Just One ISTE Tip for the Memory Challenged

With all of the wonderful posts out there about getting ready for ISTE, there's not much that hasn't been covered. That is, except for organizing and accessing all of those pesky little details like flight information, hotel name, sight-seeing info, etc...Who actually remembers all of that off the top of their head? (Okay, if you have a great memory, you may want to stop reading now. This post is for those of us who can't hold lots of little details in our brains at once).

As I was going over all of those details the other day, I thought to myself, "It sure would be great if I had access to all of this on my phone so I don't have to dig through my bag." Hence, this one little ISTE tip: Create shortcuts to the websites on my phone's desktop! Now I have at my fingertips my flight info, links to the restaurants, tours, hotel, and of course, the ISTE 2013 app!

Here's how to do it:
1. Open the website you want to save as an icon in Safari.
2. Tap the button circled in red below:

3. Tap "Add to Home Screen."

4. Give your link a name, and tap "Add."

5. After you have a few on your home screen, press and hold one icon until you see them wiggle and an "X" appear. 

6. Using your finger, drag and drop one of the icons on top of another one. This will create a group that you name whatever you want. 

That's it! Hope this little tip helps you stay organized and on top of those little details during your ISTE trip!

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My AETC 2013 Smackdown

What a great conference this year at AETC! I always enjoy our state technology conference, and this year was no exception. I presented twice, attended several really great sessions, and visited with colleagues and friends from all over the state! I don't know about you, but when I've been to one of these, I need at least a day to let all of those great ideas marinate in my head, and putting pen to paper finger to keyboard is the best way for me to sort out my new learning. Hopefully, there will be some things here that you'll find interesting or useful:

First of all, if you've never heard Kevin Honeycutt (@KevinHoneycutt) speak you have really missed out! He is probably THE best keynote speaker I've ever heard. But don't worry. He has a YouTube channel. Here's a quick sample:

Now, on to my smackdown. These are a few of my favorite sites that I learned about and can't wait to use:

Tool	Info
Bump	Multi-platform app which allows you to bump your devices together to share files, pictures, videos, digital business cards, etc...You can even bump from your phone to your computer by bumping the space bar.
GE.TT	File sharing site which will allow you to share multiple files. You upload them, they zip them for you, and give you a sharable link.
Lulu	Publish your book! This site publishes your work and allows you to sell it.
QR Hacker	I usually use, QRstuff.com, but this site is really cool, too, because it allows you to play a little more with your QR code's style.Not sure I'd use it in my classroom since "Pimp" is not a word I allow my little ones to use, but I would use it at home.
1 Password	Ever lose a password? Not again! With 1 password, you can save all of those passwords you've accumulated and it gives you ONE password in place of them! The only con is that you have to pay for it :(
Vizify	Make a video of your Twitter feed! Pretty cool little tool! Here's mine!
Primary Pad	Word processing that allows students and teachers to work together in real time. Great for collaboration or back-channeling.
Aurasma	Sort of like a QR code on steroids, Aurasma allows you to create images that link to web content. Really neat site.
Tripline	Similar to Google Lit Trips, but you can actually create these pretty easily! There's also a searchable database with lots of premade maps. This one's a must see!
Let Me Google That For You	For the smart alec in all of us...You have got to try this site!!!! You know those "Duh" questions people ask sometimes? This is the answer. I literally laughed out loud when I tried this site.

Have you used any of these before? Have something similar to add? I'd love to hear from you!

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Tis the Season

Tis the season for conferences, that is. I'm very excited to be participating and also presenting at AETC tomorrow and Thursday. Then, it's off to ISTE in San Antonio. After that, I'll be presenting and attending several sessions through our board of education. 

I love conferences! Teaching can be a very isolated profession in which you rarely even speak to your coworker during the course of a day. Attending and presenting sessions not only helps me sharpen my skills, but is a great way to network and connect with other educators. They sort of recharge me, and keep me excited about trying new things with my students. 

I'm such a school nerd! I wonder how many others out there are like me? Do you go to professional development during the summer?

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CORE Academy

I'm very excited to be a part of JSU's CORE Academy for the next few days. I'll be presenting two sessions with my friend, Cara (Teaching...My Calling), over the next two days dealing with integrating technology and using social media.

Here's a sneak peak of our LiveBinder of resources we plan to share:

Hope to see you there!

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Planning Already

How soon do you do it? Start planning for next  year, I mean. Throughout the year, I'm constantly thinking to myself, "I want to do that again," or "NEVER again!" So I'm linking up with Kim at Finding Joy in 6th for her awesome linky party to share some of my plans for next year.

I started running about two months ago (read more about it on my other blog), and it has been an amazing journey! I've seen so many positive outcomes, not just in myself, but in my students as well. I definitely want to keep this up.

I partially implemented Everyday Math this year with my fourth graders, and I saw amazing results in retention of some common math concepts. Next year I'm moving to fifth for a year, but I want to keep up the calendar math routine, tweaked with 5th grade level activities. Here's a link to the files I made for the 4th grade calendar math if you're interested.

Because I work in a small school, we sometimes have to shift grade levels due to enrollment. For the next school year, my cohort will have the entire 4th grade, and I will move up to 5th. While I'm super excited to get to teach a new curriculum and have some of my students again, I will really miss her! We work so well together.

How about you? Have you started thinking about next year yet? Join the linky and share!

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An Ending

The close of the school year is upon us, and it is definitely bittersweet. I'm so excited to get to spend time with my family this summer, and I'm looking forward to teaching and attending professional development conferences. But at the same time, I'm sad to see the end of such a great year.

I will really miss the daily conversations, activities, and laughs that were so common this year with my group. I will miss seeing their curious faces and the excited looks on their faces when we'd learn something particularly fun. I will miss their work ethic and determination, and their encouragement.

With this sadness comes excitement, though, at knowing that next year brings a fresh start for us. That's one of the great things about teaching. We get to start over each August!

As I write this post I'm reminded of a line from my favorite book series, The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan. "There are no endings, and will never be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was AN ending."

This is my favorite line in the series. It reminds me that with each ending brings about a new beginning.

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They're Watching

During the past few weeks I've been really striving to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle in order to honor God with my physical body. I've stopped drinking coffee at school. They noticed. I've been bringing a healthy lunch everyday. "What are you eating, Mrs. Kilgo? Smells delicious!" they say. They've seen me politely turn down offers of special birthday treats, and on occasion have even seen me in my work out clothes jogging after school.

Although I didn't have my students in mind when I began making these changes, I can see that it is effecting them. We're talking about exercise, building stamina in sports, healthy eating, and training for 5Ks. They're asking questions. But what really got me thinking about how much they're actually watching was a statement written by one of my kiddos.

They were asked to compare a character in a selected text to someone they knew and one child wrote, "Dr. Shannon is like Mrs. Kilgo because they both work really hard to be healthy and stay in shape..."

Wow! Yet another eye opener of how much they are watching and how much influence we have over our kiddos. Knowing I'm far from perfect, I pray that most of my impact on them will be positive. Pin It

Politics and Education....: Supporting the CCRS - Open Letter to Mrs. Zeanah

Politics and Education....: Supporting the CCRS - Open Letter to Mrs. Zeanah: Open letter to Mrs. Elois Zeanah,  President of the Alabama Federation of Republican Women  Mrs. Zeanah opposes the use of Common Core ... Pin It

Geometry Galore!

I was so excited to finally make it to the geometry section in our math book a few weeks ago. That is, until my kiddos gave me that worried look at the beginning of the chapter. I could tell they were nervous about these concepts and knew I needed to get busy! Enter these awesome resources that I made/found:

Looking for apps? Geometry Quest is a HUGE hit in my classroom! My kids absolutely adore this game, and I love that they're getting a constant review of lines, angles, shapes, etc...There is a lite version, which is what we started with, but my kids were so engaged that I bought the app. WELL worth $1.99! 

Source: teacherspayteachers.com via Farrah on Pinterest

We constantly play Guess My Number, a game in which the teacher thinks of a number and the students ask questions with yes/no answers to try and figure out the number. So when I found this free Guess Who? game about shapes, I knew my kiddos would love it!

We love "I have, who has" games! In my class we race to see how quickly we can complete the game and if we can beat the previous score. This game is a quick, fun review that encourages students to read geometry terms correctly. You can find it in my store here.

I created these task cards for a center. The students follow the directions on the front, then turn them over to check. You can find them in my store here.

This is another center activity I created to help familiarize students with the correct ways to name lines, line segments, and angles. They read what is on the card and choose the correct answer. Scanning the QR code tells students whether or not the choose correctly. You can get it here. 

We've been having a great time learning about geometry now. Hopefully you can use some of them, too!


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