My thoughts on Microsoft Teacher Academy... #freepd

Less than a week ago, Microsoft announced a few online learning options for teachers, which they have termed "Microsoft Teacher Academy." I have been learning Microsoft OneNote using the online course called Teacher Academy--The Ultimate Collaboration Tool: An Introduction to OneNote.  It's taken many hours to work through it all, so I've been working about an hour or so each day to try to complete it. It's a bit dry, but he does build in some little assessments along the way and asks questions to make sure you pick up the important points. I recommend frequent breaks. :)

Before you read all this, know this. If your school uses Office 365, then OneNote is awesome and you will find the last few modules of this to be super helpful. I didn't know that before I did all this work.

I've had OneNote on just about every device and computer I've had in the past few years, but I'll be honest that I haven't used it. I am a big Evernote user, and they do seem a bit similar. But, I typically just use Evernote to save things when I am on my phone so I can review them later on my computer.

It starts off a bit slow. I did learn some cool things regarding digital notebooks (which can be saved and shared on OneDrive) and the search features. And, I found it cool that is you paste information from the web that it includes the source URL. That's handy.  But, if you are interested, I'd suggest you go to unit 5, Delivering Curriculum with OneNote. That's a pretty neat unit and I learned some ideas for perhaps creating unit plans and such for my classes. I loved embedding audio or having students record audio clips and saving them to the OneNote document and sharing the document with the teacher for assessment purposes.

The neatest thing I learned (Module 6) was about the OneNote Class Notebook (app) feature.  I loved how you can set up the student sections automatically and that each student gets their own private space in addition to a collaborative space. There is also a content library for teachers to store "read-only" information as well.

I teach an Advanced Computer Applications (dual credit MS Office) class this year. I thought I might try this until...

wait for it....

Apparently you have to have Office 365 for your school to use the cool class notebook! I tried many different ways to make it work (thinking it would maybe be something in the cloud that I wouldn't have to download and downloading from different places) but I couldn't figure it out. How sad. We are still running Office 2013 Pro at the school. Some of their ideas for staff notebooks was cool, too, and a bit nicer than just sharing resources on the "shared drive" we can only access at school.

I'll still probably use regular OneNote in the class (just not the Class Notebook option) but won't be able to micro-manage their notebooks unless I have them share part of it with me. That sure would have been handy.  But, I might do a small pilot in the one section of Adv CA I have in the fall (I have 3 sections in the Spring).

My brain is so full of stuff from this summer! Between the book studies and all the online stuff, I just don't know where to start! Anyone else feeling that way?

Have a great Saturday!

Making Money from Lesson Plans?

I'll admit. Those of you who know me know that I provide lots of resources for FREE. I do workshops that I get paid to do and provide the resources online on a Google Site free of charge, even to non-attendees.

However, I attended a webinar today on "How I Made $5000 Online Selling My Lesson Plans" and thought... hmm. I do like money. She mentioned Teachers Pay Teachers, which I have used for some resources (not really for lesson plans or anything like that; more like classroom management, forms, etc.). And, I have never paid for anything (I like free). She also mentioned Syllabuy, which I had never heard of. Apparently, my business teachers friends haven't either as I searched the "Business" category and only one thing came up.  I figured I'd set up my storefronts while the webcast was running...

So, here's my Syllabuy storefront with nothing in it:

http://www.syllabuy.co/tonya-skinner

Yeah, it's not fancy. And, I don't foresee really putting much on here, but I might make a few free things and test the waters.

And, I have been a member of Teachers Pay Teachers for a long time, but I did set up a storefront there, too (didn't realize I had to do something extra to be a seller):

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Super-Biz-Education-And-Computer-Tech-Resources

She taught me quite a bit regarding tips for running a store online, how free members get very little of the purchase price, how some seller sites (TpT) charge a fee if the shopping cart is lower than $3, and how to provide links to "similar resources" like Amazon does to increase sales. 

I've been perusing TpT this week for first day ideas and ran across this "back to school board game" that looks cool (it's for 1st-4th grade, but has inspired me to maybe make a "tech" board game for my kids!) so check it out (FREE)-->  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Activities-1310541

So, I don't intend to spend a lot of time on this online store stuff. I would like to revise some of my current classroom forms and maybe I'll share them for free. We'll see. :)  

Some Free Microsoft PD Time

Yeah, so I got Google Certified the other day and since decided to see about Microsoft opportunities as I teach a Microsoft Office course at my school.

I ran across the Microsoft Educator Network, joined, and started working through a Teaching with Technology module. The Teaching with Technology (TwT) curriculum is designed to help educators understand how Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can enhance the teaching and learning experience and enable students to acquire 21st century skills. Among many benefits, Teaching with Technology is free, aligned with the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers, and self-paced (log back on at any time to pick up where you left off).

I worked through the self-assessment and it identified that I'm pretty savvy. It pushed out only one curriculum module that I needed to complete, which was Selecting ICT Resources for Curriculum. I found that to be funny since I think I'm pretty good at that, but apparently I didn't score high in that area. Nonetheless, the module has been interesting so far. I did Unit 1.

This really went along with much of my summer PD reading.  The module was heavy on the importance of starting with clear learning objectives when deciding to integrate technology and to use the tool to enhance teaching and learning rather than starting with the tool and trying to figure out how to use it. I've noticed many teachers struggle with this; they find a cool tool and just want to use it without the use being directed at student learning objectives.  Then, after applying a tool in a way that enhances 21st century skills (collaboration, critical thinking, creativity) that support the curriculum, review the decision for mismatches. Make sure students are actually benefitting from the technology tool.

Great advice, of course!

In my pursuit of learning more about PD opportunities with Microsoft, I ran across two more interesting things.

• Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert:  This is a program that looks interesting (and I love credentials). You have to apply and there are requirements, but I might think about doing it. MIE Experts will be selected by the regional Microsoft representative based on the quality of the responses to the self-nominations form, the level of innovation and use of Microsoft tools described in the learning activity and the level of detail in how becoming a part of the program will impact both teaching and student learning.
• Microsoft Teacher Academy Online: They have some online short courses that are supposed to be about 3 hours each. Microsoft has published a set of new online courses called Microsoft Teacher Academies, which are available for free to teachers looking for training and professional development. The online courses are designed to empower educators with the ability to effectively integrate Microsoft's tools in teaching and learning. Courses help bring 21st century technology including Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft OneNote, Skype for Business, and OneDrive into classrooms.  I am trying OneDrive out since I haven't used it much. I'm a big Evernote user, and it seems much like it, but so far, the course is showing me how to create digital notebooks for classroom use. I'm intrigued. :)

edcamp Global 2015 Reflection

Man, this has been a fun event! It's not quite over, but I'll have to catch what I can after I run around (back to school shopping and a birthday meal with my hubby since his birthday is today). If you did not participate in the edcamp Global Event (on Twitter? Search for it with #ECG2015) it was such a neat time to network with other educators and hear from those who are truly passionate about teaching.

If they leave it up, you can probably access the Google Hangout or Google Plus sessions by clicking on them (Hangouts on Air are archived automatically to YouTube. So, check it out if you get time and are interested. I love PD that isn't boring, is customized to what I'm interested in (I can pick!), and that I can participate in from home!  Here is the schedule:
http://edcampglobal.wix.com/edcamp#!schedule/c1204

This was my first "real" time  using a Google Hangout. I played around with an unlisted live hangout the night before and after 5 computer crashes, updating video and display drivers, and then coming to grips with having to use Internet Explorer to record the actual Hangout... and a crash 3 minutes before it started... I made it!  It was a cool experience. I've done many live events, but they have always been in person or Twitter chats. So, this was new for me.

Here's the link to my event page and my 25 minute video presentation (FFWD about 26 seconds) on Awesome Google Chrome Extensions.
https://plus.google.com/events/csn2j8gglgeveof17hdodquva2c 




Some of my favorite sessions so far have been about some new technology tools, interactive student video creation, creating QR codes in Sheets, using Google tools (Drive, Slides, etc.), and just connecting to so many professionals on Twitter. My brain is so full! :)

Goals!

Okay, I had a blog but you'll see it's been 3 years since I posted! I always have good intentions but it just doesn't always work out. So, fresh start, new blog.

This year, I hope to be different. This year, I have goals. I put some posters behind my desk at school to provide some motivation for blogging, for trying new things in the classroom, and for really pushing ahead with my PD efforts this year.

So, what did I do with my summer to prepare? As a business/computer teacher who teaches much technology, I can't ever really take off... there's too much "new" to learn every year!

June: Well, I started this off with a bang! I actually participated in Missouri DESE Tech Week and presented in Columbia, Missouri, to a group of teachers for three days. We did Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop training. I love to do computer trainings (especially all day for multiple days) because it forces me to come up with new ideas and activities for my own classroom. The website is here if you want to see what we did!  After that, I took some time off with my husband and spent two weeks in Colorado celebrating our 20th anniversary (and we started binge watching How I Met Your Mother).

July: I enjoyed some rest and relaxation in July and prepped for a trip to Arizona for the Arizona ACTE conference, which was in Tucson just recently. This was a 3 1/2 hour workshop for teachers and I had a blast. Here is the info for that one.  I also attended two online conference Teachers Leading Teachers 2015 and the 30 Goals Conference. And, I participated in an online book study that ends today for the book Unshakeable: 20 Ways to Enjoy Teaching Every Day...Now Matter What!  I'll talk more about some of that in the future. I got "really into" webinars and attended probably 10 different ones through SimpleK12. I also decided to do Google training so I could get Google Certified Educator Level 1 certification, which I achieved this week. And, I submitted a proposal for Edcamp Global, which starts tonight.  Oh, and Sunday is our Future Business Leaders of America officer training, so I worked on those materials (finished that Wednesday!). So, in retrospect, I guess I was pretty busy in July (the last half, anyway).

I'm pretty excited about the new school year. I am thrilled to try a few new things, add some new tools I experimented with this summer to my toolbox, and to just really try to make a difference in the lives of my students. I want to make this year legend-wait for it-ary!