I'm Technically Speaking

Shortly after posting all my "loot" from ISTE, I found this tweet by Glenn Wiebe entitled "Amen, on (not) missing ISTE 2013. Someone is purposely not (and happy about it) going to ISTE?! How can that be? There is a good question brought up in what we trade for the stuff. For me, I am purposeful in giving my work information. I can easily throw away junk mail at work and we have a good filtering on email (and it is easy to unsubscribe). However, it is a required trade...my information for their stuff. Quality was another point. Great point actually! I don't give much thought to the quality of things as I am cruising the floor. I am all in for the best junk that I can get. I figure the advertising on the side of a pen, is just like any other picked up pen. The toys are just toys for my kids to play with for awhile and then throw out. However, I did hear one educator critique the venders product, as well as communicating their thoughts with them. We have to do th

ISTE 2013 An Animoto Video

Soon many of the following posts will be devoted to sharing all the learning that took place at ISTE. However, for today I would like to say thanks to the fun Expo Hall Venders and all their free stuff! Thanks for letting me have some demos and for the additional checked back of stuff :) Here is the break down: 1 walking stick (thanks to www.i-rover.info )       *not pictured, but much used by the kids 1 Edmentum sunglasses 2 Wasp Barcode Technologies fling rockets 1Blender Bottle by its Learning 1 set Umigo Playing Cards (www.umigo.com) 1 really long and flexible eraser from SoftChalk Coud 2 Cell Phone Holders from Stoneware 1 bouncy yo-yo-ish fun thing from Howard Tech Solutions 2 star squeezies from Clay Piggy  1 lanyard and button from edugeek 1 vocabulary magnetic word deal from Vocabulary That Sticks  1 boo-boo kit from Google 1 multipurpose tool (screwdriver and tape measure) from STEM Collaborative 1 bottle opener from altex

And Choice Hotels: When I called and ask you for a clean and safe hotel near the convention center here in San Antonio, I might have thought you could get one out of the two or two out of the two requests. But no. You found a way to provide neither. Instead we were met with this: Hairs on pillows Wrinkled sheets that looked unchanged Rusted vents Trash in spots that must have just been too much work to pick up Broken outlet covers Dirty walls A toilet you have to turn off the water so that it doesn't keep running No extra towels for  the third person although you charged an extra fee for extra person No delivery of extra towels, instead making us come to you...in the dark No extra sheets for the third person although you charged an extra fee for extra person No extra pillow cases to replace the dirty hairy ones...so you gave us extra sheets to cover them. Smelly couch/bed The feeling that everything is dirty. And now we are driving 45 minutes each way. However, that is a much prefe

This post has been "percolating" for a while. It is one that I have wanted to write, yet struggle to also. The idea for this post began with an ending. One year ago, one of my childhood friends left her earthly home. Her healing from cancer came, just not the way that those of use left behind might have wanted. She and her mother, an author, talked about "her story" prior to her passing. A dual story of a young woman's view of her battle with cancer and her mother's view. I had the privilege of reading the book prior to publishing. I was struck by my friend's life story. The events, friends, turning points, etc. It was interested to learn new things and also bring closure in reading her final moments. You can learn more about her book    I Will Not Fear: A Chosen Life  by clicking the title. I also walked away wondering what my life's story would read like.... I love this statement a friend had on here Facebook page: Good advice! And a good q

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2013/06/16/learning-zombies-geography Really? Maybe I am the only one that when I see this my parental antenna goes up. Honestly when I see something like this it makes me say "this is why we send our girls to private school". Don't get me wrong, I understand the idea and rational. In fact I support it. I strongly agree that there is a benefit to allowing study within student interests. I believe that problem based learning is a powerful teaching method. But where do we draw the line?  Not all students...let alone families...will be comfortable with zombie apocalypse as a way to study geography. I think we have to be careful. On the surface this has a lot of positive and sound methodology. According to this article the teacher has been featured on Ted Talks He even has a " kickstarter " site (the aim is to fund the curriculum development). And if that wasn't enough....it is standard's based! Lot's

Technology Pricess! The Technology Princess rides again this weekend! Her silver steed (Southwest Air) will be mounted (boarded) on Saturday. Until then she is packing her bags and gathering supplies. Excitedly she plans for her return to the ISTE kingdom (convention) and connect with all the other technology princesses and princes. This year her travels will take her deep into the heart of Texas...well, at least San Antonio. Upon arrival, the princess will meet up with her traveling partners and head to the merchants (vendors). Haste makes waste, so hasten they will not to see what treasures await. A vast fair (vendor hall) will fill their time and baggage. Just part is shown, click for the interactive model. First stop will be to claim the ultimate princess tech-tool, a free device! Check it out here . 11,000 will be given and she has her paperwork! Oh, how exciting to gain such a free object! Maybe fairy tales do come true. Then she will see what some of

I just confirmed my plans to attend ISTE2013 ! I can't wait! This year it is located in San Antonio, TX. As I have started to plan for the sessions and activities, I want to make sure that this year I avoid the "idi0t?" (for my information on what happened last year click here ). Plan #1 Take an extra bag for all the free goodies! Plan #2 Take an extra bag for all the free goodies and take enough clothes that I do not wear some new shirt when changing quickly for an outing. Plan #3 Take an extra bag for all the free goodies, take bigger bag for extra clothes (Southwest Airlines doesn't charge for checked bag) for plenty of choices, and dress up when ask to join others for an afternoon outing (or at least ask about dress). Did you notice that none of these options avoid the free t-shirts? I just can't do it! I love free stuff! I am a sucker for free stuff. I can't wait to see what free stuff I can get. My heart is starting to beat faster in ex

This last week I attended iCiL and a session on infographics. This is something that I have seen more and more of lately. In fact just tonight I ran across this: 10 Free Web Tools To Make Your Own Infographics on modernlessons.com. I love the visualization! It is a feast for your eyes! This is one of the images that excited me:   http://www.fablevision.com/new/eduflash_archives_july10.html I wish I could have learned vocabulary words like this!  So many other curricular applications exist! Also very easy to create as I discovered from the session and the Modern Lessons Course. Here is a link to the iCiL presenter's wiki resource:  http://infographicsineducation.wikispaces.com/ Here is the link to the Modern Lesson Course:  http://modernlessons.com/course/10-free-web-tools-to-make-your-own-infographics/ Happy infographing!

I am amazed often that things that I teach or know to teach are just as applicable and good advice for myself. But how often do we know what we should be doing and take it for granted and "forget" to in essence "practice what we preach"? Yesterday I presented to iCiL ( iConnect iLearn ) conference session attendees on Google Drive. I soon realized that I had not anticipated how many attendees would be working off of iPads. I should have known or anticipated this. The only anticipation was that there might be some and I was prepared to say, "I don't know how this will work with iPads". However, the thing was....they needed answers right then to be able to use and apply what I was sharing. Stink! Knowing my learners or anticipating the needs of my learners! The nice thing is that I am presenting the same presentation today. The bad thing is that I probably had the fullest room yesterday. The good is that we processed and problem solved yesterday, b