Author: Jacob Dunn

Sorry for the absence.

~ Jacob Dunn ~ Leave a comment

Hey guys,

Sorry for such a long absence, at my school we have a new head principle (who is amazing by the way), new race to the top guidelines with new evaluations, and new PLC guidelines that we have all implemented this summer. So far this school year has been the best one I have ever experienced, but I am so busy. If any of you have anything that you might want me to review please send me a message.

I have been toying a little with podcast’s, and a Facebook page, and implemented teaching with my iPod touch. I will try and get more post’s up as the year goes on. Please continue to support this site by getting the word out. Thank you to all my readers you are very important to me.

TED

~ Jacob Dunn ~ Leave a comment

TED is a website that is full of videos with people discussing what they are passionate about. This could be great for a teacher to get inspiration on a subject or a great way for students to learn from the experts in a specific field. I encourage you as an educator to look at the videos they have to offer. This could also be a great way for you to use this as a professional development tool.One of my favorite videos is Emily Pilloton and her talk titled “Teaching design for change”. This is a wonderful presentation about her work in Bertie county North Carolina. Not only has Emily changed the schools in Bertie county but the entire community as well. Please take the time to look over TED and see how wonderful it really is. 
www.ted.com

Teacher of the week!!!

~ Jacob Dunn ~ 1 Comment
Hey every one, I am excited to announce that my awesome students nominated me for teacher of the week through 105.3 WOW Country in McMinnville, TN.  Here are my winnings.
 

I am now in the running for teacher of the year where I could win a laptop.

Thank you Daniel Jenkins and my 4th period class!

Check out Kindle books? Yes!!

~ Jacob Dunn ~ Leave a comment
Today, in a press release Amazon stated they will now allow digital copies of books to be checked out and be read on the Kindle device. I think this could be crucial for all libraries especially the school library. Now the school librarians will not have to worry about losing a certain book or having it damaged. Also, if the book is in high demand there would be no limit to how many copies people could check out. This could be great for the next “Twilight” like books. On the return date the book would automatically be deleted from the device so you wouldn’t have to worry about taking a book back. Not only will you be able to check out the books for your kindle, you can also use it for you Kindle app for the iPad, iPod touch, or Android phone.
In the press release, Jay Marine said,   
We’re doing a little something extra here,” Marine continued. “Normally, making margin notes in library books is a big no-no. But we’re extending our Whispersync technology so that you can highlight and add margin notes to Kindle books you check out from your local library. Your notes will not show up when the next patron checks out the book. But if you check out the book again, or subsequently buy it, your notes will be there just as you left them, perfectly Whispersynced.”



Paper books are now becoming a part of the past, and I am a firm believer that our school’s can benefit from this technology. The cost could be lower which could help out school budgets with cash strapped schools. I applaud you Amazon you are making headway toward the future of readingKindle Wireless Reading Device, Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6

QR Codes: Future of Station Teaching?

~ Jacob Dunn ~ Leave a comment

Do you know what this is?

This is a QR code and they are popping up everywhere, whether you are looking up or purchasing an app or just having it take you to a web site. A QR code is a fast way for you to use Smartphone, iPod touch 4th Gen. or iPad2 to look up information without having to use a keyboard to type in the URL. For a QR code to work you will need such a device which has been listed (you have to have a camera for this to work) download barcode reader app and you are set.
I am stepping out on a limb by predicting this, but I believe this is the future of advertising, and education as well. Teachers, listen up you can take advantage of this now if you have the right equipment or if your system allows the use of Cell phones. You can implement this now, and all is needed is an app that can be downloaded that will read the QR code. It is totally your choice because there are many apps that are out there. This can be the future of station learning.
Here is a website that will create a QR code for a website of your choice. http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
Teachers in general can use this technology, but science classes could benefit the most out of it. Here are the steps for it. Set up your classroom with different stations that have the QR code on it. The students can use the hardware for looking up the information such as videos or general information. They can also answer questions on the certain topic, if you chose. I believe this will engage the students in two ways they will learn in a traditional station to station way and also, using technology the students are engaged in an act of learning that is familiar with them.
I know this would be difficult to accomplish if you have a cell phone policy at your school if you plan to use Smartphones. An alternative would be if you school has iPod touches that can be used for educational purposes. If you check your school’s library they could help you out if your school has them. WIFI is also something that could pose a problem if you do not have WIFI in the school, but most 90school systems have implemented this.

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Google Cloud Connect

~ Jacob Dunn ~ Leave a comment

This has been a long time coming for me, but I am so glad Google has decided to release this. Google Cloud Connect is a great new way to sync your Microsoft Office documents to your Google Docs account. If you are a teacher or anyone that has a lot of documents and a need for them to be portable this is a great way for you to use both the benefits of Microsoft Office and Google Docs. Once you install the software on your computer you will need to sign in to your account, and in order for you to sync it to Google Docs is just hit the save button. This is going to make sending your documents to Google Docs so much easier than going to the upload portion of Google Docs and finding the files you want to upload you just hit the save button. Now how easy is that? I hope if you use it you will enjoy this as much as I do.

 

You can find Google Cloud Connect here http://tools.google.com/dlpage/cloudconnect