Is Blogging for You?

This summer I have been taking a 6 week course on the Power of Blogging and how it can be used in education. Blogs are a relatively easy way to communicate with people. Teachers can use them to communicate with each other, their students, and/or parents. A blog can be set up and started in under and hour and they are easy to update. The sky is the limit with blogs. If you have an idea of how to use a blog and you are not sure how to get started, I would be happy to help you. Email me or stop by the Gentry Media Center and we can brainstorm ideas for ways that a blog can help you.

Acronyms

I ran across this list of 125 Educational Acronyms on a blog today that I thought you might find interesting if not useful. I thought it was interesting that one of my favorite, Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA), was not included in the list.

Click here to see the list:  Educational Acronyms

Is Social Media really Social?

I found this video on Face Book - Social Media. I think a lot of our middle school students feel this way. They have lots of friends on social media, yet they are lonely. I think this is very valid for both middle school students, as well as adults to think about.

New Copiers Installed

In addition to the new district wide website that we are working on this summer, new copiers have been, or are being installed in all buildings. We have a new contract for Minolta copiers. They are a little intimidating at first, but you will get used to them and hopefully appreciate all of the features that we offered.

There is both good news and bad about the new copiers.  The good news is that when you print a job to the Minolta copier it will queue up to where you can print it from any of the Minolta copiers in the building. The bad news is that your job will not be waiting for you when you go to the copier. You will have to go to the copier and put in your employee ID number in order to print out the job. The good news is that no one walked off with your copies! Yes, that is correct, you are putting in your employee ID number and it will give you a "price" for what your print outs will cost you. At this time, we have not heard of a "limit" that teachers will have, but I imagine you will be getting a report letting you know how your copy count compares to others in the district.

I have sent everyone at Gentry an email with the printer/scanner/copier directions in case you are in the building before our building training on August 13th. There is also a binder near the machine in the workroom for you to refer to to get your printouts.

Please let me know if you have further questions!

Columbia Public Schools Website Update

This summer, CPS webmasters are working on redesigning all websites for Columbia Public Schools. Coming soon, the district website, along with each school, will have a standardized layout for all of our websites with a wealth of information provided for each school. Schools will have the opportunity to provide their own school-specific information as needed, but we hope the new format will allow a better communication device for all who come to our website.

Preview of new website

Teachers are encouraged to have their own websites and webmasters will link them from this site. Professional Development is available through our new web authoring software, "Schoolwires", if you would like to learn this program. Please see your Media Specialist or PD Express to sign up for a class and get started.

Welcome to my blog!

Education is full of technology and opportunities to teach students. As educators, we are constantly being challenged to learn a new way to teach our students so that it is more engaging and meaningful to their learning experiences. While it is exciting to have all of these devices, programs, and apps at our fingertips, it can be a bit overwhelming. Everyday I see teachers exciting to put these tools to use but struggling for the time and information to make it all work. This blog will have tips for technology that will hopefully give you some quick answers to "What is that?" "How can I use it?' and "How will it help my students?"

Since technology is always changing and it is impossible for one person to keep up with everything, please post any comments or feedback that you are having with your own experiences. If we all work together, we can all learn faster in the ever changing world of technology.