Spanning Sync

I love utilizing iCal because it is so easy to schedule appointments using my iPhone. However, my team likes to use google calendar. This was a problem for me because I really didn't have a way to sync my iCal with Google calendar and I did not want to have to keep up with two separate calendars. One of my team members told me about Spanning Sync. It is a program that automatically syncs my iCal to my Google calendar. It is sweet to use. I tried out the trial version first, loved it, and decided to pay my $25.00 fee for a year subscription. Check out the link.
spanningsync.com
For Windows base users who use Outlook, Google has a program that will do the same thing that Spanning Sync does for the Mac. This helps my husband and I keep up with each other's schedules as we look at our Google calendars. This makes life very easy when planning the week around daycare and who will be where when. Google applications rock!

Quote: "There can be infinite uses of the computer and of new age technology, but if the teachers themselves are not able to bring it into the classroom and make it work, then it fails."
Nancy Kassebaum, U.S. Senator

What Does It Mean to be Engaged?

iMovie Video Responses by 6th Graders

I had the opportunity to work with a 6th grade class on Friday, Sept. 12th. Prior to Friday, the teacher had showed the students the video on our wiki page theengagedclassroom.wikispaces.com called A Vision of K-12 Students Today. The teacher thought it would be fun for the students to make a video response to this video by answering the question What does it mean to be engaged? The six one minute videos will be compiled into a one six minute video response.

Before I came to work with the class, the students had been divided into 6 groups. They had then written down what they were going to do for their responses. (Like what they needed for props, signs, pictures, and technology equipment needed for their groups.)
On Friday, I met with each of the groups. I was really impressed with the students and their creativity using Web 2.0 tools. These are some of the tools that were used and integrated into their video responses.

• Pics4learning.com
  
• USB drive to transfer their pictures to another laptop.
  
• Soundzabound from Pioneer library
  
• iTunes
  
• Ipod
• Microphone attached to the iPod.
  

The students thought it was really cool that they could actually use an iPod as a recorder. I also had the chance to talk to the class about what it means to work as a team and how everyone can have a role in the project.
My favorite comments came from two of the “harder” kids in the bunch on how much fun they had working on their iMovie projects. They didn't have a clue that while they were having fun, they were also learning. Because everyone was engaged on their projects, there weren’t really any discipline problems to contend with as I worked with them in the classroom. The students were also excited to share their projects with the class and what they had learned that day.



Quote: Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.

-- Plato

Engaged Classroom Trainers- Blogging

I have been contemplating about what kind of blog I wanted to do that would be considered "educational". I think blogging is a cool idea, but where do you go with it and will people really be interested enough to read it? I have decided that this blog will be dedicated to the engaged classroom teacher trainers that I work with in Jordan School District. I have been very surprised and tickled with the work and the Web 2.0 tools that these teachers are using in the classroom. I love the blogs that these teachers have created and the communication that they are promoting with the students and the parents.
Way to go teachers!!!!!

Check out these blogs that our teachers have created for classroom use! They update their blogs weekly and they are currently being used for the current school year.
6th Grade Blog At Columbia Elementary
6th Grade Blog at Terra Linda Elementary
5th Grade Blog at Oquirrh Elementary
5th Grade Blog at Riverside Elementary

Quote: 'It is not the biggest, the brightest or the best that will survive, but those who adapt the quickest.' Charles Darwin