Newest Obsession

So my post for today isn't very technological; however, it is something I can't wait to use in my classroom that I bet a bunch of other teachers have been looking for too. Today, while sitting at my adopted desk in the summer school office (aka the math office), I heard the most amazing sound - the current hit song "All of Me" by John Legend played instrumentally without lyrics. I love that song, and the version I heard today was magically calming. It was coming from Mrs. Hufty's iPhone, so I of course had to ask her what it was. Here is where my  mind was blown - it's a Pandora station she found by searching The Piano Guys. I have been listening today, and I am so excited. I have always loved the idea of softly playing music while students are working, and I firmly believe in the educational powers of music. However, I have never really explored the use of it during class as much because I have always worried about the appropriateness of the songs. Others have told me classical music works, but to be honest, classical music is not my cup of tea. This station is seriously going to change my classroom, and I can't wait. There it is, my revelation for the day...happy teaching, and remember we could all be DJs at a classical radio station instead (some might love it, but really, really NOT my cup of tea!)

Socrative

For my first official blog (introduction excluded), I decided to discuss something I know quite a bit about, and that I use frequently in my classroom - Socrative. Socrative is an online student response system. My absolute favorite aspect of this website is no hardware is necessary. Okay...I guess maybe it is necessary, but it doesn't have to be purchase for the website. Teachers can create questions, quizzes, races, etc. from any computer or device and students can respond from any device as well. Plus, it's not just a question and answer format. Students can compete together or individually to "race" others by getting the most answers correct. "That's awesome," you might say. "What a great idea," you might say. But then, of course, the next statement is, "How much does it cost." That's the best part...it's absolutely free. Seriously!!! I'm not messing with you, and it's not April Fool's Day (in fact it is Father's Day). Teachers can sign up for free and get unlimited access to this amazing technology to use in their classrooms. A few pointers and tips I have found handy:

1. Make sure to choose the correct tag when entering the website (Teacher or Student).
2. You can set your own room number, so when I changed mine from the randomly generated number in the system to my initials and actual room number, it made it much easier for my students to find my room.
3. Sometimes when I have my reports emailed to me after the completion of an activity, I don't receive the report because it can't make it through the district's firewall. When this happens, the reports can be accessed from the website and printed or saved as a PDF.
4. I have noticed that when students are accessing from different types of devices (ie: several on laptops and others on iPads or other tablets), it takes longer for all students to enter the room for me to start the activity. Be patient...it does happen!

I find this to be an extremely easy website to navigate, and the benefits to the classroom are phenomenal. Hope you enjoy this gem of a teacher tool, and happy teaching. Remember...we could be the soccer offical who made the terrible call in the Brazil/Croatia game. Ha! It's World Cup time and I'm married to a soccer coach...there will be more soccer jokes to come!!


Find an easy link to the website here:  www.socrative.com

Sharing

At the Lufkin ISD Technology Fair, Soaring into the Future, I shared a presentation with fellow educators about the creation and implementation of Mimio Notebook lessons. For those of you who don't know, Mimio is a brand of hardware that transforms any white board into a smart board. I have been using the hardware and software for about three years now, and I decided I knew enough to maybe share something with other teachers. The response to my presentation was overwhelming, and it inspired in me an ephiphany. Sometimes as teachers, we assume other teachers will ask for help if needed; however, that is not always true. So, with that in mind, I plan to use this blog to share teaching ideas, mostly technology based, with other educators. Most of the post will be written by me; however, I am married to one of the best teachers I have ever seen, and fourteen years of teaching has given me some pretty amazing professional compadres, so you never know when there might be a guest poster.

My goal this summer is to review/share at least one or two useful websites or apps per week, so check back for those soon. Thanks for giving my blog and view, and happy teaching...just remember, we could be garbage collectors.