POConnorCoolTools

Polly I am SO glad I had the chance to get in on this last class of yours.  What a great resource to have.  I know I will be often looking back to the Things provided to remind myself of the many ways to incorporate technology into my teaching.  I know you encouraged us to get creative, but first I need to organize my thoughts by answering the questions!   1:  What did you learn? How did you put what you learned into action at school? Personally? Every "Thing" I have blogged about I have continued using.  My twitter is stronger than it was and I feel more confident every day.  Although I love and know I will be using most things regularly, the four that I have been using nonstop since learning about them are Adobe Spark, Ebook Creator, Google Keep and Bitmoji.   Did you expand your Personal Learning Network? Make new professional connections?  YES!  I have two FB groups that I adore and get endless ideas from.  I love the tech blogs that I have signed up for (Matt Miller

This "Thing" caught my attention for the same reason I have mentioned before.  Students have such a hard time being motivated to write.  I am hoping this session will be another I can share with staff as something that will help our students get excited about writing.  I have heard ebook options such as Storybird and My Storybook, but none that anyone has loved and recommended glowingly, so I am excited to learn more.  Here goes: I loved the idea of teachers using this to create textbook options and lessons!  That is an angle I hadn't even considered. Now I must confess to being intimidated...EPub, MOBI, Kindle...oh my!  I'll keep going though-determined! :-) I listened to Jennifer Gonzalez's podcast about PDF ebooks -"A finished digital project they can enjoy for years."   How can this not be good? Interesting.  She started with a definition, which was something I talked about in an earlier blog about the importance of. Makes me wonder if I ha

Oh....I couldn't resist this "thing."  I do Bitmoji (I have college age nieces and nephews...they keep us very up to date on the must have apps!)  and have introduced it to many people, but have never contemplated as a tool in school.   Here is my personal avatar that I use from Bitmoji.     (I have since received many an avocado gift!  ;-)   Thinking about Bitmoji prior to my research, I am so excited.    As I said in my first post, I am doing a yearly theme of "Be an Author" in my library and I see Bitmoji as such a huge motivating tool for students.  You could use them like a rebus story, story starters, students could combine and work together on books...possibilities are endless.  Two issues come to mind though and I am hoping my looking into this thing, will make them disappear! 1-Tech:  This is my districts first year using the one to one Chromebook and Bitmoji was one of the first extensions I added-and showed my teachers.  Unfortunately it was qui

My first thoughts on this title was the hope that I would learn more about Google Keep.  One of my goals this year was to learn more about Google Keep as I have had heard about it from my High School librarian and Tech Administrator as something they recommended.  In terms of my own comfort with our Google Suite these are the order of apps I feel most proficient in:   Very:  Docs, Slides    Good:  Classroom, Forms Semi:  Calendar, Quizzes, Blogger Can't Wait to Learn More!  :-)  Keep, Photos ...so here goes..... Ok, I knew I said my focus was going to be Google Keep, but I saw the link for Google Drive Shortcuts, and instinctively clicked!  I tested out all the ideas and yes-they did open right up with just that quick typing but I wonder how much I will  use it that much as I don't find clicking my waffle that much of a problem! *5/19-2 month update....I DO use this much more that I thought I would....especially when opening multiple docs and slides. So I started rea

As a new blogger I am realizing I really like to put my "before" thoughts down before looking at my decided on thing.  So far it has helped me to really see how wrong I might be about things, how much I learn and how helpful this course has been! I have been to one BreakoutEDU session at a library conference and tried to be successful in different escape room experiences with my family 3 times.  While I think they are super cool, I found them as a user to be a tad frustrating and confusing.  At the conference session, there were so many of us, I never even got to see the clues, and in my family experiences, my son seems to get everything figured out before I even finish reading!  However I LOVE the idea of them, solving clues to unlock a box-it should be so fun and motivating for students.  And the bonus of having it tie into your curriculum?  What could be bad?  I think that is another reason I chose this topic.  I am hoping my negative impressions will be eased.  We do ha

Digital Tattoo & Digital Citizenship-another title that totally reeled me in.  As an elementary librarian I am one of the main teachers of Digital Citizenship for my students.   The other part of the title, Digital Tattoo I have never heard of, so I knew this "thing" was for me.   Here goes! Digital Citizenship is part of our library curriculum and I copied the pertinent pieces from it below: K:   Understand computers/ technology resources as a tool to enhance learning   Understand an age appropriate concept of internet and computer safety 1st grade:   Understand an age appropriate concept of internet and computer safety 2nd grade:   Begin to use age appropriate databases and other online sources Understand an age appropriate concept of internet and computer safety 3rd grade:   Utilize online resources for research, including databases, search engines, websites Evaluate print and onl