AR Pitch by Carrie Sanguinetti

Many teachers have access to a lot of technology but they are not using it in their classrooms.  This is my AR pitch which is trying to convince teachers to delve into the opportunities available to us for the benefit of our students, and ourselves.

AR Pitch

Many teachers have access to a lot of technology but they are not using it in their classrooms.  This is my AR pitch which is trying to convince teachers to delve into the opportunities available to us for the benefit of our students, and ourselves.

PE3

As my journey into imovie continues, I am learning more and more of the options available to me in this program.  I feel that my work is showing continued signs of improvement and professionalism.  Maybe I'll be moving to Hollywood soon!....No...I better stick with teaching as my day job!

PE2

This second practical experience entry demonstrates how my skills are developing in Imovie.  I am learning to better frame my shots, use transitions and music and I am becoming exposed to various techniques which help me produce a quality, more professional looking product.

PE1

This video discusses my first experience with imovie, a program that I began using during the course of this Master's program and would love to gain more experience with.

BP12_PodbeanVideo

BP11_Comment to Elaine Scott

Follow this link to read my comments on Elaine Scott's blog.

BP10_Comment to Brian Thomas

Click on this link to read my comment on Brian Thomas' blog.

BP9_Podbean

Podbean is the latest technology that I have tried out! I really enjoyed familiarizing myself with this great tool. My school district subscribes to Podbean for teachers in the district to use to record podcasts. It is a publishing tool that helps you create professional podcasts quickly without having to have a background in programming or computer technology. It is a simple, 3 step tool that lets the user upload, publish, manage and promote podcasts in as little time as possible which really appeals to busy teachers like myself! Today was the first time I have played around and gotten to know how to use it. It is very easy to learn and offers a free general subscription to anyone, although, if you would like to use some of the advanced designs and features, you can upgrade to a premium account for a reasonable fee. I am planning on using this e-tool in my classroom daily. I would like to incorporate a program where I assign students the task of working in groups to create short reviews of what we did in class each day. On their assigned days, the groups will record their review in a podbean podcast and upload it to a link on my website calendar. This helps alleviate the problem of students missing work or lectures when they are absent and also provides a great review for tests. The student can just go to the school website calendar and click on the day they were absent or want to review and it will take them to a link to my blog and the daily podcast for that day! Easy and convenient!

BP8_PreziVideo

BP7_Comments to Rachael Ullinskey

Follow this link to see my comment on Rachael's blog.

BP6_Comment to Elaine Scott

Follow this link to my comment on Elaine's blog:

BP5_Prezi

Every teacher in the school district I work for has access to a Prezi upgraded account that we are provided by the district. But how many of us actually have used it?   I have heard others in the EMDT program talking about it.  I have been to "technology trainings" that my district has provided on inservice days where they have "introduced" us to this tool.  Which basically means they handed us a booklet of instructions and told us we should look into it.  In the 6 years I have worked in my present position, today was my first time to actually try it out.

I logged into my school account and read through the handy quick start guide they provided for me:

In my district, we are provided an upgraded version of Prezi.  The basic version is free to any users, however, the upgraded version can be purchased by individuals for approximately $60 per year subscription fee.  The greatest benefit to the upgraded version is really just more storage space.  Once I had a decent idea of how to proceed, I created a log in ID and watched the getting started tutorial video which was really easy to follow and understand.

Prezi How-to video

I was amazed at a variety of things dealing with Prezi.  First of all, it is very simple to navigate and learn to use.  It took mere minutes for me to figure out the basics of how to throw a quick presentation together.  Secondly, it looks so professional.  With a Prezi presentation, I can spend 15 minutes creating a product that makes me appear to be very tech savvy and professional because the product looks neat and creative.  I once heard someone refer to Prezi as "Power point on steroids".  I think this tool is so much more than that.  Power Point has been a great asset and a quick way to produce a slide show that efficiently delivers information.  Prezi takes a more appealing and eye-catching direction because it uses one big, visual map with all of the information on it and zooms in and out of each topic as it is addressed.  It is new, innovative, and attractive which catches the audience attention and interest.  That is our goal, isn't it?  Prezi supports image, videos, PDF files and can be used to create a Flash file to embed into a blog or a website.  I will be incorporating Prezi into my lesson delivery.  I think the students will enjoy the variety and the presentation style and I will have a great opportunity to catch the interest of my visual learners.  I also think this would be effective in collaborating with my teaching partner.  Not only can we take turns creating the lesson Prezi that we will both use which will ensure that our classes our staying on the same page, but we can also use this for our PLC team to plan out our goals and the path we will take to achieve them each 6-weeks.  I don't know why it took so long for me to use this fun and valuable tool that I have been provided but I will make the most of it from now on.

BP4_Edmodo

It's like Facebook for teachers!  I joined edmodo today.  It is a social networking site for educators.  I created groups for each of my Speech classes and posted a welcome post to my "wall" in each class.  The site is very easy to maneuver and it took mere minutes to set up.  Edmodo is extremely user-friendly and even connected me to other teachers at my school who are already using this tool. I set up the account to notify me via my cell phone if anyone posts a message to my wall.  My idea is to be able to communicate with my students in this professional setting after school in order to provide support when they are completing their homework.  The calendar function is also very helpful because when I finish setting it up, I can add my lesson plans and class summaries so that students who are absent or need a review can click on the day of the week they would like to see and that information will open up including any handouts or worksheets that I can scan in and provide for them, as well.  I am very excited about the possibilities edmodo opens up for my classroom environment.

BP3_Diigo Group

BP2_iGoogleScreenShots

BP1_Google Reader

With the overwhelming amount of technology that is available and tailored to meet the needs and interests of educators, it is very difficult to select only five for this assignment!  I know that the future will see many others added to this list.  For now, a few that I will be putting into immediate action for my research and growth are the following five:


http://www.olpglobalkids.org/atom.xml


     This is an online leadership program for teens which promotes leadership opportunities by using media and technology to explore the world outside of the classroom.


http://www.edutopia.org/crss/node/3389


     This is a home base for an abundance of information dealing with every aspect of integrating technology into any type of classroom.  Almost anything you would want to know about education and the quickly evolving tools that are available to teachers can be found in a current post or archive.


feed://ilearntechnology.com/?feed=rss2


     I Learn Technology is a information-stuffed edublog where tons of ideas and suggestions are available to bring more technology into the classroom.  From virtual field trips, to "how to use tech to teach", there are hundreds of opportunities here to learn new ways to make technology a reality in the classroom. 


 http://rss.suite101.com/teachertipstraining.xml


Suite 101, Teaching tips is a resource for teachers to get ideas on everything from decorating bulletin boards to games for the classroom.  There is also an entire section dedicated to making technology more available in the classroom both for the teacher and the student.  


http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/feed/


Scholarly Kitchen discusses what is popular in the world of education.  Here, followers can keep up with changes in the education law,  trends and  community.


All of these are thrilling for me to have access to as an educator.