My iPad Workflow

For the first week of school I managed most of my work through my iPad.  Here were my go-to apps

Administration

ToDo* - I have become completely dependent on this app for organizing my life.  I am a compulsive list maker and this app allows me to synch with all my devices.

Evernote* - I have taken on some major projects.  I have tried a couple of project management applications, but I have decided that with Evernote's phenomenal search capacity I will will put all my digital materials into Evernote (and the paper documents get digitized).  I have already benefited at meetings by producing contracts and spreadsheets in moments while others are fumbling around with their stacks of paper.

Camera*  I love taking pictures as I go about the building.  Sometimes this is for fun, but I also have posted shots to my blog or the school web site such as the ones I took a couple of weeks ago of our new courtyard and the 9th graders who visited my office during their orientation.

DocuSign Ink
Wow!  With my operational duties I frequently sign quotes or contracts that are emailed to me as pdfs.  With this app I can import the files, "sign" them, and instantly email them back.  Nice time saver.

Teaching

Kindle 

Both of my textbooks for AP Government are Kindle books so this one is self-explanatory.

Keynote  I became adept at making slide presentations in Keynote in 2009.  Now I use slides instead of "lecture" notes and share all of them with my students.  However, in the past I have always had to convert them to PowerPoint.  Now I can import them as I created them into my iPad and share them wirelessly through my Apple TV.

PowerTeacher  Pearson has made an excellent app for our student gradebook/attendance/database.


Administration and Teaching

Dropbox  All of my work files are either in Google Drive or Dropbox so that I can access them anywhere. Unfortunately many of the Google apps don't "play well" with the iPad.

Mail  I actually prefer reading email on the iPad.  Almost all of my personal and work mail  comes into this app.

Calendar Ditto with the calendar app.  It is an elegant app and it includes all of my work and personal calendars.

Pdf Expert  If I give any kind of presentation I convert my file into a pdf and place it into this app.  I like the interface and I can make last second notes if I notice a change needed.

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*In my next post, I will detail the usefulness of these two apps.

Mercy 2.0 Boot Camp

With two recent retirements and and a bumper crop of 9th graders expected in August, we have six new teaching positions posted. These newbies will certainly have an impact on our school environment. And naturally, we are very eager to impact them with Mercy 2.0.

Ironically, we cannot reasonably expect that otherwise excellent candidates will arrive with the tech skills needed to jump in to Mercy's program. For one things, schools of education are behind in such things. For another, we truly are on the leading edge in instructional technology, so even experienced teachers may be unprepared for the breadth and depth of our program. Consequently, rather than listing specific skills as prerequisites, on our job descriptions we stipulated a need to demonstrate both an aptitude and an enthusiastic curiosity toward the investigation of technological tools and their integration across [science, etc.] curriculum

In order to prepare them for Mercy 2.0 we have arrived at a unique solution. In July, we will host a Mercy 2.0 Boot Camp for new teachers. (Mercy staff veterans will also be welcome to audit). The sessions will be led by our crackerjack Religious Studies teacher and tech wizard, Alison Kline-Kator. Over the course of three days, Alison will introduce teachers to such Mercy necessities as Moodle, PowerTeacher, Google Apps, and of course iPad/iPad apps. Most importantly, she will orient them to the engaging teaching methods that these powerful tools enhance.

We have introduced a number of innovations with Mercy 2.0. I consider this to be one of the most critical. We have a lot riding on the staff's enthusiasm Mercy 2.0. After graduating from boot camp, our cadets will be ready to join in the action.

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Creative Commons Photo courtesy of U.S. Coast Guard