Back to School is right around the corner! This is the time when educators really start hearing and seeing amazing motivational speeches to get them pumped for the upcoming year. One of my favorite educational based motivational speeches comes from Rita Pierson titled Every Kid Needs a Champion. If …
Positive relationships and Motivation are contagious! In an education system where many of the educators on the front lines—the classroom teachers—are frustrated, motivation to stay the course is imperative. We have a huge task ahead of us in this new virtual learning world, and as soon as the drive to …
The end of the school year is rapidly approaching. Its a time when many teachers and students are excited and counting down to summer break!
On the other hand, it is also a time when many of our students are NOT excited about the summer because school is safest and …
Getting the hottest ticket in town for the big concert that’s coming is always exciting. To be one of the select few that got a ticket to that sold out event is always a rewarding time. A huge venue for a concert may have 45,000 tickets for that event. That …
I ran across this awesome video about Ed Sheeran and how he made the biggest song of 2017, “Shape of You.” If you aren’t a big Ed Sheeran fan, just skip ahead to the 2:30 mark of the video below. Sheeran, along with his team, worked for an …
The Fidget Spinner craze that is blowing up all over the United States has had me intrigued. It is even a huge at my small little Sandston Elementary School in Sandston, Virginia. Some teachers are banning fidget spinners from their classrooms because they are causing distractions, some teachers are allowing …
April is #NationalPoetryMonth, so why not try a fun lesson with poetry AND math?! Try integrating Haikus into your Math Unit! Many times I see students struggling to come up with an idea for a poem, such as a haiku. Writing Haikus has just taken on a whole new …
Last year, while finishing up my Masters in Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Richmond, one of my assignments was to create a Twitter account (more than complete before taking the class) and start building our own Personal Learning Network, or PLN which I love to …
Today, I attended the first day of the The FETC Executive Summit in Orlando, FL. The Future of Educational Technology Conference is one of my favorites to attend, and being invited to the Executive Summit that includes state- and district-level IT leaders, superintendents and administrators was a huge honor to …
Welcome Back to School Teachers! With all the meetings and convocation going on, I hope you have had time over the past few days to get into your classrooms to start making them look amazing. With having a new school and many teachers at my other schools asking, I wanted …
Teachers are always looking for new ways to get their students into reading. EBooks have been a hot thing recently, and I ran across a great website! 170 Online EBooks for Young Students
Some of these books aren’t your “typical” ebook in the fact that they are books that are …
It’s the eve of the Elementary Technology Conference – Let’s Get TIP-C! TIP-C stands for Teaching Innovation Progression Chart. The Teaching Innovation Progression Chart helps provide teachers with a structure for self-reflection and growth. It is designed to encourage conversation around 21st Century learning and assess progress to meet the …
Adding pictures to your blog posts can enhance the look and feel. The more files you upload to your blog, the more space it takes up. You might consider trying out Picasa when added pictures to blog posts. It will definitely help save room on your blog! Check out this …
August 1st has passed, and as many teachers were still vacationing and taking their last little bit of summer sun, I was reporting back to work at 7:00AM. As sad as this was, I was pumped when I walked through door. I was quickly reminded about that same feeling I …
Teachers are always trying to find new ways to cut down on their work flow. With classroom blogs becoming more of the norm, many teachers are finding it hard to keep up with updating their blog page with everything else they have to do. That being said, it is really …
Today is Maurice Sendak’s 85th Birthday. You may know him as the author of the book Where the Wild Things Are. Google has created a Doodle Tribute in memory of him and to honor his birthday. Go to Google to check it out, or just watch the clip I …
A little over a week ago, I wrote a post about different ways to use TodayMeet in the classroom. Well I have run across another one thanks to Ms. Armstrong and Mrs. Edelblut at Seven Pines Elementary. They are using TodaysMeet as a means of having teachers, parents, and family …
I heard about ClassDojo.com a few years ago while I was still a classroom teacher. When I first saw this program I was excited, but I didn’t take the plunge of using it because it was in the middle of the school year. I didn’t want to reinvent the classroom …
TodaysMeet is an awesome website that allows “backchannel” communication among the users. The website defines itself as a website to “encourage the room to use the live stream to make comments, ask questions, and use that feedback to tailor your presentation, sharpen your points, and address audience needs.” The creator …
Today I am sitting here in a small claustrophobic office getting my MacBook re-imaged for next year’s image. As I was sitting and watching my computer load and hoping I backed up everything correctly, I pulled out my iPad to get on Twitter and check up with my awesome PLN. …
Over the past few weeks, I have been teaching students and teachers how to use Photobooth, Keynote, and Pixie to made “Talking Heads” of Famous Americans and Explorers. We have moved on from having only people talk, and now we are making inanimate objects come to life. The third …
The third graders at Carver Elementary had performed their first ever harmonica concert in school history. I was honored to be asked to be the Game Show Host for the show. I love being goofy and making events fun for the students!
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Today, I had the opportunity to present on Augmented Reality in Education at the University of Mary Washington for an EdTech Conference. Over the past few months, since going to the VSTE Conference in VA Beach, I have been researching different apps that use some form of Augmented Reality. In …