IDAHO FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY IN LEWISTON - JUNE 16-19, 2014   We are pleased to announce Lewis Clark State College will be hosting one of six 2014 i-STEM Summer Institute for teachers, counselors, and administrators this summer.  Lewiston is the sixth and newest addition to the i-STEM Summer Institute locations which include:  Coeur d’ Alene, Nampa, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, and Twin Falls. There was a waiting list of over 2000 educators last year.  The two day three day training is free and there is a $30 fee to reserve your spot.    i-STEM Regional Institute Dates and Titles: Lewis & Clark State College, Lewiston June 16-19, 2014 ·         Enhancing Literacy with Primary Sources ·         Math Mining and More ·         Fores Tree ·         Teaching Science by Design ·         IDAHO Energy Project   Educators and administrators from across the state of Idaho will have a unique opportunity to receive training, information, and hands-on activities to teach students about various science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) related topics. The goal of the i-STEM Summer Institute is to support educators as they learn how to integrate STEM materials and lessons into their curriculum and schools. The 2014 i-STEM focus is integrated STEM, the practices of the Idaho mathematics standards, and Idaho core science standards.   To register: http://www.sde.idaho.gov/site/istem/teachers/events.htm   For more information, please contact Kenneth Wareham, Lewis Clark State College, at kwarham@lcsc.edu.

Do you have students looking for a Tech Camp experience?  iD Tech Camps provide weeklong day and overnight technology camps for students ages 7-17, and 2-week Tech Academies for teens ages 13-18.  Week-long sessions include nurturing, personalized technology instruction, and a variety of fun summer camp activities. IN THE LABS | THE iD PEDAGOGY Non-traditional teaching style and environment emphasize experiential, hands-on learning. Guaranteed 8:1 Student to Instructor ratio fosters personalized instruction and proper pacing for all skill levels (beginner through advanced). University setting instills the importance of higher education, and excites students about collegiate life. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skill development promotes tech confidence. Curriculum is designed to promote 21st century skills like communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. Project-based courses give students something to strive for (and a portfolio to take home). Innovative blended learning approach mixes in-person instruction with iD Game Plan, our proprietary learning platform, developed in-house. Nobody does it like iD. Exposure to the industry’s best software (from Apple®, Google, Adobe®, Microsoft®, Autodesk®, etc.) empowers and prepares students for a real-world future in tech.  OFF-COMPUTER TIME | LIFE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT A common sense balance of indoor and outdoor activities promotes good health and social interaction. Variety of sports (optional), and board-games, team activities, gaming tournaments, and university tours introduces students to new experiences. Unique tech camp environment unites students who often have similar interests, providing a foundation for new, long-term friendships. In Washington, all camps are located at University of Washington in Bothell, WA and University of Washington in Seattle, WA. In Oregon, camps are located at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR.

With summer coming soon, many teachers are looking for a fun, challenging project this summer to totally up their game on hacking and make skills.  The Tech-Savvy Teachers recommend an Arduino, the inexpensive microcontroller.  What’s an Arduino, you ask?  Make Magazine has you covered: What can you do with an Arduino?  The only limit is your imagination.  To get an idea if some of the amazing projects available, check out this page of projects from Instructables.  We love the LED projects and the tree-climbing robot! Right now, Amazon has a sweet Arduino Starter Kit up for just $100 (and free shipping if you have Amazon Prime!).  The kit comes with all the hardware components you need for 15 different projects and the official Arduino Project Book.  Together, this kit will give you a great start to this amazing platform! Do you have an amazing Arduino project from you or your students?  Hit us up in the comments below!

When I was a 4th grader, my classroom had an Apple IIe that my teacher basically used as an incentive station for students that finished their work early.  I remember pounding out my math facts as quickly as I could so I could be the first person to use the station.  I had a few options to choose from: games, math reinforcement, and programming.  A group of my friends started tinkering with the programming to see if we could build a game.  The outcome from this early exposure was my friends and I started to gain a basic understanding of both computer hardware and software.  Fast forward to today’s youth, most interact with computing hardware on a daily basis, but a much smaller percentage actually program their device. Enter the Raspberry Pi.  For $40 you can purchase the hardware to create a place for students to tinker.  This introductory video gives a great overview of the hardware and possibilities: Once you are up and running go to http://www.raspberrypi.org/ to give your students ideas to get them started.  Some ideas from the site are:   If you decide to setup a tinker station or already have one, please share with us in the comments below so we can show off your setup to the NCCE community!

I know, summer is here for some and ALMOST here for others, but I just finished reviewing a great study released by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation on the effectiveness of blended learning.  The study is an interesting read and has a little something for everyone. Here are some highlights: Technology problems impacted programs throughout the study.  Specifically, "Unreliable Internet connectivity, inadequate bandwidth, and problems with software programs hindered many schools’ ability to implement their models."  This highlights the importance of good decisions made on hardware and software platforms as well as infrastructure.  Blended learning environment decisions go well beyond curriculum! Good old-fashioned learning strategies help students work for success in this environment.  I was particularly struck by the notion that weekly goal setting helped students succeed in the environment.  "According to a majority of the administrators, teachers, and lab monitors interviewed, weekly goal-setting helped students to become more   invested in their learning and to see both the rewards of meeting goals and consequences of failing to meet them."  It reminds me of how true things like the "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" remain, even in a digitally enhanced world. Advanced students seem to benefit the most from these environments.  This is a challenge for those that dream of using technology, blended learning and online learning to engage those that don’t seem to find success in more traditional learning environments.  "The models were   possibly less effective for students whose academic work was below their expected grade level. In addition, many teachers interviewed felt a student’s ability to self-manage and self-direct their learning   determined which children would most likely thrive in a blended learning model."  This also confirms my own informal observations of those that are more successful in online learning environments. Overall, this study doesn’t make any broad pronouncements for or again the model, but, does provide some intriguing fodder for discussion. Enjoy the read!

Supplement Your Stretched Budget GetEdFunding is a free and fresh website sponsored by CDW•G to help educators and institutions find the funds they need in order to supplement their already stretched budgets. GetEdFunding hosts a collection of more than 2,400 (and growing) grants and other funding opportunities culled from federal, state, regional and community sources and available to public and private, preK-12 educators, schools and districts, higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations that work with them. GetEdFunding offers customized searches by six criteria, including 43 areas of focus, eight content areas and any of the 21st century themes and skills that support your curriculum. After registering on the site, you can save the grant opportunities of greatest interest and then return to them at any time. This rich resource of funding opportunities is expanded, updated and monitored daily. Click Here to Visit Website Bring Bing to the Surface Educators can earn credits for free technology for their classroom just by searching the web with Bing. It’s similar to participating in a frequent flyer program. Credits can be donated to help get free Microsoft Surface tablets for your school. Earning credits is easy. Simply search with Bing, try new features and take advantage of exclusive offers to see your credits start adding up. Status upgrades allow you to earn even faster. Try it now. It’s free. Click Here to Start Earning Bing Rewards Champion Creativity Crayola’s 2014 Champion Creatively Alive Children program provides grants for innovative, creative leadership team building within elementary schools. Each grant-winning school receives $2,500 and Crayola products valued at $1,000. In collaboration with the National Association of Elementary School Principals(NAESP), Crayola offers up to 20 grants. The scoring rubric is available online for applicants to review before submitting an application. Deadlines: Applications will be accepted until 12:00 midnight (ET) on June 23, 2014. Every Early Bird application submitted before midnight on June 9, 2014, will receive a Crayola product Classpack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rP0nA1x8PI Click Here for More Information Plus: Crayola’s free Champion Creatively Alive Children series will help you implement arts-infused education in your school. Arts-infused education helps children acquire critical 21st century skills: creativity,critical thinking, collaboration and communication. The complete program includes seven videos andguides, along with a supplemental introductory leadership guide and additional resources to help you facilitate workshops and arts-infused education advocacy meetings—everything you need, from PowerPoint presentations to flyers, handouts and evaluation forms. Click Here to Access Free Professional Resources Provide Access to Good Books for ALL Lois Lenski, children’s book author and 1946 Newbery medalist for Strawberry Girl, had a lifelong concern that all children have access to good books. In pursuit of this goal, she established a foundation to provide grants to agencies serving children in disadvantaged populations. The Lois Lenski Covey Foundation annually awards grants to libraries and (other institutions that operate a library) for purchasing books published for young people, preschool through grade 8. School libraries, nontraditional libraries operated by charitable [501(c)(3)] and other nontaxable agencies, and bookmobile programs are eligible. Grants for 2014 will range from $500 to $3,000 and are specifically for book purchases. Deadline: June 16, 2014, for completed applications; grants to be awarded on or before December 15, 2014 Click Here for More Information Teach and Learn with the News Every year since 2010, The New York Times Learning Network has invited teenagers to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists, and every year more and more youth have taken The Learning Network up on the offer. Each Friday, from June 13 through August 15, The Learning Network will pose the same question: What interested you most in The Times this week? Anyone between 13 and 19 years of age, from anywhere in the world, can post an answer, and contestants can choose from any Times article, essay, video, interactive or photograph published in 2014, on any topic they like—whether Ukraine, the universe or ugly "selfies." Every Tuesday, The Learning Network will choose the winners and publish their responses on its blog. Deadlines: Weekly through August 15, 2014 Click Here to Participate in Summer Reading Contest Energize Classrooms, Activate Minds In a 1:1 iPad classroom, ClassFlow allows every student the opportunity to learn by doing and to show what they know. With ClassFlow, a free, cloud-based teaching and learning tool for K-12 classrooms, educators can create dynamic lessons, deliver interactive content across multiple devices (including tablets, laptops and interactive whiteboards and displays) and conduct real-time formative assessment. To get started with ClassFlow, simply register for free at ClassFlow.com. Click Here to Register for Free Teaching Tool Communicate in the Garden The School Garden Curriculum from the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences includes lessons that use gardens to teach a wide range of topics from kindergarten through grade 8. The garden-based lessons are listed by grade level, and at K-5 they are further subdivided into earth science, life science and physical science topics. Grade 6 lessons are aligned with the earth science topics required at that level; grade 7 has life science lessons and grade 8 has physical science lessons. Click Here to Access Free Garden-Based Lessons Plus: Written as a University of California Master Gardener Program project, A Garden of Words/Un jardín de palabras is a free bilingual English-Spanish/Spanish-English dictionary that is intended as a tool to help both elementary school children and their teachers/leaders communicate in the garden. It is suitable for use in schools and in after-school, garden-based learning settings. The dictionary includes the most common gardening words and phrases. Also provided is a translated and converted metric/US units table. The language is color coded, with English words in green and Spanish words in orange. The publication is divided into two sections: English-to-Spanish and then Spanish-to-English. Click Here to Download Free Bilingual Garden Dictionary Inspire Manufacturing Innovators of the Future Alcoa Foundation and Discovery Education have launched Manufacture Your Future, a new online destination designed to inspire students in grades 6-12 to take the first step toward exploring and pursuing today’s manufacturing careers. The program provides middle school and high school educators, guidance counselors, students and families with hands-on resources that build excitement around postsecondarymanufacturing career opportunities. Manufacture Your Future encourages the development of critical thinking skills through real-world applications and offers standards-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)-focused lesson plans, a manufacturing career guide, family discussion starters and a virtual field trip designed to give students an inside look at some of today’s most prominent manufacturing careers. Manufacture Your Future will launch its first virtual field trip on National Manufacturing Day, October 3, 2014. Students will get an inside look at careers in advanced manufacturing through an interactive event hosted live from an Alcoa facility. Click Here to Access Free Resources Walk in Someone Else’s Shoes A group of education researchers at Harvard University has developed a virtual simulation for "walking in another person’s shoes" to help students relate to one another better. The simulation is part of a project calledSocial Aspects of Immersive Learning (SAIL). The technical term is "social perspective taking," and it means understanding another person by taking in their thoughts, feelings and motivations. To create an experience that will help build these types of positive relationships through nuanced social perspective, the research team created a scenario that involves a confrontation between a park ranger and a golf course owner who share land but disagree over how to use it. The simulation allows a participant to play the role of the golf course owner, walking around in his world, talking to his colleagues and getting a sense of his perspective and opinions about the world. The player then has the same experience walking in the shoes of the park ranger. Finally, the player is asked to negotiate from the perspective of the golf course owner with the park ranger over various differences of opinion related to how the land should be treated. Each of the points of negotiation have a money value attached, giving the player a stake in the outcome of the negotiations. The research team would like to hear from educators interested in getting involved in this project. Click Here for More Information Click Here to Get Involved in Project Enhance Text Engagement with Multiple Media A team of researchers from the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California has created a model of what they call participatory learning, which engages students with materials on a personal level, often by incorporating different types of media into the classroom and offering varying points of entry to a text. Most recently, the team has put together a teacher’s strategy guide, Reading in a Participatory Culture: Remixing Moby-Dick in the English Classroom, and an interactive digital book,Flows of Reading, to provide models of their approach. The digital book allows readers to follow hyperlinks, enjoy embedded video content and add to an online space for related work. It broadens the model beyondMoby Dick and applies it to reading at all age levels, from a wordless picture book to the Hunger Games andLord of the Rings. It offers four pathways, or ways to view a text: Motivations for Reading, Adaptations and Remixing, Negotiating Cultural Spaces and Continuities and Space. Click Here for More Information About Strategy Guide Click Here to Access Free Digital Book

As an admitted Apple fanboy, I was thrilled to see all of the amazing announcements on Monday from the keynote address at WWDC, the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference.  While I still regularly using Apple hardware for my desktop and tablet, I moved to an Android phone 18 months ago and frankly haven’t missed my old iPhone.  Although I would likely need to see some improvements on the hardware side to switch back to the iPhone, I am hopeful that Apple can bring me back into the fold with iPhone 6 this fall. That said, for schools and teachers, there wasn’t a lot of excitement in Monday’s announcements.  There still isn’t a great management platform for iOS devices and, in my opinion, iOS devices are really intended to be personal devices and don’t play well in a multiuser environment which is unfortunately necessary in many schools. There is one thing, somewhat hidden in the nerdiest announcements for developers, that could have a great impact in classrooms.  Apple has announced the release of a new programming language, Swift, that allows developers to create applications on both the OSX and iOS platform. Apple’s own marketing material claim a revolution, touting "Swift’s clean slate, backed by the mature and much-loved Cocoa and Cocoa Touch frameworks, is an opportunity to reimagine how software development works." Early external reviews seem to support this.  Code School called the their early impressions "very positive," while the MIT Technology Review suggests that coding students will benefit from many of the changes. Of course, any Apple programming language has the inherent limitation of only working on Apple devices, including Macs and iOS devices like the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.  However, Apple is continually increasing sales in that sector, topping a billion (with a B!) dollars last year and an astounding 94% of the education tablet market. In light of the increasing interest around coding and computer science, is this the language that can inspire the next generation to create their own apps? I have started the process of studying Swift.  Apple provides a great, free ebook that introduces the basics, available in the iBooks store.  This could be a very interesting development!

Jason and I are headed to Atlanta to attend and share to the NCCE community everything we encounter.  Be ready for many posts on sessions, vendors, equipment, and anything else we encounter during the week.  As always follow @NCCE_Edtech on Twitter to get even more information about our experience at ISTE. In addition to following us, ISTE has a great program entitled "ISTE Live"!  ISTE Live let’s you access many great sessions as they happen. Participate virtually in ISTE 2014, including our Monday keynote and 20 of our most popular sessions — all live! Choose from five concurrent sessions at each timeslot. Interact with presenters, conference attendees, and other ISTE Live participants via moderated chat. Actively engage in post-session presenter interviews exclusively available to ISTE Live participants. Receive on-demand access to archived recordings of all ISTE Live sessions, plus approximately 50 additional recorded sessions only available to registered onsite and virtual conference attendees. Space is limited, so reserve your spot now! Cost: $199 ($219 after May 1) — includes access to recorded archive of all ISTE Live sessions, plus additional video-on-demand (VOD) sessions for six months. Register for ISTE Live Schedule: Monday, June 30 9-10:15 a.m. ET Keynote Session (to be announced) 10:45-11:45 a.m. ET The digital natives are restless 2.0: Captivating web tools[Interactive Lecture] Reuben Hoffman Synchronous collaboration on iPads and Android devices[Snapshot] Cathie Norris and Elliot Soloway Transmedia storytelling for teaching math [Snapshot] Jean Crawford and Jeanne Paratore TIME (tools, integration, models, engagement) for technology coaches [Interactive Lecture] Jana Craig Hare and Amber Rowland Classroom gymnastics: Using Edmodo and BYOD to blend and flip classrooms [BYOD] Kate Baker and Elizabeth Calderwood iStart to iFinish: Creating student-centered iPad lessons [BYOD] Kristy Andre 12:30-1:30 p.m. ET Thank you Mr. Gutenberg but we’ve moved on [Panel] Christine DiPaulo and Chris Penny Taming the e-book monsters: Managing a successful district virtual library [Lecture] Lisa Perez Tech that! Extending students’ digital environment into the classroom [Lecture] Robert Craven Cloud-based maps engage students from anywhere on any device [BYOD] Anita Palmer and Roger Palmer Using infographics to develop visual literacy skills [BYOD] Shriley Farrell and Margaret Rice 2:15-3:15 p.m. ET Young teachers and their first-year journey with 1:1 iPads[Lecture] Heather Blake and Kate Dye Finding your voice with media in the iPad classroom [Interactive Lecture] Sam Gliksman The reflective teacher’s tips and tools for guiding PBL [Lecture] Susie Boss and Jane Krauss What do you mean there’s no notebook? [BYOD] Chris Stephenson iPadeology: Staff and student resources for iPad deployment[BYOD] Helene Davitz and Candace Marcotte 4-5 p.m. ET The PBL and flipped learning connection [Lecture] Michael Gorman and Anita Harris Enhancing student engagement by infusing social media with course content [Interactive Lecture] Jennifer Alexiou-Ray, Andrew Battista, Tammy Cook and Cassie Raulston ISTE Ignite Sessions (to be announced) Cinematic storytelling wth iPads and iPhones [BYOD] Michael Hernandez Flipping the Google Apps classroom With Chromebooks and Nexus tablets [BYOD] Jennifer Lowton and Jennifer Middaugh

NCCE plays influential role in Leon County Schools in Tallahassee, Florida, by providing trainers for Microsoft in their digital initiative to enhance education through an interactive platform that creates interesting and compelling learning.  http://blog.ncce.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/b5960163-0bb2-4be6-9786-d30a2f853e14.mp4 New technology integration rollout? Need to train your staff and don’t know where to start? Let us help! NCCE embraces every opportunity to work with schools and districts to customize professional learning to fit your unique situation. With a highly qualified staff of current and former educators, NCCE has the talent onboard to assist you with everything from Classroom Management, New Teacher Induction, Working with Common Core and Preparing Students with 21st Century Skills using Technology. Our Professional Learning team will also tailor any of our professional learning programs to meet your group’s specific needs. Our team is available to custom design professional learning through consultative discussions and has experience fulfilling Requests for Proposal (RFP) from single schools to large districts. Make NCCE your first stop when searching for leading innovative learning! Request a Training Today!

A new program, called EdReady, is on the horizon and is showing great promise.  As a pilot state, Montana is leading the way with this exciting new initiative. What is EdReady? EdReady Montana is a program for all students in Montana from grade seven through college who want to Brush up on their general math skills Become better prepared for college math Or practice math skills needed for their desired career path Through the EdReady Montana Project, funded by a generous gift from the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, Montana Digital Academy (MTDA) will bring the EdReady program to the State of Montana as the first State in the Country to deploy EdReady to their students! Students can be signed up in the following ways: Through their secondary school, Through their college campus or Sign up all on their own to improve their own skills. NROC Dev Math Project and EdReady Montana History In the years leading up to the gift in February of 2014, Montana Digital Academy leaders worked with the NROC Project, a member-driven non profit organization with the goal of creating open educational resources, to advise in the creation of the math curricular assets and assisted in piloting EdReady and providing feedback on the program during the Spring and Summer of 2015. As one of 5 pilot States, MTDA tested the system at the University of Montana, Missoula-Sentinel High School, Corvallis High School and Lolo Middle School in the spring and summer. For more information on the NROCmath project, visit this site: http://nrocmath.org/ EdReady Montana - A Montana Digital Academy Project Montana Digital Academy is the statewide virtual school for the State of Montana created in 2009 by the Montana Legislature to serve K-12 students in Montana through a supplementary online curricular model. EdReady Montana extends upon the MTDA core offerings by helping address gaps in math (soon English/Language Arts) readiness and helps students become better prepared for their college and career paths. The uniquely positioned MTDA that serves almost every high school and a growing number of middle schools in the state already, is funded through the Office for Public Instruction and resides at a campus of the Montana University System. The reach and coordination of MTDA through these and other educational partners in Montana will help EdReady Montana be deployed efficiently and broadly to all levels and will tie in with the MTDA vision. To learn more about MTDA, visit this website: http://montanadigitalacademy.org/ NROC EdReady Piloting and EdReady Montana History Based largely on the success of this pilot project and most notably the results of the incoming freshmen with low math placement scores at The University of Montana, MTDA partnered with the University to share the data and seek funding for the EdReady Montana Project to bring the customizable version of EdReady to all Montana students grade 7 to College. The project is funded for 3 years initially and will allow the State to assess future funding opportunities after use cases are explored, served, measured and assessed. NCCE is proud to showcase exciting new projects happening in our member states.  Do you have a new grant or project you would like to showcase on our blog? Contact Us today! 

NCCE is proud to announce that Richard Snyder has joined the Tech-Savvy Teacher team as our Tech-Savvy Librarian-in-Residence!  We are thrilled that Richard will be joining us as a model teacher-librarian, helping our professional learning community grow to engage all of the great professionals that serve students throughout our region, country and world! To help you get to know Richard better, we asked him to sit down with the Tech-Savvy Teacher team to discuss his workflow, technology tools and philosophy related to educational technology.  Enjoy! Name: Richard Snyder Location: Seattle, WA Current jobs: Teacher-librarian (Lake Washington School District, Kirkland Middle School), NCCE Board of Directors, Seattle Pacific University (adjunct faculty for department of education) Current computer: Surface Pro I Current mobile device(s): Nokia Lumina 1020 One word that best describes how you teach or work: Checklist What apps/software/tools can you not live without? I use OneDrive, Pandora, OneNote and 6Tag, an Instragram client for Windows Mobile. Share with us a time when you failed in your teaching or learning pursuits.  How did you persevere? One year I attempted to go with a progressive grade in my English classes. At mid semester, students who were doing well should have a "C," which would (eventually) turn into A. Sounded like an amazing idea in July. By the end of September, it was a huge mess. After many meetings with admins, colleagues, and parents, I made my grading work for me that reflected my students’ skills and growth. What is your favorite organizational tip, app or advice? OneNote: I’ve used it daily, maybe hourly, since 2008. I have notebooks for work, vacation, recipes, home information, and classes I’ve taught. It works because you make it work the way you want it to. It matches my organizations style (reasonably structured, yet fluid) and I can have it with me across all devices. What browser do you use regularly? I am all Internet Explorer: currently on IE 9 at work, and then using the Windows 8.1 version on phone. What is your best time-saving trick? It’s simple: restart your computer at the end of every work day. Restarting daily covers a multitude of sins. What are your most valuable classroom/work routines? Get kids to do the work for you (especially useful when in a 1-to-1 environment). Passing out papers? Have kids get a buddy to come pick up a paper for them and themselves. Teaching tech skills? Have kids who "get it" raise their hands. Tell them to find a student not raising his or her hand and teach them. Lost? Check a friend’s screen to see where you went astray and get back on track. What is your favorite avenue to connect with social media? My phone. When you are not living the glamorous work life, what do you like to do in your spare time for fun? I like to travel.  I am going to France and Norway this summer and hoping for Bhutan next spring break.  I enjoy cooking anything and everything.  My specialty is pizza and paella.  I enjoy being with be with friends and family (karaoke gets rather rowdy, but always a good time!).  I also enjoy gardening.  Our small garden box is bursting with lettuce and chard at the moment! What are you currently reading? Re-reading Cinder (Marissa Meyer) to make questions for Battle of the Books.  It is a great sci-fi retelling of Cinderella from a Seattle author. The series is fantastic! Who are your influences in the education community? I am influenced by librarians who share their practice and are deeply involved in their community. I respect anyone who gets up (physically or digitally), says "here’s what I do." It reminds me to share what we do so that we can find more ways to impact our students and colleagues. Any parting thoughts you would like to share with our readers? I was hired to teach a tech class for teachers at a local university. In preparing for the class, I was chatting with a friend who is in higher ed. I just wanted some feedback on developing a vision for my graduate students. My friend’s advice (which works for all situations in education) was "tell them to be fearless." I think that should be our motto when working toward being educational leaders and tech savvy people. Be fearless. Try things. If they fail - try them again. If they are successful - tell someone else about it and help that person be fearless, too. Welcome, Richard!

The Super Bowl of educational technology conferencing is here!  ISTE 2014 in lovely Atlanta, Georgia starts Saturday.  NCCE is at the conference in full force with an excellent group of teachers from the Virgin Islands who will be attending the conference after two days of work with the professional development crew at NCCE: The tech-savvy teacher team, Jason, Mike and Richard, will be at the conference and look forward to connecting with like-minded teachers from around the world: Whether you are an ISTE pro or a first timer, there is no shortage of tips across the web (here, here, here, here), but our team would like to share a couple of extra bits from our experiences at this, and other conferences. Here is our take.  While no list is comprehensive, here is our a few of our BEST tips for a great conference experience in Atlanta. Download the conference application! ISTE has done an amazing job of creating a stable, easy-to-use mobile app.  It is available in the typical app stores (Apple, Google Play and Windows Phone) and is of course, free.   With the app, you can get one-click access to sessions, maps, vendor information and ISTE’s very well done secret code networking game. Haven’t arrived at ISTE yet?  Perfect… you can download the app right now and read through the amazing sectional titles while in transit!  (Don’t plan and drive, though… ) The shear amount of great content and connection opportunities demands that you do some planning and the apps make it easier than ever before. Take care of yourself! I know you ard your district are making an investment in your learning, but, it will do no good if you don’t make it through the conference with your health and good spirits!  Atlanta is a hot, humid place, so, be sure to eat three nourishing meals a day and don’t forget to drink extra water, especially if you are from a climate that is less hot and humid (ah hem, fellow Pacific Northwesterners!). Also… take care of your feet!  Wear comfortable, breathable shoes and prepare for many times your normal foot traffic! Find social opportunities! It isn’t uncommon to hear the the best experiences at ISTE aren’t in the sessions, but in the hallway before, during and after.  If a session isn’t meeting your needs, poke your head out the door and see if there is conversation going on related to the topic outside the door.  I have found that there is always a buzz related to any given session’s topic well down the hallway.  Be part of the conversation. Engage on Social Media! Even if you are a light Twitter and Facebook user, your conference experience will be that much better if you track the "shadow conversation" via social media.  ISTE itself recommends tagging your social media posts #ISTE2014, but I have also seen a lot of great conversation at #NCCE14, #secretcodes and for an alternative view, you can hear the perspective of those that didn’t make the journey through #notatISTE.  The NCCE team is also tweeting out at #NCCEatISTE so you can follow our crew on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Don’t Learn it All! …or at least don’t feel obligated to.  This is a BIG conference with a lot of amazing information!  You are not expected to learn everything there is to learn here because it is impossible to do so.  Do your best to engage in the ongoing conversation and the topics that interest you as a teacher, mentor and learner.  But… the conversation is too much to entirely process. Pro tip: I always care a small notebook (or a great app, as I do with Evernote or OneNote ) and I always jot things down throughout to process after I get home.  Sometimes the greatest revelations I take from ISTE are NOT at the conference but the ideas that are revealed to me in the days, weeks and months after I get home.  That can only happen if I write down some of the things I can’t process now to be reminded of them later. This list isn’t comprehensive, but, it should give you an idea of some strategies you can utilize to dominate this conversation as a tech-savvy teacher. See you at ISTE.  We want to connect with YOU!

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

Welcome back!  We hope everyone had a great summer vacation!  We wanted to start off the first post of the new school year with a useful tool in increase fluency in your classroom.  This process only requires one computer, so this should be useful to almost every classroom.  Having students listen to a fluent reader, then record themselves reading, listen to themselves, listen to the fluent reader again, and finally record themselves a second time is a proven method to increase reading fluency with emerging readers.  The process I will outline today uses a website called Vocaroo.  Vocaroo is a simple interface that tackles the task of recording and playing back audio. Remember anytime you are recording audio you need a microphone (almost always built into a laptop or very inexpensive from Amazon). If you happen to have headphones or a headphone with mic you can contain the classroom noise a bit.  Vocaroo uses Flash, so make sure you have the latest version of Flash install on your machine Process To set this up, open two browser windows and in both go to: http://vocaroo.com/ Resize the windows so they fit next to each other on your screen like this:         On the right, record yourself reading the passage you want your students to work on for the day.  (Click record and stop when you are done).  Train your students to always record on the left side.  After you have recorded your passage, students will be able to play back the audio.           There you have it.  A quick, simple way to setup a powerful fluency station in your classroom.  If you want to take this a step further, Vocaroo allows you to save the audio as a MP3.  This would allow you to archive student reading samples over time.                   All of us at NCCE wish you a fabulous 2014-2015 school year.  Feel free to drop us a line with your questions about tools, devices, and/or teaching practice.  We are always happy to help!

Hot off the presses!  Remind (formerly Remind101), one of our favorite tools for connecting classrooms with students and parents, has added a new component that allows for student and parents to interact with one of four stamps (including a check, star and a question mark) to allow for simplistic polling.  The functionality is called "stamps." I wasn’t able to get the updated app on my Android phone, but, according to their announcement, students and parents that accept Remind 101 reminders via the app can now interact with one of the stamps in response. While I do worry about Remind moving away from their clean, "just works" functionality, they promise that the service works as it always had, which means even parents with feature phones (um, "dumb phones") can still use this amazing service. Are you using Remind in your classroom?  Tell us how in the comments below!