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There are some amazing presentations this year at MEA by MCCE members. Here is a quick look at what MCCE is offering…click twice on the image to see if full screen.

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This last year I had the opportunity to be a part of the Montana Tech Cadre, and it was truly an experience that has made an impact on my teaching and my classroom.  This is a group of teachers from around the state of Montana that meet 3 times during the year to learn about technology, web 2.0, integration, teaching strategies and also share their experiences.  Friendships are made, fun is had, and the learning is phenomenal.  The Facilitator, Jen Arns, is extremely knowledgeable and energetic and keeps everyone on their toes.  Everything that I experienced through being a part of this Cadre has been utilized in my class and has had a very positive impact on my students, and with the other teachers that I work with.  This Cadre is a great experience for any teacher and one that I know will have an impact on you and your students………….for me, it was priceless.

DEADLINE TO APPLY: August 8, 2009

Jennifer Arns from OETC is the MCCE keynote speaker for MEA in Billings. Jennifer has served as the Instructional Programs Director of OETC since 2001. She is involved in connecting and supporting many effective technology integration programs throughout the Northwest. Some of these include ITSC, Oregon Online Leaders, NCCE, and the Oregon and Montana Professional Development Cadre. Prior to joining OETC, she worked as a Curriculum Administrator and also as a Performance Assessment Consultant. Jennifer holds an administrative license and has earned her M.Ed. She enjoyed teaching fourth through sixth grade in her teaching career.

Please make sure you take the time to introduce yourself to Jen while at MEA.

The 2009 MCCE Summer Technology Conference is August 10, 11 & 12.

The conference will be held at Meadowlark Elementary, 221 29th St West in Billings. Monday we will start at 8:00 and go until 3:30. Tuesday and Wednesday we will start at 9:00 and go until 3:30.

The conference is $50 for registration fee. You can sign up by going to http://mcceconference.com.

This is a great time to meet new people and share ideas, lessons, tools and techniques.

This is kind of a neat site – and a fun way to do a little comparison of “current events” from around the state, nation, and world.

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/ <http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/>

Just put your mouse on a city and the newspaper headlines pop up…  Double click and the page gets larger….

Also, if you look at the European papers, the far left side of Germany will pop up as The Stars & Stripes (European edition, of course). AND, this site changes everyday with the publication of new editions of the paper. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

WHAT’S UP WITH THAT??

Microsoft, in an effort to make it’s file structure more universal, has gone to an .xml based file format in the release of Office 2007 for Windows and Office 2008 for Mac. Some of you have noticed files with an x at the end of the extension…and many of you, I am sure, are not able to open these files. There are several ways to open files that have been created in the newest version of Office.

Option One - Ask the person with the newer version to be kind
If you have a newer version of Office, you can save your file to previous versions through the Save Dialog Box. You can click on the format options and choose from a variety of file formats.

Note: You can even set your preferences so that your file always saves in an older format.

Option Two - Online Conversion using zamzar:

• Visit Zamzar
• Browse to your .docx file
• Choose the file format you want (probably .doc)
• Type your email address
• Wait for the email from zamzar with a link to your converted document.

Option Three: Use Microsoft’s conversion tool
If you are on a Mac, you can use Open XML Converter. If you are using Windows, you can use the Microsoft Compatibility Pack. These are programs you install onto your computer. They are very straight-forward…you open the program, open the file you want to convert and click convert. It saves a copy of the file in a readable format in the same place as your original document, then opens it for you.

One of my favorite sayings is, “There are always at least three ways to do one step with technology.” Here is the perfect example.

Many of you have MySpace or Facebook accounts so that you can connect with friends and family around the globe. And through these social networks you have connected with colleagues in the teaching profession. What do you do to keep that line between personal and professional connections solid?

I think the answer is to join a professional social network. While I was doing some research after attending a Webinar through ISTE on School 2.0…which is better left to its own post…I came across a Ning site called Classroom 2.0. Classroom 2.0 was created by Steve Hargadon to connect educators around the world.

The idea behind the site is exactly the same as FaceBook or MySpace…to keep each member informed of what is happening amongst the group. But Classroom 2.0 outshines these others because it provides some amazing opportunities for professional development, collaboration, and well…networking. I have found so much already; there are teachers around the nation looking for collaborative partners, and there are discussions on every topic you can imagine…with great insightful responses from members. I have been checking out some of the other groups formed inside Classroom 2.0 and there is something for everyone:

• Elementary School 2.0
• Professional Development
• Distance Collaborations
• Digital Storytelling
• Mac Classroom 2.0
• Blogging
• Media Literacy
• High School Social Studies

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