TechieTeacher5280

Last week I started my new job with Poudre School District, and as predicted, I'm learning tons! One of my main assignments this year is to help the 9th grade core teachers in PSD learn to teach in a one-to-one environment. Every Freshman in the district will be getting a laptop this year to use at school and at home. They will be disseminated to one HS a quarter, and the first set of laptops deploys (hopefully) September 21. There is much to do before then, including training all the very nervous teachers about how to use the laptops in their lessons. In the meantime, I've been learning lots about the district, and I've picked up a few cool tools & tricks from my new coworkers. Laptops (and a few desktops) sitting in the warehouse, waiting for deployment...and that's not even all of them!

Wow, this has been a busy summer for me! I finished my principal licensure classes, got married in Mexico (hence the name change to Anna Otto), took the PLACE exam for principals, honeymooned in Poland & Italy, AND got a new job!

Recently I posted about my first impressions of the iPad for education and in general. As you may recall, I was underwhelmed. At the time, it seemed to have more down sides than up. I won't rehash that post here, but feel free to check out that post to see details . Since then, I attended an iPad and iPod in Education Seminar presented by Apple. To be honest, I went to the training with a fair bit of skepticism. Because this seminar was put on by Apple, I expected it to be an obviously biased presentation on the power of these tools in education, little more than a sales pitch. And while yes, there was some pitching, I have to admit that I was won over by the potential of tablets and became much more fond of the iPad I've been piloting. Two things increased my enthusiasm for the potential of tablets in education. The first was the data that the presenter shared with us from  Canby School District.   Students used iPods/iPads in a variety of ways. Some simply using them to ...

This year I'm teaching a new class, an advanced technology class for 7th graders. In our district, we do not have curriculum for technology classes, so I get to create all the projects my students will work on. I love coming up with new ideas, so I was very excited to have the opportunity to plan for a new class. This class has the added challenge of being marketed as "advanced" but does not have any prerequisites, so my students may come to me with very little computer experience. As a result, I decided to come up with projects that ultimately require a lot of different skills, but are broken down into mini-assignments to be more manageable for my students. My favorite assignment for this class involves Claymation. Through this project, students learn how to use Microsoft Word, Windows Movie Maker, wikis, discussion boards, digital cameras, tripods, and microphones to record sounds on the computer. The students have really enjoyed this project and have created some gre...

As iPads gain in popularity, those in education are looking at ways that the iPad may improve teaching and learning in the classroom. Our superintendent has placed iPads in the hands of several district employees to see if our district might want to add these tools to our arsenal of instructional materials. I was given an iPad to test out several months ago, and thus far, I must say I have mixed reviews. When I first received the iPad I was excited to try it out and see how it could help in my classroom. Honestly, I had debated getting one for personal use as well, so this was a great opportunity to take one for a test drive. I hit my first obstacle when I learned that the wireless network in our school reaches everywhere, it seems, except my classroom. Although the district is working to remedy this issue, this severely limits how I had hoped to use this tool in my teaching. As a result, I started researching apps that could be purchased that would accomplish the same tasks I'...

Wow, where does the time go? I was just sent a gentle reminder that it's been a while since my last blog post, and lo and behold, it's been over 2 months. Shameful! In my defense, I have been a bit preoccupied--new school year, new University classes, and....a new fiance. :) Who knew wedding planning was so time consuming? One item on my recent to-do list was to find a nice frame for the engagement photos we had taken recently. While exploring one of the local stores, I came across a series of Letter Art posters that inspired me to create a new lesson for my desktop publishing students. Usually, I steal, modify, and combine existing lesson ideas, but I'm proud to say that this one is all mine! It doesn't take very long to complete (3-5 days, depending on your class and how creative you want to be), but the kids love it and learn lots of great skills. They get to use digital cameras and learn about macro mode, edit and enhance their photos in online photo-editing progra...

This past weekend, after months of research and waiting, I bought myself a new cell phone--though "cell phone" is really quite the understatement. This is really a handheld playground that happens to also be a phone. I have been with Verizon since I first owned a cell phone and was debating between their Droid Incredible, or switching to AT&T and getting the iPhone. I have a phenomenal old plan with Verizon and their reception in my area is far superior to AT&Ts, but I couldn't help but drool over the iPhone. However, after much research and talking to people who have owned both phones, I decided to stick with my carrier and get the Droid. Boy, am I happy! So far, this phone is amazing. It's extremely user friendly and there are tons of great free apps online. Two of my favorites that have educational uses are Google Skymaps and Trippo Mondo by Cellictica.