POWER Zone Innovators

Last summer, I attended the EdTechTeam’s Summit featuring Google for Education in Colorado Springs. On a whim, I attended a session on an app I had never heard of: Pear Deck. Immediately upon entering the room, the presenter engaged us in an interactive and extremely fun activity on our individual devices. I was amazed at how simple it was to join the session on my device, and at the very easy but meaningful ways I could demonstrate my learning as we went along. The presenter controlled the pacing from her own device, and she had the power to advance our screens. The best part was that she also had the ability to anonymously display all of our answers onto the big screen at the front of the room! She could also show all of our responses simultaneously on the screen in an overlay format, which was quite fun to see--even as an adult! She then told us that she could go in later to see students’ names and responses in her own file--how helpful to monitor individual students’ progress! ...

Hello, colleagues! In my new position, as the technology specialist at Skyview, I am continuing to build bridges between the staff and myself. This can be quite difficult as I teach broadcasting during 8th grade's plan time and during half of the 7th grade's plan time. Some teachers that I can meet with during their "free" time is 6th grade. At the same time, I don't want to take up too much of their time. So how am I building the relationship? Through my tech tips newsletter ! Teachers ask me quite a bit how I "know so much," and the answer is that Google is my best friend and I read online A LOT. I've curated a great PLN on Twitter , and I blog once a week . I am continually learning and taking what I learn and turning it into what I need. Since, for the most part, I have the expertise in edtech, it makes sense that I share my knowledge with others! I was inspired by Mari , who I am part of #sunchatbloggers with. She is a middle school scien...

"What's all this talk about getting Google certified? What does that do for you as a teacher? Do you get paid more? What do you have to do?" All questions that I have heard from colleagues, friends, and even my parents. My response is simple... Times are changing and I better get with the times. I am learning what I need to learn so that my students can be successful. I am a life long learner.  Getting certified doesn't mean that I get paid more monetarily, but I get "paid" by bringing these experiences into the classroom where my students can thrive and experience a new kind of learning and showcase their work. It takes a lot of extra time, personal time, to complete the necessary training to become a Google Certified Educator. But it is all very worth it in the end. I started this journey last year after attending a Google Apps for Education Summit - now G-Suite. It opened my eyes to a new world that, as a newer teacher I hadn...

I'm always amazed by what my third graders can do with their devices. When I began thinking of ways to make my students' work visible, I had many ideas and no idea where to start. It wasn't until I began my own website that I started to think, "Maybe my students could make their own site to showcase their work". I finally set my mind to student portfolios using Google Sites! In a perfect world, I would have all my students following each step with me to create the perfect site all in one day; but, I quickly learned their sites would be a process! Home Screen  Day 1 : Students went to the google sites and created a new site. They created a title for their site, chose a background for the title and took a picture for their introduction page. I also made sure they put their site in our shared folder in Google Drive. This allowed me to have access to their site and put their site on our class site. Day 2 : Students created an "I Am" poem to ...