My Most Pinned Pin

So, for the past week or so, I have been noticing a lot of traffic on my Pinterest page. I use the word traffic, but Pinterest doesn't necessarily track this in a way that is visible to the end user. However, every time someone repins something I have pinned to one of my boards, I get a notice on my phone, and my phone has blown up with people repinning one particular item.

Let me back up a bit for those that are unfamiliar with Pinterest. Pinterest is a social media idea board. What does that mean? That means the global digital community creates a "board" and "pins" photos, articles, videos, etc. to the board that relate to whatever topic the board is about. I currently have 87 board with 1.5k pins. Some of my boards include school related stuff, such as Professional Development,




and Blended Learning.




And then I have boards that reflect some of my passions, like Gardening,




and Cheesecakes.



The board that has been getting a lot of hits is called All Things Google for Education.



And this pin in particular.



I have to admit that this is a very awesome pin courtesy of TeachThough (www.teachtought.com) and Sylvia Duckworth (@sylviaduckworth). That's sort of why I pinned it in the first place...over a year ago. My district had just adopted Google Apps for Education (GAFE) to handle a lot of our other antiquated systems and I was preparing for what was suppose to be a vigorous training period for my teachers on how to use the various GAFE things. Training plans fell through because of planning snafus, staff shortages and lack of funding. However, when I held many one-on-ones with teachers and when they asked me where do they start, I always had this image in the back of my mind. This year, I think I will voluntarily make copies and hand them out of my teachers. You know, as a friendly nudge that technology is not a bad thing, nor is it hard to use in your classroom.

One thing that is left off, and I think should be included between Drawings and Hangouts, is Classroom. Google Classroom is a great way to organize assignments, dive deeper with questions and post important announcements. It's also great for keeping your grading straight. The best part: NO MORE LOST PAPERS!!! either by you or the students because not only are assignments easy to post, with handouts, but also easy for students to turn in.

As to why this particular post has my phone notifications hopping. Did I already mention its AWESOMENESS!!?? Other then that I can't say. I know a lot of teachers are working on back to school right now and GAFE had become this supper amazing thing for education. Even though I found its greatness a year plus ago, I think that just one person decided it was awesome at just the right time this year for a lot of other people to pick up on it and share in its fabulousness. That's simple how these social media things work. Dare I say that this is my first viral pin! Well then, here's to many, many, many more!!

Enjoy what is left of the summer, everyone! Remember, inspiration and teachable moments can be found everywhere.

Love, peace and happiness always,

 THE Mrs. MathMagician

Is it ever to early for back to school?

I have been on summer break for three weeks now. You would think that I would be spending time at the beach, lounging in the back yard, going to amusement parks with the kids. I have done some of this, but do you know what the majority of my last three weeks have been? Preparing for next school year.

Here's the break down of what I've done so far:

Professional Development

I have already participated in five hours of professional development with a lot more to come. Most of the pd I've done is through Simple K-12 (http://www.simplek12.com), a fabulous teacher community the pd opportunities both live and recorded on virtually every teacher topic you could possibly want pd on. For years I participated in their free options as a basic member and I did not feel like I was missing out on anything. Last year, at the recommendation of a colleague, I broke down and got the full membership. With the full membership, I get access to all their content and I can print my pd certificates. You cannot print with a basic membership. There are some school districts and states that subscribe to Simple K-12. So, it would benefit everyone to at least check it out.

Curriculum Development
I have dedicated a couple hours so far to curriculum development. Why? For two reasons. First, I am teaching 8th grade math this year which I haven't done in seven years. The standards were different a little bit then and I want to be sure I hit everything I'm suppose and am confident in how I go about teaching it. Second, I am fully committed to implementing personalized, project-based learning in my classroom. Last year, as the first year in our school redesign initiative, I helped facilitate the implementation of station rotation model blended learning in nearly every classroom in my building. By year three, EVERY classroom is suppose to be doing personalized, project-based learning according to our original plan. I am accelerating my time line due to the fact that I'm the tech coordinator for my building. If my teachers don't see me doing it, they won't be interested or try. So, I'm piloting some programs hoping others will jump on board quickly.


Personalized Learning

A huge buzz word in education for the past few years. I have been trying to implement more and more personalization into my classroom for about as long as it's been a buzzword. My students have several math websites they can choose to work on. I have done choice boards in the past. I have done varying degrees of project-based learning. This year I am adamant about making sure every student is learning what they want, how they want in the modality they need within the confines of the content I am meant to cover. Things I have used in the past with success that I will be bringing back: Google Classroom, Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Khan Academy, Manga High, SumDog, Front Row, CK-12, Digital Compass. Things that I have will be introducing this year: Pictochart, ShowMe, Educreations, Thinglink, Padlet, Kahoot!, & Twitter (in the classroom). Just to start. 

I am excited about my classroom next year. And you can never start planning too early. I promise I will have some fun and relaxation along the way. Until next time!