Marty Cryer
Global Professional Learning
Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.
Bloglovin' Blog Reader
The internet is in constant flux, new websites and blogs being added every day. There are a wealkth of resources for teachers to access for lesson plans, ideas, resources and so on. But being able to stay on top of it all is difficult if not impossible without tools to help. Using a blog feed reader is one way to do this.
I use Bloglovin, which has both a desktop and mobile version. I get daily email summaries and cn check my blogs wherever I am. I like this reader because it is very simple to use.
Currently I follow a vareity of blogs, but am especially fond of my technology blogs iLearntechnology, Free Tech4Teachers, Educational Technology and Mobile Learning, Techchef4you, Class Tech Tips and iPad You pad. Of course, I am always on the lookout for new ones as well.
ACTEM Technology Conference
IThe ACTEM TEchnology Conference is a great place to be introduced to new ideas in digital learning, new applications for old tools and new tools. I have attended this conference for each of the last five years and plan to concintue attending as long as I can get approval from our administration. Over the course of the years I have learned about a lot of tools, some of which I have used in the same way they were introduced, but most of which I have adapted for the needs of my students.
Using Google forms for purposes other than surveys is one example. I attended a seminar run by a teacher who used the forms for so many leraning purposes. I use her idea of the forms for my daily proofreading activities, but have also used it for reading predictions, reading logs and more.
ACTEM also is a place to meet other teachers with a passion for technology. I established email connections with a few who were in the same seminar about student blogging and included their blogs on my student blogrolls.
Graduate School
As important as these other opportunities are, the IT program has been the most valuable. The value of being able to dig into resources and their applications to find new and better ways to support student learning, communication with parents and the community and the support of other teachers trying to integrate technology cannot be quantified.
As I finish this program I will certainly take a breather for a bit, but my passion for technology integration has grown such that it will always be an integral part of my teaching. In order to be successful I will need to continue to seek out new resources, ideas and teachers who use technology. It will also be imperative to continue to work with educators within my district and around the world, putting my own stamp on the future of our students because, whether we like it or not, technology is an ingrained part of our world. We need our children to harnes their understanding and energy to create great things.