Monday, November 7, 2011

Bookmarks via PS10 iPads (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of PS10 iPads group favorite links are here.


Sunday, November 6, 2011

1:1 iPads - Implementing a Teacher 1:1

A teacher 1:1 program is a great way to test 1:1 implementation plans & best practices and get staff buy-in for student devices before a large student 1:1 investment - an upcoming post will look at the apps most used by teachers...

Beginning in September 2010 at Public School 10 we implemented a 1:1 iPad program. This 1:1 program is teacher based. Most 1:1 programs are student centric and involve large investments & rollouts of devices. Our 1:1 teacher program allows us to test the feasibility of a 1:1 program from a budget, practice, and practical stand point before making the full scale investment in a student 1:1 program. Teacher buy-in a a must for any program, and what better way to get teacher buy-in on iPads than to issue iPads to them first...

Monday, October 17, 2011

The links that keep me learning (weekly)


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Bookmarks via PS10 iPads (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of PS10 iPads group favorite links are here.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Google Voice, my new favorite edtech tool...

Takeaway: Google Voice is a great way to stay connected and provide access without compromising personal space or information.

I, like most teachers, am often asked by colleagues and parents for my contact information. Most often my school-based email will suffice. There are times, however, where a phone number is the best way to communicate. Do I want to be publicizing my personal cell number for the world to see and for 24/7 unfettered access to me?

I am the technology teacher and technology coordinator for a school of 850 students and almost 200 staff members. I not only teach 700+ of those students but I manage all the in-house IT issues including our own tech support system. I teach a full schedule and handle all IT issues before or after school.

As with many teachers I don't necessarily want to be giving my personal cell phone number to every parent and staff member that asks for it. As it is I receive requests for tech support at midnight on Saturdays via email I can only imagine what would happen if my personal cell number was made available.

This is where Google Voice comes in...

... I activated a Google Voice number for free, tied it to my school's Google Apps For Education based email. Now I can have those phone interactions and publicize my number without sacrificing the ability to "disconnect" from work when I'm at home.

With my Google Voice number:
  • I get texts to my email inbox
  • I voicemails to my email inbox
  • When logged in I can answer a call directly from my inbox
  • The iPhone app allows me to call out from my cell using the Google Voice number as the outgoing number (the person I'm calling sees that number on their caller-ID, not the number of my personal cell)
  • My Google Voice number is in my cell phone contacts, and when someone calls that line, my cell phone caller-ID shows "Google Voice," so I know it's a work-related call
  • I can access texts and voicemails from my iPad
  • I don't need a cell phone to have a cell phone
Our in-house tech support is a web-based system which sends me an email when someone fills out a help request form. The biggest issue for teachers was "what if my problem is that I can't get online, how do I submit a help request?" With Google Voice activated they can send a text to that number and I get the information directly in my inbox throughout the day, with no need for me to actually have a cell phone.

Google Voice allows me to provide a cell phone number for parent contact and staff assistance while keeping my actual cell phone off and out of sight. Between my iPad and my Google Voice number I can quickly receive texts, check voicemail, and more efficiently respond to all inquiries I receive.

I want to be accessible to the people I work with and the parents of the students I teach. At the same time I want to know I can step away from my work life to enjoy some disconnected personal time. Google Voice allows me to offer accessibility without compromising personal/family time away from school.

Bookmarks via PS10 iPads (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of PS10 iPads group favorite links are here.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

And one more thing...

We all know the 1984 commercial introducing the Macintosh, but that is #3 on my personal favorites list.

#1 and #2? These are my 2 favorite Apple videos...

Thanks for Pushing Me to Think Different...

My open letter to Steve Jobs...


Dear Mr. Jobs,
Let me first begin by apologizing for the lateness of my thank you letter. You have had an immense impact on me for many years, literal decades, yet it is only now I get around to saying thank you. For that I do apologize.

It was the mid eighties when I first touched a computer. That computer was an Apple II. I was in elementary school and I made the turtle move around the screen. Yes, Logo was my introduction to the computing world...

High school was a dark time for me. It was the early 90s and Windows 3 was all the rage. My father was a corporate guy so we went Microsoft for those, the Mac-less, years. Thankfully the Jesuits had me writing so many papers I barely had time to loathe the OS, but I digress...

College. 1994. Boston University. Redemption, and a return to the warm embrace of the PowerPC. My computer at the time was a PowerMac 6100/60. I was a film major in college and the only television advertisement to ever grace the lips of a film professor was, of course, the introduction of the Macintosh. My first video editing experience was on that 6100/60. Years later as a professional editor I always thought fondly of that system (it lived through 12 years of college as both my younger sisters inherited it as I upgraded).

In 1997 I got a job at PC Week magazine. Yes, a Windows themed publication. The art department were my best friends, the only Mac users in the company. By 1998 I was editing video for the website on a G3, the beige one. In a world of Windows boxes I, along with my art brethren, were the small band of outlaws.

After that it was G4s, iMacs, Powerbooks, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, iPods, iPads, and of course, an iPhone....

Since 1997 I have been faithful. Today my iPhone is in my pocket, my iPod is on my wrist, and my iPad is in my hand. Some say I "drank the Kool-Aid" but I prefer to think of it as "I've been around since the Kool-Aid was being mixed."

It is now 2011, October 5th to be exact. You, Steve, have unfortunately shuffled off this mortal coil. Your passing has saddened me as it has millions of others. Your passing has made me reflect on my own connection to Apple and you, and why it is your passing has my heart so heavy.

It has been 20+ years since I fist touched a computer, that Apple II, as an elementary school student. I am now an elementary school computer teacher myself. I have a lab full of iMacs. I don't teach Logo. I teach Keynote. I have evolved and grown as a student, a person, and an educator with Apple by my side. And it has been Apple that inspired me and pushed me to get to where I am. Apple will live on but it was your driving force that kept my interest and inspired me.

Thank you for gaining my attention.
Thank you for keeping my attention.
Thank you for the tools you helped create.
Thank you for inspiring me to create.
Thank you for the simplicity and elegance of design and function.
Thank you for inspiring me.
Thank you for helping me to inspire others.

Your innovations have allowed me to see the possibility of my own innovation.


Thank you for pushing me to think different...

You will live forever in the legacy of what you have given the world and what you have given the world allows the world to create in return...

Thank you.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Bookmarks via PS10 iPads (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of PS10 iPads group favorite links are here.

The links that keep me learning (weekly)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Bookmarks from the shared Diigo Group: PS10 iPads


A Catalog of iPad Apps for Teachers and Students
Catalog of apps developed by a team of special education teachers, school psychologists, speech therapists, and other educators


5 Gmail Tips for Teachers | The Thinking Stick 
For those unfamiliar with the GMail platform this is a good read once you get your @ps10.org GMail account set up...











Posted from Diigo. The rest of PS10 iPads group favorite links are here.

My Latest Bookmarks 09/24/2011




iPad Creative - GarageBand
 iPad Creative Blog - A superb 40 minute GarageBand tutorial video

tags: apps garageband

62 things you can do with Dropbox
TIps and tricks for using Dropbox - excellent for working with files remotely and on your iPad

tags: dropbox apps

Bloom-iPads-Apps
Blooms Taxanomy via iPad apps...

5 Gmail Tips for Teachers | The Thinking Stick
For those unfamiliar with the GMail platform this is a good read once you get your @ps10.org GMail account set up...

A Catalog of iPad Apps for Teachers and Students
Catalog of apps developed by a team of special education teachers, school psychologists, speech therapists, and other educators

tags: apps resources


tags: apps writing


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Chromebook, the new tool for the shed...

I spent my day at Google's New York office, in the venerable Commerce Building of the Port Authority of New York building (which Google recently purchased for themselves for the paltry sum of $1.9 billion, yes, with a b).

I was there for the final event in a series of Chromebook Classroom roadshow presentations. We got to spend the day using a Samsung Chromebook and getting insight, tips & tricks, and the overall picture of the various ways we could use a Chromebook in education.

Those who know me know I'm a Apple guy to my core (yes, pun 'tended) so I went with skepticism on the hardware front but an affinity for Google products in general. After about 30 minutes of using the book and hearing the pricing pitch I tweeted this:

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Bookmarks from the shared Diigo Group: PS10 iPads

As part of our iPad initiative our school utilizes a shared Diigo group to quickly and easily share resources we discover individually. Diigo is a great online bookmarking site made even better with the shared group functionality.

Below are the links PS 10 teachers have bookmarked so far this summer. We still have more than 2 weeks of summer vacation but it is great to see teachers thinking about ways to improve our iPad program throughout the summer...


Posted from Diigo. The rest of PS10 iPads group favorite links are here.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

My Latest Bookmarks 06/5/2011

Monday, May 30, 2011

My Latest Bookmarks 05/29/2011

  • Free
    Molecules is an application for viewing three-dimensional renderings of molecules and manipulating them using your fingers. You can rotate the molecules by moving your finger across the display, zoom in or out by using two-finger pinch gestures, or pan the molecule by moving two fingers across the screen at once. These structures can be viewed in both ball-and-stick and spacefilling visualization modes.
  • iPads in Education | Scoop.it Ideas and news on the use of iPads for learning. tags: resources apps teachers

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

My everyday iPad apps

As I wrote about recently I have discovered a site called appsfire. Appsfire is a great way to publish the apps you have installed on your iOS device (in my case both an iPad 1 and iPad 2).

From a professional development standpoint this is a powerful tool.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

My Latest Bookmarks 05/25/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

What's on my iPad today...

This afternoon I discovered 2 things...

1) There is a cool little site called appsfire which will make a nifty little url with a list of all your apps (sign-up for free and download the sync tool).

2) I have 199 apps (+6 no longer available in the App Store, apparently)

199 apps. Wow. I don't use all of them, but I'd say the large percentage do come in quite handy.

appsfire doesn't sync my folders, so it's a list on many, many pages. On my iPad I have them organized into folders so I've managed to condense 199+ apps into 3 pages.

My plan for tomorrow is to use appsfire to trim the list, so to speak, so I can have a simple, quick, published visualization of the apps I use on a daily basis.

So here it is, all 199 of my apps in visual form

My Latest Bookmarks 05/24/2011

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.