My AETC 2013 Smackdown

What a great conference this year at AETC! I always enjoy our state technology conference, and this year was no exception. I presented twice, attended several really great sessions, and visited with colleagues and friends from all over the state! I don't know about you, but when I've been to one of these, I need at least a day to let all of those great ideas marinate in my head, and putting pen to paper finger to keyboard is the best way for me to sort out my new learning. Hopefully, there will be some things here that you'll find interesting or useful:

First of all, if you've never heard Kevin Honeycutt (@KevinHoneycutt) speak you have really missed out! He is probably THE best keynote speaker I've ever heard. But don't worry. He has a YouTube channel. Here's a quick sample:

Now, on to my smackdown. These are a few of my favorite sites that I learned about and can't wait to use:

Tool	Info
Bump	Multi-platform app which allows you to bump your devices together to share files, pictures, videos, digital business cards, etc...You can even bump from your phone to your computer by bumping the space bar.
GE.TT	File sharing site which will allow you to share multiple files. You upload them, they zip them for you, and give you a sharable link.
Lulu	Publish your book! This site publishes your work and allows you to sell it.
QR Hacker	I usually use, QRstuff.com, but this site is really cool, too, because it allows you to play a little more with your QR code's style.Not sure I'd use it in my classroom since "Pimp" is not a word I allow my little ones to use, but I would use it at home.
1 Password	Ever lose a password? Not again! With 1 password, you can save all of those passwords you've accumulated and it gives you ONE password in place of them! The only con is that you have to pay for it :(
Vizify	Make a video of your Twitter feed! Pretty cool little tool! Here's mine!
Primary Pad	Word processing that allows students and teachers to work together in real time. Great for collaboration or back-channeling.
Aurasma	Sort of like a QR code on steroids, Aurasma allows you to create images that link to web content. Really neat site.
Tripline	Similar to Google Lit Trips, but you can actually create these pretty easily! There's also a searchable database with lots of premade maps. This one's a must see!
Let Me Google That For You	For the smart alec in all of us...You have got to try this site!!!! You know those "Duh" questions people ask sometimes? This is the answer. I literally laughed out loud when I tried this site.

Have you used any of these before? Have something similar to add? I'd love to hear from you!

AETC 2012: My Smack Down List

Well, if you follow me on twitter, you know that I've been at AETC the past two days. What a great conference! Aside from meeting with great friends and colleagues and presenting a session, I took away some great ideas I hope to implement in my classroom. Here's my AETC Smackdown:

• Twitter Book Reports: Students create book teasers. They can even post a link to the book or a picture of the book. (From my friend, Julie D. Ramsay). My classroom has a twitter account and the students tweet what we're learning each day. We'd love to connect with your class on twitter! We're @kilgosnews. 
• Innovation Day: For one day students choose what to learn, and how to learn it. They work all day on their self-selected topic and create a presentation they use to teach the class. (Also from Julie).
• VoiceThread: I knew about this free webtool, but haven't put it to use yet. I plan to this year. (from Julie)
• Use Google Forms for creating rubrics. (From my friend, Amanda C. Dykes)

My biggest take-away had to do with using QR codes in the classroom. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but just needed to know a little more about it.

The Daring Librarian has tons of great ideas and tips for using QR codes. You just HAVE to check it out if you're curious about them.

i-nigma is a fabulous multi-platform app for reading QR codes. It scans quickly and saves your scans in your history.

QR Stuff is a great site for making codes for anything: videos, websites, text, etc...And for all of you color-coding OCD people out there (me) you can create QR Codes in color!

I'm really still trying to process all of the fabulous information! Do you use any of the tools I mentioned? If so, I'd love to know what you do. Maybe our classes could even collaborate on something together. Please share.

Integrating Technology into the Language Arts Classroom

I'm so excited to be presenting at AETC again this year with my good friend Cara (Teaching My Calling)! We're collaborators, colleagues, fellow 4th grade teachers, and we sometimes feel like we share a brain. (Maybe the rhyming names have something to do with it?)  We, like many of you, share a passion for using technology in meaningful ways to engage our students and make learning meaningful. If you're at AETC this year, hopefully we'll get to meet up during our session or some other time. If you're not there you can still check out our livebinder full of resources and examples we plan to share during our session:

Integrating Technology Into t

iChallenge Podcast Winner!

Yep, that's me in the black dress holding that big box! I submitted a podcast to the Alabama Learning Exchange's annual iChallenge Podcast Competition and won in the at-large category! I'm so grateful for being chosen from among the hundreds of other entries. When I created the podcast, I really just had my own students in mind at first. I wanted them to have a video tutorial that they could go back to again and again if they had questions about using KidBlog. Creating this one video actually turned into the creation of a series about using KidBlog that anyone can use.   

Here's the video that I submitted:

Click HERE to see the other videos on ALEX that I've submitted so far.

Aren't you just dying to know what's in the box?

It's a HoverCam Document Camera! I can't wait to get it out and start playing with it!