C4T 3

Productivity Tools for Educators
This blog was written by Jeff Delp a junior high principal. He believes that technology should be used to improve productivity and help people assess important information. Mr. Delp also believes that schools are wasting money and natural resources by printing copies.
I strongly agree with him. The technology of today world allows us to use computers and internet to interact with others instead of using paper. Using internet to communicate with others can help save trees and money. This is clearly a better alternative to buying expensive ink and copy paper. He also believes that modeling good technology will lead to better students. It is also the teacher’s responsibility to model good use of technology when teaching the class.
Technology can be used for managing tasks and duties. Mr.Delp listed six tools that he uses on a daily base to help model technology usage for his teaching staff. He usage of Google Docs, Ever note, Drop box, Wunderlist, Prosperous and Twitter help him stay organized.

1. Google Docs- This is an app that people can go to and collaborative documents together. Many people can work and make changes to the same document. It can be assess from any computer and is always saved. So there is no more worrying about losing your flash drive. The sharing options make it easy to collect, organize and collaborate on documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

2. Evernote - is like a big filling cabinet. It can also be used to capture and save images to your computer. Ever notes are also a great way to take notes.

3. Dropbox- can be used to save project. This can keep people from lugging around papers all of the time. Drop box even allow people to share files with others.


4. Wunderlist - This is a task management tool. This app collects information that you give it and sort it into different list. Lists may be shared with others so that teams may work collaboratively on the same tasks.

5. Posterous - is a blogging platform that allows people to share ideal and conversations to enhance professional development. Posterous is a great platform for beginners.

6. Twitter - is a social media tool that can be used to engage if conversation with other schools and educators.


MY RESPONSE

Hi MR. Delp,
I am currently a college student that is in need of some time management skills. I found a few of the source that you listed to very helpful. I was already aware of twitter and drop box. The other three sources are new to me and I plan of making good use of the right away. Ever note caught my attention the most. I love the fact that you can take notes with it. Ever notes can help save me a lot of money on paper and is better for the environment. This will help me stay organized because I will be able to just go right to the computer and find my notes instead of flipping throw pages.

Staying Plugged In
Mr. Depp tries to stay current on the latest technology. He also encourages his staff members to take appropriate risk when they are teaching. Mr. Depp tries to make his decision based on the needs of his students and staff members. This is not always easy for him, at times he the struggles with decision making. In other for him to be a good effective Principe he has to be able to balance several task at the same time.

As a principle Mr. Depp is responsible for many task such as hiring people, paperwork, school meeting, budgets, etc. Although, he is responsible for this task he also is responsible for many other. His most important task is to make sure that he stays connected in the classroom with the teachers and students. He needs to be able to relate to his teaching staff. He can do this by sitting in the classroom during lecture and taking notes. Sitting in the classroom will give him a chance to truly understand teacher’s daily challenges.

MY RESPONSE

I never really thought that Principles had to do so many tasks at one time. Reading your blog post about staying plugged in has really made me realize just how important principles are to school. I don't think just anyone could become a principle. It takes a special type of person to be a principle. A principle should be organized, nice, caring and current on all new forms of technology.

School's out Friday

School’s out Friday is a blog post that is about Felix Baumgartner's. He is a sky jumper that is sponsored by red bull to jump out of planes. The coolest part about this post is that two video were posting of sky jumping. One post was about a human jumping and the other was a reenactment with Lego’s of the first video. The second video had Lego jumping out of the plane. The teacher also goes on to tell about an academic achievement day that they had for the students for her school. The school reward students for having good grades.


MY RESPONSE

I loved the reenactment of the Lego’s jumping out of the plane. It almost looked like the real thing. I also think that it’s great that your school recognizes students for having good greats. From a student’s point of view it’s wonderful to have your family and friend present to see you receive rewards for having good grades. I also agree that today children will be able to help shape the future of tomorrow.