Update on 7/2---I changed the settings on the comments so you should be able to post without having to log in. Please let me know if you are still having issues. Just select anonymous when promoted to select a profile.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Welcome to class!
Update on 7/2---I changed the settings on the comments so you should be able to post without having to log in. Please let me know if you are still having issues. Just select anonymous when promoted to select a profile.
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ReplyDeleteWelcome to class! Excited does not even begin to describe what I am right now. I am thrilled that you are not only taking this class, but that you are attending the boot camp. Having the opportunity to meet you here and in person later in the month is terribly exciting for me. I am a "connected educator" which means I am actively connected to educators from around the state, the United States, and the world. I have been blogging for almost 5 years and I have been on Twitter for slightly over 4 years. I cannot wait to share many of the things I have learned during my journey.
ReplyDeleteI am a Social Studies teacher for ESU13 in Scottsbluff. I teach at VALTS, which is the alternative high school. I have been very fortunate to teach in a technology-rich environment during all but the first year of my career. I have been so lucky to connect with people who have taught me how to get the most out of technology and digital tools. My goal for this class is to pass on these ideas to you! For those of you who have already started incorporating technology into your professional lives and classrooms I sincerely hope you will share what you are doing. You will hear me say this over and over---WE are each others most valuable resource.
If at any time you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. I almost always will be able to reply quickly. I have also set up a chat room where you can go to ask questions. That should be a good place to start building out community. Use it as a place to ask questions, leave tips, etc. I selected the Chatzy platform over others because it allows you to see the chats that were there BEFORE you entered the room. In some chat rooms you can only see the chat record from the moment you enter the room. This is necessary for us since you will probably have the same questions as others.
Again, I am thrilled you are here! Welcome to class!
My name is Glen Lipska, I’m a social studies and technology teacher in a rural school in the Panhandle of Nebraska (Leyton). I have been in the teaching profession for 14 years, in the last 14 years technology has been very inspirational and intriguing which makes the educational environment fun. I have been a member of NETA (Nebraska Educational Technology Association) and ISTE, two very good organizations that inspire technology in the classroom. In the last year I have been out of the mainstream of technology with the workload at school. So my interest in taking this class is to get caught up on all the new 2.0 tools to incorporate in my classes. There is one thing I want to find out more about and that is the use of Skype in the classroom and how to connect with other teachers around the world. Being a rural school in Nebraska and using Skype as a virtual fieldtrip seems very beneficial. Is Skype the best tool?
ReplyDeleteSome personal notes: I’m a graduate of Chadron State College, married and have two boys, 2 and 6 years of age, they keep dad on his toes. Hopefully in the near future I can work on my Masters in Educational Technology, so if anybody has any good recommendations on a MS in Educational Technology it would be highly appreciated. Let the learning begin!
Hi Glen,
DeleteNice to meet you. I could not agree more. Technology can definitely help inspire our students. The connections we can help our students make using technology is absolutely mind blowing. Skype is something that can be used to help take down the walls and virtually transport our students to almost any place on the planet. There are other tools like Google+ Hangout that allow up to ten cameras at one time. Imagine Skyping with students in ten countries at once! It might be a little much, but it is possible.
Actually Glen, for actual virtual field trips the hardware that your school uses for DL classes would probably work the best. We can talk more about that at the camp.
Hi! I'm Sarah German. I teach kindergarten in Scottsbluff. I live there with my husband of one year. We leave tomorrow for our belated honeymoon to Aruba! :)
ReplyDeleteI am not especially tech savvy. As long as things run smoothly I can operate PowePoint, PhotoStory, recording devices, and ActiveInspire. I would like to become better at trouble shooting and learn more ways to use my Promeathean board. I would also like to gain ways to manage kindergerten friendly technology and ways to make education more engaging.
Congratulations Sarah! You are more than likely sitting on a gorgeous beach in the Caribbean as I type this reply. I hope you are having an amazing trip!
DeleteDuring this class you are going to learn about some tools that you can use with kindergarteners. There are some great early elementary teachers I can help connect you with on Twitter when we get to that point. Even just following five or six really good educators can provide you with more information, resources, and ideas than you can even imagine.
My name is Tyler Kleager. I'm a Para-Educator at Scottsbluff High School. I live in Scottsbluff with my wife and 5 month old son.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty good with technology. I once served as the Tech. Coord. for Minatare Schools while teaching there. I also serve as the Webmaster/Info Systems Coord. for the Scotts Bluff County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).
In my job as a Para, I am often called to help students with projects on the computer using Microsoft Office, PhotoStory, CamStudio, Any Video Converter, Movie Maker, and others. I am currently teaching myself to use Adobe Master Collection CS 5.
I would like to learn more about how to communicate with students through technology.
Welcome to class, Tyler. I think you are going to enjoy this class and the boot camp. Nearly all of the tools you will learn about during this class can be used in some way, shape, or form to communicate with students, parents, and other educators.
DeleteMy name is Carole Hershfeldt. I am the only teacher at Extension School, a K-8 rural school 21 miles North of Rushville. I have taught at Extension for 20 years and have seen our school go from three teachers with an enrollment of 45 students to one teacher and foruteen students.
ReplyDeleteI am taking this class to learn about technology tools to connect my students to others schools and students.
Carole,
DeleteI looked at a map and it looks like you teach close to Pine Ridge, SD. When I first started in my current position I was one of two teachers and now I am one of four. I know exactly how it feels to be so physically isolated from other professionals. I'm glad to hear you want to connect your students with others. I also hope that as we progress in this class you will see many opportunities to do this as well as connect to other educators.
Hello, all. My name is Allison McBride and have been a school librarian at Alliance High School for 12 years and before that a K-12 school librarian in Pender, NE for 2 years. I am also a technology team trainer for the high school. I find it a challenge when teachers ask me how to do something-I will learn all about it and teach myself so that I can teach them. So with that, I have a very general knowledge of a lot of technology and if nothing else a willingness to learn it quickly.
ReplyDeleteI am taking this class to hopefully learn new things to help my teachers be better at their job. We are in our second year as a one to one school and I am hoping that more teachers will be willing to learn more this year! I am looking for practical easy tools that my teachers can quickly incorporate into their classrooms.
Hello. I am Sara Beyer, and I've been teaching Spanish at Morrill, 7-12. This year I will also be sending Spanish 1 and 2 to Sioux County, and I'm hoping to rely heavily on technology to do that.
ReplyDeleteThis bio is short, but this is the fourth time that I am writing it, and I am tired of fighting with this page. Sorry!
This is Sara Beyer, rewriting the bio that I lost. I'm a former North Dakotan, English and Spanish major, who went back to Miami of Ohio for a Master's in Spanish when my youngest graduated. (I do not recommend doing that on a teaching assistantship with three children in college!)
ReplyDeleteArmed with that degree, I signed on with Valley City State, the second university in the nation to go with computer notebooks for the entire faculty and student body. It was tech heaven, and I spent hours in the tech lab, soaking up all I could from the director, who was finishing her doctorate in technology. VCSU won a Bush Grant which paid every employee for mastering nine different tools, and they also paid each one for mentoring others. To supplement the meager pay, I mentored nine teachers and won my own little Bush Grant for an Across-the-Curriculum project.
When I returned to secondary teaching, it was primarily to accelerate paying off my share of the college debt. But I was chagrined that the technological capacity that I had wallowed in was not available. In my 13 years at Morrill, I've not been able to master many of the new tools.
Here I am, feeling like a dummy in technology, but really desperate to incorporate new tools into my new DL classes, especially for the days when the SCHS and Morrill calendars do not match up. I received the e-mails about the class, but I only skimmed them, while I was accompanying students to Barcelona, babysitting my two grandsons in St. Louis, throwing a wedding reception in North Dakota for my newly married son and his bride, and attending a Beyer family reunion to celebrate the 95th birthday of Grandma Beyer. You can imagine my surprise and dismay when I logged on and realized I needed to do 16 two-hour lessons before next Wednesday!
But as someone so wisely said on one of her blogs, teaching is not about our comfort zones, but rather about what is best for the students. Here I am, desperate to learn what I can, even though I may need more assistance than anyone, so that I can present the best lessons for the students.
Hi, this is A'Lisa Mueller. Don't worry Sara there is one who is farther behind than you. I started to try to find info on the workshop back the first of June because I knew that July would be crazy busy for me. As my luck would go I got the email from Beth about the time 4h camp started for my daughter and then we vacationed in the Big Horn mountains (where you have to find spots on the mountain to make a call or pay a dollar a minute from the bar) - doubt I would have gotten any work done anyway - too busy catching golden trout in the Shell River! Any way back at home now and am going to try to catch up while getting Caitlyn ready for Fair. I am about the exact opposite of tech savy but would like to learn as much as I can because I can see the way my fourth graders respond and get much more excited about what they are learning when it is in this type of format
ReplyDeleteNo need to worry about being far behind with technology and how to integrate it. This boot camp is aimed at beginners and those with minimal experience. I want this to be a positive experience for everyone and I hope it will lead to some great projects! I have so much to say, but I promised my husband I would shut off all technology in 54 minutes!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Janet Hill. I am currently teaching business classes at Bridgeport High School and co-sponsoring Student Council and the junior class. I am taking this class to learn about several “new” technologies. I have taught computer applications (beginning, advanced and college level) for many years, but I have little experience in the tools we will be learning about. I am very comfortable working with technology, especially the Office Suite. I have incorporated Moodle into my courses at my previous school. I used Moodle mostly to do worksheets (quizzes) and journal. My previous school also used Google Docs and calendar. Last year I used Aplia in my Accounting class.
ReplyDeleteHi there! My name is Candace Smith and I teach Third Grade at Westmoor Elementary in Scottsbluff. I am going on my second year of teaching and have loved every minute! I live in Minatare with my husband of 3 months (woohoo newlyweds). I have spent many hours working with different technology tools as a student and am looking for ways to incorporate some new ideas into my classroom. I am very interested in learning some new ways for students to give presentations, research, connect with others around the globe, and better my own teaching skills.
ReplyDelete