- Here are some classroom ideas for activities using a range of apps that teachers can try with their students. The activities are grouped into broad categories to provide a starting point however many of the apps can be used across a number of learning domains.
- 30+ apps broken down by type
- | 9to5Mac | Apple Intelligence
- A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet: 39 Sites For Using iPads in the Classroom
Monday, October 17, 2011
The links that keep me learning (weekly)
Bookmarks via PS10 iPads (weekly)
- Here are some classroom ideas for activities using a range of apps that teachers can try with their students. The activities are grouped into broad categories to provide a starting point however many of the apps can be used across a number of learning domains.
- A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet: 39 Sites For Using iPads in the Classroom
- | 9to5Mac | Apple Intelligence
- 30+ apps broken down by type
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:
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.
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
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)
- iPad Creative Blog - A superb 40 minute GarageBand tutorial video
- TIps and tricks for using Dropbox - excellent for working with files remotely and on your iPad
- Blooms Taxanomy via iPad apps...
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...
#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.
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)
- Great website resources for use with your IWB (SmartBoard)
- A Web Whiteboard is touch-friendly whiteboard app that lets you use your computer, tablet or smartphone to easily draw sketches, collaborate with others and share them with the world.
Works on all modern browsers, no installation needed. - NYCDOE SESIS login page
- Google Docs is a very powerful alternative to Word. Here are 10 reasons to consider using Google Docs the next time you need to do some writing.
- This app is free for a limited time.
The links that keep me learning (weekly)
- A Web Whiteboard is touch-friendly whiteboard app that lets you use your computer, tablet or smartphone to easily draw sketches, collaborate with others and share them with the world.
Works on all modern browsers, no installation needed. - NYCDOE SESIS login page
- This app is free for a limited time.
- Google Docs is a very powerful alternative to Word. Here are 10 reasons to consider using Google Docs the next time you need to do some writing.
- Great website resources for use with your IWB (SmartBoard)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)