Although educational technology is becoming increasingly common within our school sites and district, there are many classroom teachers that remain cautious about implementing technology into their classroom. In a sense, it is completely understandable. Technology is changing at a rapid rate and it can be difficult to keep up at times. In addition to this,… Read More New to EdTech? Ask These Questions!
In the last few months, I have led several sessions (in and outside of my district) on the benefits of using Twitter for professional development. (Here is a link to my session.) Usually, there are two types of educators in this session: 1.) Educators who have a Twitter account but rarely use it; and 2.)… Read More TweetDeck: Maximize Your Twitter Experience
Nearly four years ago, I created my first blog about education. I had the great intention of writing regularly and sharing about my classroom. Then, life happened – new marriage, new house, new job, graduate school, etc. It was simply one of those crazy times of life and my brain was not in the right… Read More Why Blogging Is Essential for Educators
When I first began working at my school site, our students were given a year-long, physical agenda to track their daily assignments. As a school policy, our students were required to fill this out and teachers would sign/stamp that students had filled out the daily agenda at the beginning of class. It was a great… Read More Calendars for Organization and Project Planning via Google Slides
It’s summer, summer, summertime! I hope that all of you have been enjoying your summer vacation. Mine feels like it just started and that the ending is right around the corner. Whenever summer vacation comes around, I know that I have to find ways to stay current and prepare for the upcoming school year. Below,… Read More 5 Ways to Prep for the Next School Year
One of my goals for the month of June was to build the first self-assessment form for BoostEDU. The first self-assessment form will focus on SAMR and, over the next year, I intend to create more self-assessments aligned to 4 C’s, ISTE Standards, and TPACK. The purpose of these self-assessments is to support teachers in… Read More Adventures in Innovation: Input Needed for Digital Resources
A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Google Innovator Academy in London. Although I haven’t written much about my innovator project, I have spent quite a bit of time developing my project and outlining my goals for the year. As a part of the program, I have created a project deck… Read More Adventures in Innovation: Introducing BoostEDU
Last year, I was introduced to Canva by Tom Mullaney and, ever since then, I have been addicted to this simple, graphic design software. Canva is a simple and easy-to-use graphic design software that consists of thousands of free templates for infographics, social media posts, flyers, and more. The quality of Canva’s products is amazing – it’s… Read More Canva + Google Drawing AppSmash!
Recently, I had a conversation with a teacher who felt that technology in the K-2 level was not beneficial to students. Their concern was that the students were “too young” to use technology or that it would not be relevant for students. So, when I was invited to attend the K-2 Can Too conference by… Read More It’s True – K-2 Can, Too!
Every year that I have taught, there have been new fads or trends that has captivated the interest of my students. This year, I have noticed that the top 3 fads of my students are: Fidget Spinners Bottle Flipping Slime I have never been a teacher that has been bothered by the fads and trends… Read More Probability + Bottle Flipping = Fun Learning!