Skype with Alan November

What a great experience it was to talk with Alan November. I know that for some it probably seemed a little more intimidating than anything that they have done before, and I do agree that it is kind of strange to sit there and have a conversation with a random person that I have never met before. We use Skype a lot in my house. My four year old loves to Skype with his grandparents in rhode island. It is great for him, because he loves to try and show his grandparents his toys and things through the phone. Using Skype allows him to show them everything through the webcam. Skype is sometimes hard to work with however, because it does sometimes cut out here and there, but overall it is a great way to interact with people through technology. I really enjoyed listening to Alan November talk. I strongly believe in his belief that it's very important to communicate effectively with parents, in order to get them on board with not only technology, but any projects you want to use in your classroom. Sometimes it is difficult to get those parents who feel strongly against the use of technology on board. I loved his idea about calling parents and having the class cheer to recognize a child's positive behavior in the classroom. This is something that I feel would make parents feel so proud of their child, and in turn, their child would feel more confident and take pride in themselves. Alan November definitely doesn't seem like the type of person to hold back on anything.....he definitely speaks his mind and always told us how he was feeling about certain topics. For the most part, I feel that he was very knowledgeable about the importance behind the implementation of technology in schools. I also enjoyed how he helped us understand how the new state common core standards will all be revolving around this technological approach to learning.