Notes from CUE Rock Star Summer Camp in Solana Beach:
My world has been rocked by the options for changing the way I teach this summer. For those of you who know me personally, you know it usually doesn't take much to rock my world, but this Professional Development was beyond the scope of most. I was joined by Shea Star and Samantha Greenstein at Skyline School for three days of sessions on tools for 21st Century learners. The connections we made were invaluable, and the programs presented were inspiring.
My first session was on digital portfolios. I learned the importance of teaching students to be a global contributor and the need to teach students about digital citizenship and building a personal brand online. A great question to ask the students in the fall: Why should teens be managing their digital footprint? The most exciting program I learned in this session (and probably from the whole workshop) was TouchCast. On it one creates a screencast that links viewers visually to many forms of supplemental digital information on the topic you are teaching. By touching it, the screen opens to that digital source. If you try out nothing else this year, try this one! Kids are going to LOVE it!
In another session with Will Kimberly I saw the power of using Apple TV and my iPad to create a portable document camera. The implications for teaching writing with this option made me want to keep teaching for another ten years just to see what was coming next. (Kevin and Joel are working on making this possible for us without using Apple TV...they have their reasons.)
Sessions on blogging, Google Maps, and collaboration were equally inspiring. Below I will list some great apps and programs you may want to try. In addition, I made some great Twitter connections and resources I will list, too. I am so excited and inspired to be still teaching, learning, and growing after 25 years in the classroom. My mind is wide-open to where we are headed in education. You can bet I am going to be playing with some of these new tools next year. I hope you will play, too!
Tools:
TouchCast
Explain Everything
Weebly
Camtasia
ThinkLink
iPevo Whiteboard
Animoto
Sundry Notes
Ask 3 (love it!)
vimeo
Subtext
Socrative
Skype
Tweet Deck
Blogger
Tumbler
Quadblogg
People to follow on Twitter for more inspiration:
@HollyEdTechDiva
@JenRoberts1
@edtechschools
@mrhooker
@kylepace
@alicekeeler
@Ahangazadeh
@lindayollis
@gregkulowiec
@gmiller66
