Technology and Learning

The end of the year ALWAYS brings TONS of chaos for us as one would imagine.  Tables are set up for cleaning - Students in grades 4-12 have been coming in to clean his/her OWN cases and then put them back together.  Once they do this, they label chargers, grab his/her card that matches his/her iPad and turns it in.  We then check it into the system and all is well. After they have turned everything in, I cross them off my MASTER list and then start hooking them up to Apple Configurator to remove the paid apps so I gain back the redemption codes for next year's use.   HOWEVER - next year we will be using Casper Suite - and I CAN. NOT. WAIT!!!  Everything can be pushed wirelessly through this MDM so I am PUMPED!  Truly, this has worked for us the past four years, but we will not be able to do Apple Classroom without an MDM, so we are in need now!  The things that this allows you to do via an MDM is something you MUST look into if you are a 1:1 iPad school.  Here ar

The past four years I have been in charge of the iPads here in Barnesville.  My role is one of integration, as well as knowing the majority of the apps and how they function.  Occasionally I will go into classrooms to teach an app, help with teachers, and do coding.  Broken iPads have crossed my hands indeed, but NOTHING like this.  You see, there's a "NEW" thing here to do that's frustrating.  Kiddos are taking the cover off their iPad, ripping the plastic screen off, and then putting the cover BACK on so basically their iPad has ZERO protection on the screen - UGH!  MOST of the time I catch them, and if they have ruined the case, they pay the $35 for a new case and then we take care of the issue.  However, yesterday a kiddo came in with his iPad like this: NOW - how do you handle this one?  Well, I didn't handle it well! A kiddo walked into my office and showed me his iPad and said he accidentally did this.  I told the kid that I was PRETTY sure it wasn

SO - Mrs. Gross, an English teacher here, learned about the site NoRedInk at TIES a few years ago.  She told me about it then, but I had learned many other things I wanted to check out first, so I book marked it and moved on to what I had seen and we both put it on the back burner.  Well, she "rediscovered" it a few days ago and IS. LOVING. IT!!!  In a nutshell, NoRedInk is a website that has grammar practice on it for kids - BUT - it uses things they're interested in for the questions asked.  For instance,  I selected Harry Potter, Phineas and Ferb, and The Fault in Our Stars as my "topics," so everything that I am reading and answering has these characters in it - DYING HERE AND BIG SMILING EMOJI:)!!  Look at these screen shots to get an idea: I am STILL totally LAUGHING! OUT! LOUD! as I type this- good humor for a Thursday:)  Basically like EVERY great website, they give you "teasers" for free and then have a charge for you.  We w

Well, the 2015-16 school year is almost in the books.  Once again I have started to do the typical end of the year things: 1. I sent out a note to the teachers to let them know app lists are due today.  If they don't get back to me I assume that they want all the ones from the previous year.  If NOT, I adjust accordingly.  If the teachers want a NEW app, they have to fill out this form (THANK YOU Kathy Schrock ), and then we add it to our technology budget. (I will update once again this spring or fall on the blog) 2.  Teachers have been notified as to when student iPads will be collected.  The week before I will collect Kindergarten-6th grade (two grade levels per day), and then depending on when finals are, the 7-12th graders will turn theirs in.  I, along with some amazing student helpers at the high school, will clean ALL iPads in Kindergarten-2nd grade.  The 3-12th graders will come in and clean them themselves.  We have a water based cleaner for the cases and screens, an