Little Things

May is always a whirlwind of activity as we try to wrap up the year. It can be stressful as you finish paperwork, get your grades entered, get your room straightened, plus plan school activities and daily lessons. During the chaos, I'm reminded that the little things can mean the most. The little things can have a huge impact on the children in our schools. When we stop to listen to a student telling about his/her favorite part of the day, or listen when they tell us about upcoming vacations, or listen when they tell us they will miss a teacher during the summer, it makes us realize that each teacher has the ability to make a tremendous impact on a child. Just think, by taking a little time to listen you made a child feel important. Knowing that you have been the highlight of their day should make your heart feel a little warm. For me, these are reminders that I hold dear when I may not always feel that I'm effectively maintaining my usual routine. When I'm in schools, I feel productive when I accomplish the little things and you should too!
 

Quick update

• Technosized Academy is under way...please register this week, we're in the process of getting the sessions put together & organized, hope to send out a list of sessions to registrants by the end of next week...I look forward to seeing you at the Technosized Academy on May 24th!!
  
• STEM Academy at the L&N in Knox County on Saturday was one of the most relaxing conferences I've had the pleasure of attending...for you, check out Live Binders (tons of resources & easy to create), Edmodo (set our district up last May but haven't plugged it yet, great way to blog w/ your class), Flipped Classroom (amazing!, happy to share my thoughts if any of you are interested)
  
• Summer Opportunity - ITA in Loudon at Eaton Elementary School on June 21st ---- free Instructional Technology Academy open to all of our teachers

App Ideas

• StoryKit - assign kids a topic, let them be the author of their own story, type/add pictures/paint
• Mad Libs - classic fill in the blank that we loved as a kid except you fill in the blank on the iPad
  
• Science 360 - great science lessons, learning curve - use your fingers for navigation and page option, wifi is a must
• This Day In History - daily update on historical moments

Websites

• Animoto - have your students make a quick video that highlights their favorite lesson from this year, don't forget -- it's FREE for educators, click on the link on the bottom left of the page to register
• Voki - create a 60 second Voki avatar to engage your students & peak their interests
• WallWisher - create one for your class & let your students post a note that lists their favorite memory from lesson this year
• Wordle or Tagxedo - ask your students for words that describe your class and use one of these websites to tie it into a neat little cloud

Looking Ahead

Happy to report that we have a new tech coach for next year!

Be thinking....how can we assist you next year, what are some resources you'd like to see, is there anything specific that you'd like us to model in your classroom?? All thoughts and suggestions are welcome!