english – Technology in the Classroom

Special Podcast – Talking Technology with the English Department

February 14, 2013 Patrick CauleyLeave a comment

I’ve been planning this for a while and it has finally happened. I got to sit down with the English department at my middle school to talk about technology and how it is impacting their English classes. It was a really good chat and definitely worth the listen. Check out the agenda below.

1) Dealing with the new Bring your Own Device program (BYOD) and Macs

2) Some projects with technology integration and their results

3) Some challenges of integrating technology into the classroom

4) Handwritten vs typed assignments

5) Plus for the future Lots of humor!

Here is that 60 second book review website: http://www.60secondrecap.com/

Thanks Jeff, Lisa and Martha for their time and insights!

As always you can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes HERE!

As always you can subscribe to our podcast on PodOmatic HERE!

You can always listen right here on IT Babble.

www.noredink.com – A review

March 26, 2012March 27, 2012 Patrick Cauley10 Comments

I was reading Larry Ferlazzo’s blog and saw this. I thought to myself “Hmmmm-that looks good.” So, I popped right over to www.noredink.com and signed up as a teacher. The website is all about teaching students grammar. I know what you’re thinking “Grammar!? I’d rather grate the side of my face and then dive into a bath of rubbing alcohol!”

OK, that may not be exactly what you’re thinking, but learning grammar is not that exciting (for most of us) and it takes a lot of practice and time. I am wondering if noredink cracked the code. I wonder if they can make it interesting and not a total snooze fest. I bet you want to know too, am I right? Well wait no further, hit on past the break to see what I think and whether you agree or disagree leave comment below. We love those things here at IT Babble!

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iPhone App of the Week – Mad Libs

March 20, 2012March 20, 2012 Patrick Cauley2 Comments

Man do I remember these! Mad Libs were a favorite past time for us in the fifth grade. We would laugh hilariously as we dropped in ridiculous nouns, adjectives, verbs, etc. blindly into a short story and then read the account aloud. It was awesome. Now you can have that same fun right on your iPhone. If you are familiar with Mad Libs then using the app should be of no surprise to you. If you’ve never used Mad Libs they ask you for words based on their part of speech (noun, verb, adverb, etc.) then it takes those words and drops them into a story. the results are usually pretty funny. The app itself is free and the includes four Mad Libs to complete. To get more you can purchase them within the app. The free ones were able to make me chuckle (yeah, I’m 36 years old). Get it here from the iTunes store. To get a better idea check out the pictures below.