Technosized Academy

Get ready for HCS's 1st "Technosized Academy" on May 24th!

Oh my goodness, I'm so excited! We never expected such a large response! We've had 171 responses and 286 checked it out and/or started the survey process. The wheels are in motion...we sent out a save the date invitation, a survey to see the interest areas of our teachers, completed the walk through to evaluate technology availability at Cherokee, we have an open call for presenters form on standby, and we've already lined up a few people to present. We're gearing up for what we hope will be an annual event!

Many of you have emailed me about registering for the event. We'll send out more information once we have the sessions lined up and the presenters secured. Stay tuned, once I catch my breath and get with Rosie, we'll send out more information!

Other Tidbits

Websites:

Weebly - A few of you have indicated that you'd like an option, other than frontpage, to dabble at creating a free website. For a quick and user friendly suggestion, start with a weebly. The layout has drag and drop capability for easy editing.

Animoto - my old fav! I recently recommended this website to Julie Newland. I was so excited when Ms. Tamma Jackson (ChurchHill Intermediate) allowed her student to use this as a presentation tool in lieu of a poster board. Thanks for letting the kids infuse technology into your curriculum! The student had a blast and I heard that all of the kids enjoyed it! Side note: it's free for educator's, that's right...look for the link on the bottom left and sign up to get the $30 year membership for free!

Apps:

Zite - This app takes all your favorite sites & articles, from multiple areas, and turns it into one easy to read 'magazine'.

StoryLines - great app for centers with a few iPads but multiple students...assign a topic, put the students in groups, 1 student starts and the others add to it - excellent for small group activities!

IPADS & TCAP REVIEW

What time is it??? 'TTT', that's right triple 'T'...TCAP Time in Tennessee --- and I had the best day w/ TCAP review!

I was blessed with teaming up with math specialist, Lori Allen, and a GREAT group of teachers at Surgoinsville Elementary! We implemented the iPad's for TCAP review with students in 3rd grade. We focused on three apps for reviewing multiplication. The highlight was when a student, that struggles w/ the material, had a hard time w/ 1 app but completely grasped it w/ another app. He went from <20% accuracy to 91% --- I was so excited! This just proved to me how much the iPad can and does impact education...they do accomplish differentiation w/ the same material! Thank you Surgoinsville for asking us to team up with you for TCAP prep!

Our 3 App's, ranked in order of student preference :)

1. Grand Prix Multiplication
2. Rocket Math Free
3. Mad Math Lite

Happy App'ing!

Happy App'ing

I'm reflecting on my presentation at the ATA conference yesterday. I had a good turnout with about 40-45 attendees. I love it when I have the opportunity to share information! New apps and ways to implement the iPad is the hot thing right now. I'm blessed to be a part of it! I really love it when other people share with me and I can pass it on. Here are my top 3 fav's from the conference. Let me know if you use these in your classroom!

1. Sock Puppets - introduce and/or review material by building a puppet show, give the kids a topic and let them create a skit in pairs to demonstrate mastery learning....cute app! My son and I made a puppet show reviewing multiplication. I'm updating my blog and I hear him still playing with it. We did the 1's together and sounds like he's flying solo to create a review of his doubles. 

2. Socrative Teacher & Socrative Student -  build quizzes and get instant feedback....no clickers = no problem, this app will turn your iPad into a free clicker, build quizzes with the teacher app, take them with the student app (must have wifi)

3. Comic Touch Lite - use a picture, write a blurb...infuse this into your curriculum by challenging your students to use a picture and a few words to reiterate the lesson

Happy App'ing!

Sharing Resources

Do you ever had a continuous thought running through your head and you just can't shake it? We do too! Rosie and I are constantly trying to think of ways to improve technology and curriculum integration in our county. For a rural county, we are proud to say that we have a large amount of current technology available throughout our district....over 1000+ iPads, 450+ Promethean Boards, iPods, video equipment, distant learning, and Moodle. 

We are blessed with AWESOME teachers that integrate technology and fabulous curriculum ideas into their classrooms! Alas, time is an issue and we rarely have the opportunity to sit down with everyone and share information. I know that both of us are often pressed for time and you are too. As we see it: we have a need, we have a potential solution, and we have great resources.

Our need: We have a hard time gathering, as a group, to share resources

Our thought: We want to host our 1st county wide Technology Academy Day

Our goal: Teacher's sharing resources with fellow teachers throughout the county

Our date: TBA (leaning on May 24th, you'll get in-service credit for the 2012-13 school year)

Our solution: YOU - the fabulous teachers!

Our Cost: FREE!!

This is a work in progress and we still need to iron out the details. For now, we are planning to do an open call for presenters. Our goal would be to select the presentations that would help our teachers the most. Ideally, everything would be something you could integrate into your classroom.

Tell us what you think....would you be interested in attending? 

iPad @ CHIS

Like many school districts, we cover policy and procedures when we first distribute the iPads. Let me say, this is definitely not the fun part but it is necessary. In the past 2 weeks, I have been able to complete the FUN part a couple of times. Helping teachers learn the settings and introducing a few apps is by far my favorite part of iPad integration!

I have presented at several conferences. Ironically, I rarely have time to do presentations with our faculty. We must make time for trainings but presentations are a different matter because we simply don't have enough hours in the day. I recently did a small presentation at Church Hill Intermediate School. We had 2 sessions and the 1st session was the best! I had the privilege of demonstrating the iPad to teachers from all over Hawkins County. This group of teachers were engaged and they came up with several questions that will help them with implementing the devices into the classroom. We have a great faculty and they are on the leading edge of technology integration!

Side note: Thanks to Rosie and Sheila for always being a HUGE help!

HCS BLOG INTRO

Like many of you, I tend to put new ideas on a back burner until time permits me to work on the projects that come to mind. Tonight, I decided there's really never going to be the perfect time for me to get things in order. So here goes, it's not going to be super organized or pretty but I hope it's informative.

I've had many thoughts and ideas about things I'd like to implement, share, or create. A lot of the things that interest me are the activities and technology that I see our teachers implementing in their classrooms. Unfortunately, we're all so busy doing our own jobs that we rarely have time to see these fabulous ideas in action. I've had a few thoughts that have constantly ran through my mind:

• Hawkins County has fantastic teachers that do a phenomenal job! It would be great if we were all able to share and help one another.
• There are more technology resources available than we have time to research, filter, and implement. It would be wonderful to have a forum where we could list what works and doesn't work.
• Blogging is the IN thing right now and I want us to be a part of this HUGE community.
• Many of us, myself included, have presented at conferences on the things that we love BUT we rarely have time to share this within our own school district. It's often a daunting task to think about putting our resources together in a formal fashion. So, could we use an informal process to list the tools that we utilize?
• Hawkins County is Technosized! I'm very proud to be a part of implementing new technology in our county. We don't often pat ourselves on the back but many of you have innovative technology in your classrooms. YOU deserve recognition for using technology to engage your students!

My goal is to build this blog. You're ideas, thoughts, and suggestions will be a tremendous help. My 1st page showcases a freebie  and is posted on the right tab. Let's kick it off and get started!

Tina