WOW at has happened with first QTR. I started a new job on June 9, and am loving what I am doing. It is crazy that this much time has lapsed and I have not blogged or updated my website. Hope to find some time for this passion too. My title for my new job is so incredible long, MSAP Grant Instructional Technology Lead Facilitator. But what that means is I get to work with 5 amazing schools to help integrate technology. We have so many amazing things happening in our Magnet schools. Some of these things include,

I am not at ISTE this year and have spent the day following some of the ISTE2014 resources and stuff by checking out twitter. Next best thing if you can't go. Still connecting with educators and finding out some of the amazing things going on at ISTE. Hope I can make it next year. 
Today I have explored some of my iPad apps and looked for new ones and have found some new favorites... 

• Bobbleshop - an avatar maker for boobleheads. Would be awesome if you then could order your bobblehead. Maybe you can. I can see some ways to use this in the classroom. Making characters, making people in history and students and staff at your school. Checkout bobbleshop when you have a chance. 
• Made a bracelet from Make with Code from google and shapeways. Excited to get this in 4 to 6 weeks and to use this in my presentation for SimpleK12 on July 31, and in the classroom. 
• I set several goals last school year and have accomplished or started to accomplish the majority of them. Summer is a time to rejuvenate, connect with others and set some new goals. I will be making a visualization for my goals for 14-15 soon. Need to think about it and mull it over in my head. 

Wow the end of this school year and this summer is CRAZY busy. I accepted a new position with in my district on May 1. I started my new position on June 9, 2014 and my summer is full with so many exciting things. My new title is District Magnet Instructional Technology Specialist, what a title. Basically what it means is I am working with 5 schools to assist them with technology integration. 

I am also consulting with K-State, and presenting for SimpleK12. Oh did I mention Drew is a Senior next year. What happened to time. One of my goals this year is to blog a minimum of every week to keep a journal of my journey in this wonderful opportunity. 

I look forward to connecting and growing my PLN. Stop by and see how the site changes and join me on twitter. 

Enjoy your summer. 

Brenda - connect with me at @brendahauff or mrshauff@gmail.com

My dear friend Jill Houtz (owner of Wichita Pottery Studio), made me this wonderful tangle art. She gave it to me on a very challenging day. Recently one of my students passed away unexpectedly from the flu. It was a Wednesday which is normally my pottery night. I stopped by the studio that night to just share I was ok but that it had been a hard day I was probably not going to stay. We talked and shared about the good memories of my students. Jill is an amazing listener. I have grown so much as a person since Wichita Pottery has came into my life. As I am sharing she says just a minute and she gives me this amazing poster she has made for me. Of course it touches my heart and I just start balling uncontrollably. 

Why I am I sharing this. I think because I have realized a couple things. 

• I will remember my student every time I look at this beautiful piece. 
  
• I will think about how much time and work my friend has put into this piece. She shared that when she starts these she does not know who it is for and just starts. 
  
• Anything amazing takes time and practice. I was amazed when she shared that the design on the bottom left is a new design for her so she needed to practice it alot before moving to the final piece. How many times do we just do something one and then put it out as our best work. Not sure why but I just figured she would start and just tangle on this piece until it is done. Slowing down and practicing is important.... 
• A higher being puts people and things in our path when we need them. Don't give up... 
• We need to believe in ourselves. Lately (this school year), I have been very hard on myself and my role in students and school life. The message she chose on this piece for me is very powering to me. 
• We all have struggles and need each others Patience, Kindness, and Acceptance. 
• Practice and FAILURE teach us so much... 

Thank you JILL HOUTZ you are amazing... 

So many things have happened in the last two months. How do you continue to keep up with everything and build good habits, like writing on your blog on a regular basis. I struggle with this and want to write more. 

One of the HABITS I have tried to make part of my daily life is using a todo list and the top 3 priority. I have tested so many different apps, and have decided that the app that will do almost everything I want is Wunderlist. It allows me to easily have the list on my computer, and on each of my devices, (iPad and iPhone). 

Another HABIT I am struggling with is finding time for working out and eating healthy. How long does it take to build a habit. I can't seem to make these changes for more than a couple days. I tried to also drink less DIET Coke, my methods did not work with that one either. Any suggestions on how to make something a HABIT, my diet coke addiction may be useful. Unless you have stock in Coke products. 

Kevin Honeycutt at Podstock last year, challenges us not to be a fader when it comes to being a connected educator. I feel I have NOT been a fader. I have been very active on Plurk, Twitter, and SimpleK12. Thanks for the challenge Kevin. Maybe that is what I need for my habits is competition. Connect with me on twitter at @brendahauff

I created Goals, not really resolution because of a facebook group the TechFormers Unite group on facebook. If you have not joined this group it is an amazing group of growing educators. Last time I checked there was over 500 people and this group is not even 3 months old. They are posting challenges to help you connect with technology and use it in your classroom. Gamification is important for adults too, not just kiddos. 

One of my goals was to start a podcast this year. I have wanted to do this for years. Like maybe 10 and this is the year it will happen. Last week I spent Monday recording my first Podcast and other logistical stuff to make this happen. The podcast is called McTech2go, not the typical name, listen to find out why this name makes sense for me. In the next month you will see me and McTech2Go on Remarkable Chatter as an Affiliate of ESSDACK. 

TechFormers Unite is a group of professionals that have organized some tech challenges to add excitement about using technology tools in the classroom. They started this out with a bang of 12 Days of Techmas. 


I participated in all 12 challenges... 

Here are my examples and the tools we used. 

1. Word Cloud - I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
2. Smore Flyer - 12 days of Techmas
3. Padlet - Christmas Traditions Mrs Hauff's Class
4. TodaysMeet - Meet is only available for a month, but here is the link. 
5. Scratch Holiday Card - Hour of Code - Scratch Card not my favorite. 
6. HaikuDeck - Christmas Means to Me. 
7. Voki - Talking Sub Plans
8. Animoto - Summer School 2013
9. LittleBirdTales
10. ElfYourself - Holiday Card
11. Big Huge Labs - see image below
12. Narrable - Kidwish

If you have a few minutes to respond to my students Padlet about Holiday traditions they would really like to hear from you. Please leave where you are from also. http://padlet.com/wall/rnnqh3d1zj. This has been a busy week. We have also been participating in Hour of Code. What a great opportunity for myself and students. Programming is the one tech task I have not done much with (other than robotics). So this is great. 

Tomorrow we will be making a Christmas card with Scratch and a story using Today's Meet. I will be posting soon about this adventure.