Being Sick and Being a Teacher #edchat

I've been dealing with a flu bug (or something) for a week now. It finally got the best of me Wednesday night and I took Thursday and Friday off to try and recoup. One of the things that has weighed on me during these days (and any sick days I take), is that I'm letting my students down.

There is so much pressure to cover all of the material in the time we are given and a single missed day doubles the amount of work for the teacher and, possibly, the students. There is a stress that follows as well. When I try to put together a lesson plan, my brain is not "Five by Five" (nerd reference). I feel like I'm being judged for having students quietly read while I'm out. Am I supposed to have an elaborate lesson ready to go for each day in case I'm out sick? I do understand that I place some of this pressure on myself, but do I place it myself because the system has started to weigh more things for/against teachers?

I know there are plenty of teachers that go through a day feeling like death, but want to be there for the children to make sure they are ok. I have a limited number of days to take during the year and I'm subjected to germ ridden students every day. It's tough to avoid getting sick, but you do your best. When you do get sick, you weigh how much it is going to impact the students first, then you worry about your health. That does not seem right, but that is what teachers do.

My students have a huge mock trial next week and I need to be there so we can get it rolling and finish by the end of the week because we start our Gothic Literature Unit next that leads to a Harlem Renaissance Unit that will take me to Gatsby and then eventually to Catcher. I'm not sure I have time for an unexpected sick day after this week.

I'm not sure if this post serves a "purpose". I know I'm not solving a problem, so I guess I'm just complaining. IDK. I wish there was a better system for teachers that supports them when they are out sick. I guess if I can figure that out, I could retire to a warm island somewhere with the family and never worry about sick days again.

Stay healthy folks!

Nick (cough cough) Provenzano

The @BlackboardK12 BITS Learning Sessions #19 #BbK12Live

The @BlackboardK12 BITS Learning Sessions #19 #BbK12Live

I've partnered with BlackboardK12 to share out the awesome sessions they are having this Fall. Educators can sign up to attend and share with other great educators what they have learned. I'll feature the session and the description on my blog each week and on my Twitter account. If you have questions, feel free to shoot a tweet to @BlackboardK12. Have fun learning and sharing!

The Networked Teacher: The Power of the Professional Learning Network

An accomplished teacher continues to learn. An accomplished teacher continues to connect, communicate, and collaborate. Now 14 years into the 21st century, there are a myriad of ways that teachers can capitalize on the 3C’s of building community, and move beyond the static face-to-face and one-to-one encounters with a brick and mortar school. This session will explore the power of the Professional Learning Network, taking the concepts of a learning community and looking at it from a more global context. How can teachers share, collaborate, discuss, and learn from other teachers around the state, nation, or world? How can teachers engage in an environment that builds and supports not only individual, professional learning, but the learning of students? Although many digital tools are used to develop and sustain a PLN, this session will focus on Twitter and maximizing its use to learn, grow, and connect. The key to building a successful PLN is a commitment to learn, play, engage, and contribute.

Don Lourcey, Director of Professional Learning, North Carolina Virtual Public School

Don Lourcey is the Director of Professional Learning for North Carolina Virtual Public School. He has been an educator for 22 years and before coming to NCVPS in 2007, he served as an English teacher for 11 years and an Instructional Facilitator for 4 years. He is passionate about teaching, learning, innovation, leadership, and digital literacy. He currently lives in Statesville, NC with his wife Michelle (the Chief Academic Officer for NCVPS) and his daughter Elizabeth, and two cats, Gator and Tebow (yep, you guessed it, he is a Florida Gator fan).

Twitter: @dlourcey

When: Monday, February 2, 2015 3:30 PM EST

Sign Up

Don't forget to check out the Blackboard Live App. It has all of the sessions you might have missed and much much more.  Here is the playlist where you can watch this recorded session and other sessions you might have missed.

The @BlackboardK12 BITS Learning Sessions #18 #BbK12Live

The @BlackboardK12 BITS Learning Sessions #18 #BbK12Live

I've partnered with BlackboardK12 to share out the awesome sessions they are having this Fall. Educators can sign up to attend and share with other great educators what they have learned. I'll feature the session and the description on my blog each week and on my Twitter account. If you have questions, feel free to shoot a tweet to @BlackboardK12. Have fun learning and sharing!

Connected Learners Need Connected Leaders 

This session will explore the importance of connected learners having connected leaders, strategies to become more connnected and ways to leverage this in an instructional setting. 

Mark Carbone, CIO

Donna Miller Fry, Education Officer, Waterloo District School Board

Bio for Mark: 

Mark Carbone is an educator with 33 years experience. He is currently the Chief Information Officer for the Waterloo Region District School Board. He also serves as the Ministry OSAPAC co-chair, OSSEMOOC project co-lead and is president of Educational Computing Organization of Ontario

Bio for Donna:

Donna Fry has nearly thirty years experience in publicly-funded schools in Ontario as a teacher, administrative head, online instructor, alternative education teacher, vice-principal, and principal. She currently serves as an Education Officer for the Province of Ontario. Donna is especially interested in how school and system leaders influence what happens at the level of the student desk.

Twitter: @markwcarbone and @fryed
 
When: Friday, January 30, 2015 12:00 PM EST

Sign Up

Don't forget to check out the Blackboard Live App. It has all of the sessions you might have missed and much much more.  Here is the playlist where you can watch this recorded session and other sessions you might have missed.

HoverCam Solo 8 Review: I Love It! #EdChat

I have used a new document camera and I have to say I am a huge fan! The HoverCam Solo 8 is a wonderful addition to a classroom. Here is a short video that details all of the awesome things it does.

Here is a description of the Solo 8 and I'll talk about these different features. 

The pictures are simply stunning. The images are crisp. I am blown away at how wonderful everything looked under the Solo 8. Take a look at these pictures from their photo gallery. 

 Check out their Gallery Photos for more great pictures. 

The Video Recording was smooth and the sound was clear. This can really change the way teachers flip their classroom. I can see teachers and students recording their annotations and then sharing them with the rest of class.

Zooming was easy to use by simply sliding my finger up and down on my mouse and the auto focus made sure that the image was clean. 

I would have to say that my favorite aspect of the Solo 8 is the annotation feature in the Flex 10 software. Here is a quick look at a student essay and the annotation tools. 

This is a screen shot of a live image. I was able to annotate on a live image. You can also annotate on the pictures that the Solo 8 takes, but annotating on the live image is important. As a teacher, you might want to show a class something, but do not need to take a picture of the document every time you want to show an example. You also might not want to actually mark up the paper. This allows you to virtually mark up the work for the class to see and you could snap a photo if you wanted later, but it is not required. This is the type of feature that sells document cameras.

I also love the fact that the live shots did not have any lag. When I moved my hand or made notes, they were on the screen right away. Normally, other document cameras have that lag hiccup that just takes a second to catch up to what the user is doing. I did not experience that at all and I tried to make it lag. I wrote quickly, i waved my hand, and I even shuffled papers around. I did not see a lag and the auto focus was great once I stopped moving. These things are huge in a classroom where every second of instruction counts.

Flex 10 software also allows for the user to crop the image that is being viewed to help focus on the relevant information. This is a crop of a part of an editorial from our school newspaper. This is perfect for teachers that are showing printed works and want to focus on only one aspect of a very busy page.

As an English Teacher, one of the ways we help students with their writing is by showing them examples of good writing and how to make good writing great writing. Document cameras make this a much easier process. The HoverCam Solo 8 has raised the bar when it comes to Document Cameras. I can now do things with essays and documents that I just could not do before. The pictures are beautifully rendered on the screen. I can see this being wonderful for the Science teachers who want to show images of dissected frogs or other Science-y type of things. (Note: I'm not a Science teacher, but if I was, I would show dissection stuff all of the time on this document camera.)

Clarity is important and we have come a long way since the overhead projector. The fact the Solo 8 can do so much in one device is important for teachers looking for the most bang for their buck. The high resolution photos, the screen recording, zooming, cropping, annotating, and other awesome features make the Solo 8 an excellent choice for educators looking to add an document camera to their classroom. 

If you are looking for a new document camera that can do everything you want and more, check out the HoverCam Solo 8. They have a great 30 Day Trial that can help you see for yourself how this awesome camera can be used in your learning environment. It's what I did and I can't wait to get one for my Makerspace so students can see the detail for all of their work. Check out the Purchase Info to get a HoverCam Solo 8 in your hands as soon as possible.