As of the summer of 2012, I had never touched an iPad. Like many Art teachers, I had limited access to any devices or labs in the school. I took an iPad class that August and struggled through just swiping a touch screen and moving around it. School started the next week, with the both exciting & slightly terrifying reality of more tech available to me than ever before:
One building - 3rd & 4th grade completely 1:1 with iPads, 5th grade 1:1 with MacBooks.
other building - cart of 30 PC laptops, small sets of iPads in various grade levels.
I also started the year with a student teacher. Wanting to make sure that he experienced teaching with technology, too, we seriously did a header into the deep end of the pool. We just tried stuff with students, and we said that frequently with them. We shared the snags, the roadblocks, the questions as we learned. One day I said to a class of 2nd graders, "We are going to put our movie project on hold for a few weeks, because I learned that having the whole grade do this at the same time was not my best idea."
And you know what? We all survived. We learned a ton.
As the year went on, I kept fine tuning what I was really trying to accomplish with technology, asking the question, "What does the device allow us to do that we couldn't before?" I followed other teachers on Twitter, and wasn't afraid to ask them questions. By the end of year, it was quite surprising when others were coming to me with tech integration questions. I hadn't shared much, because I always assumed everyone else already knew these things. That made me realize that no matter how much of a novice you think you are, there is ALWAYS someone a little behind you in the journey. That encouraged me to start sharing more.
So... it was shocking, and humbling, to scan my Twitter feed this month & see this from @Kelli_Cody on Sporadic Squiggles. I still don't know how to respond to being named among the people that I've been helped, encouraged & inspired by. Thank You, @Kelli_Cody, that inspires me. Maybe I can turn that cannon ball into a little flip, or something. :-)
http://bit.ly/1eTgbVK
Here are my answers to @Kelli_Cody's questions:
1- What is one thing you do that you would not change for anyone? my faith in Christ
2- How often do you check your email? several times throughout the day, at least 6 I bet
3- Where do you find inspiration? TWITTER, blogs, google+, artsonia
4- What is your comfort food of choice Fried Chicken & Garlic Mashed Potatoes
?5- What is your guilty pleasure? Downton Abbey
6- How do you relieve stress/let off steam? Play (or nap) with pug dog Norm
7- How many hours of sleep do you get a night? 7-ish, with a weekend nap
8- Where is your happy place? Summer Camp, or hiking trails/ woods, unless the mosquitos are treacherous, then I'll wimp out.
9- Rule follower or breaker? Follower, generally. Breaker, rarely
10-If you could be one age again, what would it be? 47. I'm anticipating that this will be a great year.
11-How did you start blogging? I don't really blog in an official way, I tweet. I reply on other's blogs and on forums like ArtEd 2.0
One building - 3rd & 4th grade completely 1:1 with iPads, 5th grade 1:1 with MacBooks.
other building - cart of 30 PC laptops, small sets of iPads in various grade levels.
I also started the year with a student teacher. Wanting to make sure that he experienced teaching with technology, too, we seriously did a header into the deep end of the pool. We just tried stuff with students, and we said that frequently with them. We shared the snags, the roadblocks, the questions as we learned. One day I said to a class of 2nd graders, "We are going to put our movie project on hold for a few weeks, because I learned that having the whole grade do this at the same time was not my best idea."
And you know what? We all survived. We learned a ton.
As the year went on, I kept fine tuning what I was really trying to accomplish with technology, asking the question, "What does the device allow us to do that we couldn't before?" I followed other teachers on Twitter, and wasn't afraid to ask them questions. By the end of year, it was quite surprising when others were coming to me with tech integration questions. I hadn't shared much, because I always assumed everyone else already knew these things. That made me realize that no matter how much of a novice you think you are, there is ALWAYS someone a little behind you in the journey. That encouraged me to start sharing more.
So... it was shocking, and humbling, to scan my Twitter feed this month & see this from @Kelli_Cody on Sporadic Squiggles. I still don't know how to respond to being named among the people that I've been helped, encouraged & inspired by. Thank You, @Kelli_Cody, that inspires me. Maybe I can turn that cannon ball into a little flip, or something. :-)
http://bit.ly/1eTgbVK
Here are my answers to @Kelli_Cody's questions:
1- What is one thing you do that you would not change for anyone? my faith in Christ
2- How often do you check your email? several times throughout the day, at least 6 I bet
3- Where do you find inspiration? TWITTER, blogs, google+, artsonia
4- What is your comfort food of choice Fried Chicken & Garlic Mashed Potatoes
?5- What is your guilty pleasure? Downton Abbey
6- How do you relieve stress/let off steam? Play (or nap) with pug dog Norm
7- How many hours of sleep do you get a night? 7-ish, with a weekend nap
8- Where is your happy place? Summer Camp, or hiking trails/ woods, unless the mosquitos are treacherous, then I'll wimp out.
9- Rule follower or breaker? Follower, generally. Breaker, rarely
10-If you could be one age again, what would it be? 47. I'm anticipating that this will be a great year.
11-How did you start blogging? I don't really blog in an official way, I tweet. I reply on other's blogs and on forums like ArtEd 2.0