Last Friday I received an email that was the best email I have received in quite a while. I got the acceptance email from the Google Innovator Academy and I will be taking part in the Boulder Cohort this June, right after ISTE. This was my 4th time applying which just goes to show that…
One mistake that I would like correct in my work as a technology integrationist, was using only SAMR when talking with teachers a couple of years ago. I had time with teachers in my building, not a lot of time but a couple of hours, and I decided to introduce SAMR to them. We were…
I attempted my second ever 3D print job today as we were testing out a new 3D printer in our district. My design was for a remote holder for our Swivl robot so that it would work better in a few situations we have encountered. I created my design using Google Sketchup and loaded it…
One of my favorite tools for leaving effective feedback for students is Kaizena. Kaizena allows you to easily leave audio and text feedback for students in a Google Doc. This is a free service and one that I suggest to a lot of people because we should be more focused on feedback than grades in…
This is the first part of a series of blog posts where I will focus on collaboration. We will start with the proper mindset to begin and then we will look at the tools and techniques we can use to improve the collaboration that takes place in, and out of, our classrooms. Collaboration, besides…
Google has recently opened up applications for their newly rebranded Google Innovator Academy (https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/certification_innovator) and as part of my personal goal to look for new learning opportunities, I am working on my application. What I love about the application is the unusual question that is at the top of the application. The first question you…
I was on a Google Apps message board and I saw a question that I had seen way too often, it was asking how someone could digitize a worksheet. They just wanted to convert the paper worksheet into something their students could fill out on an iPad or computer. They weren’t asking how to improve…
Last night while driving back from visiting my in-laws, after 5 hours on the road, I realized that we had made a big mistake. On Friday, my son and I drove 30 miles to my wife’s work to pick her up to save her the time driving home before we left. It wasn’t until after getting…
Earlier this week I was at the annual ITEC conference in Des Moines and had the opportunity to try out one of the Breakout Edu Challenges. (http://www.breakoutedu.com/) If you have not heard about Breakout Edu, head to their site to check it out. It is basically a classroom version of the breakout room challenges that…
One of the biggest things I wish I had been told when I started teaching was to only expect to see what we were focusing on learning in the classroom. Too often we assume our students know how to do something and then are surprised when they don’t. Working collaboratively as a group is one…
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