Edmodo Training Video

Youtube Training Video

Published on Jun 12, 2013

I talk about how teachers can use Youtube to find content to show in their classrooms, find an array of tutorials, and discover content that assists in their professional growth.

LinkedIn Training Video

Published on Jun 12, 2013

I talk about how teachers can use LinkedIn to host their resume, create an eportfolio, participate in discussions, and connect and network with other professionals.

What You need to Know about Class Dojo

By Erin Wolfhope

Have you heard of Class Dojo?  Do you have colleagues that love it?  Would you like to know more about it? 

Class Dojo is a handy service that can easily be added to your digital toolbox, and be used daily in your classroom.  www.classdojo.com offers both desktop and mobile applications (iOS and Android) for ease of use and convenience.  Class Dojo is designed to be used as a classroom management system to track both positive and negative behaviors using points.  Once you create your free account you create your classes and enter your students' names.  Each student has a customizable avatar you can choose one of the many avatars provided, or import your own.  Next you create a list of positive and negative behaviors.  Each behavior corresponds to an icon, and you can customize behaviors to meet the needs of your classroom.  Be specific with the behaviors you choose to include, as this will make your reports the most accurate.  Your class roster, behaviors, avatars, and point displays are all easy to edit after your initial class set-up.  Parent codes are available for parents to create an account to view their child’s progress.  So... that’s the gist of the program. 

Here’s how it worked for me this year:

I work on a team with 2 other teachers in a 70’s style open classroom/pod set-up. Back in August we decided that we didn’t like our management system that we had been using, and we agreed that we’d try Class Dojo out.  We liked the paperless aspect, the ease of parent connections, and the fact that Class Dojo went with us everywhere via our iPads and iPhones.

We each have our own classroom, but we have no doors to separate our classrooms from one another.  We rotate classes within the pod.  For example, I teach kindergarten Language Arts and first grade math.  So I see different kiddos at different points during the day.  In order to keep all info on all of our students we all share one Class Dojo account with 3 classes; kindergarten, first grade, and second grade.  So far, the app and desktop version have been handling all three of us logged on simultaneously pretty nicely. 

Initially, it was difficult to remember to use Class Dojo while teaching, and working with students.  However, it didn’t take long for the students to catch on and look for Class Dojo being projected on the board.  Their enjoyment in seeing their name on the screen with a +1 beside it was incredible.  As a team, we learned the incredible power of an encouraging point, and how it inspired not just the recipient of the point, but most of the class.  Our students responded quite well to Class Dojo, and while accruing more and more points was enough of a goal for most we decided to incorporate some additional awards based on points; sticker, lunch buddy, extra playground equipment.  We reset our students' points at the end of the month, but you can reset them whenever you choose.  You can even choose to reset points by individual students. 

The data and reports gathered by Class Dojo is quite possibly the most incredible aspect of the whole program.  The reports are generated by Class Dojo, and show points received and lost, sorts behaviors, and shows trends by time and day.   This data is perfect for RTI (Response to Intervention). 

The people behind Class Dojo are always listening, changing, and upgrading.  They want to hear any and all suggestions and they have made numerous changes throughout this school year.  Class Dojo has been a great addition to my classroom, and I’m excited to use it again year after year.

About the author: Erin is a K-2 teacher in a Multi-Age classroom set up.  She primarily teaches kindergarten language arts and first grade math.  Erin completed her masters degree in Instructional Media last year with Wilkes University and Discovery Education.  She strives to use tech in her classroom to help students share, create, and collaborate.  Erin live in Hickory, North Carolina with my husband, Jeff and son, Lucas.    

You can contact Erin in the following ways: eraines@gmail.com, @ewolfhope, ewolfhope.blogspot.com

Diana Rhoten on Sparking Student Interests with Informal Learning

Published on Jun 4, 2013

Sociologist and digital learning expert Diana Rhoten founded the New Youth City Learning Network to help organizations like museums and libraries design digitally-enabled learning activities built to tap into kids' interests and teach 21st-century skills. More resources at http://www.edutopia.org/diana-rhoten-...

Arfah Farooq at TEDxNewham

Published on Jun 5, 2013

Arfah is 22 year old born and bred Newham resident. Always involved in endless projects and passionate about youth empowerment has led her to co-found Discoverables a new website that helps young people find and develop their key skills and strengths and share them with potential employers. Empowering and equipping them to be resilient to tell their story their way. Arfah will be doing a quick 3 minute talking about how to build the resilience muscle by gamifying your life.

Google+ Training Video

By Dr. Will Deyamport, III

Published on Jun 6, 2013

This is a training video for teachers on how to use Google+

About the author: Dr. Will Deyamport, III, Ed.D. is a connected educator who specializes in digital media learning and development. His research is in using web tools and social technologies for professional development, teaching and learning, and social good. Dr. Will works as an instructional technologist for a school district in Hattiesburg, MS.

Online Doctorates: Fact or Fiction

Uploaded on May 31, 2013

This is a discussion about online doctorates and the personal stories of two individuals who chose that option.

Becky Naughton, a high school teacher, and Leah Macvie, an instructional designer at the college level, join me to talk about why they chose an online doctorate and their plans for the future.

Check out Leah here: http://about.me/leahmacvie and connect with Becky here: https://twitter.com/NaughtonBecky

My Journey to Becoming a Certified Family Life Educator

By Jessica Estrella

My name is Jessica Estrella, and I am a Master’s student majoring in Child Development at TWU. I began my graduate school studies in the fall of 2011 and I have one more year to complete my coursework. My personal goal for after the conclusion of this degree is to become a CertifiedFamily Life Educator. I decided to pursue my graduate degree in Child Development and pursue my CFLE for a variety of reasons. I have grown up in a tight-knit family and have always viewed my family as an extremely important aspect in my life. The classes that I have taken have further shown me how family dynamics change and adapt over time. I have also known that somehow during my career I have wanted to help others.                                          

During my time so far in graduate school, I have found several areas to be helpful to me regarding my degree and learning more about family life education. I have found that being involved in student organizations to be highly helpful. These organizations have provided me a way to network, as well as hearing presentations from various individuals in the field of family sciences. I have also learned that collaborating with others is an extremely helpful aspect in school and I can see myself collaborating a great deal as a family life educator. In addition to student organizations, being a member of national organizations in the field of family sciences has been highly beneficial to me as well. I have been a member of the National Council on Family Relations since the fall of 2011. This has been a wonderful organization to be involved in and I have especially liked reading the quarterly newsletters regarding the field of family sciences.  

I started using Twitter in January of this year. One of my goals for joining Twitter was to be able to connect with other CFLE’s and finding new ways to connect with others. In the few short months that I have been using Twitter, I have grown to love it and have found it to be very useful in my daily life. I hope to continue to use Twitter to connect with others as I continue on in my journey to becoming a CFLE.   

About the author: Jessica Estrella is a graduate student at Texas Woman’s University where she is majoring in Child Development. Jessica is originally from Friendswood Texas, and has been going to school and living in the north Texas area for the past seven years. She graduated high school in 2004 and spent her first two years of college at San Jacinto Community College where she was a music student. In the fall of 2006, Jessica transferred to Texas Woman’s University. In May of 2010, she received her Bachelor’s degree from Texas Woman’s University in Music Therapy.           

 

Google Apps for Education Webinar

Published on May 27, 2013

Google Apps for Education Webinar

In this discussion, I spoke with Al Elliot and Rachelle Wooten about GAFE and how they are using them in their practice.

Learn more about Al here: http://about.me/aaelliott

Connect with Al here: https://twitter.com/ellication

Learn more about Rachelle here: http://about.me/rachellewooten

Connect with Rachelle here: https://twitter.com/rwootenits