Back to school

It's a school night...... I heard that tonight while I was at the pool soaking up some of the last bits of summer. It really took me by surprise. I guess it is a school night. Looking forward to a new year. Hoping that I can push myself as an educator to learn and grow, just like I push my students.
Best of luck to all heading back to that wild and crazy world we call teaching!

Wikipanion

Wikipanion Great App for quick access to information. It is basically just like a wikipedia website..... I am using it with my summer school students in conjunction with popplet to pre-write for informative essays. Very useful.

Another App I have been playing with is Blurb. It is a free app that lets you use photos and short sentences to make slideshow type presentations. I could see myself using this to preview topics or build background knowledge on different topics my students might not know much about. It is easy to use and worth the $0.99 upgrade.

I just attended a 2 day training on my new iPad. I have learned so much. I want to organize what I have learned in a way to share it with others. That is a work in progress. Soooooo many apps out there to use to help our students. It's amazing what technology is out there and available to help students of today. I am excited for the opportunity to learn and hopefully help others learn what is at our finger tips.

Top 5 Apps in the past 48 hours
popplet lite
Animoto
Box
Zite
ePub Bud (not an app, web based)

Amazing writing.....

Here is an essay that one of my summer school students wrote. Her amazing word choice and voice impressed me.....

            I strongly disagree with the punishment that has been bestowed upon the two Australian swimmers. They are banned from social media for one month and must leave the Olympics once their competition is finished. This was brought on by a photo of them that was posted to Facebook.  The punishment is way too harsh. What they did was not against the law. There was no real punishment for the Australian swim team in 2007 when they did basically the same thing and then some. The picture didn’t show anything that showcased dangerous behavior, which I feel is the most significant reason of my disagreement.

            The two Australians that posted the picture of themselves with guns didn’t have any sort of malicious intent. There was nothing in the photo that truly purveyed intentions of violence and/or dangerous behavior. Both men are of age and they were in a controlled environment. Also, in the photo, they were holding the guns and smiling for a snapshot that was nothing more than a fun picture. Not only that, but what they did is completely legal. My points are credible and enough to make me go against these punishments.

            In conclusion, I have enough credible points to go with my disagreement with these punishments. These men didn’t do anything wrong so why should they have to endure such a punishment as them being banned for one month from social media and them being forced to leave the Olympic Games once their competition is done? People like to have fun, that’s all these men were doing, having fun.

I hope to use this as yet another tool for communication with students as well as parents. I also want to highlight the wonderful work of students.