It's been a while

I've said this before, and I'm sure I'll say it again...... I am terrible at keeping up with this blog. Writing makes me happy, so I can't say why I stay away for so long. Needless to say, a lot has happened since my last post...... More than a year ago now, jeez.

I've been loving life in third grade and I've found my work life partner (seriously she made my life complete this year) ❤

I've gotten the official 'we like you and we want to keep you forever' from my district... Aka, permanency (or 'tenure' as my family calls it)

I've been told I will stay in third grade (in the same classroom!!!!! Eeeeeekkkk!!!!) next year.

I am loving the idea, and the endless possibilities, that are on the tech horizon in my district and I'm happy everyday that we've gone "Googly"
Seriously, when I die I'd like my ashes to be spread at Google headquarters. Is that creepy? Too dark?

In any case, now that I'm connecting all the dots in life - I want to dedicate myself more to this blog. I really do enjoy writing about the things I've tried, things that work, and things that have crashed and burned.... whether anyone is reading or not..... are you out there reader? ;)

Working on a design re-haul; I'm thinking I'll try to teach myself some more basic coding and make something happen.... or I might keep it simple. Haven't decided yet. What I do know is that the blog will most likely take a turn for the tech-y. I want to start focusing in on how to manage technology to improve student learning and engagement. That, and tips and tricks to organize your classroom life. Basically, anything to save YOU time. More time TEACHING, less time worrying about teaching.

Internet OBSESSED part 2... social media eeek

Touchy topic I guess, and I had never really thought about it from a student point of view - because I had the little ones - but with 5th graders I'm just going to go ahead and assume that they are online and if they aren't - their parents probably are. I of course, am ALLLL OVER THE INTERNET, seriously obsessed. My Instagram account is private and lucky for me, my maiden name comes in handy on Facebook and even Twitter - I haven't had a friend request from a student or parent just yet.

BUT I have been reading up on this quite a bit and I knew that I wanted to integrate SOME type of social media magic into my class this year - I'm cool, I'm hip ;)

Separate accounts is fine and dandy until you forget which one you posted on or even dealing with the hassle of signing in and out each time grrr.

Lucky for me Twitter AMAZINGLY allows me to sign in to more than one account on my phone!!! AND they have a super easy widget creator that allowed me to post my tweets directly onto our classroom website [ SETTINGS then WIDGETS, you just have to copy the HTML code and paste in onto your site ]  - that along with how easy it is to create/discover/follow using hashtags and we are all set!

Originally I had created a widget for my twitter feed (the pic you see below) but I just went back and realized you can create the widget for a specific hashtag. Oh man Twitter. Impressive.

I'm going to use the very specific #TodayinRoom28 so now anytime a student or parent tweets and includes our hashtag it'll show up on our website! Happy Dance!!!!!

Internet OBSESSED part 1

Ok, I KNOW that I definitely want my students using our class website (another blog of course! your can see it HERE if you'd like) to publish their work. Let's be honest, I LOVE the internet - and it helps that it will be really good practice for all this wonderful Common Core typing business, which I am seriously excited about! - but I kept running into privacy issues and I am not paying $30 for an edublog when I know I can figure it out for free.... again INTERNET ♥

I thought I might have them post to a google drive account, but then I'd have to get them to log in and then would they all need individual log ins? More steps. I gave in and am now IN LOVE with dropbox - the best thing about it is that it creates a folder on your computer that will automatically sync! I then went about creating a folder for each student (I numbered these, way quick-easy-reusable).

Next, I made a handy dandy HOW TO page to put up right near our computer stations, but of course we will also take notes and practice, practice, practice ------ SIDE NOTE, I have student computers this year!!!!! and there is a computer lab?!?! What!?!?! Why am I so excited about this, poor kiddos my last two years, we didn't have these types of luxuries ----- but I digress, you can download the How To Guide for free HERE

So, the plan is that I will log in to my dropbox account (this will already be logged in on the student computers in our class) and probably copy/paste their work as a blogger entry on our class site with their names and everything. My summer school kids were super excited about being published on the internet! Fingers crossed it all goes well ♥