But, like many of my colleagues, I also spent part of my summer learning new things. In June, I attended a workshop on Edmodo.
This is a great website that is very similar to Facebook. The difference is that it is dedicated to educators and students. The teacher has complete control over his/her page. Each class is given a specific group code that they must use in order to be admitted to the teacher's page/class. The student can then start posting on that page, read assignments, see uploaded pictures, videos etc. The teacher is able to grade assignments, add comments, allow reteaches etc. The best thing is that the students cannot send private messages to one another. They can only private message the teacher.
My son used it last year with his teacher and he loved it. I plan to use it this year in my class. I know that I teach Pre-K and you may be wondering how I plan to incorporate this with the Pre-K students. My plan is to give the parents the codes and allow them access to the page.
There is also an app for Edmodo for iPhone and Android phones. This will allow immediate notification if a parent sends me a private message.
In late June, Phil and I took a much needed vacation to New York. We spent ten days in the big city. The first 7 or so days were fantastic but then I became homesick and was ready to come home. We did get to see two broadway shows "Rock of Ages" and "Chicago". We also did a lot of sight seeing.
In July, I attended a two day workshop on Visual Phonics. This training was great because it enables me to teach the students hand signs for the sounds of each letter. This is useful as a Pre-K teacher because often times there are students that have speech impediments. When they are learning the letters and sounds, they may not be able to annunciate the sounds correctly but if they can "show me" the sound then I am able to give them the credit.
At the end of July, Phil and I went to Las Vegas for a four day conference called Defcon. Long story short, it's a very interesting hacker conference. I was very intrigued by all that there was to learn. Between learning how to play craps and pull the slots handle, I found out about the Defcon Kids program. It's for children ages 6-16. This year it was all about Forensics. I did stop by one of the workshops. The kids were all engaged and there were lots of smiles. We hope to take a few of our boys next year.
Since being home, I've started preparing things for my room. That'll be the next blog. :)
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