Educational Technology

Ever wonder how Google folders are organized? 🙄 💻 Here is a quick tip about organizing your drive. If you don't already know, when you organize your folders you can organize them by special symbols, then numbers, then letters. Many people know this already. Therefore, they name their most important folders 001, 002, and so forth. What you might not know is that emojis actually come before all of these. They act as symbols and come before numbers. So, if you wanted to name (or rename) a folder with an emoji you can! It's really easy.  Go to getemoji.com and find the emoji you really want.  Highlight it and copy it. Go back to your drive and find the folder that you'd like to be renamed. Create a folder to be named or Double click the folder so it can be renamed. Paste in that emoji at the beginning of the folder name. N ow th at emoji will bump that folder up to the number one spot in front of all the numbers. 🤯 From here you can defini...

Let's start off by saying "I love my job." I am an instructional guide, coach, resource, and trouble shooter for many teachers for whom I admire on a daily basis. They have a hard job and recent technology, social media, and culture paradigm shifts have made that job even more challenging. And my job is to assist them in their job. So, my job is cushy next theirs... But, I find myself in a technology rut. I find that GSuite for Education updates and the latest edtech are blase. I find that following the latest technology ed on twitter is tedious. Is it time to reinvent the wheel  again? Or to tackle a new challenge ? Blog about some new way of infusing technology into the classroom ? I watch wonderful technology specialists continue to post good works and grow as leaders. I am envious and congratulatory at the sa me time. I am in a work rut and want to get out of it. I rec ently read "4 Ways to Bounce Back from a Work Rut (No Matter How Long You've Been ...

This past June (2019) as a part of an Educational Leadership class, I read  an interesting article  about how colleges are handing out scholarships to students to participate in their ESports programs. According to  Scholarships.com , more than 30 U.S. colleges and universities are offering substantial scholarships for gamers. As a result, I believed that if I could provide a new avenue at my high school for an under-served population, I should give it my best to start an ESports program. ESports Benefits Sense of Community  Character Development Scholarship Opportunities Embodies ISTE Standards Increase Achievement STEM Engagement I did some research and found two high school gaming platforms: the ESports High School League (EHSL) and Play Versus ( PlayVS ). I also found out that my state had just approved ESports as an official "activity" through the  Virginia High School League  (VHSL) and they were using PlayVS as a supported platfo...

I am enrolled in the James Madison Ed. Leadership program to obtain my administrative license and this semester I am taking the Community Relations class. I interviewed my administration to discuss a potential community relations projects. From that conversation, I volunteered to take on the school Facebook page to create a better social media presence. My principal liked the idea and believes that Facebook is heavily used as a source of news and information in the Staunton River zone of Bedford County. I put into place three main ideas. I will post a Thought for the Day which will include famous inspirational quotes, thoughts on volunteering for the school, as well as local announcements.  I will use FlipGrid to record prompts from both teachers and students. I will infuse technology either by embedding it into the site or promoting all the wonderful technology infused/inspired lessons that are happening in classes.  How is it so far? I am about one month in a...

The debate over how and when to use devices in the classroom has been long-standing. On the one hand, smartphones and devices promise to connect us to a wide variety of experiences and knowledge. On the other hand, they are also a distraction, scientifically designed by some of the world's top companies such as Apple and Facebook, to make us feel compelled to look when they ding or buzz. In a recent article written by Anya Kamenetz, she spoke with four professors, a high school teacher, a psychiatrist and a technologist to get a range of different views on how cell phones, electronic devices, and laptops should be limited in a classroom environment. The answers vary widely. But, one of the most interesting answers was to “fight technology with technology” using FlipD , a phone app that limits the use of your phone. You can set a timer to lock yourself out of all functions except for basic texts and phone calls. Rather than instituting a ban, the company encourages pro...

Try BoostEdu to reflect on your teaching with technology. I recently read a great article by Matt Renwick called  "Busting Myths, Telling Truths" , where he states that we, as school leaders, need to reassess our need to include technology in our daily lessons and instruction. At the same time, I was introduced to a great resource site called  BoostEDU . I believe that pairing this article and website will create reflective teachers who are looking for the best ways to use technology and integrate it properly into the classroom.  BoostEdu is a program developed by +Meagan Kelly  that supports teachers in transforming their traditional lessons into 21st-century lessons through an inquiry-based self-assessment and guided lesson design process. In simple terms, it is very important for teachers to reflect on their use of technology. Therefore, I highly suggest logging on the  BoostEdu  website  and self-assess to see how you use techn...

As many of you know, I attended my first Google Summit in Charlottesville, VA in the spring of 2015 and I was hooked. That spring I also learned of the Google Level 1 exam and prestige that went with the badge. I wanted it. No one told me I had to do it. I was motivated by the excitement and learning Google had to offer and soon after I passed both the Level 1 & 2 exams. Three years later I still love EdtechTeam Google Summits and I am Google Certified Trainer. But, things have changed a bit. Across the United States, schools have started to adopt the policy that every teacher become Google Level 1 certified. In several areas, leadership has also decided to attach the level 1 exam to teacher re-certification. Therefore, this policy has effectively taken away the joy and intrinsic motivation for which I saw the test represent. It is November and the first nine weeks has come to a close. For the most part, the training we offer to help with Google Level 1 has gone well....