Month in Review: March 2010!
Sorry for how late this post is but March has been my busiest month professionally and April looks just as busy. March and April seem to be popular months for conferences and I’ve been busily preparing presentations and wikis. You probably have been just as busy and may have missed some of the tips, resources, and tools shared on Teacher Reboot Camp.
What you might have missed…
Your favorite posts this month based on comments and overall traffic:
- Why Do We Connect? Video Project- In this post, I asked you to submit a video for the We Connect Project. I was excited to have over 50 submissions from over 15 countries. I am presenting various versions of this video throughout the conferences I attend.
- In My Absence- You can watch the first version of the We Connect video that was shown in Greece.
- Favorite What Did They Tweet Series- In this post, our PLN shared with us several cool videos you have to see such as the Virtual Choir, An Interview with Sir Ken Robinson, Nature by Numbers, PLNs, and more!
- Favorite Cool Sites Series- In this post, you can find 18 resources for teaching English Language Learners through blogs. You will also find my video tutorials on subscribing via RSS and e-mail.
- My Favorite Tech Tools This Month-
- Youtube Downloader-If you’ve been presenting then you know many venues don’t have wifi or the Internet available. With this free FireFox extension I have been able to quickly and easily download video tutorials for my presentations and embed them in my PowerPoint. This is extremely helpful when presenting on web 2.0 tools. Just credit the author and ask them if you can use their video if you don’t have some of your own uploaded.
- Slideshare- After completing my presentations, I upload them to Slideshare. This allows me to narrate the presentations and play video! This will also easily embed in a wiki or on your LinkedIn profile.
- Camtasia- From the same developers of Jing this screen capture software allows you to do some serious video and audio editing. It is free for 30 days so if you have an upcoming video project, try it!
- Guest Posts- A heartfelt thanks to all my guest bloggers this month! Please leave them comments on their fantastic posts!
- Creativity in Education by Leonor Cristina Santos- How can we ensure students are allowed to be creative in schools? Watch the videos and reflect on this important issue.
- 10 Cool Tips and Resources for Text Response by Judith Way- Find various tools to help students reflect on the books they read.
- Syllabus or Silly-bus? by Tom King- Do you use a syllabus? Does it work? Do we even need to have a syllabus for our classes. These issues are explored.
- Do We Learn More through Microblogging? by Tony Ratcliffe- Tony explores how we learn through Twitter! Do you agree we learn more through Twitter versus blogs?
- Do Those That Show Up Make a Real Difference? by Harold Shaw- Harold suggest that education reform is accomplished in backrooms.
- Who Turns the Lights Off When We Leave Kindergarten? by Tom King- Why can’t the powerful model of kindergarten be extended into the upper grades?
- 12 Resources for Grammar and Punctuation Usage by Karen Schweitzer- Find various resources for teaching grammar.
- My Wikis and Presentations:
- We Connect- This is my PLN wiki where you will find several resources, tutorials, videos and more on helping educators join a PLN. Please feel free to use the resources in your presentations on PLNs and social media.
- Technology 4 Kids- Ozge Karaoglu and I developed this wiki to help educators integrate technology effectively for young learners. Read about digital storytelling tools, Glogster, Voicethread, and more!
- Children’s English classes- Search by theme for book ideas and games for children ages 4 to 10 years-old.
- Adult English classes- Several topics, tasks, and resources for lower-intermediate to upper-intermediate classes.
- Skype connection between Oklahoma and Germany- We explore the Gold Rush, Trail of Tears, and Manifest Destiny.
- Where I’ll be this month, let’s tweet-up!
- IATEFL Harrogate- I will be visiting Harrogate, UK from April 4th -12th. I will be presenting with Ozge Karaoglu on using digital technologies with young learners.
- 140 Conference in NYC- I will be recording and reporting on the education panels as part of my new role as the VP of Educator Outreach for Parentella! This takes place April 20th-21st.
- Virtual Round Table- On April 22nd-23rd I will be conducting a 20 minute presentation and moderating the 2 day Pecha Kucha event. It’ll all be online so you have no excuse not to meet me here!
- I write the weekly summaries for Parentella’s #PTChat, the parent and educator discussion, which occurs every Wednesday at 9pm PST.
Thank you so much for your support of my free 30 Goals Challenge E-book. Over 1200 of you have read it and I am truly grateful! Download your free copy here.
Please feel free to use any of the resources shared here or in the wikis because the ultimate goal is to get other educators in our PLN.
You may want to subscribe for FREE to receive regular updates!
