More TIES - Sessions 3 and 4

  Happy New Year!  Well I was TOTALLY wrong with my anticipated "working" time during break.  Instead I enjoyed myself with family and friends and did ABSOLUTELY. NOTHING. SCHOOL. RELATED!  SO - here I go again where I left off with the TIES Conference.  Sessions 3 and 4 were JUST as good as the others - actually - the third session was my FAVORITE:)!!

Mark Garrison is a Technology Integrationist for White Bear Lake.  He is KNOWN for his 50 Sites in 50 Minutes presentation that he does each year at TIES.  I could totally POST all the sites that he goes over, but it's SO much easier for you to go there and search and seek for yourself!  NEVER am I disappointed in what he shows!  He is SO SO passionate about what he does and it is SO evident!  Here is his blog where he posts the sites as he finds them.  The ONLY thing that I have frustrations with, of course being an iPad district, is that not all the sites that he has here are iPad friendly because they are flash based.  Know that in advance so you don't get SO SO MAD when you find a gem and learn it doesn't work on the iPad.  That doesn't mean you can't use it - YOU SHOULD - just go the computer lab for those:)

This is a TEDx talk that Mark gave in Burnsville when they had a TEDx Experience.  He is SUCH an adventurous, motivated and boundary-less man - you'll enjoy listening to him!

Here's a LINK to the video:)  Technology, Adventure, and Change: Mark Garrison

  The last session I went to was a FACS teacher named Mary Draper from I believe Mankato.  She did some REALLY great things.  She TOTALLY redid her courses to match the SAMR Model.  The things she showed were really neat:

1. Similar to the Aurasma app - she used the Layar App to augment reality.  It looked really cool and she described it as a step above QR codes.  Although I LOVE those buggers, too:)!

2.  Blabberize is a website that she used to animate food - LOVE. IT. LAUGHED. AND. LAUGHED!!  You can upload any picture that you want - add a mouth to it - and then add audio and talk.  She did a greasy hamburger and told how to make it healthier!!  So fun!

3.  The app Chirp was used to get students immediate items such as websites and pictures.  A time saver for her she said.

4.  Finally - she said that she really used Socrative quite a bit for formative assessments.  It's a great way to do quick checks - create quizzes, students log in via the website or the internet and then take it - results are sent to your email via a spreadsheet - THAT. SIMPLE!!

That's it for today - WOW!!  My mind hurts and I am totally recapping it - YIKES!
Happy New Year - here's to a great and amazing year of innovative and creative advances and uses of technology!

Mrs. I:)