The Breakfast Club

I recently completed my first year as the pK-12 Integration Specialist for Aurora Public Schools.  It was an amazing year filled with countless opportunities and adventures!

That being said, I can't believe the first year is already in the books!  The best part about my job is that I get to work alongside of some of the most passionate, dedicated, enthusiastic educators that I have encountered in my fourteen years in education.  I did have one glitch that I continually encountered this year.  Time!  Teachers have a lot on their plates, and it seems like there is no end in sight to how full it can get.  I felt like I had to offer a solution to the problem of not having enough time for teachers to dig into some of the tools that there are out there. 

Being the sole Integration Specialist in our district, I felt like I wasn't able to get some ideas/tools out to our teachers, so I started what I am calling "The Breakfast Club" for our staff.  I will be offering twelve sessions this summer on a variety of tech tools that teachers can integrate into their classrooms.  They are short (one hour) and are hands on!  I give teachers a brief overview of the tool, then we dig in and play and create. It's only an hour, so we are not taking up a majority of their day.  Teachers can pick and choose the sessions that they want to come to and our administrative team is going to allow our teachers to earn professional growth points for their attendance! 

I have to confess that I am borrowing this idea from Heather Callihan, Integration Specialist for Grand Island Northwest Public Schools.  Last summer she offered WOW (Wired On Wednesday) sessions.  I was lucky enough to present at one of her sessions and I thought this would be a great addition to any school district.  

Here is a look at our schedule this summer.  I placed the schedule on The Digital Dogpound (resource site for teachers) and even had the gang over at LogoNerds design a logo for The Breakfast Club. Thanks to my good friend Brent Catlett for that idea!  

FRIDAY, MAY 24TH "WHAT'S THIS TWITTER THING ALL ABOUT?"

Twitter is SO much more than what a certain celebrity had for lunch! Come learn how to utilize this powerful tool not only in your classroom, but to learn so many cool things from educators all over the world. (pK-12, Laptop or iPad)

TUESDAY, MAY 28TH  "EBACKPACK BASIC TRAINING" 

Interested in creating a paperless classroom?  eBackpack solves all of the workflow problems that one has in a 1:1 iPad classroom.  Come learn how to create and organize paperless assignments, quizzes, etc. (Grades 6-12, iPad)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29TH  "GOOGLE CHROME"

Come learn how to use Google's browser.  There are apps and extensions that you can use with your Interactive White Board that will make you more efficient and save you time!  (Grades pK-12, Laptop)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5TH  "THE ONLINE CLASSROOM USING WEEBLY"

Your parents and students ARE connected. Come learn how to host your own classroom website using the VERY easy to use Weebly.  We will go over the basics to creating and managing your own website for your classroom. (Grades pK-12, Laptop or iPad)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12TH "IPAD FROM CONSUMPTION TO CREATION"

Going from Consumption to Creation: We all know plenty of drill and practice apps for our students on iPads. Let's take it one step further and discuss ways to utilize those iPads for creation in the classroom. Come explore a few apps that foster creativity and the creation of projects in your classrooms.  (pK-12, iPad)

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26TH "IMOVIE AND PAGES BASIC TRAINING"

"Creating" is at the top of the revised Bloom's taxonomy.  The iMovie and Pages apps allow your students to be creators.  Come learn how to harness the power of these two simple yet powerful apps! (pK-12, iPad)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3RD "GOOGLE DOCS AND GOOGLE DRIVE"

We will be covering two great tools from Google in this session.  Learn the basics of Google Docs (creating, editing and sharing documents) and then we will learn how to organize your Google Drive.  (pK-12, Laptop)

FRIDAY, JULY 5TH "FREE RESOURCES FOR CLASSROOM"

Are you relying on your textbook as the sole source of information for your classroom?  If so, your students (and you) are missing out!  There are a plethora of resources available to you on the internet and they are FREE!  Come learn how to refine your searching skills and amp up the engagement in your classroom.   (pK-12, Laptop or iPad)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10TH "WEB 2.0 TOOLS FOR YOUR CLASSROOM"

Come explore tools that you can seamlessly integrate into your classroom.  We will "dig in" to a variety of sites like Voki, Tellagami, Socrative, TodaysMeet, Titan Pad, Wordle, Screencast-O-Matic, etc. (pK-12, Laptop or iPad)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17TH "EVERNOTE IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM"

Lose a recipe?  Forget that password?  Want to create student portfolios for your classroom? What about creating a shared notebook for your PLC? Come learn the basics of Evernote.  With Evernote you can capture anything and access it anywhere! Come learn some ideas on how to use Evernote IN and OUT of the classroom. Mrs. Teahon will be demonstrating how she is integrating Evernote into her classroom.(pK-12, Laptop or iPad)

FRIDAY, JULY 26TH "EBACKPACK REFRESHER"

Did you miss our training in May?  Wanna get going with eBackpack in your classroom to kick off the year?  Come join us as we cover the basics of eBackpack.  (pK-12, Laptop and iPad)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 31ST "IPADS IN THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM"

This will be a session you won't want to miss! We will be having Apple Distinguished Educator, Kristi Meeuwse from Charleston, South Carolina joining us via FaceTime.  Kristi is a Kindergarten teacher and has a 1:1 classroom.  Don't let the "Primary" word scare you away from this session.  Kristi has a ton of great ideas on how to best integrate the iPad into any classroom.  Check out her blog by clicking on this link. (pK-12, iPad)