Suzanne's Ed Tech Reflections

Watch this video to learn about one way Creighton School District is using iPads in the classroom. iPads and Online Assessment from Suzanne Sallee on Vimeo . Check back again soon to see what we are up to!

In recent blog post for Edutopia (George Lucas Education Foundation, Nicholas Provenzano (The Nerdy Teacher Blog) wrote about doing "Tech Drive By's". In the morning before school, he just pops in to a few teachers classrooms  and helping with tech questions. It has been really successful for him and he has seen growth in teachers integrating technology. You can read the full blog post at: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/classroom-tech-drive-by-nicholas-provenzano This got me to thinking about my tech coach position and how I could work this into my routine. Maybe not every day but one or two days a week at one or two schools. Instead of just popping into the classroom to work on iPods to do formal observation, I could plan to stop by before school starts just to see if I could answer any questions. Instead of a Tech Drive By it could be a Tech Pop In - or even Tech "Pod" In! I'll let you know how it goes.

The More You Know, The More You Know!® - the philosophy of BrainPOP and their educational video website. The Creighton District has had a subscription to BrainPOP for many years and it is one of our teachers favorite websites. Their short animated educational videos are perfect for introducing and reviewing concepts. The students really think of the main characters, Tim and Moby, as their friends. I have often heard comments such as "Bye, Moby" at the end of a video! Last year we downloaded the free BrainPOP Featured Movie app to the iPods. Each day there is a featured movie that highlights a holiday, current event, or historical event for that particular day. Our teachers often use the videos as a morning warm-up to start the day or as a center activity. Students watch the video and then complete a writing exercise, such as summarizing the facts from the movie or completing a graphic organizer. It has been a great tool but a bit limited since teachers could not select

At the end of last school year I asked a group of outgoing third graders if they were going to miss their iPods in fourth grade. I was a little surprised and saddened when many of the responses were "no" or "not really"! This week I visited a fourth grade classroom where many of those same students are now assigned. The students got very excited when I entered the room and started asking about iPods. A couple of the students even said, "Mrs. Sallee, we're really only third graders. Can we have iPods again." Sometimes we don't realize how important and exciting something is until we don't have it any longer. Just wish we could get more iPods or iPads for all students to use to enhance their learning!

The world has been abuzz with the news of the death of Steve Jobs yesterday. Many of us feel a sadness and heavy heart for a man that brought so much creativity and innovation to the world. Even if you are not an "Apple" person, he has touched your life with the changes he brought to computing and entertainment. I heard a quote this morning (not sure who it is from): He took the ugly world of technology and made it beautiful." Such a true statement! Steve surely has touched the lives of my family with all of our iPods, iPhones, iPads, and laptops - both at school and at home. They bring joy to our lives and enhance our productivity. At the rehearsal dinner the night before Adam and Lindsy's wedding, we even had a Mac laptop cake. Adam's request, of course! His impact on schools has been dramatic as we have seen with our iPod/iPad project in Creighton District. These mobile devices have allowed our students to communicate, collaborate, think critically, and