Sync Saved My Life

The Sign of Death

On Tuesday I boarded a flight from Minneapolis to Washington D.C. to attend the Google Teachers Academy (more on that later).  Before I left, my BlackBerry Tour told me I needed a software update.  Since I try to obey gadgets when they command me to do something, I obliged.  After the captain of the plane told me that turning my phone on would no longer cause the air vessel to plummit to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, I turned my phone back on.  Or at least tried to.

It completely crashed.  Again.

The only thing that appeared on my phone was a white screen with the error message pictured above.  This was the second time this has happened to me in the five months of owning the phone.  Seeing as how I was no a stranger in a strange (but patriotic) land, this was completely unacceptable.  How the heck was I supposed to navigate around the city and find my way to the conference I needed to be at?  How would I enter contacts of teachers I met into my phone?  Write things down with paper and pencil?  Was the wheel just invented?  What year is this anyway?

Needless to say when I hopped of the Metro line at the Farragut North station and marched to the nearest Verizon store, I was not happy.  I pleaded to them to let me return the phone so I could get a Droid, but to no avail.  The worst part of all of this was my lost contacts, over 354 of them thrown to the digital wastelands.

I tried, oh, how I tried.

Or so I thought.

After I returned home, a bright idea struck me:  didn’t I download Google Sync to sync up my Google calendar with my BlackBerry on my other phone(s)?  It’s supposed to sync contacts too, right?  Yes, yes it does.  Very well I might add.  I re-downloaded the sync app, and restored my contacts, all 354 of them.

Sync, to me, is a little like the extended warranty I bought on my car.  I thought I would never need it, and then two months after owning it, the transmission blows out.  The extended warranty ends up saving me over two thousand dollars.  Many a time while using sync, I thought to myself, “why am I doing this?  Is this ever going to be worth it?”  Now I know, and knowing is half the battle.

True

I wish I would have had something like this after my laptop was stolen.  Yes I could have saved my materials to our district’s server, but I need to be connected to the district to access them.  I could have also backed them up on an external hard-drive, but even that is prone to failure too.  I’m trusting the cloud more and more these days.  Someday, that might come back to bite me in the butt, but for now, I will sing the praises of Google Sync to high heaven.  Or, on all my connecting flights to Washington D.C., at least.

GTADC

Follow my notes from Google Teachers Academy Washington DC here.

Google Teachers Academy

Google Teachers Academy is starting up!  Stay tuned for updates later!

Let the building begin

Questions for Oz

I can't wait for Google's bombardment

From December 8-10 of this week I’ll be in Washington D.C. attending the Google Teachers Academy. From all I’ve heard, I can expect to be bombarded with a full host of Google based services teachers can use in the classroom to promote 21st century learning (not learning OF the 21st century, that would be a history teacher’s job, and as it happens….).  I’ve never been more excited to be bombarded.

Many I tell about the GTA respond with, “How are you going to use Google in the classroom?  Kids need help figuring out how to search for stuff on Google?”  To the former, I usually respond with something to the effect of, “well I use maps and docs for so-and-so project to achieve such-and-such learning objectives”.  To the latter question, I respond with, “Yes.”

While students do need help effectively searching the web, when it comes to students utilizing the web for learning, search is really only the tip of the iceberg.  There are so many resources on the web for teachers to use, a gold panning sifter is needed to properly sort through them to find which resources are worth a teacher’s time, and which are worthy of an Internet blacklist.

While I’m there I’ll be soaking up everything like a sponge, but there’s no reason why I can’t help teachers who won’t be there.  So, if you have any burning questions for the The Great and Mighty Googs, what are they?  Are there any particular Google services  you don’t understand or can’t see using in your classroom?  Thinking of a particular unit coming up in your curriculum and would like to implement a web-based utility?

Leave a comment below and I’ll provide updates and replies with what I learn at GTADC.

Googs, The Great and Terrible is now open for questions

iGot iT!

Through a generous grant from HEF, I was notified today during class by a gigantic, over-sized check that I had received my grant proposal for a classroom set of iTouches.  I’m thoroughly excited about the potential to engage students in new and exciting ways using the iTouches.  In addition to the maps, web browser, calendar, and media playing capabilities on the iTouch, there are numerous apps out there that will have very positive effects on student learning.

Is there an app for learning?

Do you know of any apps out there that will magically turn my classroom into the new Happiest Place on Earth?  What apps should a social studies teacher get on day one?  Add feedback and win one of the iTouches!

*Author’s disclaimer:  I will not give away any iTouches.  I’m lied.  I will however take a picture of them and you can touch your computer monitor, if that makes you feel any better.

Dropbox Bonanza

Working in a web 2.0 world is the cats meow.  Doing this efficiently and creating and sharing with a colleague is the bees knees.  If you’ve never heard of Dropbox, you can now cross off “Things I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me 50 Years Ago to Make My Life Easier So I Would Have More Time To Finish My Quantum Leap Marathon” off your to-do list.

Dropbox gives you 2GB of free online storage that is easily accessible from Mac, PC, Linux, or even iPhone.  To get at your files, you can download it, onto your computer, but you can also access your files from the web.

The hands-down best reason to use Dropbox for a teacher, is the extremely easy way to file share.  Once you create a folder and set access permissions for who can view and manipulate the files, all you have to do is drag and drop an item (i.e. Word doc, Flipchart, picture, song, video clip, etc.) into that folder and PRESTO! it’s automatically synced on your colleague’s computer.  It’s much easier than always having to email attatchments, it’s 3,000 times easier than naviagint through 20 folder links on the server, and, it stores and saves documents.  Earlier this year, my work laptop was stolen.  Tons of intellectual property was lost, but, some of was saved between myself and another colleague due to leaving a lot of shared assessments and lesson plans in the Dropbox.

Dropbox web interface

Our district uses Moodle which also has file sharing capabiliites, so I don’t have a need to use this with my students.  If I didn’t use Moodle, I could see it being used with students, so long as they were taught to only download files from the Dropbox, not to completely take them away (although it does have a “Recent Events” feature, which shows the history of a file and who did what to it) .

When time allotted for planning lessons and curriculum is scarce or the distances between make it challenging, Dropbox offers a sleek and efficient solution.

5 Things I’m Thankful For

The tryptophan has finally worn off and I’ve recovered from a Black Friday headache I care not to relive.  So, after carefully pondering what I’m thankful for in regards to ed tech integration in my classroom throughout the past year, here is a short list I’ve managed to come up with (in no particular order).

1. Activboard
Since the start of my teaching career, perhaps the thing that has changed my approach to teaching the most since I began teaching six years ago is the Interactive White Board (and the ActivInspire software that goes with it). When implemented well, the IWB engages students in lessons and allows for active feedback and participation. Although it has improved the classroom experience – and learning – for students, it has been most beneficial to me by helping me to teach more effectively. I love using visuals to help teach history and during the course of a classroom discussion, I want to be able to show students exactly the point I’m trying to get across. The IWB helps me do this like no other tool has in the past.

Great kids, not mine.

2. Google
My usage of Google has been chronicled here in the past, so I won’t go into too much of an explanation of why I am thankful for it being in my classroom. Suffice it to say that I believe Google (and all the services it provides) to increase student’s creativity and collaboration while at the same time providing a free service that is accessible and easy to use. As more technology is integrated into classroom experiences, those are the three ideals that should be emulated: free, accessible, and easy to use.

Google Docs

3. Enthusiastic Students.

Although there has been some early learning pains with my students learning new processes, most students are excited about using the new technologies in class because it is helping them learn. Additionally, the work that I get back from a lot of students is such a creative and personalized endeavor, it makes for a far more unique learning experience.  No matter what you’re doing in class, if the kids aren’t behind it, it’s not going to fly.

4. Inspiring Colleagues
Simply stated, the amount of work I’ve created (and lost) over my professional career would not have been possible without getting amazingly creative ideas for fellow coworkers.

5. Administrative Support
I think I’m more fortunate than I realize. As I follow educators on Twitter and read blog posts, many teachers seem to have trouble convincing the school hierarchy that tech in the classroom is a worthwhile investment. My school and district have been amazingly supportive of myself and other teachers in the district. Of course money is always an issue, but I’ve never heard of anyone been told that their ideas in innovating the classroom were bad.

What are you thankful for?  Post below.

It’s Only Broken If You Don’t Know How to Fix It

The tree in my backyard sheds more than a St. Bernard in July.  Leaves are everywhere and there’s’ no end in sight.  To remedy this problem, I ventured to the nearest Home Depot and bought an Echo blower/vac to use the leaves as mulch around my recently re-landscaped yard. It worked pretty well.  For 3 hours.

Then it broke.  It started to smell like it was catching fire, which is certainly not something you want to have happen while dealing with gas-powered yard equipment.  And, the pull cord no longer pulled.  It was done.

Mugshot #1 of the perp.

There are very few things that annoy me more than when you invest money into technology that promises to part the seas and change your life, only to have it not part the seas and drown you in a tidal wave of frustration.  Had I really known how to fix it, I would have, but that’s not the point.  The point is, technology is supposed to make life easier, less complicated, and to aid us in tasks we already do.  Not make life more difficult, take up more time, and add frustration.

For some of my student’s in class, this is exactly what I am giving them.  Not intentionally of course, but that’s what they feel, and that’s their reality.  How then, can this be combated?

Mugshot #2 of the perp.

Well, a lot of it has to do with education.  If, for example, I knew how to fix the leaf blower/vac, I could have fixed it myself had the problem recurred in the future.  Or, knowing that it’s a piece of junk, I could take it back to the Depot of Homes, get a refund, and swear off Echo purchases again (something I would never do because I love the weed-wacker I have).  Since I wasn’t (and still am not) educated enough to understand how to disassemble a motor like that, I can’t fix the problem myself, but that doesn’t mean I need to give up and allow the leaves to win now do I?  Even if the gadget doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do, the experience is something I can learn from.

At school, students (and the occasional parent) may have the tendency to shut down when they don’t understand how to use something we’re doing in class.  The latest instance of this I experienced was a paper I had my students type using Google Docs.  For some, it was a real challenge to create an account, type the paragraph, and learn how to share and edit their paper with myself and their peer editing partner.  Some students wanted to just use Microsoft Word, while others were so exasperated they just wanted to write the whole thing by hand.  The time before that, students needed to make a map using Google Maps.  Embedding and highlighting the routes explorers took to North America was a significant challenge to some students.

In both situations, it does no good to abandon the project altogether and write the paper or do the maps the old traditional way.  They already know how to do that.  What they need is to learn new processes that make it easier to learn, share, and collaborate.  Sometimes, this works exactly the way it’s supposed to, and others, well….sometimes you have to return a blower/vac to Home Depot and try again.  If you give up, you don’t learn anything new.  If you don’t learn anything new, you’re raking leaves in two feet of snow.

Strange Things Are Afoot at the Circle K

Recently I’ve given my students two extra credit options:

1. Make a Google Map that highlights the 13 original colonies.  The need to embed a picture in the place mark and give relevant information about the uniqueness of that colony.
2. Create a video that can be uploaded to Youtube that shows them acting out either colonists who wish to separate away from Great Britain, or Loyalists who can’t understand why the colonists would ever want to do such a thing.

My reasoning behind these options was simple (I’m a big fan of lists):

1. If and when I give extra credit, I don’t like giving out simple worksheets they could have done when they were in second grade (they’re now eighth graders).  If they want extra credit, they’ve got to work for it.  And by working for it, they need to really demonstrate their learning to me.
2. I wanted them to do something they can share with others.  If their video of the Boston Massacre is so good, other students should be able to learn from it to, so why not share it?

Some of my student’s jumped were on board with this idea from the word go, while others looked at me cross-eyed.  I think the notion that I was asking them to create something other people can learn from was an idea that has rarely occurred to them.

Or been asked of them.

Which, to me, is a problem.

I don’t fancy myself a space age George Carlin, but I do think there’s got to be a reason why some students resist sharing what they’ve learned with newer technologies.

Learning should not be done in the chasm of a black hole, confined to one person.  Why be selfish with what you’ve learned?  Self conscious, maybe, but not selfish.  I think it prudent that teachers not only educate their students on the difference between the two, but to teach them to be self-confident enough in their work that other people would actually want to see it.  Can you imagine how motivation might change if that were to happen?  Students may actually want to do projects to demonstrate their learning instead of putting them off until they last second only to turn in sub par work.

Learning is not done in a black hole.

Get Inspired One Step at a Time

If you’ll be in the Twin Cities area on December 12th, and you’re an educator, and you’re an Activboard user, and you like to do super sweet things with really radical people, then I hereby personally invite you to the TIES conference in downtown Minneapolis.

I will be presenting an Activboard and ActivInspire focused workshop Get Inspired One Step at a Time.  Here is the workshop summary:

ActivInspire works in tandem with Promethean Activboards. This workshop is designed to explore the features of the software that will promote a better use of digital learning tools in the instructional process. We will review basic functionality of Inspire and introduce new tools while providing time for customizing flip chart pages from existing templates. This workshop is perfect for teachers new to the Activboard or those who have been using it for a year or so who still feel a little intimidated the complexity of the tools. Get ready to have fun, be challenged and get Inspired.

Migrating to Inspire from Studio can be a tricky and sometimes frustrating experience.  If you love using the Activboard but want to get more out of it, than this is the workshop for you!

Hope to see you there.

If you are planning on being at TIES, but can’t attend my workshop, make sure we connect.  I’d love to hear what you’re up to in your classrooms or school!