Book Your Room Early

April 11th, 2012

It is time to start planning for next years MEA convention (hard to believe I know).  The convention will be Oct. 18 & 19 in Billings.  Right now MCCE has a block of rooms set up at Boothill Inn & Suites.  The address is 24 E. Airport Road and the phone number is 245-2000.  We have 8 rooms set up, they each have 2 queen beds.  The price will be approx. $108.  That weekend is extremely busy with a rodeo, convention, and a writing convention so rooms are at a premium.  I would highly recommend that you call ASAP and reserve a room either at Boothill Inn or a hotel of your choice.  I did a lot of calling around and a lot of the hotels are already full.  One of the benefits of staying at Boothill is that they will run a shuttle up to Skyview for the convention.  These rooms will be released to the public on Sept. 20th -

   Hope to see you in Billings - and make sure to book your room soon!!

Looking for New Ideas

April 11th, 2012

 We are urgently looking for people willing to present at next years MEA conference. (Yes, I said next year!)   We are already in the process of putting everything together and teachers throughout the state are always interested in technology in and for their classroom.  I would highly encourage all of you to consider doing a presentation at MEA….we want to have a strong group of presenters and I know that you all have great ideas.  Applications are now open - click on the link, take a deep breath, and sign up to present..Deadline is April 30th.  (Please remember to mark MCCE as the #1 choice for the curriculum group you will be representing.)

http://mea-mft.org/educators_conference.aspx

MEA Hotel Rooms

September 14th, 2011

     October is fast approaching and I hope that everyone is thinking about attending the MEA/MFT  convention.  This year MEA  will be in Missoula on Oct. 20 & 21.  MCCE has reserved a block of rooms at the Comfort Inn (formerly Holiday Inn Express).  The address is 1021 N. Broadway and the phone number is (406) 549 - 7600.  Hurry and make your reservations as we have a limited number of rooms.  When you call make sure to mention MCCE so you can receive our discounted rate!

I hope to see a lot of you there - we have some GREAT sessions and quite a few to choose from.  See you in Missoula!

Implementing Technology: Where Do I Begin?

August 14th, 2011

This is a question asked over and over again, each benchmark along the way as technology is learned and applied in lessons.  If you are like most educators today, complexity must be avoided at all costs.  As you long to apply a new technology,  a couple questions need to asked first.

  • How are you already using technology?
  • What are your goals for incorporating technology?
  • How can you use technology to make your lessons more engaging?

Since 2007 I participated in and completed our district’s TILT program, Teachers Integrating and Learning Technology through Billings Public Schools.  I explored technology in the TILT program and began to realize just how much is ”out there.” Even after eighteen months of study, confusion kept me from making the connections necessary to truly bring my classroom into the 21st Century, as I longed to.  Encouragement from my awesome facilitator (Thanks, Desiree Caskey!) kept me searching for what would work for me.  What I discovered is how understanding one program lends itself to learning the next.  One exciting thing is the way these webtools are evolving, becoming even more synonymous or, if you will, fluid.  This is great news for educators who want to “dip their toes” into technology and bring these highly motivating tools into their classrooms.

As educators we are plagued by many obvious factors running throughout the school year, such as assessments, records and (of course,) the ever-looming standardized testing cloud each spring.  Instructors need a “down-to-earth” plan to follow.  To start learning a tool only to stop, again and again, creates a weary teacher who is uninterested in participating in technology.

With all the webtools out there, exactly where should one begin?

  • What tools actually work?
  • How and where do I begin?
  • Could you “just gimme the facts?”

If you are looking for solutions for getting organized this school year, I have five suggestions.  Get your school year “off and running” with these organizational tools: LivebindersSymbalooDropboxEvernote, and Delicious.

LiveBinders keeps you connected.

lv.png  LiveBinders is a technology tool useful in collecting information and keeping it all together. Use it for keeping your favorite sites or activities at your fingertips.  As I write this, I am adding these webtools to LiveBinders.   I hope you’ll add my binder “TechQuest” to your own library shelf.

With Symbaloo everything is just one click away.

sy.png  Symbaloo is a favorite of mine.  It is set as the homepage for all my browsers I use: Chrome, Safari, and Firefox.  Not only is it so useful, it looks great with the wallpaper designs.  This will be a tool you will most appreciate.

Dropbox allows you to store most anything online.

db.png  Dropbox is online storage in the clouds.  This means you have access to it at all times, on any device, and it syncs information, regardless how it is added.  Add your documents, files, videos and share with colleagues.  Now you can create lesson plans or units and store them online. Open them whenever you need to use them or update them, wherever you are.

Keep organized every day with Evernote.

ev.png  Evernote is my absolute favorite webtool!  It’s like organizing every note I have, every piece of information I need to look at another time.  I don’t lose anything.  And, are you ready for this?  It is the perfect student documentation tool out there.  You can record audio, upload pictures, or add text.  Scan all those loose receipts and organize your life.

Access your bookmarks anywhere with Delicious.

del.png  Delicious organizes my bookmarks and keeps them handy for me to use.  Also, it provides “add ons” for my browser to allow me to quickly add it to my collection.  I can search for popular bookmarks on any topic.  With Delicious I can socially bookmark with my friends.

Article taken and revised from Tech Quest for Educators by Dorie Lambert.

Deadline Fast Approaching

April 27th, 2011

Teachers throughout Billings and the state of Montana are doing some incredible things in their classrooms.  As I listen to teachers talk about what the are using (technology wise) with their students and the projects that have been created I am in awe of what has been achieved.  It also inspires me to try new things with my students.     We have the opportunity to share and inspire other teachers from throughout Montana at our MEA/MFT conference.  I know that it seems far away (next October), but we are currently encouraging and urging teachers to sign up to present at this conference.  The deadline is May 5 and FAST approaching.  Even if you just sign up to share 1 idea, 1 tool, or 1 great project it will help.

Please, please, please, - consider sharing.  Go to       http://www.mea-mft.org

click on    Educators Conference  on the tool bar and then go to Application to Present

Be sure to choose MCCE (Computers in Education) as your Curriculum Group.

REMEMBER - DEADLINE IS MAY 5       ..consider a road trip to Missoula … share and inspire others.

MEA Presentations in Missoula

April 7th, 2011

Spring has barely raised its head and here we are talking about October.  A quick reminder that MEA applications to present need to be submitted by May 6, 2011.

The application is available online at mea-mft.org.  Click on Full Calendar link, click on Educator’s Conference.  Sign in (if you are a first time user, you will need to join) Click on Application to present. The submission page will pop up.  Fill it out and type a 1 (one) next to the curriculum group MCCE. (otherwise it will be just a general interest presentation.)  You can choose a second curriculum area if you would like it to appear in more than one place in the catalog. Press “Submit.”  You are done!

Let’s make sure MCCE is well represented this fall.  I am personally terrified of speaking in front of a group of my peers, but I’ll try it for the very first time in Missoula.  I urge everyone else to consider it, especially those who have never presented. You can get a buddy to help.  It is an hour out of your day. But the results will last much longer.

Remember the date - May 6, 2011.  It is closer than you think.

Gadget Review & Tech Cadre at a Local Level Link

October 20th, 2010

Visit my Marzano Wiki to get presentation content.

Join the TILT Ning to see what the Local Tech Cadre is all about.

Get Access to Jason Neiffer’s Presentation at MEA

October 20th, 2010

Click this link to access Jason’s presentations for the 2010 MEA conference.

Photography 2.0 at MEA 2010

October 19th, 2010

Here are a collection of sites for storing, editing, and sharing your digital photographs.  We are only going to cover a few of them, but check them all out when you get a chance.

  1. Photography 2.0 Resources

Our students are learning from YouTube, and we can too!

October 19th, 2010

This presentation shows you how to get those videos off of youtube, gives you a taste of what’s out there, and gives you the resources to be successful in presenting those videos in the classroom.