Tom+Huff



Once again I had the priviledge of attending the Pete and C technology convention in Hershey, Pennsylvania. It is always exciting to get away and learn new things. I was particularly excited about this year's event coinciding with ** Valentine's Day .** So, the first thing I really learned is that the planners of this event are serious tech nerds who are single, and have no desire to change that relationship status....

On a serious note, by far the most interesting topics I learned about was the use of video technology and how to incorporate it into your classroom. I attended several sessions that introduced and expanded upon the use of [|animoto.com] I immediately saw the impact that this site could have upon my history lessons and began to play around with this site and became quite proficient with it by the end of Day 1. Let me share a few of the videos I have created using this technology:

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I greatly enjoyed using this site and creating these videos and the students themselves really seemed to enjoy them as well and I received a lot of positive feedback from them. I have also shared these videos with fellow staff members who showed enthusiasm and excitement about them as well.





Another session that I attended and was particularly useful was the Facebook in the classroom presentation by our own Justine Kobeski. As we all know, Facebook is taking over the world. We must not fight it, the battle has already been lost! So, join forces with Facebook and use it to our advantage as a method of communicating with our students and even posting educational resources and assignments for the students. Justine showed us exactly how we can separate our Facebook "private" lives with our Facebook "teacher" lives. It is as simple as setting a few privacy control buttons. I have already incorporated this knowledge into my Facebook and even posted the above videos on my Facebook account. The student response to this has been tremendously positive! Not only are they excited to see their teacher on Facebook but they are actually watching the videos and discussing them at home on Facebook!





I also attended a workshop on the use of Google in the classroom. I attended a workshop last year by the same presenter and once again I came away impressed and eager to incorporate some of the knowlege learned into the classroom. Of particular interest to me from this workshop was the use of Google Earth. The presenter gave us lots of useful ideas and even offered some hands-on instruction on how to create a lesson using Google Earth.

I have made a beginner's guide to using Google Earth on the link below....usually the first thing the students' want to see is the high school and then have a little fun trying to find their house! This little hook usually gets them interested and allows a pretty smooth transition into the actual lesson. Hope you have fun with this link, I have included a couple of little surprises for some of you guys...



small and feeble but it's awesome....I promise!






Another great session I attended was the iPads in Education session. It was really neat to watch most of the conference room use their iPads for educational purposes....they could do it all, from notes, google, video and music production, to graphs, charts, and displays. Now, I did'nt actually have an iPad [cough, cough], so I sat there with iPad envy throughout most of the session. On a positive note, I resisted the urge to "borrow" one person's iPad when they sat it down on the seat next to me to check their cell phone......

Oh, and now for the really, really, good stuff that I learned in Hershey this year:

Candi Gilliland as a driver...... hmmmm.........do you remember the movie "Rain Man"? When Charlie Babbit says "I'm an excellent driver!".....Well, that is all I could think about as she was driving that van.....although terrified myself, someone in the van must have been really, really scared......




 * Red Robin **is the all time greatest restaurant ever invented. I had never been to one before Hershey. The food was fantastic, the service was great despite the poor behavior of many of the customers [cough, cough] I also learned that ** Red Robin ** claims to have bottemless milkshakes but this is just advertising propaganda because if you turn the milkshake upside down above your face it will fall out of the glass and you can clearly see the bottom of the glass. Jared McConkey did an excellent job exposing this hoax. In fact, it was one of the better presentations I had seen all week.





Charles Mowery can be quite the practical jokester. It was his plan I believe, to steal this starving young kids steak while I went to the bathroom. Not funny at all I tell you.....



Suzi Bender and Josh Hicks need to work on their table manners. While trying to enjoy my nice formal dinner [sans steak], I had to endure and watch with embarrasing anger these two clowns toss and throw their Caribbean party favors about the table. Quite difficult to enjoy your meal this way I can assure you. Oh, and then Candi and Jeff Vogus begin practicing their garage band skit at the table as well. Candi does play a mean set of table drums I have to admit. I don't think the waiters or waitresses at the Hershey Lodge would agree however.

Suzi Bender was unavailable for a photo, so I substituted what you would really see anyways if you looked at Suzi's face.....it has morphed into an iPhone as a result of osmosis.....

I feel for Charleen Hartman. Most of us had attended the conference together in the past and as such knew what I kind of weirdo's we could all be. Charleen had to learn this all by herself on Day 1. I am sure it was a lot to take in!

And as far as Jeff "The Ghost" Puhalla....well, I know he was there, I just did'nt see him though.