Welcome to Room 121

Thursday, June 28, 2012

San Diego - Day 5

It is hard to believe, but this was the last day of the conference. It seems like only yesterday that I was getting on the plane to come here. Today, I went early again (as Mrs. Maley likes to sleep in, and you all know how I don't), and I got so interested talking to a teacher who was there talking about KidBlog that I almost forgot to find my first 'registered' session of the day. It is a good thing that I didn't forget though, as it ended up being one of the best sessions I attended. It was on 'Apps That Work,' and while we were already using many of them, there were some that I didn't know about, as well as some that I found some new uses for. The presenter was really well spoken, and he really knew his stuff. The biggest issue was the number of people all using the bandwidth at the same time, so it caused some 'glitches' in his presentation - like us not being able to use his 'e-Clicker' app to answer some survey questions. The e-clicker app works like our clickers. It is pretty neat, and I think Mme Evans uses it with her class.

I also spent more time walking through and talking to the Exhibitors. At one booth, I had a younger man (about your age) :-) tell me all about a product they have. It is made of a plastic and has suction cups. It goes over the keyboard on the iPad and allows you to full keyboard type without attaching a 'real' keyboard. It was kind of neat and cheaper than putting keyboards with the iPads.

Another neat product was a 'pen' that could be used to create your own SmartBoard. With this product, you could do most of the things that a SmartBoard can do, just by using a pen. It is brand new out on the market, and it also looked pretty neat. I was a bit disappointed though, as they did not 'show' us how it worked. They only talked about it, but when I asked if they could show me how it worked, they assured me that there is a really good video on their site, so I guess I will watch it when I get a chance. The last product I will tell you about today is a temperature probe that hooks up to your iPad - similar to the probe you were supposed to use in the 'cup competition' which Zoha tells me you didn't have :-(. No, I am not really :-(, I was just teasing you! I left Mrs. S. a note saying there was nothing on my day plan that HAD to be done! :-) These probes that I looked at were really neat. You didn't even have to put the probe into the 'substance' that you were measuring the temperature of. You just had to aim the probe toward it. Of course, Mrs. Maley and I had a lot of fun aiming the probe at each other. I think my 'temperature' was higher than hers! :-) They gave us T-shirts, and if we put them on, we got to have our badges scanned twice to win a set. Then, if we kept the t-shirt on, we had a chance to be 'spotted' by them later in the day and win a set that way. I guess Mrs. Maley didn't want them as much as I did, as she took her t-shirt off pretty quick, but I kept mine on even though it was so big!!! It didn't help though, as I didn't win :-(. Here's hoping they drew my name at the end of the conference and just haven't had time to contact me yet!
Here is me wearing my 't-shirt' around trying my best to win the temperature probe set. At one point Mrs. Maley even got me flower lei that lit up to make me 'stand out,' but I found that a bit much :-), so I took it off after about 5 minutes! :-)

The conference was also a great place to talk to other educators. I heard all about schools with 1-to-1 technology :-), as well as schools with little to none :-(. I would have to say that our classroom this year would be up there with those who had lots of technology going on every single day.

There was lots more, but that is enough 'conference talk.' The conference began to wind down very quickly and was over by mid-afternoon, so we had time to go to the beach yesterday in the late afternoon/early evening. It was beautiful as we sat there watching Mrs. Maley's husband try out surfing for the first time. He did great! :-) We have some tours planned for the next couple of days, and then it is time to fly home on Saturday.

Now, how about your last day of school? I have heard lots from those of you who have texted me, emailed me and FaceTimed me :-). It sounds like Mrs. S. 'let a lot go' from my day plans, but it sure sounded like you had fun. I do hope that you remembered to take all your belongings home though, and Emily, I hope you remembered to lock up that iPad cupboard for us :-). I have started to look at your 'letters' to next year's students, and boy, am I ever impressed! Calling them letters is an 'understatement.' There isn't one that is 'just' a letter. There is everything from letters with pictures, audio, e-books and movies. I am thoroughly enjoying every one of them so much that it makes me want to be in Room 205 next year! Wait, I AM GOING to be in Room 205 next year, aren't I? :-) It is you who won't be there. :-( I do know that you will all do very well in whatever classroom you end up in and that you will 'WOW' your new teacher with all your technology skills and ways that you have to show your learning! :-) You are all very AWESOME students!

Take care and have a wonderful summer with whatever you have planned, (Zoha, have a great time in Edmonton this weekend.)
Mrs. P. :-)
P.S. I hope you keep checking the site over the next couple of days, as I will tell you about the sights of San Diego next :-).

P.P.S. That was quite the rain you had the other night! Kirk sent me a video of it and of the clouds afterward. It looked a bit scary! I was glad to hear that you did not experience any funnel clouds in Regina though.