FREE Holiday E-Book!!!

I was excited to have a chance to participate in the FREE Holiday E-Book that Rachel Lynette put together. Each Teacher-Author who took part created a page highlighting several free items for Christmas and some wonderful teaching tips too!

Check it out!

Friday Five: 5 Tips for Successful Professional Development

Photo courtesy of Barrett Web Coordinator via Flickr

I am a school technology coordinator, and a lot of my job involves formal and informal professional development. At the outset I will admit that I have only been doing this job for a year and a half, so I am not in any way an expert on professional development. With that being said, here are my 5 tips for making your next professional development session a success.

1. Consider giving out door prizes to those who arrive on time. I collected all of the freebies from the professional conferences I've attended into a box. As people come into the session, they put their names into a basket for the door prize drawing. Once it's time for the session to begin, I take the basket away and do the drawing. I usually draw 3 names and allow the winners to come and select a prize from my box. This encourages people to get there on time, starts the session on a positive note, and puts everyone in a good mood. If you don't have a box full of conference swag, consider getting a few items at the dollar store, or ask your principal if he or she would be willing to donate some school promotional items that were leftover from past events.

2. If you're teaching about how to do something, if at all possible, allow the participants to practice during the session. That means if you're showing off a new website or going over how to create a file folder center, you need to arrange for the participants to have the materials and try it along with you. Particularly with technology, you'll have more buy-in if the teachers have had a chance to play with it on your time before you send them out with a mandate to use something on their time.

3. Avoid acting as if you're in a hurry. It creates an atmosphere of stress in the room, and may make the participants feel a bit cheated, like they aren't getting everything out of the session that they should have. Plan sufficient material to fill the time, with a few extras you can use if the session runs short. Treat those extras as a bonus rather than something they're missing out on if you don't have time to share them.

4. Always, always, always show how the material you're teaching is going to be a benefit or help to the participants. Avoid the temptation to sympathize about mandates you personally aren't sold on by saying things like, "I know you don't like this, but it's something we all have to do." Be the Ambassador of the Silver Lining, putting a positive spin on whatever it is you're asked to present.

5. This last tip is one that I have struggled with myself. If you're teaching the rest of the staff how to do something, chances are that you're pretty comfortable with it. Try not to say that it's easy. Chances are there is someone there for whom it won't be easy, and it makes them feel incompetent that they can't master something that should be easy. This has been very hard for me, because my instinct is to soothe. When teachers are stressed about learning something new, I always want to reassure them, "Don't worry, it's really easy." I am learning to bite my tongue!

I'd love your feedback on professional development to improve my own skills. What do you find works well when presenting? As a participant, what are your pet peeves?

Web 2.0 Wednesday: Evernote is my B.F.F.

Have any of these situations ever happened to you?

• You're in the grocery store and get an idea to make a favorite recipe, but you can't remember all of the ingredients.
• You are trying to remember what the hours are for your allergist to see if you can get an allergy shot today.
• You need to call someone who gave you a business card, but you're not sure where the card is.
• At Wal-Mart shopping for something else, you saw several great toys to get your kids for Christmas. Unfortunately, when it's time to plan your Christmas list, you can't remember what they were.
• You have a hundred little notes you've written yourself to remember your library card number, various passwords, the combination to your gym locker, and miscellaneous ideas you've had.
• You have trouble remembering movies you'd like to see or books you'd like to read.
• You wanted to use a coupon at Archivers (you know, your favorite scrapbook store), but you forgot to bring them with you.
• The doctor's office, church, and your in-laws' house all have wi-fi, but you can't remember any of the passwords. 

Sadly, all of these memory-impairment episodes are examples from my actual life. Good thing I discovered Evernote, because it has solved every one of these issues and more! First thing's first. Check out this quick video that explains what Evernote is.

Are you starting to see the possibilities? Whenever I receive a business card, I take a photo of it with my phone and add it to Evernote. When I discover a book or movie I'm interested in, I can clip the info from the web, take a photo of a poster or cover with my phone, or just type in the title. As I've walked through stores, watched T.V. commercials, and browsed the web this holiday season, I've collected a Christmas list for my kids. I've used my camera phone to save several of my favorite recipes into Evernote so that I always have them handy at the grocery store. All of the wi-fi passwords for the places I frequent are saved in Evernote, just in case I ever need them again. At the Georgia Educational Technology Conference, I took all of my session notes with my Livescribe pen and uploaded the pencasts to Evernote.

All of this information is text searchable, including anything from a photo note, and I can access it from my home computer, my laptop, my work computer, my iPhone, and my iPad. Everything syncs between them automatically. When I need to know the hours for my allergist, I can search the word allergy, and it pulls up the card I photographed showing the hours. You can even organize your notes into custom notebooks, so my notes from the conference are in one notebook, while all of the wi-fi passwords are in another. Are you thinking about the possibilities?

Do you use Evernote? What do you use it for? How has it saved the day for you in the past?

Teaching Resources, All Through the Year!

Images (c) Microsoft. Used by Permission.

I just got home from school; how about you? I'm sure like me, your evening outlook involves making dinner, cleaning house, wrangling kids into bed, and hopefully, at some point, putting your feet up to relax a little. There are just a few more hours left for the big Cyber Monday sale at Teachers Pay Teachers, so be sure to take a few minutes to take advantage of the 30% off savings! Everything in my store is 20% off, and with coupon code CMS28, you can take an additional 10% off of everything!

Not sure what to buy? Why not stock up for the year? Here are some great resources for all through the year!

• January: MLK Day packet with 8 standards-based activities, $5.00 Today only $3.60!
• February: Cupid Mystery Graph, $2.75 Today only $1.98!
• March: Pot O' Gold Mystery Graph, $2.75 Today only $1.98!
• April: Every Holiday and Season BINGO Boards, $3.00 Today only $2.16!
• May: School Nurse Day Card Activity, $1.00 Today only, just 72 cents!!!
• June: Summer Sailboat Mystery Graph, $2.75 Today only $1.98!
• July: Uncle Sam Mystery Graph, $2.75 Today only $1.98!
• August: Class Handbook for Open House / Back to School Night, $3.50 Today only $2.52!
• September: Fall & Winter Ordered Pairs Pack, $8.00 Today only $5.76!
• October: Halloween Trick or Treat Safety Tips PowerPoint, $1.50 Today only $1.08!
• November: Thanksgiving Turkey Mystery Graph, $2.75 Today only $1.98!
• December: Gingerbread Across the Curriculum (Writing / Math / Bulletin Board Packet), $5.00 Today only $3.60!

There you have it: twelve wonderful seasonal resources to last you all year long! 

Did you find any great deals for Cyber Monday, on TpT or elsewhere? Share your finds in the comments section!

Friday Five: 5 Books I Love to Read Aloud

This week's Friday Five will be a quick one. Here are five of my favorite read-aloud books!

1. Skippyjon Jones Series by Judy Shachner

All ages. Who wouldn't enjoy reading these books, with their silly language, lovable characters, and of course, the requirement of your "very best Spanish accent"?

2. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

4th grade and up. I always loved the many opportunities for discussing idioms and playful use of language while reading this book to my fourth graders. It was definitely on the high side, so be ready to take it slowly and explain the difficult vocabulary. The video is a lot of fun to watch when you finish the book.

3. Frindle by Andrew Clements

3rd grade and up. This is one of my absolute all-time favorite children's books. If you haven't read it, you need to. I will say that I don't think I ever got through it without crying in front of my class. This always bewildered the students. It isn't as emotional for them as it is for us!

4. Terrific! by Jon Agee

All ages. This cute picture book is a great discussion starter about having a positive attitude. Upper grade students will also enjoy the sarcasm.

5. Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco

3rd grade and up. I dare you not to cry as you read aloud this inspiring story about a teacher that changed Patricia Polacco's life as a young girl. This book opens a door to talking about teasing, bullying, and learning differences as well.

I adore books, and reading aloud is such a special experience. I couldn't possibly limit my read-aloud favorites to five. Expect a follow-up on some Friday in the future!

What are your favorite read-aloud books, and why? Share them in the comments!

It's Coming, It's Coming!

Teachers Pay Teachers is getting ready for a big ol' Cyber Monday sale, with lots of sellers participating and thousands of products being sold at a discount. Monday only, Smarty Pants Teaching Resources will be offering 20% off of every item, and you can use coupon code CMS28 (Cyber Monday Sale on the 28th) to get an extra 10% off from Teachers Pay Teachers, for a total of 30% savings! Whaaaaat! That means that file folder games will be just over $2.00, and all of the individual ordered pairs activities will be under $2.00! It's a great time to buy bigger packs like the Fall and Winter Ordered Pairs Pack, normally $8.00 and on Monday, just over $5.00!

Web 2.0 Wednesday: Wallwisher

Don't worry, you don't have to choose lime green.

Picture a giant corkboard covered in sticky notes. That's the idea behind Wallwisher, a site that allows you to create custom notice boards for sharing text, video, pictures, and links. You can create a wall without signing up for an account, though you do need an email address. Walls can be set to private so that only you can see it. You can also moderate a wall. This means you approve all new notes before they're added publicly. 

How can you use Wallwisher in your classroom? Here are a few ideas.

• Create a board to collect reading responses. My friend and colleague Maureen has such a wall, along with a page on her school website with directions for students and a rubric. By the way, she recorded the audio directions using Voice Memo for iPhone. It sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
• Use a wall to collect comments in a debate. For instance, who was in the wrong in the Boston Massacre? Have some students represent the colonists and some the redcoats. 
• Wishing a student well as he or she moves along to another school, or to collect birthday wishes from classmates.
• Allow students the option of gathering resources for a research project on Wallwisher. Students can include links, photos, and videos related to the topic, and can rearrange the notes to organize the information.
• Allow students to do class note-taking on Wallwisher and share with one another, or with students who were absent.
• Have students share a note about themselves at the beginning of the year on a Meet Our Class wall.
• Post assignments, reminders, and coming events for your students and parents.
• Allow parents to use a board to network with one another throughout the year. It's a great way for parents to get quick answers, organize volunteers, and coordinate special events and parties.
• Create an interview board. Allow students to post questions for a subject-area expert, and then invite the expert to answer his or her favorite questions, either with text or video.

Have you used Wallwisher in your classroom? Do you have a great idea for using Wallwisher or a similar service? Share it in the comments!