Organized Chaos!

If you have read some of our previous posts you understand how we value our Personal Learning Network (PLN). There are so many different platforms available to connect with others online from all over the world. It is even better when we are able to meet people from our PLN in person. I just got back from the iSummitMN a little of a week ago and I am looking forward to the ITEM conference up in Duluth on March 15. My friend Andrea and I will be running the unconference in the afternoon.

Back to managing your tools for your PLN. I use HootSuite to watch hashtags (#) , follow certain groups of people and post to multiple accounts.

Have you heard of Twitter Chats? Here is a list of Twitter chats by day of the week and time
bit.ly/officialchatlist 
If you are solely using the Twitter application, these chats will be hard to follow. HootSuite allows you to make a stream following a hashtag of your choice. Sunday night at 7pm Minnesota educators are using the hashtag #MNlead to discuss leadership in education. If you want to follow along in the conversation, I would recommend using a service such as HootSuite. 

Typically when you participate in a Twitter chat there is a moderator or two who lead the conversation. They will post a question and  people will respond to the question. To stay organized and make it easier to follow the moderator will use some thing along the lines of Q1) or Q1-  which means "Question 1" and when others respond they will use A) or A1- which means "Answer to question1". If someone posts something of interest, that you would like to comment on, you can reply to the tweet. It is important for you to remember to include the hashtag so that others in the chat will see your comment.

Here is an example of how hashtags, questions and posts at people are used

In my HootSuite account I have multiple pages and each page has a different purpose.

• One page has the top people I follow and interact with. This allows me to easily navigate their Twitter posts and interact with them.
•  Another page is just for information about me. I see when someone Direct Message (DM) me, posts at me (@), and a stream of new followers. 
• My third page is a page of conference hashtags (#). I love to connect with others via Twitter while conferences are going on. If I am in a great session I will Tweet out what I am learning, when I attend EdCamps I typically tweet my notes for the day, and if I am leading Professional Development (PD) I will share my resources. 
• My last page brings us back to the Twitter chats. I went through the list of daily chats and chose one chat per day. If I ever have some down time, I will got to this page and read through previous chats or contribute to a live chat. (Picture above)

My Personal Learning Network has influenced me immensely as a teacher and learner. I have connected with so many wonderful people over the past few years, whom I would have never had the chance to connect with.

Link to picture

Call to action! Have you participated in a Twitter Chat? If not, try one out. I bet you will learn a thing or two! 

Reflecting on #iSummitMN

One week ago I had the privilege of attending and presenting at the iSummit in Minnesota presented by Flipped Education. I am always excited when a new learning opportunity comes my way, and even more excited when it is with this wonderful group of people.

Last year I attended and presented at the Minnesota Google Summit and hope to have that opportunity again this year, mark your calendars it is Mothers day weekend! I love that I can spend an entire day around people who have a common goal and are excited about teaching and learning.

Conversations typically carry on as I leave a session and continue throughout the rest of the day in person and pick up on Twitter when the day is over.

My top two take aways from the iSummit

1. Jennie Magiera's Keynote

Jennie used the three little pigs to help her connect using technology in education to transform the way to you teach. The picture above illustrates how if you use bricks ,just because everyone else is using bricks, and use them the same way you were using straw it won't work out like it was intended to. If you search for her in YouTube ,you can watch her present this keynote at a different conference. Totally worth your time if you have 20ish minutes. 

2. Meeting up with my peps in my PLN

Kayla and I met on Twitter via the #TIES13 hashtag a few months ago. We have connected a few times via Twitter and I was excited to see that she was attending the iSummit. We made it a point to meet up with each other in person and then to get a picture. During AppyHour, at the end of the day, we were exploring how she could use Chirp in her classroom.

I look forward to my next conference! If you want to read more about my the sessions I lead you can visit my other blog that I co-author The Techie Teachers.

23 Mobile Things 2. Mobile Devices

http://23mobilethingsmn.org/the-23-things/2-utilities/ 

From the second  blog post on Mobile Devices I have reflected on a few tips and how they save me time.

Many of the tips found on the site are included in the iPad Basics class I teach for:

• My school district 
• https://sites.google.com/a/apps.isd742.org/ipad-integration/beginners 
• Conferences
• https://sites.google.com/site/teachertotech/events-1/ipad-refresher
• Community Education
• https://sites.google.com/site/teachertotech/events-1/community-education---ios7  

Here are a few that want to share and a few that are new to me!!

• If you put your phone on airplane mode, it will charge twice as fast - lifehacker.com
• In Safari, hold down the period key to quickly add a domain in the search bar
• 4/5 finger 
• Swipe to go between open apps
• Push up from the bottom of the screen to see open apps
• Bring fingers together to get out of app
• When iPad is locked, put your finger on the camera in the lower right corner and slide it all the way up to quickly access your camera
• Turn on Speak Selection in
• Settings
• General
• Accessibility
• Speak Selection
• Turn "On"
• Add a website to your home screen in Safari

What are your favorite tips to share? Please let me know!

23 Mobile Things 1. Blogging

I hope to gain knowledge of how others are using mobile devices and make connections with other educators. I have found that learning thorough my Personal Learning Network (PLN) has been a wonderful journey. I enjoy being able to post questions and topics and interact with others who have something to add. I enjoy the give-and-take that is available with blogs and hope to contribute to others, as well as have others contribute to mine.
I find my personal style meshes best with Twitter and blogging is a challenge for me. You can connect with me on Twitter at @MrsKalthoff .

Webinars

I love connecting with other educators! One of the ways I like to learn is through webinars. I have had great opportunities to lead a few webinars on edtech with Sophia. Tonight I lead a webinar on Google Forms in Education. People from all over the world joined in on the conversation as we looked at different uses for forms, scripts and the creation process. You can visit my information from tonight at goo.gl/oylj4R .

Here are a few links for past webinars with Sophia Learning.




and



I will post my webinar from tonight as soon as it is available. What are your favorite ways to learn and connect with others?

The next five years....

After a lot of research, reaching out to others and thinking about my future, I have decided to apply to the following two programs:

• Interdisciplinary PhD in Education Sciences with a Focus in School Technology Leadership at the University of Kentucky 
• Doctor of Education(Ed.D.) Educational Technology with the College of Education at Boise State University

I hope to being school this fall. Now, I am struggling to write my personal statement. Here is what I know :

• I like to help people 
• I like to teach
• I like to learn from others 
• I like to connect with other educators
• I am interested in how both kids and adults learn
• I am intrigued how educational settings are changing with the introduction of mobile devices
• I am interested in finding out how student engagement is evolving

However, what I do not know is what "specifically" I want to spend the next four to five years researching and studying. 

I am looking for advice. Have you been in this situation before? What have you done to find focus? Have you graduated from either of the programs or are you in one now?

The Techie Teachers

In the summer of 2012, I had the pleasure of co-teaching a mixed classroom. Our class consisted of kindergarteners and 1st graders for summer school with a wonderful teacher, Sara Norman. During this time, we had daily access to five iPods. Both Sara and I are supporters of small group instruction and each day we ran literacy and math stations. One of our stations, for both math and literacy, involved using the five iPods. We had a variety of activities planned for this time.

Some of their work was content specific. We matched apps to standards and with the use of pictos, we created, we were able to connect each student with the skill work needed. The first time an app was introduced, it was done so with either Sara or I. We felt it was important to teach students the most affective way to use the devices and get the most of the apps we had assigned.

We also felt the devices gave them the chance to create and share in ways not possible before. Using certain apps we guided students to record themselves reading. They were able to play their reading back and listen to their fluency. They were also able to use these recordings during "Read to Self" time.

One of their favorite content specific apps was Fetch! Lunch Rush.
With the use of Fetch! Lunch Rush, an Augmented Reality app,  students were up out of their seats on a scavenger hunt. Yes, we allowed kindergarteners to walk around with an iPod. We were nervous about it at first, but with one partner responsible for the iPod and the other responsible for recording, two hands were always on the device.  If you are interested in learning more about lessons please visit our blog posts App Review Retch! Lunch Rush  and for the materials visit Fetch! Lunch Rush

As colleagues heard of what we were doing, they encouraged us to share with others. We started our Blog
https://sites.google.com/site/thetechieteachers/
and began leading workshops and presenting at schools. We decided to share the materials we made on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Sara, is currently teaching kindergarten and I am the technology integrationist for our district. While I am not longer in the classroom, I am in close contact with classroom teachers and co-plan lessons as much as possible. Both of us enjoy collaborating and working with other teachers. Our goal is to make technology that is available to teachers and students impactful and not just a busy time activity.