The Nerdy Teacher

Vonage Mobile

2012-02-11T12:39:00.000-05:00

THIS IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT VONAGE MOBILE Can you imagine a future where your smartphone comes with unlimited data, but without a calling plan? Living in this brave new world doesn't mean you have to abandon voice communication. The new Vonage Mobile app for iPhone and Android brings this new reality closer with free worldwide talk and text to all other users of the app. Whether your phone

hearAll - Assessment Recorder from Learning Resources

2012-02-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Learning Resources sent me a hearAll for the purpose of this review. I wasn't sure what to think when I took the hearAll out of the box. It didn't seem super impressive just looking at it, but like most things, I was wrong to judge a book by its cover. Once I took the hearAll out for a spin, I was very happy with what I was able to do with it. Here are some of the things I really like

Should I Stay or Should I Go

2012-02-08T09:21:00.001-05:00

This past year, I have spent my time teaching American Literature in the morning and teaching teachers technology in the afternoon. I fought hard for this position and I have loved working with teachers across my district. I knew we had amazing teachers in every building, but getting to see them in action, is a very different thing all together. The downside of all of this is having one foot in

What's your "Why"?

2012-02-07T12:34:00.001-05:00

Recently, I've been working with my students to look deeper into the texts we are covering. They are pretty good at looking at the surface of a theme, but were having trouble seeing more. I told them to look for the "Why". Why is the author writing that way? Why is this theme important to you? Why is this supposed to make you feel sad? The "Why is what I feel education should be all about. I

19 Pencils ls Looking for Help #ElemChat

2012-02-03T18:25:00.001-05:00

I'm helping out some friends at 19Pencils.com who are looking for Elementary Teachers. Please read below. Are you a K-6 teacher that enjoys exposing your students great web sites when you can find them? 19Pencils would love to get your feedback on what helps you make the most of the web. 19Pencils strives to make content for you and your students easy to discover and easy to manage but it's

Final Exams Have It All Wrong #EdChat

2012-01-29T09:38:00.001-05:00

This past week was final exam time in my district for the high schools. It's a pretty standard affair. Students are given 1.5 hours to complete an exam that is supposed to evaluate all of their learning for 20 weeks. The exam is worth 20% of their overall semester grade with the two 10-week marking periods being worth 40% each. Before this year, I've never really had an issue with the setup, but

We have a winner! #Adobe

2012-01-28T18:33:00.001-05:00

After a very close vote, M. Phillips (@bcteacher) has one the ADSC contest for her submission. Congrats to Mary and thanks for voting everyone!

now!Board from Learning Resources - A Review #EdChat

2012-01-26T07:30:00.000-05:00

Learning Resources is proud to offer the now!Board and they sent me a demo version so I could try it out and share it with all of you. The whole idea behind the now!Board is to make IWBs portable and I’m happy to say that they have done a great job making that idea a reality. By connecting the camera to the computer and the computer to the projector, any flat surface becomes an IWB. It sounds

Adobe Digital School Collection Contest - Vote Now! #EdChat

2012-01-21T11:08:00.000-05:00

I was able to narrow the entries down to a top 5 using a random number generator. Feel free to vote as much as you want for your favorite lesson idea. The person with the most votes will receive a copy of Adobe Digital School Collection for their school. Let's look at the contestants. 1. Midnight Traveller - Using Adobe to create Superheroes to help teach math! Here is a link with even more

Students showed the power of Twitter to me last night #EdChat

2012-01-20T07:37:00.003-05:00

Last night was just another night of the school year for me. I worked all day and did some prep for Final Exams next week. Students were supporting their basketball teams at home and having a good time. Before I went to bed last night, I check my Twitter feed of the school account to see if anyone had tweeted me. My feed was filled with the hash tag #IversInOurPrayers. I was very worried because

RabbleBrowser - An App Review - #EdChat

2012-01-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

Float Mobile Learning sent me a copy of RabbleBrowser to see all of the cool things it can do and I can say that I'm very impressed with what it does. Here is what Float Mobile says about their app on iTunes, Using RabbleBrowser, one person can lead or facilitate a shared browsing experience with an unlimited number of locally connected peers. As the leader browses the web, the others in the

The Nerdy Teacher: Apps, Podcasts and Consulting #EdChat

2012-01-15T12:16:00.004-05:00

Things have been pretty crazy for me the past few weeks. So much so, I've "felt like a plastic bag drifting in the wind." ;-) Here are some of the things I have going on and really want to share with all of you. Apps A little while ago, I saw a post by Kelly Tenkely about a site that will help turn your site into an app. When Kelly suggests anything, I always take a few minutes to check it out.

Adobe Digital School Collection Contest! #EdChat

2012-01-13T13:00:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! I have an awesome contest I am happy to bring to all of my readers. As you know, Adobe Digital School Collection is designed to give students access to great Adobe tools. The tools are: Photoshop Elements 10 Premiere Elements 10 Adobe Acrobat X Pro With these tools, students create some amazing projects. Teachers would have great flexibility to create cool lessons

Compliment a Teacher - #EdChat

2012-01-11T14:37:00.002-05:00

The other day, I had a chance to shadow one of our administrators for half a day. He asked me how things were going and I rattled off everything that was on my mind. (Oops!) The biggest thing was trying to balance being a teacher part time and the tech guy part time. Not wanting to let either suffer and still do a great job is the biggest issue I deal with daily. Ultimately, I'm going to have to

iP@ds in the classroom: Collaborative Annotating #EngChat #EdChat

2012-01-05T16:41:00.001-05:00

Part of the iPad pilot had the devices staying in the classroom. I quickly saw the limitations, but that is a topic for another post. I need to focus my energies on creating lessons allow the kids to function in a shared tablet environment. We have just started Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the students have a hard copy at home to read and there is a digital version on iBooks. On

Tools going into retirement in my class

2012-01-05T13:00:00.000-05:00

After some long and hard consideration, here are some tools from my class that have been forced to retire since the move to a more paperless environment and with adoption of new technology. Stapler: The stapler used to be one of the most important parts of my life as a teacher. Students would line up and attach their work to the rubric and drop them on my desk. Every assignment would

OSU Football smartly bans Twitter use by players #Edchat

2012-01-03T14:44:00.002-05:00

I recently read this article after hearing the news on the radio that new Ohio State Football coach, Urban Meyer, has banned players from using Twitter. Here is a link to the USA Today article. I would like to applaud Coach Meyer for making this important decision one day after he officially became coach. With all of the issues the current team is facing, I'm glad he made Social Media his

The Epic Mock Trial of Mark Twain #EngChat #EdChat

2012-01-03T11:36:00.000-05:00

Mark Twain is one of my favorite authors. I hated him in high school, but grew to admire him in college. As a satirist, few can compare to him. I love teaching Huck Finn, but have found it harder and harder to teach the students the satire he used. Almost all of his references are to cultural ideas that are all but gone. One issue, still lingers today. It's this issue that I've decided to focus

The @19Pencils Search Box #EdChat #ElemChat

2011-12-29T16:35:00.000-05:00

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Alien Buddies - A Review #Edchat #ElemChat

2011-12-29T12:01:00.001-05:00

My friends at Artgig Studios sent me a copy of Alien Buddies and I love what they have done. This interactive game is a fun way for young kids to learn their numbers and letters. The app is broken into three parts. The Matching game is a fun way for users to practice their numbers, letters, shapes and colors. The user drops the alien into the spaceship to match the object in the belly.

Thank a Collaborator

2011-12-19T16:59:00.000-05:00

As the year winds down, I always try and take the time and think about what I was able to accomplish. This year, more than others it seems, was all about collaboration. I have had a chance to work with some of the most amazing people and I thought it would be crazy for me to keep my praise and thanks all to myself. I worked with some awesome people and here are just a few, in no particular

Social Media in Schools #EdChat

2011-12-18T16:12:00.001-05:00

Today, an article was published by the New York Times about the use of Social Media in schools and how some districts are imposing very restrictive guidelines for their staff. I was interviewed for this article a couple of months ago. I talked with the reporter for close to an hour and this is what was published. "Nicholas Provenzano, 32, who has been teaching English for 10 years at Grosse

Crowdsourcing an English Curriculum #EngChat #EdChat

2011-12-14T09:54:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! I’m working on a proposal to drastically change the Grade 10 Curriculum. Currently, our curriculum starts with Puritanism and ends with Catcher in the the Rye or Death of a Salesman. Our “newest” book is over 60 years old. It is getting harder and harder to engage reluctant readers to texts that are further and further away from who they are. I’m looking to bring in new texts that

iP@d Pilot/ #PBL Update 2.1 #Edchat

2011-12-13T13:46:00.001-05:00

I received this email today and I had to share it with all of you. The name of the students has been changed. I did not have time to stop by (too see class presentations), but wanted to let you know Zach Morris stopped by to show me his (project) - he was really proud of it. To see a kid who would basically have nothing to do with school last year so engaged and pleased was exceptionally

It's About Positive Reinforcement Stupid! #EdChat #Education

2011-12-12T14:42:00.001-05:00

My students have been working very hard on their projects the past couple of weeks and I am very proud of their work. I walk around and look at what they have completed and I have been very impressed. I make it a point to talk to every student in a group and ask them what they are working on and pass along a positive comment. The comments do not need to be life changing, but sometimes, just