My New Google Reader

May 9, 2013 Just Jen's Thoughts, TechTips

I was a bit disappointed (understatement of the year) when Google decided to cancel Reader.

But as always, you realize nothing on the internet is permanent anymore (except your pictures, tweets, facebook status, etc) — okay no “free” tool is permanent any more — and so I started looking for options.

I tried all the ones that everyone was shouting about but they just really were not working the way I wanted them to work.  Especially in needing to log onto my google account in order to get the app to work.  (I might be weird but I just don’t like tying everything together…..I do compartmentalize things…..and am content.)

So, as I was browsing through the RSS search on my ipad I saw an app called BookShelf II and decided to give it a spin.

And after 3 weeks — I am very very happy — so I thought I would share it with you.

Quick Disclaimer:  It is rated 12+ but I have yet to have any problems with anything – and it does have in-app purchases but I have not had anything solicit me yet.  But when you go to the itunes app site, the left side about “what it offers” is a bit more adult than the G rating I usually share….so I am not linking to it here.  You can do a search on your app store for this app.

Here is a screen shot:

blogshelfIf you  have it landscape you see 8 blogs per page,
portrait you see 9)

You will notice that at the top right corner of several of the blogs is a RED triangle.  If that is BRIGHT RED there is a new posting, if it is light red, you have unread blogs, if it had no triangle, you are all caught up.

To subscribe to blogs, you go to the top left corner and click on SUBSCRIBE.  There are featured blogs (this is where the 12+ comes in) but I jump right over to the SEARCH Option and type in the address of the blog I wish to follow.  It searches for the blog and then confirms you wish to subscribe.

There are other options for subscribing, but I tend to just use the SEARCH option.

When I am done subscribing, I click back on bookshelf and I am back to the main screen (or screens based on how many blogs you are subscribing to.)

  • The Curved Arrow on the top right reloads your list just in case you feel you might be missing something.
  • The magnifying glass allows you to search articles for keywords, etc.
  • The heart allows you to favorite blogposts.
  • The question mark highlights certain areas of blogshelf and then shares what that tool does.

When you are reading a blog post — you have several options as well.

  • The A button lets you set font size, a theme, the font you wish, text alignments, and brightness of screen.
  • The share out button allows you to send to email, tweet, facebook, pocket, instrapaper)
  • The heart button allows you to “Favorite” this post.
  • The 3 lines allows you to thumbnail the blog posts so you can see more than 1 at a time.
  • And the question mark highlights certain areas of the post and then shares what that tool does.

One other nice feature….
If push on the title of the blog post — it will
a.  Take you to the original website.
b.  Copy the blog post
c.  Email the link
d.  More

Since I don’t subscribe to a huge number of blogs, so this is truly working for me.

I have been using it now for 3 weeks (free version)
…..and I see no need to upgrade to the paid version.

If you are using blogshelf — please share your thoughts.
If you are using another option — please feel free to share your thoughts as well.

Jen

PS:  And yes, for those of you who noticed, I do subscribe to my own blog.  It is important to me to make sure it looks nice for others to read on their devices.

PSS:  One more thing:  if the blog has a picture in it, blogshelf will display the picture with the blog post.  If the blog does not have a picture, it defaults to a solid background.  Hence, I am starting to add pictures to my blog posts!  :)

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The Last Project of 2012/2013

April 25, 2013 Projects

It has been a wonderful school year of hosting projects –

and this last project has become truly memorable and great fun!

The Picture It project debuted last year with a salute to Monet and this year I decided to host the same project and salute Mondrian!

The premise of the project is to group classrooms together that will collaborate to create 1 unique piece of artwork — the original artwork has has been divided into 24 sections — each classroom responsible for 1 section each!

We ended up with 192 classrooms joining in the fun!

We had a few hiccups with printers NOT printing the pdf images the same size (hence we now know about “scaling” with PDFs.)
We had a few hiccups with teachers addresses being incorrect (but fixed that quickly by sharing lists out by Google Docs and giving teachers the ability to edit! — keeper tool!)
We had a few hiccups with “micromanaging” but then watched as teachers stepped back to allow student creativity — and saw ideas BLOOM!
We had a puzzle placement issue that was 100% my fault with switching 2 sections – but students/teachers overcame!!

Sections do NOT need to be mailed out until May 9 — but I am already receiving pictures back from growing boards.

number1

and

number2

and teachers are sharing ideas….

Such as adding Post-it notes to show where the sections will be sent from:

number3and one of my favorites — coloring the map (to indicate where sections will be sent from) in Mondrian colors:

number4I am soooo pleased with this project and all the opportunities it allows for teachers/classrooms to connect, collaborate, and create.

Such a FUN PROJECT!!
Such a FUN PROJECT to end the 2012/2013 school year with.

And if you wish to see more images — please visit the pinterest page at:
http://pinterest.com/ProjectsByJen/pictures-from-projects/

Jen

 

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Keynote Reflections

April 22, 2013 Conferences, Conversations

I can vividly remember Steve Dembo walking up to me, as I was chatting with Pernille Ripp and Diana Laufenberg at ICE in February and asking if he could chat with me for a few minutes about business.

I can vividly remember Steve talking to me about the Virtual Conference in April and finally realizing he invited me to be the closing keynote.

I can vividly remember working on my presentation for the next two months.

But — smiles, the entire keynote presentation on April 20th from noon to 1 PM (California time) is a blur.

Luckily I had a lot of friends who had listened in — and gave critiques later….and grins — there is a video recording (sighs) –   :)

But I still am rolling it around in my head.

I had 3 goals in mind.

#1 — I wanted to be Jen.
I had a script – but I did not wish to be scripted.  I knew my content and had the words nearby just in case I got flustered or started to “squirrel”.

#2 — I wanted to remind educators in the room NOT to lose connections with other educators on their campus.
This was so important to me — they need us, we need them….and labeling them unapproachable does harm for both parties.

#3 — I wanted to encourage others to try new things.
Hmmm — I am not sure if I shared anything “BRAND” new to the group I was presenting to.   The extension ideas for Mystery Skype seemed to go over well as well as the Google Doc of Connecting Opportunities — where over 80 teachers are saying “Yes, I want to Connect”!!

So, all in all — I think I met my personal goals.

What I would do next time –
a.  Not give unnecessary information
…..smiles, the reason I don’t participate in #CAEDCHAT on Sunday nights is that I am with friends and we watch Amazing Race.   I have rule that when I am with friends, all devices are off — so that is why I do not participate in #CAEDCHAT — but smiles, that will change in 5 or 6 weeks when Amazing Race is over — (but I did not need to mention Amazing Race in my session)

b.  Have another computer to watch the chat.
I had asked my pal, Dennis Grice, to come and help with the keynote and he watched the chat.  In hindsight, I am sad I was not watching the chat — and next time, I think I need to be able to present & be conscious of the back-channel.
PS:   If you liked the look of the prezi — BIG THANKS to Dennis who tinkered with it that morning and made it look so so nice.

c.  Have more qualitative data.   
I can tell you with 100% certainty how important it is to connect with your fellow teachers & staff.  I can assure you that We (many of us) are building a huge chasm between us (the tech users) and them (the non) — which is harming our students.   I can promise you that relationship and working together WILL make a difference on our campuses…
But I need to back that up with proven statistics rather than just my personal thoughts.

I would love to hear your thoughts — if you were listening in on Saturday.
And if you were not a part — but might want to see what it was all about — here is the link to EVERYTHING!
http://jlwagner.pbworks.com/w/page/65273309/DENVC_2013

Also, I forgot to mention in the keynote but included in the presentation notes are links to 16 blog posts which were influential in my growing of this keynote!   ENJOY!

Jen

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Opportunity: Outreach

March 27, 2013 Just Jen's Thoughts

I have been struggling lately with Projects By Jen –

Not with hosting projects — I am reaching a need of many teachers and will continue to be encouraging, standing strong on simplicity & flexibility, and always urging teachers to try one more new idea.

But I have been struggling with “there must be something more.”

With over 104,000 thousand students participating in 2012/2013 alone — which breaks down to about 4,000+ classrooms…..I felt that we could do much more “together” than just stacking cookies, graphing cereal, and sending greeting cards.

So, while at the CUE conference, Rushton Hurley briefly mentioned a trip he had made to Mexico and even more briefly mentioned a charity he knew that could educate a child for $100 a year.

And it clicked.   Projects By Jen would host a Community Project for 3 weeks (March 17 to April 7, 2013) to raise money to cover the costs of at least 5 students.

And today — on March 27th — we met that goal.

But there is still time to increase the number of students we support.  In fact, I am going to be bold enough to ask that we attempt to double our goal.  5 more elementary students!

If you are interested in reading more about Project Amigo –
Please follow this link:  http://projectamigo.org/

If you are interested in helping with this project –
Please follow this link:  http://projectsbyjen.com/TWMCProject.html

At the bottom of the Together We Make Sense page, you will see a link to the donations so far.

Thank you for considering to be a part of a child’s education!
Jennifer

 

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