Author Archives: caitbajgier

What is a Technology Innovator?

What is a Technology Innovator?

I recently was posed this question as part of my application process to become a Keystone STAR.  I found out that my principal nominated as a Keystone Technology Innovator for the class of 2015, and I was extremely honored!  I just applied to become a Keystone STAR and one of 100 lucky applicants that will be picked to attend the state level summit this July!  (I’ll keep you posted if I am selected, eek!)

So, What did I Decide?

I spent some time grappling with this question and envisioning what the ideal technology innovator would look like, and here is the dandy little acrostic poem I came up with (geez am I an elementary teacher or what?!)

A Technology Innovator is someone who:

Transforms learning through creative use of technology in the classroom.

Engages students by focusing on student needs and learning styles.

Changes with the times and researches new trends in educational technology.

Hones their personal technological skills and devotes their life to learning.

Never is afraid of failure, and uses blunders as learning experiences.

Organizes the learning environment for seamless integration of technology.

Leads and facilitates learning by creating student-centered learning experiences.

Observes students and develops technological solutions to learning problems.

Generates lessons that encourage students to delve into deeper learning.

Yearns for the freedom to focus on projects, not tests.

 

Inspires students to be creative and give their best effort.

Networks and collaborates with other educators.

Never uses technology as fluff, but strives to create meaningful learning.

Offers support and guidance to colleagues with technology integration.

Validates and uplifts students by providing authentic learning experiences.

Always strives to be a better teacher and perfect their practice.

Teaches students to use technology in a safe, responsible manner.

Often collaborates for cross-curricular learning experiences.

Radiates enthusiasm for learning and teaching!

 

What qualities do you think a Technology Innovator should possess?

Adventures at #Pete2015 – Keynote Edition

ADVENTURESGetting off to a Bumpy Start

I am super lucky that I was able to attend the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) at Hershey, PA this year!  What’s not so lucky?  Unpacking the car and realizing that I forgot my toiletry bag at home!  Disaster!  A Walmart run and trip to CVS later, and I started to mellow out a bit. Being a first time attendee at the conference was overwhelming enough, (but the whole leaving my toiletry bag at home thing definitely didn’t help!)  There was so much going on!  The Hershey Lodge is HUGE and then you find out you can hop a shuttle to the beautiful Hotel Hershey for sessions too!  (The lovely Hotel Hershey is featured in my graphic at the top of this post. I took a panorama with my iPhone of this  lovely Mediterranean style room they had there).  It took some time to get acclimated, and I had a ton of information thrown at me over the course of my 3 days there!  I will be sharing what I learned at PETE&C in a series of posts on some of the reoccurring themes that I explored during my sessions there:  new apps, flipping instruction, and STEAM.  This is the first post in the series, and it is dedicated to the Keynote speakers!  Continue reading

Strengthening the Home-School Connection with Classroom Website

Communication is Key 

As teachers, we know it is beneficial to our students to have frequent, open communication with families.  We also know that this is time consuming (but well worth the effort).  An effective classroom website is a great way to help stay connected with families.

“So, What is the Best Way to Create a Classroom Website?”

This was a question that I was grappling with toward the end of summer break, while my boyfriend and I were vacationing in Savannah (it really is lovely there).  During our downtime, I was researching my options.  In the past, I had used Edmodo, however, I found that many parents didn’t take the time to set up accounts.  We also have a school Facebook page, so I post their frequently, and Edmodo just seemed a bit redundant.  Last year I tried out Kidblog  (see my post here) in addition to Edmodo, as a platform for displaying student work.  I found that Kidblog was a easy way to embed student work, but in 1st grade, we honestly aren’t going to blog in a traditional sense so having a blog of each individual kid seemed a bit unnecessary.

Assessing My Website Needs

As teachers, it is easy to keep doing the same things every year out of habit, but the Virgo in me always pushes me to do things better!  I wasn’t satisfied with my classroom website, and I was determined to find a platform that would suit my needs. So, I sat down and thought about what I was looking for in a platform, and I came up with this list.

  • User Friendly– I wanted something that would be easy for me to use, because at the end of the day, I don’t have a lot of free time!
  • Ability to Embed– A lot of the technology projects I implement with my students give you embed code, so I wanted to be able to embed student work directly into my website.
  • Privacy– My students privacy is extremely important to me, so that’s why in the past I leaned towards using platforms that required user sign in (Edmodo & Kidblog), however, I discovered this was a deterrent to the parents.
  • Easy to Access– I wanted the parents to be able to visit the website without having to log in.
  • Organized– In the past using Edmodo and Kidblog, things got disorganized.  It wasn’t easy to find what you were looking forward, as things get posted in chronological order.  I wanted something that looked more like a traditional website, with tabs.
  • Attractive– It obviously goes without saying, but I wanted it to be pretty!

So, What Did I Decide?

I began looking into Google Sites, but honestly found their templates a bit confusing (this is coming from someone who considers herself technology savvy enough to author a technology focused blog).  Then it dawned on me, WordPress!  I use WordPress for this handy dandy blog, so I was already familiar with the platform (user friendly, check!)  I honestly had it up and running in an hour!  You can obviously embed in WordPress (check!) It is easy to access because parents just have to visit the URL, https://missconroy1stgradeclass.wordpress.com/, or they can subscribe to my posts and they are delivered to their email!  (easy to access,  check!)  I also made a refrigerator magnet with a QR code (see below) that parents could keep around and scan to visit the website.  What is great about WordPress is that it allows you to set privacy on a post by post basis.  So I am able to password protect my posts that have student photographs or work, and I only give the passwords to parents (privacy, check!)  Wordpress had really cute education templates, so I think the website is attractive (check!) I also was able to make categories, so my posts about certain topics would show up under tabs, making the website easy to navigate and organized (check!)Classroom Website

Final Thoughts

I highly recommend using Word Press for your classroom website.  Please let me know if you have any questions or need help setting one up!  I am very pleased with the end result, and another added bonus is that Word Press gives you analytics, so you can see if parents are actually accessing your classroom website, or not!

The Great Gingerbread QR Code Hunt

Gingerbread Thumbnail 1Background

Every year one of Title 1 Reading Specialists at my school enjoys baking gingerbread cookies with the class. I recently read the book, The Gingerbread Kid Goes to School, to my class, and I thought it would be fun to coordinate a QR code hunt (much like the previous QR code hunt I did) that would have my class chasing an elusive gingerbread man around the school!
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My Adventures at Google Geo Teacher Institute #pagti14

Getting My Google On

I was blessed to be able to attend the Google Geo Teacher Institute in Pittsburgh to learn more about how I can use their Geo Tools in the classroom with my kiddos. As a Pittsburgh girl I enjoyed visiting Google Pittsburgh, and I loved how it had a Kennywood theme (a Pittsburgh amusement park) throughout the building.   This was a two day training with both large group sessions and four breakout sessions where you could pick what sessions interested you.  Continue reading

Morning Calendar for Interactive Whiteboard, FREEBIE!

Easing into Easiteach

Last year was my first full school year using my Epson Brightlink Interactive Projector in my 1st Grade Classroom.  I spent the year making lessons in TeamBoard Draw (word building and ten-frames for example) and using Easy Interactive tools to annotate over top old transparencies. I also found interactive websites for the kids to use, and who doesn’t enjoy streaming from Discovery Education.  I also self-taught myself the software program ActivInspire, and created several lessons using this program (which are available in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store. For more info on ActivInspire you can check out these posts:  Using ActivInspire to Create a Cross-Curricular Lesson and The Top Ten Things Teachers Should Be able to do in ActivInpsire). In the spring of last school year I attended a two day “train-the-trainer” training on another IWB software, RMEasiteach, provided by an Eduscape Learning instructor, Krista Galyon, @KristaGalyon. I loved her training, because it was very hands on!  It is always easier to learn how to do something by doing it, not watching!
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99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, Here’s to You Grandma

“What does beer have to do with an Education Blog?” you might be wondering…

My Grandma passed away recently, and she just so happened to be 99 years old and a fan of beer, so I figured the title was fitting for a post in her honor.  A beer for every year, right?  Plus, that song is a bit educational since it does teach one to count backwards from 99, so there’s that!  (Not that I would ever use it in the classroom!) It turns out my Grandma was a big fan of education, but I never seemed to take notice when she was alive. Continue reading

Watch out for that Apple Snow White!

Apple, The Devices You Love to Hate

When I walk into the Apple Store, observing the mania, I can’t help feeling as I look around  that this is what is wrong with the world today! We took a bite of the poisonous fruit and we are addicted to it like a drug.  I think most of us know we have a problem, yet we can’t seem to tear ourselves away from our devices which have us hooked. Personally, I spent way to much time on my iPhone and iPad on this beautiful summer day, when I should have been doing yoga (I have an app for that) or walking my dog (there’s an app for that too).  I want to hate you, Apple, but I just can’t.  “Why?” You might ask, because (Ugh)  they just do it better — My 3 Day Apple Training convinced me of this. Continue reading

#RockBottom

THUD!

I haven’t tweeted or written a blog post since April.  I want to apologize for my absence to all of my followers, and my PLN, particularly everyone in my @EDTechTLC and  the #blogamonth group.  When I started this blog, my goal was to write a post weekly, and it seems I can’t even post once a month! I won’t go into great detail about why I couldn’t keep up, but I will say  I had a particularly challenging school year, and I got stuck in survival mode.  Teaching is tough stuff!

Just Keep Digging

Have you ever heard of the saying, “Just when you think you’ve hit rock bottom, someone goes and throws you a shovel and tells you to keep digging”?  There were many times this school year when I thought I hit rock bottom.  Below I have compiled a list of tweets from some of my funny/sad/desperate moments that occurred during the school year.  Since I was too busy to tweet these gems at the time they were happening, I present to you all of my #rockbottom moments in 140 characters or less; I hope you appreciate my witty take on the ugly reality of being a teacher.   (For anyone interested in becoming a teacher, you might want to read over these well so you know what you are getting yourself into, this could be you in 8 years!)

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A Very Merry Unconference #EDCampPGH

https://sites.google.com/a/msbordner.com/edcamppgh/_/rsrc/1373337990743/config/customLogo.gif?revision=3

A Bit of Background

I first heard of EdCamp from a fellow blogger, Darin Johnston @AnIowaTeacher, in his blog post My #edcampMadWI Expereince.  His blog post had piqued my interest, and I recently had been to another unconference, Pod Camp Pittsburgh, #pcpgh8, with my tech-savvy boyfriend (who is the brains behind this blog operation).  We learned a lot at Pod Camp about blogging, search engine optimization and social media, so I figured trying a education-focused unconference would be a great way to learn more about current trends in education and connect with other educators.

So You Might be Wondering, “What is an “Unconference”?”

Yesterday, I attended the unconfence, EdCamp PGH, #edcamppgh, which is kind of like a professional development conference, except its not!  What makes EdCamp different than a conferences is that class offerings and schedule are completely determined by the participants.  At the start of the day participants jot topics they want to learn more about on sticky notes and post stick them on a piece of chart paper.  Then there is another chart with a table, where the session times are listed down the side and the available rooms are listed across the top. If someone feels they are confident in moderating the discussion they move the topic from the first chart and place it in a time slot and a room.  From there the organizers put the schedule up on the website, so participants can access it from our lap tops, tablets and smart phones.

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