Eileen Lennon's Blog (43)

One Good Deed Deserves Another

I read George Couros' book The Innovators Mindset recently. It was enlightening to say the least. There was so much in the book that I wanted to implement in my classroom, so I created an infographic about the…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on February 17, 2018 at 1:52pm — No Comments

One Teacher's Approach to Digital Citizenship

In the beginning

When I began teaching digital citizenship in 2010 it was an innocent time. We were only worried about the students believing all websites were real. I directed students to The Dog Island website, where you could pack up your dog in a crate and send him off for a week long romp on a beach. The site was very believable; pictures of the dogs, and even information about how to ship your dog. There’s other sites too; you can learn…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on December 20, 2017 at 5:35pm — No Comments

I finally understand what Parent Teacher Conferences are all about

I have parents coming into my classroom today asking how their child is doing in my class. They only have a 95, how can they get a higher grade?

Really?

This happens over and over again. I wonder why they're here. I don't think it's to make themselves feel better about how great their child is doing in school. I also don't think that they are very worried about the 95 not being a 98. I believe it's to show their child that they are fully invested in…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on November 30, 2017 at 1:41pm — No Comments

Managing the Modern Classroom

From a NYCSchoolsTech Facebook discussion, teachers offered their best practices on how to manage today's classroom. Here's what we shared.

Added by Eileen Lennon on November 25, 2017 at 12:30pm — No Comments

My tech lesson when the internet is down

You have a great lesson planned for today, and the internet is down. Your supervisor is lurking in the doorway, you can just smell the observation coming. What do you do?

You teach your kids how to create hyperlinks with just PowerPoint or Google Slides!

Here’s my plan.

Begin the lesson with having the students create the first slide, a “Table of Contents” sort of slide. Mine looks like this.…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on September 21, 2017 at 11:16am — 1 Comment

I'm a certified bilingual nerd

I recently earned my Google Level 2 Certification, and it felt great, but I'm just as proud earning my Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert Badge for this year too. I like to say that I'm bilingual: I speak Google and Office. Both prove I met certain requirements, but they proved it in different ways.

You can earn your Google Certification anytime you want, just pay the $25 and…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on August 29, 2017 at 3:12pm — No Comments

The Painful Sting of Failure

So, I took the Google Certified Level 2 Exam last year and failed it by 4 points. That stung.

I was embarrassed, I pouted, and felt sorry for myself. (Yes, my life is a living hell.)

But after a few hours, I got over myself and realized that this is a real learning experience. I thought about what failing feels like to my students. Do they feel the way I do when they fail?

The difference between their tests and mine was…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on July 24, 2017 at 9:35am — No Comments

Wrapping up another year

I teach sixth grade, so I will be saying goodbye to my students in about a week. I'll see them in the hallways, but it won't be the same. They'll never be in my classroom again. That's weird to think about right now, when all I do is see them.
It has me wondering; did I serve them as best I could? Did I impart all the wisdom I could into their little brains? Did I ignite a spark, or reaffirm a defeatist attitude?
I have to be honest,…
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Added by Eileen Lennon on June 19, 2017 at 11:33am — No Comments

So I accidentally blew up on Twitter last week.

National Teacher Day was May 9th, and I wanted to recognize that in a small way. I had a graphic that I created for a previous Twitter Chat, so I opened it back up, changed the top, and posted it with two small sentences and hash tagged it with #NationalTeachersDay. I tagged my usual tribe in the graphic so they would re-tweet it for me; they’re awesome like that. After that, I went about my day.…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on May 17, 2017 at 9:24am — No Comments

What I've learned from tiny little dictators

These North Korean officers are standing there proudly and why shouldn't they? They're wearing enough bling on their uniforms to set off metal detectors.

If you notice along the side of my blog, I've got some micro-credentials: Google, Microsoft, CommonSense, etc. I'm proud of the work I've done to earn them and to display the badges on my blog. I realize that my…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on May 10, 2017 at 6:34am — No Comments

Parent Teacher Conference is a learning experience for me

While staying late sitting in my classroom until its dark is not the way I want to spend a day, I do find Parent Teacher Conference Night a way for me to be a better teacher.

I love seeing the family dynamic. Kids can be so funny; they behave one way in the classroom and act completely different around their parents. Seeing how much the parent loves their child is also a reminder that the kid in my class is actually someone's child. They're young and out in the world without their…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on April 5, 2017 at 5:54am — No Comments

Parent Teacher Conference is a learning experience for me

While staying late sitting in my classroom until its dark is not the way I want to spend a day, I do find Parent Teacher Conference Night a way for me to be a better teacher.

I love seeing the family dynamic. Kids can be so funny; they behave one way in the classroom and act completely different around their parents. Seeing how much the parent loves their child is also a reminder that the kid in my class is actually someone's child. They're young and out in the world without their…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on April 5, 2017 at 5:54am — No Comments

The Second First Year

I've mentioned the gym before on this blog, and how I go often. It's one of the things that I do that I'm most proud. I'm proud that I went that first year and lost all that weight (40 pounds) but actually, since I recently hit the two year anniversary, I'm more proud of myself now.
Sticking with something when you see results is one thing, but sticking with something that doesn’t show big results is another. I go to the gym now because I feel better than when…
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Added by Eileen Lennon on March 16, 2017 at 10:12am — No Comments

How Blogger gives every student a voice

I use Google Classroom in my technology lab almost all day, everyday. It's a great tool. I've personalized each class with a portrait of the kids. Here's some of my little knuckleheads.

I also use many other Google tools. After the students get their school gmail account, we go over…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on February 8, 2017 at 1:34pm — No Comments

What am I going to work on this year.

I've got a lot of these skills covered, but certainly not all of them. I'm assuming we all could improve our skills. This post resonated with me, so I made it pretty to post it near my desk. When I glance at it, it reminds me of what I am working towards. For all the resources, go back to the original post in The Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website.…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on January 11, 2017 at 11:19am — No Comments

Stay in Your Lane

My students, like every adolescent, have their phones in their hands all day. They are in constant contact with their friends, and don't miss an opportunity to take pictures of themselves or their lunch. To the adults around them they may seem very tech-savvy, but the adults should know better. The kids certainly know how to use Instagram and Snapchat, but they don’t know how to insert a picture into a Word document…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on December 28, 2016 at 7:44pm — No Comments

How do you stay motivated?

I am better off when I'm self-motivated. I don't need to tell other people about my goals, I hold myself accountable. But the minute I tell someone else about a plan, I will crawl over broken glass to fulfill my plan. I can disappoint myself, but I'd rather die than disappoint someone else.

I also love earning gold stars. I keep track when I go to the gym, so I can…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on November 17, 2016 at 6:31pm — No Comments

My Latest Infographic

Added by Eileen Lennon on October 5, 2016 at 5:45am — No Comments

A Fresh Start

I've moved to a new middle school this year. I tell my sixth grade students that I'm just like them; I have no idea where the bathrooms are either. It's a fresh start for me, so I need to step back and really reflect. 

With technology constantly changing, I always need to look at my curriculum and decide if what I'm teaching is still relevant for today's students. Some lessons I've taught for years, like how to format paragraphs and create tabs, but most lessons have…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on September 20, 2016 at 11:19am — No Comments

4 Steps to make your profile pic look really professional

When I first added logos to my profile picture, I just simply did it in Preview on a mac. It was effortless. Once people saw my profile sporting my nifty badges to show off my accomplishments, everyone wanted to know how to do this and I wanted to help. Since not everyone has a Mac I put together these handy directions to use on any device. I used Lunapic, a free online photo editor.

 

Step 1:  Upload your photo into an image…

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Added by Eileen Lennon on August 6, 2016 at 8:00pm — No Comments

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