Eight Awesome Ed Tech Boards to Follow on Pinterest

Pinterest is an excellent tool for curating links, which makes it ideal for teachers to use. I teach in a 1:1 Mac school and am always looking for educational technology resources to incorporate into my curriculum. I've compiled a list of my top eight boards based on their content.

My criteria for board selection: 

1. Quality of pins: the links need to work, aren't spammy, and are geared for teachers to use in their classrooms.

2. Variety of pins: the links should cover multiple grades, levels, and subjects; this makes it easy for a technology coordinator, librarian/media specialist, and/or administrator to find resources to share with all their teachers.

3. Number of pins: in order to offer the wide variety and good quality, the boards needed at least 100 pins.

My Top 8 Ed Tech Boards to Follow on Pinterest
Listed in order of the number of pins (as of June 23, 2013):

1. All Things Technology by Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives (Mary Lirette) (6,198 followers; 812 pins) This collaborative board is comprised of a wide variety of teachers who have curated an astounding number of links that may take you days to peruse, but well worth it!

2. Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne  (3,076 followers; 729 pins) If you follow Richard's Free Technology for Teachers blog (and if you don't, you should!), this is an excellent collection of links to complement it. 

3. 1:1 Technology by Mrs Orman (4,341 followers; 468 pins) OK, so this is my own board, but there has to be some perks in writing the blog post, right? I promise it's worthy of the criteria.

4. EduTech Resources by Erin Klein (5,268 followers, 443 pins) All Kleinspiration fans should follow Erin on Pinterest, too. Her boards are as rich in content as her blog.

5. Classroom Technology by We Are Teachers (7,746 followers; 180 pins) You know they have teachers in mind when you browse their pin boards. Make sure to follow their Teacher Humor board, as well.

6. Teaching Ideas and Apps by Cool Cat Teacher (Vicki Davis)  (5,808 followers; 177 pins) Vicki's board always contains informative and resourceful links.

7. What the Tech by Toby -Wan Kenobi (Toby Price) (663 followers; 147 pins) The Jedipadmaster is just as entertaining, thought-provoking, and rewarding to follow on Pinterest as he is on Twitter. All schools should have an administrator like Toby.

8. Technology by The OC Blog (Charity Preston) (23,493 followers; 140 pins) Charity is the queen of organized classrooms and her technology board is no exception! 

I have an honorable mention list I will post at another time. These may not have excelled in all three areas of criteria, but they're still pretty darn good boards to follow.

What are your favorite educational technology boards? 

Link your favorites in the comments below.

What's on Your Summer Bucket List?

One would think that teachers would have plenty of time to do all those wonderful things we've been compiling on our bucket lists. And some teachers may. But most of us have second jobs when we aren't teaching (we aren't paid for our vacation time), or are taking classes to maintain our certificates, and have families with busy schedules like everyone else. 

This summer I'll be going to my son's baseball games (which I do love) and taking a class (which I don't). So I won't be doing a whole lot of crossing off my bucket list, except for this, perhaps:

:D

Last year, however, we were able to take an amazing road trip west. We saw so many things I had never seen before, like...

The Badlands of South Dakota...

Mount Rushmore...

Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming...

Witnessing Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming...

(It was truly amazing and lasted much longer than I expected.)

Soaking up the gorgeous views on the most beautiful and serene lakes in Yellowstone.

Ummm...not on my bucket list, but the buffalo in Yellowstone are pretty amazing, too!

And a little frightening when they come right up to your vehicle...

Driving through both Montana and Idaho - two states I had always wanted to visit...

Enjoying the most beautiful rose garden (and so many other flowers) in Spokane, Washington at Manito Park and Botanical Gardens.

I guess it's OK I'm not doing much traveling this summer since we packed so much in last year, but I'd love to hear about your adventures. Feel free to comment and post a link. And have a wonderful summer!

Teachers: You Are Appreciated!

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, Teachers!

The quotes above are to remind you that you ARE appreciated! Here are some others that make me laugh. (Either because they are so absurd, or because they are sad but true. 

Or because they are just funny.):

“The only thing that surprises me is the characterization of teachers as lazy and greedy. Only someone with very little understanding of what teaching requires would say such a thing.” 

― Taylor Mali

“It's weird when you hear teachers call each other by their first names. It's like they're friends or something.” 

― Brian Francis

And this last one makes me laugh because I find myself talking to myself aloud more and more the longer I teach (and the older I get). And, yes, I'd say I'm a little weird...but maybe not so much? ;)

“In my ten years of teaching I’ve noticed that teachers tend to have a bad habit of talking to themselves. I hypothesize that this is because we talk for a living, and we feel safe speaking our feelings aloud. Or it could be that most of us, especially the high school teacher variety, are just weird as shit.” 

― P.C. Cast, Divine By Mistake

And let's not forget to thank parents this week, because they are so important in a child's life.

To THANK all of you fabulous teachers, head to my teacher store to enjoy 20% off, plus an extra 10% when you use code TAD13 at checkout. The sale begins tonight at midnight and ends Wednesday at midnight. 

Bloggers By State Link-Up

Hey Teachers--are you a blogger from the U.S.? If so, link up with Fifth in the Middle's Blogs by State to find fellow teacher-bloggers near you.

Even though I consider Iowa my "home" state, I was born in Michigan and currently live in Illinois. One thing is certain: I'm definitely a Midwesterner! ;) How about you?

Love is in the Air...Valentine's Day Freebie Link-Up

Valentine's Day is less than a month away, so I thought it would be fun to have a link-up of Valentine's Day freebies from my teaching friends. 

I have a new free download I wanted to share with you: 

"Love is Owl You Need" Valentine's Day Bookmarks

Click image to download your freebie on my TeachersPayTeachers store.

I used my new Valentine's Day Owl Clip Art Graphics and

 Kimberly Geswein's heart font to make them.

I also have several additional Valentine's Day freebies. Just click on the links below to download.

Do you have a freebie for teachers that you'd like to add? Please link up below either your blog post or free download and share this post with your followers and friends. Thanks & enjoy!

Coping with Tragedy

On my Hunger Games Lessons blog, I've written about my free Mockingjay Acts of Goodness download, which has students recording random acts of kindness they see around them each day. It seemed appropriate in light of the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary.

For older students, we've discussed gun control and teen violence many times at school. In fact, we have a Friends of Rachel club and I have shown the movie "Bowling for Columbine" to my upperclassmen. Michael Moore is encouraging people to watch it–free–through his link via Twitter here: Bowling For Columbine

Several years ago I created a "Bowling for Columbine" handout for my classroom. I uploaded it to TpT and promptly forgot about it. Yesterday I downloaded it and was a little embarrassed at the quality; it was an older version and I had since updated my personal file. I added my improvements and then additional information about donating to Sandy Hook School Support Fund. I decided to donate 100% of all proceeds toward the Sandy Hook Fund.

New Cartoon Character Clip Art for Commercial Use!

I'm so excited to share my new cartoon character clip art figures with you! I have been attempting to make these for over a year now, and I finally got some time this summer to complete them. Many teachers had requested figures in both color and black and white line art. Another request was to show diversity in order to represent all our students in our classrooms. Click on the images to see the full product listings.

I hope you enjoy my children and teachers (the teachers could be any adult professional). All of my graphics can be used for commercial purposes, as well as educational and personal use, of course. I only ask for a link to this site or my teacher's store in return for the commercial use. I don't charge a fee or a license.

I'll be posting soon about my new props to go with these figures. They include school supplies, sports balls and equipment, awards, ribbons, and trophies, speech bubbles, and more...

It's Friday? Woes of a Teacher: Losing Track of the Days in Summer...

I have to admit that this is me in the summertime. And, oh, how I love it. As much as I love to teach, I always welcome the days of sleeping in and recharging my batteries. 

Teaching can be very tolling, as we all know, and non-educators love to joke about us having the summers off. But the truth is, there wouldn't be many teachers left if we didn't have regular breaks from the stress and demands of our job. During the school year I feel as though I am working from the moment I wake up until the moment I fall asleep at night.

And we are not paid for our "vacation" time, contrary to popular belief. Our contracts are for a certain amount of days worked, which are then spread out to receive regular pay checks. Though, I did teach at a school that did not pay during the summer months. That was early on in my career and budgeting for that unpaid time was difficult on my meager salary. It's no wonder so many teachers take on summer jobs.

For those of you who have started your summer breaks, here's to you! Enjoy yourself and take time to just relax. For those of you who are still plugging away in the classroom, hang in there. Summer will be here before you know it. And while you are relaxing poolside, we'll be getting ready to go back.

And for the non-teachers, try not to give your friends a hard time about their summers off. They deserve it! :)

HAPPY SUMMER!

I created the image using my new Fun Dots background, which can be found in my 

Fun Dots Frames and Backgrounds Package

~Clip Art for Commercial, Educational, and Personal Use~

Leap Day Sale!

Leap day only happens once every four years; so to celebrate February 29th, TeachersPayTeachers is having a sale! Use promo code L2P9Y at check out to get 10% off PLUS I am having a sale in my store on all my digital downloads. Don't miss the opportunity to get some great lessons at discounted prices. :)

New Site for Teachers Launches Today: Classroom Freebies

The official launch of Classroom Freebies, a collaborative blog of teachers who post all freebies, all the time, launched today. Over 50 educators have come together to offer you their free resources. Why not check it out today?

It's a Free For All!

Today is the official launch of The Lesson Cloud, so head on over there to find oodles of free downloads for teachers! Whatever you teach, it'll be represented. Plus, the lessons will be archived so you can always go back and find them. Support your fellow teachers today & don't forget to comment or leave feedback for them! :)

New Graphics Clip Art Product

Download this preview of my new product: Stripes and Polka Dots!  Your purchase includes the PNG & JPG graphics for commercial use.

Stripes & Polka Dots Labels Frames Borders Name Plates