Hello, my name is Sara, and I am addicted to technology.......

The good news is....I don't want to be cured!

Check it out- Technology in the classroom is not a new idea!

I attended a three day online symposium this week that was offered through the NC Virtual Public School. It was both overwhelming and tremendously exciting- overwhelming because I want to be able to absorb everything and put into practice as much as I can, but there is a LOT of it! It is exciting because I am so very interested in learning about all of the new technologies that NCVPS is putting into practice. Sometimes I wish the f2f schools moved as fast, but understand that when you are dealing with huge budgets and staffs and other constraints sometimes it is hard to keep up. I do think Onslow County Schools does a great job with keeping up with technology...OCS and NCVPS are moving at lightning speed!

Today I am going to share some of the great sites and tools I learned about with you....and if anyone is actually reading this and wants to participate, I would love for you to join in and voice some ideas. (See below.)

Tomorrow, I am going to send all of my family members a simultaneous call using DialMyCalls.com. This will be my first practice all using a "blast" that will reach them all at the time that I designate. (7am? Haha... just kidding!) You have all seen this with the calls that the schools make to reach lots of people at one time. Did you know that YOU can do it, for free?

My family members will all receive a recorded message from me that is less than 30 seconds. This is a great way to reach all of my online students, parents and DLA's that I must contact on a weekly basis. I can touch base with them and let them know what deadlines are coming up. I can even use this with my f2f students at Northside.

In the first week of school I can have students create Wordles that we can post online or on a bulletin board. I have played with this great tool many times (my online Coastal Art Appreciation students do one and love it! They often share it with their children if they have kids....) I am going to use it more with my f2f students.

Some other sites that I have yet to explore include Voicethread, sharing safe, educational YouTube videos in a safe environment at schools which block YouTube at SafeshareTv, , creating a quick poll at PollEverywhere.com and others which include jzip, wallwisher, quizlet, grooveshark and google voice. I can't wait to go exploring and plan for incorporating many of these in my online and f2f classrooms.

One thing I have done is re-open my Twitter.com/saragant account! I had one over a year ago, and just didn't use it- I was thinking about it in a more personal sense. I didn't even think about it in a professional sense. So- now I follow Shu, one of the technology guru teachers at NCVPS, and I follow other professional organizations and people that influence how I work and interact with others- and learn! Of course the personal links are important too! Richard is one of my oldest and dearest friends from when I grew up in Belgium- we went to school together from Kindergarten to 12th grade! Now I am following him, too, on Twitter. I can also send a tweet out to all of my online students and remind them that an assignment deadline is coming up. I can use it ALSO for my f2f students.

Have you figured out the theme yet? The tools and technologies that I am learning about and using in my online world carry over into the f2f classroom. This blended modality is becoming more and more popular. The presentation that caused the most excitement with the 300 plus educators that I was online with was by far the Mobile Apps presentation. (Have I mentioned how much I love my iPhone?! I am so very grateful that the bus driver in Rome whose bus I left it on returned it to the group...talk about GRATITUDE!)

Dr. Bryan Setser, the executive director of NCVPS has tasked us with coming up with a way to incorporate lessons using smart phones and touch iPods into our virtual classrooms. I have a few ideas already, but I have decided to poll YOU, the blogosphere, and Facebook world, and NHS family, and Twitter pals, to see if you have any suggestions! As you know, creativity shared is creativity squared, (?!! just made that up, don't know if that makes ANY sense, but you know what I mean!) so please put your thinking caps on and head on over to my Google doc and throw some ideas out for me. I appreciate it! Click here!

(Don't worry, nobody will see what you write except me!)


Oh yes, and.... see you on Twitter? "saragant" Tweet me. :)

Thanks for stopping by.