I am starting a series of posts about using the iPhone and taking good photos. I have an iPhone 4 and seem to get pretty good results. This first post will be just a simple list of the apps that I use most often for creating good photos. Later in the series I will explore each of them in more detail.

For Photography
Camera+
Pro HDR
Tile Shift Gen
Fast Camera
iPhoto

Just for Fun Photography
VFX Studio
Lightning Cam
Motivational

How about you? What apps do you use with your iPhone for photography?

I got this idea from Ewan Mcintosh (@mcintosh, http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2012/06/five-things-ive-learned.html?%2BEducation%29) who was one of the first educators to contribute to the site Five Things I’ve Learned sponsored by the Pearson Initiative.
Here are my five things…

1. My students are not digital natives.
Just because some students have been around computers since they were born doesn’t magically make them better. If this was the case then I should have been an automotive native, since I’ve been around cars all my life. In fact I would argue that those of us my age and a little bit older (I’m 43) would be the true natives as we’ve seen much of the development of personal computers within our lifetimes. This assumes that we’ve used computers all of our lives and many of my peers thought computers were geeky when they were first available to us.

2. Classroom management systems don’t work for me and my students.
The key words being “for me and my students”. They may work for some students and teachers but I find that they are to restrictive. What works for me is my expectations and the understanding that I will treat each individual with respect and care.

3. It’s not acceptable to be non- proficient with technology as a teacher.
I’m still surprised by teachers who aren’t proficient with basic tools of technology. Worse yet some don’t seem to think that their students need to be proficient. Technology is not going away, parents (often) aren’t teaching the skills, so it’s up to teachers to make it happen. Can you imagine a teacher saying they don’t know how to read or write?

4. Teachers need to make connections beyond their classroom and school walls.
Professional development at the school and district level is not enough to keep one up to date with new ideas in education. Today it is too easy to make connections around the world. These connections can bring new ideas, insight and perspective.

5. I think the key for improving education is individualization.
All students are different. Why do we insist on grading and evaluating them by their date of birth? This doesn’t happen anywhere else in their lives. I haven’t got my grade 38 report card yet, have you gotten yours? I’m not sure how to make the change to more individualization of school, but the current drive towards standardization of all students is just going to turn off more students to learning.

So there’s my five. What are yours?

I purchased a set of Sifteo Cubes earlier this year and had been using them in the classroom.  Students used them to practice simple math and spelling skills.  I wondered how I could use this tool with the scouts in my troop.

One of the important parts of an early scout’s learning is memorizing the Oath and the Law.  Usually it is learned by just plain memorizing it, which for some scouts is not the easiest way to learn something.  I used the Matching Creativity Kit to create a game for learning the Oath and another for learning the Law.   I tested it with the scouts and found that they enjoyed using the Sifteo Cubes. Just recently, I sent email to Sifteo to see if they wanted a post for their blog.  They were interested so I sent off an email with the post.   Check out the post and pictures (I took the pictures too…) here:

http://blog.sifteo.com/

A long time ago (no not in a galaxy far, far away)  I attended a session by Mark Prensky http://www.marcprensky.com/ he had said something along the lines of the following.

We are All Learners

We are All Teachers

I added these questions and an additional statement. My contributions are in italics.

We are all learners….What did you learn today?

We are all teachers…What did you help someone learn today?

We are a Community… What did you share today?

I think if more people used these thoughts and statements to guide their thinking and learning our schools would be far more successful.  Imagine if everyday, you shared something you knew with another teacher…and understood that you had something to learn as well.

At the MACUL Conference recently Rushton Hurley  (http://ekunnen.posterous.com/macul12-closing-keynote-dancing-and-flying-wi) made the following comments in the sessions I attended.

Isolation is the most cancerous part of education

and

There is something cool happening every day, every teacher does it, maybe accidentally, but it happens sometime during the year.

The key to defeat the cancer that is isolation is to share…. Share with your fellow teachers, but not just in the teacher’s lounge. Share on Facebook, create a web page, a webmix, share on twitter. Administrators, make time available for teacher’s to share their successes and recognize the teachers who are stretching their skills and seeking new ideas.

I’ve compiled a collection of the best webmixes from Symbaloo and created a page to share them. The site is organized by the following categories

• Elementary Classroom Examples
• Fun Sites for Kids
• Future Projects
• Middle School Examples
• Subject Area Examples
• Symbaloo Tutorials
• Tech Tools and Resources for Teachers

Here are a few highlights from my school site Technically Speaking….

Smart Board Resources

This site is a treasure trove of interactive activities for use with your Interactive White Board. Activities are organized by subject area and include activities for: Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, Brainteasers, Art, Music, Holidays and Teacher Tools. The best part is they are free!

Dr. Suess and Berenstain Bears By Grade Level

Here’s a resource listing Dr. Suess and Berenstain Bears books by grade level. 

 Check out the site Technically Speaking here: https://sites.google.com/a/emanschools.net/techspeak/home