On Monday March 31st I had the wonderful opportunity to present at the Digital Leadership Conference in Liverpool, NY. Many of the attendees were school district administrators from all over New York State. I am very grateful that NYSCATE believes in teachers like me and helps teachers to learn new and innovative ways to motivate students in the classroom.  Online learning is something that I could talk about for hours (literally) and I ran out of time to cover my entire presentation so I have shared my presentation here. From the Trenches: Life in a Blended Learning Classroom  Presenter: Amy Balling is NABT's 2013 Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year for New York State. This session will address triumphs and struggles faced in the past four years of running a blended Regents biology class. We will take a look at how online learning helps to address the needs of the students in a mixed classroom with students at various levels of ability. You wil...

I have updated my Open House video! I like using an Open House Video for 3 reasons: 1) Parents can get a better idea about what happens in our classroom if they can see it. 2) I only have 8 minutes with each set of parents and I don't want to forget to tell them anything. 3) Parents that are unable to attend Open House can watch the video on my website from home. You can read about and watch my old Open House Video here: Open House Video 2012. This is the new one: A lot of people have asked how I made it and what software did I use... Here is what you need to make your own video: 1) lots of pictures of your classroom over the years.  I usually have a simple digital camera in my classroom everyday just in case a photo-op comes up. 2) I loaded the pictures into Keynote on my Mac (If you have a PC or prefer Microsoft software you can use PowerPoint) Most teachers already have some sort of a PowerPoint video for Open House...if so, you are  ...

     So, I am applying to be an Apple Distinguished Educator.       I have been in love with Apple products for quite a while now, I love to use technology with my students on a daily basis because I see the amazing ways that technology can be used in education to motivate struggling students and I want to expand my professional learning community and learn even more ways to help my students.       I am really hopeful that I get in this year. Apple receives thousands of applications and selects only 75 individuals in North America.         IF I get in I will have the opportunity to   join the global community of Apple Distinguished Educators (ADEs), I’ll advise Apple on integrating technology into learning environments. I’ll author authentic content about my work. I’ll advocate the use of Apple products that help engage students like never before. And I’ll be an ambassador of innovation, participa...

Or should I title this: "What could be learned from Online Teaching"? I'd like to give you a glimpse into my online classroom and real life classroom.     I started teaching 16 years ago and taught in a very traditional way for most of that time. I did incorporate cooperative learning and group projects here or there but for the most part I did a traditional lecture from the overhead projector because that was the most efficient way to cover/teach the material. In 2007 I made the transition from the overhead projector to a SmartBoard (interactive white board). This allowed me to use some interactive games with my students but only one student at a time could come up to the board and play the game. Often the students did not want to get up in front of their peers and look foolish as they were playing the game so that was only slightly useful. In  January 2010 I attended a three day Moodle workshop at our local Erie 1 BOC ES ( Boards of Cooperative Educational Ser...

     Like any other teacher I am constantly revising my curriculum based on student likes/dislikes, new motivation strategies, incorporating new labs, review games, etc. It is very overwhelming to keep it organized so here is the method I have devised.      I have a folder where I keep all ideas for future units. In that folder there is a separate sheet of paper for each unit. a separate sheet for each unit Any random ideas I generate throughout the year that would apply to that unit are jotted down on a post-it note and stuck onto the sheet of paper. post-it notes with ideas post-it notes with ideas      What did we ever do before paperclips and Post-it Notes? Any labs that I want to rewrite or handouts I have found are paper clipped to that sheet of paper. This way I am more likely to revise the units as I go through the year. labs, handouts for rewrites and modifications paper clipped to it.  This i...

 Yes, a movie trailer. To get students and parents excited about my course and to get more students to sign up for it I have created a movie trailer to drum up interest. All teachers eventually realize that we are in advertising. I believe that my obsession with infomercials and the way they can make me want to buy a product that I really don't need makes me a better teacher. If you think about it we are trying to sell a product that students usually wouldn't want. We need to see them as customers with a choice, not inmates serving time. (paraphrasing David Warlick; his blog is at davidwarlick.com ) I don't think that teachers usually do a very good job of tooting their own horn. You work hard as a professional, show it off! Here is the trailer to promote my course: (made with iMovie for the Mac)  This post originally featured on ballinwithballing.blogspot.com

http://www.classdojo.com ClassDojo makes it easy to keep my students alert and on-task. You can use it to: Improve Behavior...Improve specific student behaviors and engagement by awarding and recording real-time feedback. Share Data...Print or email beautiful behavior reports to easily engage parents and staff. Save Time...by recording behaviors and accomplishments right in class, with one click. parents can also get reports of progress.  In class, the teacher awards points to students or ... records a negative behavior. these positive and negative buttons can be customized by the teacher based on what it needed for each class. The points are recorded on the chart for each student in the class. The teacher can also choose to put the class list on the interactive white board so students can see live when they earn points.  Or it can be kept private and the student can log in to see their own private information.  One of my favorite tools is to us...