I was extremely honored to be one of three chosen to be recognized with the John Lunt Friend of Technology Award at the ACTEM Conference this year. The award was established by ACTEM in 2006 as a way to recognize individuals that have made a significant contribution to education and technology in Maine.
It is named after John Lunt - one of the founding members of ACTEM. John served as president of ACTEM for six years and also chaired our annual MAINEducation conference for over ten years.
John Lunt and former Governor Angus King were the first recipients of the Friend of Technology award in 2006.
Peggy George I'm so excited this night is finally here! Great to see you Alice and Cheryl!!
Alice Barr Yea!!! Hiiii
Jamie Camp Hooray!! Peggy's here!
Peggy George Hi Jamie!
Jamie Camp Ep 44 was great as always, Wes!
cheryloakes50 Welcome, so glad to see you Jamie and Peggy!!
Peggy George Last week was NOT a horrible show! Wes did a great job holding down the fort!
Jamie Camp Not an easy thing to do that by yourself!
Peggy George for sure Jamie!!!
Jamie Camp Snow in April! Wow!
Jamie Camp It's been mid 80s in Houston!
cheryloakes50 Yes Jamie, lots of snow!
Peggy George unbelievable weather in Main!!
Jamie Camp Sounds good to me!
Jamie Camp This year's been super crazy though
Peggy George I'm so excited to be able to hear about these updates from Cheryl and Alice!
Peggy George that's a great plan! great way to manage the ipad upgrades!
Jamie Camp Wow--8 year cycles! You really do need Apples for that!
Peggy George so true Jamie!
Peggy George that's a challenge when they stop making particular models
Peggy George I think it makes so much sense for the HS to have laptops
cheryloakes50 Yes, it made a lot of sense at Alice's school. I'll share my story.
Peggy George that's a terrific deal!
Jamie Camp Always trying to figure out ways to put devices in our students' hands in my school. It's a real struggle. Right now we have an entire grade that is struggling with very old laptops.
Alice Barr We actually polled students and they felt strongly . they wanted laptops
Peggy George that seems so affordable when you think about how much money schools spend on textbooks that can't be updated and are usually out of date before they can be replaced
Peggy George Alice, I love how much you include students in the decision making process!
Alice Barr Thank you Peggy. It's so important for them to have a say.
Peggy George very interesting Cheryl! carts of Chromes
Jamie Camp Chromebooks in our upper grades (3-5) have really changed the landscape in our school.
Peggy George It's great for the students to become so familiar with all of the Google tools in HS!
Jamie Camp They've made it easy for kids to log on, so teachers are less reluctant to try things.
Peggy George yes!!! that's the problem!!! very late school year!!! I remember those days in MA! End of June was not unusual.
Jamie Camp battery life great too. We're working on the creative side of things, but collaboration is sooo much easier!
Peggy George good point about battery life!
cheryloakes50 Yes, we do like the google tools and the collaboration.
Peggy George I love Carla Arena!!! I've followed her for years.
Jamie Camp Yes! She's amazing!
EdTech Situation Roomreally interesting the different directions the 1:1 programs have gone...
Alice Barr She's amazing!
Peggy George I took an online photo course with her many years ago.
Peggy George that was quite a sacrifice Cheryl!! giving up a weekend of skiing!
Jamie Camp I remember that! I started....but alas...I'm a dropout LOL
Peggy George what a creative conference format!
Peggy George it was 2009 I think
cheryloakes50 Yes, Peggy, it was.
Jamie Camp Wow! 8 years ago. Doesn't seem like it at all.
Jamie Camp What a cool thing to have a student assistant to be with you! Great idea!
Peggy George I think she also taught a digital storytelling course I was in
Peggy George what an exciting conference!!!!
Jamie Camp You've both changed a lot of lives!
Alice Barr Thank you Jamie
Peggy George do you have a link for the Brazil conference?
Alice Barr yes in the doc
Alice Barr https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=amplifica%20internacional%20elt
Peggy George just found it. Thanks!. Didn't recognize what it was called.
Peggy Georgethat is so funny!! the Pope is a hacker
Jamie CampLove that!
Peggy Georgehe's making things happen!!!
Peggy GeorgeWe have had that conversation for several years at HackEd, the unconference before ISTE
Jamie CampHe is making things happen! I'm not Catholic, but he's making things happen in the larger culture--not just the Catholic church! That's hacking!
Peggy GeorgeI agree Jamie!
Jamie Campso true, Peggy!
Jamie CampWill you be at ISTE this year, Peggy?
Peggy Georgeno unfortunately, Jamie. So I'll be actively participating in #notatiste
Alice Barr#BrazilEdu Slow chat
Alice Barr#changeitup #studentpurpose
Jamie CampI think I'm going, so I'll connect with you thru #notatiste
Peggy Georgewhat a great idea to introduce slow chat to them! We used that all the way through #notatiste16 last year and got so many terrific resources to add to our Livebinder
Peggy GeorgeGreat Jamie!!! That will be awesome!
Jamie Campabsolutely Peggy!
Alice BarrQ1: How might we design global activities with #studentpurpose?
Peggy Georgelove that plan! a new question every 2 weeks with BrazilEDU on slow chat
Peggy Georgeyes!!! Participate is the very best way to do a slow chat!!!!
Jamie CampI've never used participate
Peggy GeorgeCheryl and Alice, you HAVE to use Participate!!!! It captures all of the links people share in a collection! Automatically adds the hashtag to every tweet.
Peggy GeorgeWe had a great webinar on Classroom 2.0 LIVE last month that was all about Participate--tutorial, links, PD. http://live.classroom20.com/archive-a...
Peggy Georgethat's a great article from Wired!
Alice BarrCan't wait to check this out. Thanks Peggy
Jamie Campgreat point Cheryl. TV didn't live in our hand when we were kids.
Peggy GeorgeAlice if you have any questions about Participate I would be happy to jump on a Skype call to talk and any time.
Peggy GeorgeParents aren't always the best role models!
Jamie CampGuiding kids with mobile devices is sooo much harder than it was when my daughter was young--and she's only 26!
Alice BarrThank you Peggy.
Peggy GeorgeMichael Wesch is awesome!
Alice BarrI will take you up on that!
cheryloakes50Peggy, role models need to be explicit. Outloud thinking, I am putting my phone away until the end of this discussion
Peggy Georgegood point! But they also need to do what they say
Jamie CampWhen she was young, we could ensure that she used digital tools in a public family space. She didn't have a way to even USE it in her bedroom or privately. Not it's so much harder for parents.
cheryloakes50Thanks Peggy! Wow, it hopefully is still timely!
Jamie Campawww!
Alice BarrNice!
Peggy Georgewould students want to take a class on ethics?
Peggy Georgehaha! if you're not using your device for , put it away. I couldn't do that.
Jamie CampIronically we had an issue at a district meeting--about modern learning--where the presenter made us all close our laptops. It really turned me off.
Peggy Georgeit would me too Jamie!
Jamie CampI was pretty done after that, sad to say....
Jamie Campgreat point, wes. what does that feel like to a kid who IS using his/her device appropriately?
Peggy GeorgeI look up related resources to expand my learning, look up word definitions, take screenshots, etc.
EdTech Situation RoomI can tell you what it feels like, it's really frustrating!
Peggy GeorgeJason, is that you typing for EdTech Situation Room?
Jamie CampYup. It was counterproductive for me b/c it irritated me so.
Jamie CampThanks Alice. I need to put some time in on this, and I'm sure your site will help!
Alice BarrWelcome! Feel free to use!
Peggy GeorgeI just participated in a live stream watching Steve Sherman interview the French actress/director for the Nat. Geographic film series MARS. It was incredible!!
Jamie CampLots of good links to explore this week!
Peggy GeorgeSteve Sherman's interview with Clementine Poidatz. Amazing for kids to see. He does it for his students. https://youtu.be/SamDgksR128
Jamie Camp$329 is good news for schools.
EdTech Situation Roomoh that is great Peggy - that series looks like it will be super
Jamie CampYou're amazing Peggy!
EdTech Situation Roomthanks for that link!
Jamie CampLove hearing Geek of the Week with all of you! Like old times!
EdTech Situation Roomyes!
Jamie CampYes! Thinglink VR looks super cool. I want to try that too!
Jamie CampOoooo! Isn't that cool for virtual field trips!
Peggy GeorgeSteve has been doing daily interviews this past week that been powerful. Today was a blind skateboarder, one a hearing impaired piano player. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCADd...
Peggy GeorgeI love the Thinglink VRs!
Jamie CampOh my! THAT'S app smashing!
Peggy GeorgeAdam Bellow will be our guest presenter on Sat. April 8th that is all about BreakoutEDU!! Can't wait!
Peggy Georgethat is so cool Alice!!!
Peggy GeorgeAlice always has been stages ahead!!
Peggy Georgebreakout games are becoming great PD experiences for teachers too!
Jamie CampPeggy looks good!
Jamie CampYes, we're thinking of some PD Breakout sessions for the summer.
Peggy GeorgeCheryl!!! Hadn't heard about that re add-ons!
Peggy Georgewhat was it called again?
Jamie CampSwweeet is right!
EdTech Situation RoomGoogle Add-on Revision History Assistant
Alice BarrWhere do these links go after the show?
Peggy GeorgePaul Allison is still doing EdTechTalk shows. One just started: Playground City: digital media, bike mechanics, food justice, and cooking in Orlando, Florida http://edtechtalk.com/ttt
Peggy Georgethey disappear unless Wes copies/pastes them I think
Peggy GeorgeThanks Cheryl. Found Revision Assistant
Alice BarrI will have to find the field trip link.
Peggy Georgeour guest presenter this Sat. on Classroom 2.0 LIVE are the co-creators of #digcitkids Curran Dee is 11 yrs old & he's doing the presentation. "Digital Citizenship from a Kid's Perspective."
cheryloakes50Thanks everyone!
Peggy GeorgeWhat a fun conversation!!! So excited to have been part of it virtually!! Thank you Cheryl and Alice and Wes!
Jamie CampThanks everyone! It was fun to be with you all tonight!
Peggy Georgevery busy summers for teachers who "get 3 months paid vacation"!!
Peggy Georgedon't you hate it when people say that???
This conference was about using technology for teaching and learning and sponsored by a group of very passionate teachers who are Google Certified Innovators. 400 Brazilian teachers gave up their Saturday to come and learn. Cheryl Oakes and I were invited by Carla Arena whom we met online. Cheryl taught with Carla on Webheads, we connected through the Seedlings podcasts, and we met in person in the summer of 2010.
The hosts at Colegio Marista were so gracious. People went out of their way to help us and make sure that we had what we needed at all times. They gave us a tour of the amazing facilities and showed us some of the unique features of the school. It was built in the early 1800’s as a boys’ boarding school. It’s built around a quadrangle. There’s a chapel and a small auditorium (one of two) on one side. On the third floor where there are now state of the art science labs, were display cases with the original lab equipment that has been used through the years. A soccer pitch and a swimming pool are all within the confines of a city block. It was clear that teachers and students were incredibly proud of their school. One of the things that really impressed
me about the school was the fact that students go to school from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. But then they have the opportunity to stay as late as 9 p.m. if they want to. There are lots of activities for the students to participate in. But what we noticed was the youngest students were free playing in the quadrangle and having a great time. There are benches all around the edge. Parents and caregivers were also enjoying some time together. It was so nice to see students excited to be at school and wanting to stay late to play together. Colegio Marista has developed a strong sense of safety and community.
During the conference, each presenter had a bilingual student who helped us set up and worked with us during our sessions. The students were so accommodating, helping us navigate our way around the school, get us on the network, and kept time with reminder cards that counted down how much time we had left to present.
Cheryl and I did the first session together - Change it up with Student Purpose in Mind. We wanted to stress was that we are in a small world and connecting students is one of the most powerful learning opportunities to put learning in the hands of the students. We modeled a connected classroom (Thank you Maria Knee, Kathy Cassidy, and Amanda Marrinan) and demoed Mystery Skype. Our purpose was to help teachers see that these tools are fairly easy to use and that students can do most of the work. We also introduced the idea connecting to other teachers through the use of hashtags and proposed the idea of a slow chat using the hashtag #BrazilEdu. Our intention with #BrazilEdu is to ask a question every other week and see if we can get people starting conversations, connecting with one another, and learning the value of being online to get new ideas for teaching and learning. The session was well received. Teachers seemed excited about trying out some of the ideas.
I did two sessions on digging deeper into Google Docs. Perhaps the biggest aha moment was when I showed teachers how to make a web page out of a Google Doc and share it with parents without too much fuss. They also liked the new tool for using Google Keep notes and we looked at some ideas for how to use Google Keep in the classroom.
I think my favorite part of the day was the coffee break. It was scheduled between the last two sessions. But it wasn't just coffee, a DJ and dancing were also on the menu. The music was pumping, people were line dancing and everyone was re-energized for the last session. Amazing!
My last session was introducing Breakout EDU. I brought the game with me. We think this was the first time it's ever been played in Brazil. We played Faculty Meeting because it's a little bit shorter (30 minutes vs. 45) and introduces the concept of solving puzzles. It's meant for 15 people but I had 35 in the room. It was a little crazy with so many people, but they dove right in and tried all kinds of things (in their second language!) They were quick to solve the puzzles but they had a fabulous time doing it. Victor, the student helper was amazing, helping me translate when necessary. They never used the hints. They ended up breaking out in 16 minutes. We then debriefed and talked about how Breakouts can be used in a class. I also introduced digital breakouts. It was a great way to end the day.
We're starting Season 4! We have a new schedule. We're now on Mondays once a month live and once a month pre recorded. You can find us at EdTechTalk, the Bit by Bit Blog, Facebook and on the iTunes Store.
Wow! Another season is over. It's just the three of us, along with connect2jamie in the chat room. But boy did we have a lot to talk about. And the links will keep you and me busy for the summer! Enjoy!
I was extremely honored to be one of three chosen to be recognized with the John Lunt Friend of Technology Award at the ACTEM Conference this year. The award was established by ACTEM in 2006 as a way to recognize individuals that have made a significant contribution to education and technology in Maine. 
