #GaETC, things have really been heating up in social media! They had a contest and I won!! This is me with my friend Daniel Lee @deanielbrevlee having fun taking pictures of my winnings on a gorgeous #GaETC kind of day! |
Hummingbird Workshop!
For a long time, I have been wanting to understand how the Hummingbird circuit board works and how one can make a robot with it. After taking this class, I now understand what the different connectors do, and how to program them with actions on the Hummingbird software. I am happy to report that I had the *best* teacher ever, Gail Tate and I was successful in learning the basics of creating a crafty robot. I made a simple creation and programmed it to alternate the LED light colors! I can't wait to share my knowledge with others. The main takeaway is do not plan your robot until you understand what the possibilities are with the Hummingbird first!
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Tommy Clay @apsittommy Presents.......
I met Tommy in the UWGA Ed.S program in 2006. He inspired me to explore the possibilities of technology through his great work! Tommy Clay LOVES to do student integration projects and he did not disappoint when he presented at his session on interactive writing at #GaETC. Tommy showed us how to use iBooks Author in conjunction with Bookry widgets for kids to add fun games and other interactive features in their iBooks https://www.bookry.com/. Tommy explained that iBooks is a professional authoring tool and certain modifications need to be made to the basic template to make it kid friendly and usable. He was nice enough to provide us with a detailed handout to remind us about all the steps! See document below:
October, 2014-Code.org Workshop at Hampton Park LIbrary
I am a big fan of code.org! Our students have been using computer programs since the first day launch of "Hour of Code" last year. After the introduction, a number of students completed the K-8 20 hour coding course while others took an interest in Botlogic, Scratch, Tynker, a Google Blockly games https://blockly-games.appspot.com/ and most recently, the BRAND NEW K-5 curriculum produced by the fine folks at Code.org, which allows the youngest of students to participate in computational logic skills mastery with use of visual cues such as arrows. The new site is now known as http://studio.code.org/. The K-5 curriculum is separated into 3 difficulty levels. Because the skills are sequential, some like to start at level one, regardless of student ability, to be sure that the student does not have any gaps in their understanding. At the training, I received a hard copy of the K-5 coding curriculum in the form a fantabulous book with tons of great "unplugged" ideas to help support coding! Thank you Hadi Partovi, Mark Zukerberg and Bill Gates for backing this fine project!
DENAPALOOZA Columbia South Carolina Sept. 20, 2014
Wow! I went to Columbia South Carolina for DENapalooza and it was an amazing event because I was lucky enough to know many of the attendees at other DEN events, including the DEN Summer Institute this past summer. This is my DENfamily and I love them. I am very grateful to Ida Williams Thompson, Director of Instructional Technology Services with Richland One, South Carolina's Capital Schools. Scroll down to see our even pictures or click on this image below to sign up for a DENapalooza near you!
DENapalooza SC Event Pix!
EDCAMP ATL- A HUGE SUCCESS SEPT. 2014
This was a special EdCampATL year. I took on a leadership role as an organizer and focused on securing great door prizes from edtech vendors. I also raised funds to help pay for breakfast and lunch. At an EdCamp there is never a charge to the attendees. This means if people are going to have any meals or refreshments, donations are always needed. I am very appreciative to my contacts at UX Consulting of Roswell GA and Primerica, of Norcross GA for their generous donations towards our food. Thank you to all of our sponsors and donors! http://www.edcampatlanta.org/sponsors-2014.html
DCSD Professional Development Day 8/5/14
July 25th- DEN GURU Cindy Moss Leads Awesome STEM Summitt in Forsyth County
My main takeaways from this summit are:
1.Often, a four year degree does not yield a job (hard to believe but true). However, various certification programs that range from 2 months to 2 years can lead to well paying careers in that most people do not even know exist.
2. It is thought that if we want to get more girls interested in STEM, the marketing needs to show that a STEM job can help them make the world a better place.
3. The student does not complete a project for submission, rather they submit a “winning idea” to enter Siemens and 3M challenges. Later on, winning entry project ideas get nurtured and grown through mentorship.
4. Failure= First Attempt In Learning! The Angry Birds Developer had dozens of failed games and almost went bankrupt when Angry Birds “took off”.
5. Discovery Education Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) can be used to enhance classroom instruction. Today I learned a reflection strategy called A, E, I, O, U
1.Often, a four year degree does not yield a job (hard to believe but true). However, various certification programs that range from 2 months to 2 years can lead to well paying careers in that most people do not even know exist.
2. It is thought that if we want to get more girls interested in STEM, the marketing needs to show that a STEM job can help them make the world a better place.
3. The student does not complete a project for submission, rather they submit a “winning idea” to enter Siemens and 3M challenges. Later on, winning entry project ideas get nurtured and grown through mentorship.
4. Failure= First Attempt In Learning! The Angry Birds Developer had dozens of failed games and almost went bankrupt when Angry Birds “took off”.
5. Discovery Education Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) can be used to enhance classroom instruction. Today I learned a reflection strategy called A, E, I, O, U
GA STEM Leadership Summit PIx
July 23rd, 2014 EdCamp Fayette at Sarah Minter!
I was thrilled to attend the first ever #EDCampFayette which was held at Sara Harp Minter ES in Fayette County, GA. It was great running into some great folks from my PLN and the sessions were terrific. My main takeaways were:
1. Think about my learning space and be sure it is flexible and student centered.
2. Consider organizing mobile devices and putting small sets on rolling carts for small group instruction in classrooms.
3. Remember the importance of computer coding and computer creation using kits such as Raspberry PI.
4. Expose student to fun ways of understanding programming using fun props like the Sphero Robot.
1. Think about my learning space and be sure it is flexible and student centered.
2. Consider organizing mobile devices and putting small sets on rolling carts for small group instruction in classrooms.
3. Remember the importance of computer coding and computer creation using kits such as Raspberry PI.
4. Expose student to fun ways of understanding programming using fun props like the Sphero Robot.
July 13th-18th DENSI2014 at Vanderbilt University, Nashville!
I was honored to be selected to attend the 2014 Discovery Education Summer Institute! in Nashville! I had a chance to be around the best minds in the world and it was a real treat to soak up their thoughts and ideas, although I was on overload at times! I met up with some old friends and made many new friendships that I believe will last a lifetime. Everyone in the DEN family generously shares their hearts, ideas, and muscles (thank you everyone for helping me carry my bags). The other thing that's special about this group is that they provide a safe and supportive atmosphere and accept everyone for who they are. Therefore, people are able to relax and be themselves. I look forward to applying in the future for another Discovery Education Summer Institute! Thank you for welcoming me into the DEN family!
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June 2014 ISTE14, Atlanta, GA
ISTE was of course amazing and cannot be summarized by anyone. I am going to note a few things that resonated with me:
1. Grok Learning teaches students Python with corrective feedback so it truly instructs. In addition, Grok sponsors coding contests that are worth a look. This company was formed by University faculty who saw the need.
2. Jennifer Lagarde, The Library Zombie fighter was able to bring us all to tears with her observations and experiences of the world and specifically students. There was a call to action for all Teacher-Librarians to join the Army of Zombie Librarian Fighters.
3.Meeting Mike Soskill the PAEMST award winner in person for the first time and talking about things that matter to both of us.
4. Being completely impressed with the Mega Mobile Share event which cannot be described. You just had to be there!
1. Grok Learning teaches students Python with corrective feedback so it truly instructs. In addition, Grok sponsors coding contests that are worth a look. This company was formed by University faculty who saw the need.
2. Jennifer Lagarde, The Library Zombie fighter was able to bring us all to tears with her observations and experiences of the world and specifically students. There was a call to action for all Teacher-Librarians to join the Army of Zombie Librarian Fighters.
3.Meeting Mike Soskill the PAEMST award winner in person for the first time and talking about things that matter to both of us.
4. Being completely impressed with the Mega Mobile Share event which cannot be described. You just had to be there!
June 2014 Georgia Library Media Assoc. Summer Institute:
Put Some Science in "Library Science" with Jodie Wheeler-
Toppen and Sue Levine
I think many people would be shocked to learn that a parent in the school is a science book author right? Well I certainly was! However, I wasted no time in collaborating with the amazing Dr. Jodi Wheeler-Toppen; My first mission was to learn more about integrating science into the library curriculum. Dr Jodi modeled an excitement filled worm lesson and the next time I did it on my own, worms and all! We decided that sharing science ideas for Teacher-Librarians would be a worthwhile endeavor so Dr. Jodi wrote up a proposal which was accepted for GLMA14 conference. Student engagement activities such as playing with worms and altering the PH of purple cabbage juice with various chemicals and then watching the juice change colors were just a couple of the highlights! Thank you to Jim Boone from Capstone Publishers for providing science texts as prize giveaways! We appreciate your generosity very much!
June 2014 Georgia Library Media Assoc. Summer Institute
May, 2014- ETW (EdTech Women) ATL Chapter Kickoff!
Jaime, Cat, Wanda, Allison & Kate formed the Atlanta ETW Chapter! It's so exciting. Several of us met up at an authentic Irish Pub in Midtown Atlanta http://www.rira.com/atlanta/. This is a fairly new National group that did not yet have an Atlanta chapter. I saw some old friends, and met some new ones. We moved from table to table talking about hot topics in education with different groups of people. The best part of the event was being part of this birds of a feather group and realizing that others have the same issues and concerns as me!
May, 2014-Ga Student Media Festival-An Amazing Success--Again!
The 2014 Ga Student Media Festival was a huge success! There were many entries received from school districts all across the state!
Spring DENVirtCon2014 F2F a Success at Lake Forest ES April 27, 2014
Today was a day of community as Discovery Education educators gathered for food, fellowship, learning, and sharing. The super awesome opening keynote speaker, Chris Kennedy @ChrKennedy is the Superintendent of the West Vancouver School District. He shared so many great thoughts, my head kept nodding in agreement as I attempted to capture some of his comments for tweets. One salient moment for me came when he said that he would rather hire a principal who is connected to thousands of people [for example, on Twitter] than a principal who is not connected. Kennedy said if a problem were to arise, he he would not only have his principal to solve it, but he would have the knowledge and experience of all of the principal's connections to pitch in. He also reminded us that if we don't like the way the media portrays us, we should get out there and control the message by showing off our great work. This is a monthly message that Nikki Roberstson reiterates every month during our TLNewsNight broadcast and it is so true!
I loved meeting Kati Searcy @KatiSearcy and being reminded about how various digital tools can be used as authentic assessments. This fast paced session showed how Padlet, ThingLink, Animoto (link to civil rights movement example), Comic Life, ifaketext.com, and other apps can be used to for formative and summative assessments. Some of us were discussing that while having students create authentic projects is the best form of assessment, the pressure for "data" to produced in "weekly data talks" is increasing. The type of data being asked for is not the type of data that comes from these types of projects. This is not a new problem, education "has been talking from both sides of its mouth" for a while now and it is frustrating. At any rate, Kati did a terrific job spotlighting how to use familiar (and some new) tools for the purpose of student assessment! Thanks, Kati. Here is a link to her digital assessment livebinder: http://katisearcy.weebly.com/digital-authentic-assessment-livebinder.html
The highlight of my day was catching up with Heather Temske @htemske. She has expertise facilitating tech integration projects in her 4th grade classroom and she even serves a part time tech integration coach in her school. Heather is always chock full of ideas and is always willing to candidly share her experiences. Today she brought me up to date on the versatility and benefits of Pixie. I have to admit that I have not looked at the Tech4Learning tools in many years and the programs seem to have evolved. I have come to find out that Pixie is “THE tool” a student can use to get a wide variety of cool tasks done. http://www.tech4learning.com/pixie. I am glad I asked her why she kept talking about Pixie; I had no idea how much this one program can do! You want video? You want drawing? You want narration? You want a slide show? You want a comic strip? You want a collage? What do you want? This thing does everything and exports in various formats! Where have I been???
Heather also gave me a crash course on how the layers in #doink work. I have been very interested in adding an animation layer into a green screen project but have not attempted to use my #doink app because of my limited mental bandwidth. You can imagine how happy I am to see that this app will be very simple to use.
I also learned about the app iCab Mobile. I have never heard of this. Apparently, I will be using this to import the Discovery Education clips into #doink. What a thrill to learn something is completely new!
Finally, even though Wes Fryer writes extensively about using the app Audioboo, and even though I have this app downloaded, I have not yet used it. Heather gave me a great example of how she uses it with her class. She created a class account for log in purposes. Her students create a book cover in Pixie and then she uploads the image to Audioboo where the students narrate it. At the end they create a QR code for a display. Heather really takes the time to make good decisions about practical, sustainable, meaningful projects to have her class participate in. Thanks so much for your generosity today, Heather!
I loved meeting Kati Searcy @KatiSearcy and being reminded about how various digital tools can be used as authentic assessments. This fast paced session showed how Padlet, ThingLink, Animoto (link to civil rights movement example), Comic Life, ifaketext.com, and other apps can be used to for formative and summative assessments. Some of us were discussing that while having students create authentic projects is the best form of assessment, the pressure for "data" to produced in "weekly data talks" is increasing. The type of data being asked for is not the type of data that comes from these types of projects. This is not a new problem, education "has been talking from both sides of its mouth" for a while now and it is frustrating. At any rate, Kati did a terrific job spotlighting how to use familiar (and some new) tools for the purpose of student assessment! Thanks, Kati. Here is a link to her digital assessment livebinder: http://katisearcy.weebly.com/digital-authentic-assessment-livebinder.html
The highlight of my day was catching up with Heather Temske @htemske. She has expertise facilitating tech integration projects in her 4th grade classroom and she even serves a part time tech integration coach in her school. Heather is always chock full of ideas and is always willing to candidly share her experiences. Today she brought me up to date on the versatility and benefits of Pixie. I have to admit that I have not looked at the Tech4Learning tools in many years and the programs seem to have evolved. I have come to find out that Pixie is “THE tool” a student can use to get a wide variety of cool tasks done. http://www.tech4learning.com/pixie. I am glad I asked her why she kept talking about Pixie; I had no idea how much this one program can do! You want video? You want drawing? You want narration? You want a slide show? You want a comic strip? You want a collage? What do you want? This thing does everything and exports in various formats! Where have I been???
Heather also gave me a crash course on how the layers in #doink work. I have been very interested in adding an animation layer into a green screen project but have not attempted to use my #doink app because of my limited mental bandwidth. You can imagine how happy I am to see that this app will be very simple to use.
I also learned about the app iCab Mobile. I have never heard of this. Apparently, I will be using this to import the Discovery Education clips into #doink. What a thrill to learn something is completely new!
Finally, even though Wes Fryer writes extensively about using the app Audioboo, and even though I have this app downloaded, I have not yet used it. Heather gave me a great example of how she uses it with her class. She created a class account for log in purposes. Her students create a book cover in Pixie and then she uploads the image to Audioboo where the students narrate it. At the end they create a QR code for a display. Heather really takes the time to make good decisions about practical, sustainable, meaningful projects to have her class participate in. Thanks so much for your generosity today, Heather!
Symbaloo Educator Spotlight March, 2014
Symbaloo Professional Dev- Dekalb County School District:
Meet me at the Intersection of Glitz and Practical- Feb 2014
Today, almost a dozen amazing Dekalb County School District Teacher-Librarians got together to take a look at Symabaloo. We are lucky because the district purchased a number of outstanding digital databases and resources that will be in effect for three years. The network connection was a bit spotty so it was a bit of a challenge but everyone persevered and now Symbaloo Webmixes are on a bunch of Destiny home pages! I did not get to take pix of everyone because things got a little hectic as we all walked around from one computer to another trying to find one that would refresh itself so we could move on to the next step. It actually was hilarious and everyone had a great sense of humor about it! I got to see some old friends and make some new ones today! I feel so inspired by all of the positive energy that came through my library today!!! What a great feeling. I created the screen-casts above to provide "rewindable learning" (Kevin Honeycutt) and also to support T-L's that could not attend. Thank you to Ryan Eash from TechSmith who did a session on flipped PD at the recent GAFE Summit and inspired me to make my first screen-casts!
Google Apps Southeastern Summitt (GAFE Jan. 11-12 2014)
Wow! It has been an incredible two days at the Southeastern Google Apps for Education Summit (GAFE). For one thing Google=Food so there was more food than you can imagine! The conference started during a huge storm a tornado watch for much of Atlanta but despite the weather, people showed up in walked around with soggy shoes and socks. Stacia McFadden and the Lovett School graciously hosted GAFE for a second year. There was something for everyone at GAFE.
I enjoyed learning with Ryan Eash @ryaneash of Techsmith. He did a great Flipped PD session and did a wonderful job demonstrating how Snagit and Camtasia integrate with one another, when to use each, and how the Techsmith tools coordinate with Google Drive. Ryan's job consists of helping educators use the Techsmith tools. Next on my list for my personal development is creating rewindable professional development sessions for teachers. Many of us find it challenging to meet face to face with staff due to all of the demands on everyone so I think it's time to create some things and send them out via email. The other thing is, many T-L's have already created tutorials etc that they are willing to share. My friend Theresa Quilicci in Rome, always offers so one day I have to go through her tutorials and pick one or two that are applicable to my school
This is David Jakes. He goes out into the world and helps solve problems! He gave a great presentation on learning spaces. His position is that hallways and classrooms are just "containers" and they can be transformed into "learning places." He states that as long as kids have a space to learn it does not really have to be called a classroom. Students can learn in different places and they might not even necessarily have their own desk but they will have a place to learn if the furniture and configuration lends itself to being mobile, agile, adaptable and timeless so that it does not go out of date like a fad. If you are interested, you can find presentations and more than you could ever read on his website http://jakes.editme.com/revision
My first AASL Conference-Dec 2013 Hartford, CT
For many attendees, the AASL Unconference which took place from 9:00 pm to midnight was at the top of the list of favorite things about AASL and I know that was the case for me! I hated being 30 minutes late because I missed an entire "topic rotation." There were several amazing topics under discussion and at times, things got really hot and passionate on both sides of the argument. Hot topics included "genrefication" (out with Dewey) and gamification. A good time was had by all. Thank you to Joyce Valenza, Dan Callahan, Nikki Robertson, Shannon Miller, and everyone else who made this great #AASLUNCON happen!!!
Great Learning & Sharing at GaETC 13 November 2013
This year, GaETC was extra special! The opening keynote by Kim Bearden (co-founder of the Ron Clark Academy) was both moving and inspiring! The dynamic duo Jerry Blumengartern @Cybrabryman1 and Shelly Terrell @shellterrell joined us in the peach state this year!. These two are my heros and it was wonderful meeting Shelly for the first time in person! As usual this year's conference presentations were on very timely topics. One highlight for me was the BYOT in KIndergarten session by Emily Dunlap and Ashley Loftus from Forsyth County School District. These ladies had some great tips and innovative ideas! I was thrilled to see our featured speaker Jerry Blumengarten do a research presentation and Shelly Terrell do an engaging writing session. Another highlight of the conference was the Hawthorne ES Digital Storytelling Student Showcase. Three of my students shared their work with many interested educators and they had a blast doing it!
GaETC13 Student Showcase Animoto Video!
Some of my GaETC13 Highlights in Pictures!
DEN VIRTCON LIVE 2013 Tech or Treat @ Hawthorne ES!
Ga Como 2013 in Macon Ga! Oct. 9-11 2013
The highlight of the conference for me and everyone else was the super amazing keynote delivered by award winning Barrow ES Library Media Specialist Andy Plemmons, @Plemmonsa. Andy shared the many ways he connects with his students so that they feel like valuable members of the library whose contributions are appreciated.
He also talked about how he challenges himself to encourage the students to solve real life problems and engage in authentic useful tasks that benefit the school and community.
Most importantly, Andy reminds us that we all have barriers and obstacles but we must find ways to build bridges to get to the other side where we are engaging our students, teachers, and community so that they always feel welcome to participate as members of the library.
He also talked about how he challenges himself to encourage the students to solve real life problems and engage in authentic useful tasks that benefit the school and community.
Most importantly, Andy reminds us that we all have barriers and obstacles but we must find ways to build bridges to get to the other side where we are engaging our students, teachers, and community so that they always feel welcome to participate as members of the library.
Andy's Presentation!
More COMO Oct. 2013 Highlights
Susan Grigbsy talked about fun ways to get students engaged in the curriculum. She brainstorms with teachers to develop real life projects that kids can create to show what they know. Today in the session, each group invented a new sport by combining the names and rules of two individual sports. We got to experience the amount of thinking power and creativity it took to synthesize our information and come up with the rules of a new game. It was so much fun!!!
EdCamp Atlanta Hosted at Woodward Academy Sept. 2013
Dekalb County Grade Level Cluster Meeting, Sept 2013
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This week I was inspired by Michelle Cooper's video on how she uses Symbaloo on Destiny to help the students find their safe search engines and other research resources. I embedded her great Symbaloo/Destiny YouTube on the left.
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Hawthorne ES Research Web Mix thanks to the Inspiration of Michelle Cooper @_michellecooper
Sharing Symbaloo for Destiny with Dekalb County ES Librarians at Area Cluster Meeting Sept, 2013
International Conference on Informational LIteracy, Aug, 2013
Educators Learning From Each Other on #EduVue!
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Evaluating Student Work at the International Student Media Festival Competition http://www.ismf.net/
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Sharing and Learning at the GLMA Summer Institute
June, 2013!
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Impromptu Puppet Pals Video at the GLMA Summer Institute with: Helen Copeland, Jacqueline Keeton, Sue Levine
Connecting at DENapalooza May., 2013 in Atlanta!
Volunteering at the GA Media Festival Feb., 2013
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