Speedgeeking

Wow! What an exciting Early Release (professional development) we had today! Speedgeeking! It is a humours play on Speed Dating! Under the direction of our Technology Team and Head Geek Melanie Holtsman the faculty was divided into 5 groups simply by giving each person a colored piece of paper as they walked into the Media Center (all the greens together, all the reds together...) As the faculty divided, with the Loveboat theme playing in the background, they each went to one of five rooms to learn about a new technology tool. All five tech tools were new to me and I'll bet there was at least one new tool for every single member of the faculty - even the geekiest! We had 10 minutes in each room to hear about the tool and then at the sound of a bell and one of the technology team coming over the Intercom with a humorous nod to speed dating we moved to the room to the right. Five new tools in less than an hour! Not bad! So today I learned about

• Flixtime - an easier moviemaker type tool that doesn't need to be rendered that I will use for my next slide/video show
• Timetoast - a simple timeline that I will use with my next author study
• Jing - a screen capture program that I will use to show parents next year how to leave a comment on my blog!
• Wallwisher - a techie wall with "sticky" notes that looks easier than Gloster that I will use to demonstrate to my students how to take notes for my next report unit
• Fotobabble - a picture with audio that is great when you don't need an entire Voicethread - would have been great for the kids to say "Happy Mother's Day" on a teacher's blog

We even evaluated Speekgeeking using an evaluation form that took minutes to complete. To get an idea of what the faculty thought about this little piece of PD, check it out!