Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT)

• May
• 7

BYOT makes it into the NBC Nightly News:

Tablet Program – April 2012

• May
• 2

The latest tablet program winner is Stefanie Lane for her proposal to use a tablet to flip her classroom. His complete proposal is below the fold.

Read the rest of this entry…

Google Docs = Google Drive = 5GB!

• May
• 2

Over the next few days you should see your Google Docs experience turn into Google Drive. Your user experience shouldn’t change, but you’ll now have the option of installing the Google Drive application to your computer which will allow you to sync all your Google Docs (any files really) between your online account and your local computer. To learn more, head on over to: drive.google.com

With this upgrade/change, all Google Docs/Drive accounts will have a minimum of 5Gb of space, up from 1Gb in most circumstances.

Links from around the web

• April
• 23

Here are some posts worth reading:

Change Your Email Password Now

Gmail Meter indulges your inner statistician

This Lesson Is Great, Though I’m Not So Sure About Using Khan As A Model

A Texas University’s Mind-Boggling Database Of Teens’ Daily Text Messages, Emails, and IMs Over Four Years

100 Reasons To Jailbreak Your iPhone

Screenleap lets you share your screen with one click and no software installation

How to knock your Gmail experience up several notches with a single click

How To Be a Happy Gmail User on iPhone or iPad

Travel Smarter 2012: The best gear for your 2012 travels

The Power of a Blog

• April
• 1

In a few days Bill Darling, Linda Wooster and I – and twelve printmaking and drawing students – will depart for two weeks of drawing, printmaking and exploring in Florence Italy.   This is the first time in ten years of making this trip to Italy that we have (with the help of Josh Seamon and through the hard work of Linda Wooster) used a blog to organize and share information.  As soon as it was set up – with Linda’s beautiful choice of homepage picture – a concise but shape-able semi-public face for the trip began to emerge, and I saw the blog as not only a means for sharing information with students, parents and colleagues about this annual art pilgrimage, but a way to hone our own understanding of the meaning of what we do, through the posting of research, links to related sites, and other still-developing extensions of this idea of “Intaglio Society Florence Italy Trip”.  While I have some experience with creating blogs and websites for myself, I see clearly now that it is in connection with an evolving collective effort such as this trip that the medium of the blog is really effective.  If you are interested in visiting our Italy Trip blog, here is the address:  intaglio.stjlabs.com

Photo Editing Apps

• March
• 17

One of my passions (aside from technology) is photography.  Perhaps that is why in my classes I am continually finding ways to incorporate photography within my lesson activities and assignments.  For visual learners in particular, using photographs to help develop skills such as sequencing, retelling, comparing & contrasting, and even inferring; prove to be quite successful.  Students are often excited to use  technology to take  photographs and then become adept at editing the photos using apps to meet project requirements.

Altered using PicsArt- B&W color pop

The iPad has several photo editing apps that allow for quick, easy, edits.  Perhaps one of the most popular apps that is free, is Instagram.  This allow photos taken to be altered in appearance, creating a more sophisticated or weathered appearance.  Skitch is another photo editing app that is compatible with both iPhone, iPad, and Droids that is optimal for photo editing, captioning, etc.  For those with Droids, the app, picsart is incredible.  It allows a magnitude of photo editing.  Anything from text, stickers, cropping, red-eye, and a range of filters.  I find students need minimal to no pre-teaching with the use of these apps, rather they learn by exploring and playing.  More often than not, they show me tricks that can be applied.  Often the photos that the students take and then edit, become sources of inspiration for poems.  Photo editing apps are yet another educational tool that we can share with students.  Please see some examples below:  Since I did not attain permission from my students to share and post their work, I will share some of my edited photos:

Altered using PicsArt- text added and color enhanced

Altered using Instagram

audacity, Pearson content, macbooks

• March
• 14

My focus this term has continued to be posting all my class notes and materials online (mspaupst.com) and getting students to access them as appropriate.  I would say success has been mixed.  Some students have gotten into the habit of getting the notes when they are absent without being prompted, while others still seem confused about the protocol.

Another goal has been to make use of the Pearson materials we purchased for the new AP French course this year.  IT was kind enough to put the audio files for the listening portion of the exam on our macbooks in Newell, so we have been able to access those.  We are having a bit of an issue with our headphones at the moment. (Our department bought headphones that have two audio jacks, whereas the macbooks only have one, so we bought some tiny, easy-to-lose adaptors to plus them in, and have of course lost most of these adaptors.)  I would love some input on a better long-term solution to this problem.

I am also working on practicing using Audacity with my AP classes so that they are ready to use this program on the AP test.  They seem to be doing well with it so far.  Testing out audacity with my French 1 classes has been more of a mixed bag:  some of them have done well with it, while some are struggling with the mechanics of exporting an mp3 file and emailing it to me.  While it is wonderful to have the additional cart downstairs this semester, it would be even better to have a few more than 14 computers in it, so that classes with more than 14 students could more easily access these machines.

Nuts and Bolts of Using OneNote and Tablet PCs

• March
• 9

In my Government and Economics classes we continue to use our tablet PC with great results. By generating Power Point Presentation (PPP), that serves not only to deliver content but also to structure the class, I am able to provide a framework that is captured and dynamic.  I use the PPP to share the guiding question of the day, deliver and discuss content, and then to provide instructions for assessment activities.  All in one document, I have what I need.  My students who are absent can access this information from the portal and then have a general idea of the flow of the day, and that is a great starting point for make-up work.  Here is how it all works

I take my lesson plan for the day and create a Power Point document.  Main idea and guiding question allow go on the first slide, this gives me the opportunity enforce the “Big Ideas”, I am hoping the students wrestle with that day, it also works well to go back to this first slide when we have a few minutes left to circle back and check for understanding.  I, then create at least one slide for each main idea based on the content I wish to deliver that day. Lastly, I included all instructions for the in-class practice or assessment.

I, take the PPP and convert it to a OneNote (a Microsoft Program) that allows for the more manipulations and makes it easier to take notes with the stylus.  Once in OneNote, I am able to lead (or have students lead) discussions and deliver content that is interactive and easily captured.  I, save the document as a PDF and then it is available to handed out to students or to be uploaded to the Portal. Here is what I normal day might look like.  This was a day of review before a written assessment.

Tech Integration Update

• February
• 23

I will be traveling with the France trip from 2/25 to 3/10. You can keep up with the trip online at www.Nice2012.com.

While I am away, Karen Pontti will be handling STJLabs password resets, and Merle Haskins will be taking care of Portal password resets. Thank you Karen and Merle!

The second technology in the classroom survey is now online right here [emailed out]. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. Your honest responses are incredibly helpful in charting the course of educational technology at St. Johnsbury Academy.

Here are the most recent posts to the STJLabs blog:
Kindle Stats!
From around the web…
Paperless grading, dropbox & DropBox
Online backups with Google Docs

The new rounds of three programs are now online and due by 3/15/12:
Tablet Program
$250 Tech Grant
Tech Stories

Many tech intergration support documents are online right here: http://stjlabs.com/support/

Support document of the day: Complete Class Pages Manual

Kindle Stats!

• February
• 22

Since we acquired the Kindles in October, they’ve been pretty popular. Overdrive is also a great service even without a Kindle. You don’t even need a library Kindle to use Overdrive. You can use your own personal Kindle or other electronic devices.

So far we’ve had 52 Kindle checkouts and 147 Overdrive checkouts.

If anyone is interested in using this great service you can access it through the library resource page. If anyone is interested in checking out a Kindle – come to the library! It’s also a good way to try one out before you purchase if you’re thinking of doing so.

Any questions – come see a librarian!