You may not be aware that "Geekness Day" is right around the corner!  Geekness Day is July 13th and our friends at SingleHop have asked the Tech-Savvy Teachers to share our thoughts on what makes us a geek: What makes you a geek? I have always had geek tendencies but reflecting on my youth I would say I started down the geek path as a six year old when I watched Star Wars for the first time.  I had a fairly intense hoarding of every Star Wars toy I could get me hands on. My first real geek out moment was when, as an eight year old,  I received an AT-AT for Christmas.  (This was actually the year after I originally asked for it.  I asked my parents after opening all my presents the previous year, "Maybe if I am better next year I will get an AT-AT".  I have almost worked through that after years of counseling.)  After years of enjoyment with my Star Wars toys I moved to the next stage of geekness: Football, Baseball, Basketball cards.  This stage (middle school years) was spent walking to the card shop to get raked over the coals by the card shop owner which taught me my first lessons in economics.  The lesson: be the owner and you get to set the rules.  I also had my geekness come full circle as I made the naive decision to trade all of my Star Wars toys for the complete set of 1991 Fleer Basketball cards.  I traded with a nice man (about 30 at the time) and felt great about it.  Fast forward 25 years: My Star Wars toys have an approximate value of around $4000 and that complete card set $50.  For those of you keeping track: "The man" 2 | Mike zero.  I could not contain my inner geek as I discovered computers and the internet.  My dad was an early adopter and we always had a computer in the house: Starting with IBM machines with the green screen.  My first foray into computers was on a Apple PowerPC with aol and this thing called the internet.  I would find pictures of my favorite basketball and football players and print them on our black and white printer.  (Of course this had to be done in secret because to this day my dad is more frugal with printer ink then anything else in existence.)  Once I started with computers I have never looked back.  As soon as I started working if there was a geeky gadget, computer, device; I owned it. What is your proudest geek moment? Building my first computer from scratch was such a proud moment.  I spent two months researching the parts, finding the perfect unfinished case, and then tricking it out with as many accessories as I could afford.  I even did a custom paint job on the case.  After two years of daily use I sold it for $100 less then I paid for everything originally.  ( "The Man" 2 | Mike 1) What is your geek motto/favorite geek quote? "Luke, I am your father" - Vader Who is your geek role model? I would say the fine folks at Lifehacker and Loot Crate . I am a better geek because of them. We want to thank the SingleHop team for reaching out to us as we proudly claim to be geeks of the best kind: Tech-Savvy Geeks!  SingleHop is a leading provider of dedicated server and cloud hosting technology.  Take a moment to check them out. We would love to hear what your geekiest moments.  Please share in the comments section below and thanks for being a geek - The world is better because of your geekiness.

You heard from Mike yesterday, and how it is my turn.  July 13th is "Embrace Your Geekness Day" and our friends at SingleHop have asked the Tech-Savvy Teachers to share our thoughts on what makes us a geek.  Here is a little of my geekness in detail: What makes you a geek? There are a number of other geek genres that I admire and respect, but, I don’t don’t belong.  I am not a sci-fi geek (I really enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction, but I didn’t really geek into the Lord of the Rings movies or nearly any other category of sci-fi) and I am shocked to admit this publicly, but, I have never seen a Star Wars movie.  Seriously… I was a kid of the 70s and 80s and didn’t see a Star Wars movie. There are some smaller ways that I am a low grade geek, but in the end, here’s what I have to offer on the big stuff: Honestly, I am a really just a computer geek.  I have been fascinated with computers since War Games.  I had a close friend growing up that had a Commodore 64 and (let’s get geeky) my home had a CP/M-based Kaypro machine, with a green screen terminal, to support my mom’s at-home bookkeeping business.  I LOVED that machine, and sometimes bickered with my mom when I wanted more computer time and she needed the computer for work.  I programmed in BASIC, played text-based games and became a WordStar rockstar.  The computer was eventually a Tandy 1000, then a 486 computer in college, then I built my own Pentium 200 and have progressed ever sense.  Now, I LOVE trying out new hardware. I am also a productivity geek, inspired equally by David Allen’s Getting Things Done stuff and LifeHacker.com.  While I am not perfect by any means, skills I have learned by reading and experimenting have made me better at email, more organized at meetings and while my desk doesn’t show it, I mostly don’t lose stuff. I am also a media geek, and love music, movies and television.  I love listening to live tracks and bootlegs (I <3 U2 bootlegs) and studio rough cuts, as well as listening to jazz on vinyl.  I can’t say I am an audiophile, but, I do love music and media. Finally, I am a history geek.  I taught high school history and am particularly in love with European history, the French Revolution, an the rise of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.  I have read a lot of obscure texts on particularly the Soviet Union and love Cold War history. What is your proudest geek moment? Honestly, I am proud to be a geek every day.  Other than public speaking skills I picked up as a competitive debater in high school and college, it is the most used of my skillset I go back to over and over again. There was one time, however, traveling with my then-girlfriend-now-wife on a backpacking trip in Europe that I felt a form of geek-smug.  We were in Munich and had spent a night in a less than desirable location because of a crowded city and decided to splurge on a NICE room.  We were near panicked because of the cost, but, decided that a shower and a comfortable bed would be good for us.  After we checked in, the women renting the room asked "are either of you good with computers?"  That night, I spent several hours helping the room keeper utilize a barely functioning Windows 3.1 box with a copy of way old school Microsoft Word in German, which I do not speak.  I was able to help her because I knew the positions of items and keyboard commands from memory in the English edition.  She told me later that "it is like watching a wizard at work!"  I feel great… AND she gave us the room for free! What is your geek motto/favorite geek quote? I have no idea where to attribute this to, but, I live by the credo "fake it till you make it," a motto that Gina Trapani sometimes uses (see below). Who is your geek role model? I <3 Gina Trapani, the founding editor of Lifehacker, This Week in Google and All About Android Co-Host and co-founder of ThinkUp.  She is inspiring to me to be a better geek and while my day job helping run the state virtual school is awesome, all geeks go to sleep at night dreaming of being coders. We want to thank the SingleHop team for reaching out to us as we proudly claim to be geeks of the best kind: Tech-Savvy Geeks!  SingleHop is a leading provider of dedicated server and cloud hosting technology.  Take a moment to check them out. We would love to hear what your geekiest moments.  Please share in the comments section below and thanks for being a geek - The world is better because of your geekiness.

This article is the first of many "first looks".  At ISTE, Jason and I spent time on the vendor floor looking for new products and companies.  Our "first look" series is the result of those meetings.  First looks are not ment to be full fledged reviews, but rather a look at newly released or upcoming software, hardware, or research around Edtech. With that stated let’s take a look at Press 4 Kids: News-O-Matic offers children from 7 to 11 their first DAILY newspaper! Our editorial team produces five news stories each day, covering the latest in world news, science, sports, as well as the wacky stories kids love. With News-O-Matic, readers will also have access to amazing history timelines, fun news games, interactive maps, and countless other features. Readers will not only have the opportunity to explore the latest current events but they will be given a voice as well. They will be able to rate the articles, ask questions, and even submit drawings that relate to the news. News-O-Matic helps create a fun daily reading routine — all while encouraging readers to become knowledgeable, global citizens. It offers a window to the world (and beyond)! I was very impressed with the News-O-Matic app.  The daily content is written at an appropriate reading level (7 to 11 age range) and there was many opportunities to interact with the content.    I can see classroom integration with either a single iPad projected, in a 1:1 environment, or in a traveling iPad scenario.  At $20 for a year long subscription, News-O-Matic offers great value.  Check it out for yourself!

In my past days as a social studies teacher, I love filling my room full of maps, charts, posters and flags to help support my goal of making my classroom an inviting space.  There was one time, however, that I created an amazing image using a little-known strategy called "tile printing" or rasterbation (sorry… that’s just the name ).  The technique has actually been around for decades and many veteran teachers may remember tile printing strategies from 80s and 90s printing software like the Print Shop. Tile printing is still very much around and you can use a number of web-based tools to create great, bold images for your classroom walls. It is a simple process, even with low quality images. There is an excellent how to video on this top the excellent DIY Tryin’ podcast from Revision3:   They recommend two tools, the Rasterbator or PosterRazor.  Both are excellent, free tools. WARNING: This is a SWEET classroom decoration project, but, it will consume both paper and ink/toner.  Use with caution. Have fun! P.S.  My last use of this involved taking a picture of European philosopher Frederick Nietzsche, blowing it up to 10 feet tall and covering a whole wall next to my classroom during a unit on European philosophers in my AP European History class.  While it was a bit scary, my students LOVED it.

Next in our "First Look" series is Buncee Edu.  This product is categorized under Digital Storytelling/Presentations. Buncee enables teachers and their students to easily bring together all kinds of multimedia (like photos, video, drawing, audio and more) into one easy online creation. Using our fun and user-friendly creation canvas, educators can create interactive lessons and multimedia presentations, flip their classrooms, and send home beautiful newsletters and invitations to parents and the local community. Teachers can also create a private virtual classroom for their students where they can review and grade their students’ buncee submissions like digital stories, multi-media presentations, or a variety of other creative homework projects. We were impressed with the versatility of this software and the Buncee team continues to seek out educators to see what features they will add next.  We know they are looking into interfacing with Google Apps for Education to provide easy sign on and saving service. Here is an example of a read aloud created in Buncee: With a BunceeEdu Free account you can: • Create a buncee with up to 2 slides • Include custom text, drawings, and textual and visual hyperlinks • Upload your own photos to personalize your creation • Include YouTube videos, SoundCloud clips, and Google, Flickr, & Instagram Images • Email buncee invites to up to 10 recipients • Share your buncees via social media or embed them on websites and blogs • Total Storage: 500 MB BunceeEdu Plus ($9.99/month or $59.99/year) School/District Pricing Available (info@buncee.com)adds: • Create a buncee with infinite slides • Upload your own videos and PDFs onto your creation • Record an audio message directly into your buncee • And email buncee invites to up to 250 recipients • Total Storage: 2 GB • Create your own private buncee classroom with 30 student accounts • A dashboard to assign buncees to your students, view student submissions and assign grades to their creations • Students receive their own login and can create buncees anywhere they have access to the internet - at home, at school or at the library Explore Buncee Edu further.  If you have had experience or played with Buncee, share your impressions below!

First Look is a series from the Tech-Savvy Teachers featuring innovative services, hardware and software from our exploration of the vendor floor at ISTE 2014 in Atlanta, Georgia.   An often-overlooked part of the massive vendor floor at ISTE was the excellent Ed-Tech Start-Up Pavilion, a place for small or evolving educational technology start-ups to showcase their wares.  The Tech-Savvy Teachers visited a number of these great idea companies, all which provided interesting or new takes on the challenges of teaching students in a tech-rich environment. As a former social studies teacher, I was particularly interested in Listen Edition, a content delivery start up founded by Monica Brady-Myerov, a veteran public radio journalist. The premise is simple: public radio is a treasure trove of content that can be used to engage students in almost every subject at any age, however, like the Internet itself, the vast archive can be overwhelming for classroom teachers looking for content but with very specific needs and limited time to dig. Listen Edition pulls individual stories from prominent public radio producers like NPR and provides educational materials aimed at effortless integration of the story in the classroom, including guiding questions, content standard associations, transcripts, suggested homework assignments and even pre-created Socrative quizzes (very smart marketing move here) on the stories. There are sample full units on their website (like this lesson on the Declaration of Independence) along with a means of checking out the entire library, broken down by both age group and content area, without a subscription. The service is commercial, but, does offer a 45-day free trial and their current events articles, while not quite the depth of their commercial library, are regularly updated and free. In speaking with Listen Edition staff at ISTE, they seem very committed to the evolving the delivery platform, including more functionality to associate metadata like standards associations and looking at integrating content via platforms like LTI, both excellent editions to an otherwise solid product. Overall, this is precisely the kind of product that distinguishes itself in a content-heavy-context-light Internet and could provide a teacher access to a lot of high quality content with materials to ease its introduction in the K-12 classroom. As an aside, the Listen Edition teach also provides an excellent page called "Listen Edition Studio," which details equipment that a classroom might purchase to make their own radio and an initial set of lesson plans to do so.  I am reminded very much of Dr. Wes Fryer’s Storychaser concept and training, both focused on empowering students to use digital tools to tell the stories of the people and places around them.  The recommendations of equipment on the Listen Edition team alone are worth the click.

PRESENT AT THE LARGEST EDUCATION CONFERENCE AND EXPOSITION IN THE NORTHWEST! NCCE is seeking proposals from educators, consultants, and corporate partners for the 44th Annual Conference and Exposition in Portland, OR at the Oregon Convention Center, March 18-20, 2015.   Through the annual conference, NCCE delivers innovative programming to Northwest educational leaders. NCCE 2015 is expecting 1800 attendees and over 130 exhibiting companies. You’re invited to share with our conference audience your knowledge and expertise on a variety of topics covering a wide range of academic disciplines in K-12 education.  CONFERENCE STRANDS EMERGING TRENDS Information about new ideas and innovations, such as online and blended learning, gaming, DIY and maker activities, OER, MOOCs, Big Data, BYOD, and mobile device management.    LEADERSHIP A showcase of issues that are important to superintendents, principals, IT and curriculum directors, and other school leaders, such as Common Core State Standards, new assessments, legal and policy issues, equity, connected leadership, new models for professional learning, and moving beyond textbooks.    PROMISING PRACTICES Presentations from field practitioners about what’s working in their classrooms, including STEM, ELA and the humanities, ESL, SPED, and more. The primary focus for these sessions should be on instructional methods and student learning, not just on technology.     TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE Planning, management and resources related to infrastructure, mobile learning, cloud-based computing, security, and policies that support effective teaching and learning.   TOOL SHOWCASE Demonstrations of great hardware and software solutions, including iPad apps, Web 2.0 tools, and more.       PRESENTATION TYPES    NCCE 2015 offers a variety of speaker sessions each day of the conference.    WORKSHOPS- 2 hours Hands-on presentation offered by an individual or a team of presenters. Participants will actively work with the tool or process being explored.    SESSIONS- 50 minutes Lecture-style presentations that address all areas of the curriculum and appeal to a variety of teachers. Sessions may be given by a single speaker, team or panel who can address the needs of the novice user of educational technology as well as the more experienced professional.   EXHIBITOR SHOWCASES Sessions offered by exhibiting companies to present products and services available on the show floor in an in-depth, informative, and non-sales atmosphere.   WHY PRESENT AT NCCE 2015? Opportunity to share best practices and hot topics with peer community Reach a target audience of Northwest educational and technology leaders Career and resume building opportunity Primary Presenters receive discounted registration Workshop Presenters receive a stipend for a 2-hour workshop, if not vendor-affiliated  *Deadline to submit is Friday, September 12th at MIDNIGHT PST. Proposals will be reviewed by NCCE’s conference committee and selected based on their alignment with conference strands, recent trends, and best practices. Notification of acceptance will be sent out in the fall.  

[YouTube Thursday is a series featuring our favorite educational channels on YouTube.  We believe in the power of video, produced by professionals, teachers and students alike!] This week, we focus on an excellent YouTube channel, Numberphile, which is available across many social media channels and, of course, on YouTube.  Supported by Mathematical Science Research Institute, the channel features videos produced by very prominent and scholarly voices, mostly from across the pond.  However, while PhDs in physics and nanoscience might strike up images of the most popular stereotypical teacher of all time, …these videos are anything but stale.  Each of these videos takes a common every day approach to a problem, like cutting a cake, and considers the topic in mathematical terms. What I love about this channel is that it isn’t over produced, but still manages to keep its charm despite the mathematically correct approach to problems, like this video which helps users pick a good toilet a crowded music festival: With dozens of videos and approaching 100 million views, it is certainly worth a look.  Enjoy!

Next up in our First Look series is Vocareum.  Vocareum is a cloud based service that lets students learn to program in Android, Java, Hadoop, MySQL, Node.js, Python, D3.js and more.  The key piece here is allowing this to happen through the cloud.  Any middle or high school that offers programing understands that hardware and software setup can be a major obstacle in offering this coursework.  Vocareum is removing that barrier by moving everything to the cloud. Below is the workflow for both the student and teacher: Vocareum is currently offering a pilot program for 20 school districts across the country.  Visit http://www.vocareum.com/home/index.php to apply today!

If you have not heard about the TED video movement a little background: TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world. On TED.com, we’re building a clearinghouse of free knowledge from the world’s most inspired thinkers This post focuses on Tedx videos.  Tedx are regional events usually with lesser know but incredibly powerful speakers.  I have pulled together 3 Tedx videos for you to use at the start of your year to help your students be inspired, think deeper, and dream big.  Taking the time to have students think outside of the box is a great way establish that initial connection for the year. Take some time to share your thoughts with your students about these videos as part of the larger discussion. Hopefully you will find these useful as you start planning for your initial weeks back! My philosophy for a happy life: Sam Berns at TEDxMidAtlantic A teen just trying to figure it out - Tavi Gevinson Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids