Twitter, a PLC?

Most people in the education world have now heard of the acronym PLC. PLC stands for Professional Learning Community, and its design is to help teachers collaborate with other teachers who teach the same grade level or the same subject. This is a magnificent way for teachers to share ideas and teaching strategies with other teachers to better their own teachings. We have started PLC’s in our school district this year and I do enjoy them. My fellow social studies teachers can talk about what goes well in our class and see what is going well in theirs. This is a great way to have ideas bounced off different people to see if they have tried a certain teaching style or not

You probably know about Twitter but they really don’t know what it is or how it is used. Twitter is considered a micro blogging site where you are given 140 characters to let your “followers” know what you are doing. Some people still use it to inform about their day to day lives but others have chose to use Twitter as a content creation/consumption media. Twitter has turned into the ultimate news source for many people including myself. I use this as my primary news source, because people are breaking news as it happens instead of waiting for a news cast. It can also be used for information I love how people share blogs and other information about their trade or interests.

How can Twitter be used as a PLC? With twitter you can get tons of information about education, and what is going on in education. So how do you get this info? You need to sign up, then at the top of the screen click on “who to follow”. Since this is an EDtech blog I would suggest you follow someone in the education field. Just type in Education in the search and you will find quite a few to follow such as @usnewseducation or @ED_outreach. In order to have a PLC you will need people for ideas, feedback and support. Some of the people I follow are @perrywiseman, @dianeravitch, or @teachpaperless. These people, I have found very valuable to my online PLC by the information they share and there is a wealth of it. If you want to expand your knowledge about any subject I would suggest you use Twitter and “follow” on.

School to have e-Day.

The school system in Mountain Brook, Alabama is having an e-Day, here is the article.

School to have e-Day

Teacher of the week!!!

Hey every one, I am excited to announce that my awesome students nominated me for teacher of the week through 105.3 WOW Country in McMinnville, TN.  Here are my winnings.

 

I am now in the running for teacher of the year where I could win a laptop.

Thank you Daniel Jenkins and my 4th period class!

Laser Discs, The future of Media!!!

I have found this awesome new technology. It is called a laser disc and it is better than a DVD or BluRay disc ever thought about being. This technology is going to pave the way for all types of media consumption for years. Here is how I am using them. Prepare to be amazed!

If you guessed decoration in my classroom  you got it. My female students like using this as a mirror. Our school was blessed with many laser discs which came with our books. The ones that are seen are mind jogger discs for our Geography books.These were thought to be lost many years ago, but our wonderful librarians brought them to me when cleaning out some old stuff and wondered if I would write a blog post about them. So, Here it is Carol.

Check out Kindle books? Yes!!

Today, in a press release Amazon stated they will now allow digital copies of books to be checked out and be read on the Kindle device. I think this could be crucial for all libraries especially the school library. Now the school librarians will not have to worry about losing a certain book or having it damaged. Also, if the book is in high demand there would be no limit to how many copies people could check out. This could be great for the next “Twilight” like books. On the return date the book would automatically be deleted from the device so you wouldn’t have to worry about taking a book back. Not only will you be able to check out the books for your kindle, you can also use it for you Kindle app for the iPad, iPod touch, or Android phone.

In the press release, Jay Marine said,   

We're doing a little something extra here," Marine continued. "Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we're extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced."

Paper books are now becoming a part of the past, and I am a firm believer that our school’s can benefit from this technology. The cost could be lower which could help out school budgets with cash strapped schools. I applaud you Amazon you are making headway toward the future of reading

Kindle to allow Library Check outs!!!

This is huge news!!!! For all those people who wanted to check out books for the Kindle you now will have your chance.

Amazon Press Release

QR Codes: Future of Station Teaching?

Do you know what this is?

This is a QR code and they are popping up everywhere, whether you are looking up or purchasing an app or just having it take you to a web site. A QR code is a fast way for you to use Smartphone, iPod touch 4th Gen. or iPad2 to look up information without having to use a keyboard to type in the URL. For a QR code to work you will need such a device which has been listed (you have to have a camera for this to work) download barcode reader app and you are set.
I am stepping out on a limb by predicting this, but I believe this is the future of advertising, and education as well. Teachers, listen up you can take advantage of this now if you have the right equipment or if your system allows the use of Cell phones. You can implement this now, and all is needed is an app that can be downloaded that will read the QR code. It is totally your choice because there are many apps that are out there. This can be the future of station learning.
Here is a website that will create a QR code for a website of your choice. http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
Teachers in general can use this technology, but science classes could benefit the most out of it. Here are the steps for it. Set up your classroom with different stations that have the QR code on it. The students can use the hardware for looking up the information such as videos or general information. They can also answer questions on the certain topic, if you chose. I believe this will engage the students in two ways they will learn in a traditional station to station way and also, using technology the students are engaged in an act of learning that is familiar with them.
I know this would be difficult to accomplish if you have a cell phone policy at your school if you plan to use Smartphones. An alternative would be if you school has iPod touches that can be used for educational purposes. If you check your school’s library they could help you out if your school has them. WIFI is also something that could pose a problem if you do not have WIFI in the school, but most 90school systems have implemented this.

Tweet

Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schools | Video on TED.com

This is an amazing video on TED. Bill Gates explains how we need to put more money into our schools.



Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schools | Video on TED.com

Google Cloud Connect

This has been a long time coming for me, but I am so glad Google has decided to release this. Google Cloud Connect is a great new way to sync your Microsoft Office documents to your Google Docs account. If you are a teacher or anyone that has a lot of documents and a need for them to be portable this is a great way for you to use both the benefits of Microsoft Office and Google Docs. Once you install the software on your computer you will need to sign in to your account, and in order for you to sync it to Google Docs is just hit the save button. This is going to make sending your documents to Google Docs so much easier than going to the upload portion of Google Docs and finding the files you want to upload you just hit the save button. Now how easy is that? I hope if you use it you will enjoy this as much as I do.

 

You can find Google Cloud Connect here http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect

Sorry for the absence!

To everyone that reads my blog I am sorry for the lack of posts lately, I have been busy trying to recieve a weather station for our high school. Thanks for being patient with me.

 

 

Jacob Dunn