Since transitioning from Burlington High School to Fox Hill Elementary School, I have spent the past year and a half getting acclimated to a new school culture, developing relationships with students and my new colleagues, and learning the elementary curriculum. My primary goals were to use technology to leverage student voice by developing creative, project-based learning opportunities and to make
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Last August, when Google launched the Slides app for iOS I was ecstatic. I immediately authored a post on the BHS Help Desk blog to share the big news. My excitement quickly turned to disappointment when I realized, after I had already published the post, that the app lacked the ability to add images. The whole point of a presentation
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When recommending digital tools to teachers in my district, I often lean towards those which can be integrated almost immediately. Educators want to focus on pedagogy and student learning, very few wish to spend time teaching the technology. My colleagues appreciate apps and web 2.0 tools that are intuitive, increase their productivity, promote student creativity and enhance communication. Confidence levels rise and more risks are taken
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It was an honor to receive an invitation to attend the Future Ready Summit in Rhode Island and represent Burlington Public Schools as a local area expert. I had the opportunity to share the success of Burlington’s student run Help Desk and talk with school leaders about how they can develop a similar program to support their own 1:1 initiative. I
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If you took the time to understand what Digital Learning Day truly stands for, then you know it wasn’t about a single day, nor was it exclusively about technology. And it certainly wasn’t a technological dog and pony show. Digital Learning Day’s partnering organizations including the Center for Digital Learning Policy, the Alliance for Excellent Education and Project 24 provide in-depth resources on a wide
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Of all the tools available to students and teachers, Google Hangouts is easily one of the most powerful in the Google apps suite. My introduction to Hangouts came back in May of 2013 by 7th grade social studies teacher Tracy Sockalosky. Since that initial video call, I have been fascinated by Hangouts as a means to connect “face to face”
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It’s ironic, almost comical, that there seems to be more and more blog posts out there about the “right way” to “do Twitter.” What’s especially ironic are posts from folks who say Twitter should be used for two-way communication. They go on and on about how Twitter should be used to cultivate a robust personal learning network. Some even create awesome presentations
Read moreExcept there’s no finish line. I’m a huge marathon runner wanna-be… The Boston Marathon has come and gone. #Bostonstrong is no longer trending. I however, continue to think about the 35,000+ runners who trained for this year’s race. I keep thinking about the hours of training, preparation, commitment and sacrifices the runners went through. I place these people on a
Read moreLast night I promised myself I would get started on my grad work (I’m currently taking a course in assistive technology through Lesley University) and not participate in the digital citizenship Twitter chat which I co-moderate alongside Marialice Curran, Susan Bearden, Sandy Kendell, Craig Badura, Glenn Robbins and Kay Connors. However, I couldn’t resist. I ended up being a part
Read moreAre you looking for a free, easy to learn tool that: 1. Is designed to increase two-way communication between you, your students and their parents? 2. Has the ability to send text notifications to an entire class or individual students without providing your phone number? 3. Has a web version as well as a free iPad/iPhone/Android app? 4. Allows you
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Jennifer L. Scheffer 