Imagine K-12 Educator Day

At the recent IK12 Educator Day, there were 16 companies that tried and represented themselves to show that they belong in this highly competitive market.  A few stood out to me, actually 13 of the 16 stood out.

Brightloop: a mass student observation tool that puts Confer to shame, and one of the many great qualities of Brightloop is that it is FREE!!

Chesscademy: A fun and easy way to learn chess

Educents: a place to buy the things you are already planning on buying for your classroom, but this way you can pay up to 90% less.

Edusight: smart, simple, gradebook!!

Mathchat: math collaboration via mobile device

Picolab: the tool Robert is using for our meetings!

Readworks: Have a book and need a lesson to go with it? Perfect site! Want to have the text and a related article handy? Perfect site! FREE, and non profit!

Smartestk12: Make any test, paper or not, managed through web browser.  Edit, create, get result live!

Tickle: Scratch but BETTER!

Trinket: Take coding and apply it to instruction

Thanks Liza!

So, does this post count for being fashionably late or better late than never? 

Family life has been a-calling and I've had a lot of 'unplugged' events happening (my daughter just got married) and it's been a busy time. 

I have a few things going on in the classroom that I'm playing with but mostly I've been  using Apple TV and it has been a blast.  I've been using it as another visual for almost every subject.  I've mostly been using Doceri but I've also used Pages to make a  quick anchor chart for a simple shared reading such as 'What's next?'  Bring your clipboards, pencils, etc. (adding pictures as well).

~Dellamano

Ps It is great to have a patient grade level buddy to help you navigate this new experience; Liza!

iMovie

I've definitely a Mac fan, especially when it comes to their easy to use programs like iMovie. Our school PCs have Windows Movie Maker for videos, but it is definitely not as smooth and visually appealing.

For our first PBIS Assembly, we will be showing a video made using iMovie. It is a spoof off of Magic's "Rude". For this video, I recorded my voice over an instrumental track of the song, and then saved it as an audio track I then used in the video. Video is too large for me to upload here - contact me if you would like to have it shared via R-Net. Also, I'd be more than happy to help if you'd like a tutorial on how to use iMovie.

Thinking About Design Thinking

Last night was the best meeting I ever attended! Why? We were asked to dig in and create.  What fascinated me the most was how the steps that we needed to follow led to a depth of understand for another human being in such a short period of time.  Initially, I was frustrated on multiple levels. I had to not partner with my friend and teaching partner and go sit with a stranger.  Blessing.  He was wonderful to talk to and I think I got more out of the lesson because we had absolutely zero prior knowledge of one another...hmmm, teaching point??? Also, the control freak that I am was having severe issues not understand what the end product was going to be? I absolutely lacked vision.  As we continued through the process, understandings became clearer and I began to relax...a little.  You can't stop a control freak in just one lesson. :) Then, the best part ever! I got to play!!! Was my "design" good? Oh, heck no! Was it fun? Absolutely and even better than that, it served a purpose and got my point across.  Amazing how questioning about a present can lead to designing a portal where my partner, "Hennessy loving, beer forgetting Xen needs a way to show gratitude because he has extremely loyal, life changing impactful friendships", can magically access whatever he needs to celebrate those bonds.  Thanks for the mind expansion Techie world!!!

Design Thinking Prototype

I had no idea how the initial need would turn into a product.  That was such an interesting process and produced very cool results.

design thinking

i would like to explore design thinking more. i am looking forward to taking the design thinking class during wednesday PD's later this year!

Toothbrush ft Floss Invention

We came up a toothbrush that had a floss dispenser inside it.  WHY DOESN'T THIS EXIST IN REAL LIFE?!?!

Also we just talked about making tools to make our lives earlier in history class and I think that this activity would be fantastic to do with the students.  They designed their ideas on paper but did not actually try to create them...

-Whitebread