Melinda S. Miller

This weekend I will be doing a presentation on podcasting with another Missouri principal. Dr. Tim Gallaghar is a Middle school principal from Fort Osage, MO and regularly podcasts with his students. Scott Elias and I used to podcast at Practical Principals and hope to return to podcasting when he ... Read More about Podcasting with iPadio

Faculty Feud for Project Graduation

Last night our Faculty took on our rival school faculty in a volleyball game and basketball game. Three teachers from my building played on the volleyball team so we thought it would be fun to go "cheer/jeer" at them:) Republic and Willard Project Graduation split the proceeds and it was a great ... Read More about Faculty Feud for Project Graduation

Using Twitter for Customer Service

Twitter is useful for a lot of reasons and one reason could be customer service. I try not to "call businesses out" on Twitter because I don't want one experience to blow it for a company. So many things go "viral" that you could destroy someone or something by posting something online. Having said ... Read More about Using Twitter for Customer Service

Schmoker Focus Book Study and Online Discussion

ASCD book of the month is Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning. I wish I could remember where I first heard mention of this book but after reading Results Now by Schmoker I knew any book by this author would make sense with me. Then David Jakes mentioned it in his ... Read More about Schmoker Focus Book Study and Online Discussion

Parenting 2.0 FETC Presentation by Rita Oates

This presentation has some really good links and statistics to share with your PTO and/or parent community. (What tags do you recommend for this post? I will go back in and add them if you can recommend some.) Parenting 2.0: How to Help Parents with Digital Issues and Fears (from FETC 2011) ... Read More about Parenting 2.0 FETC Presentation by Rita Oates

iRover Interactive White Board “Station”

Putting interactive white boards in all "core" classrooms in the district was our superintendent's goal about 4 years ago. Regardless of your personal opinions on that topic that goal has been reached. During this process we visited a district that had a reputation of being on the cutting edge ... Read More about iRover Interactive White Board “Station”

Day One FETC – Florida Education Technology Conference

My district sent 7 staff members to FETC this year. Since PD funds are going to be cut tremendously over the next couple of years this could be our last big conference for a while. I am thrilled to be here due to a FREE plane ticket earned from last year's attendance at #colearning when my flight ... Read More about Day One FETC – Florida Education Technology Conference

The Post is Within the Picture – Creativity???

You have to read the text inside this picture to understand. Still experimenting with uses for iPad in the classroom. This is probably not a quality use since it's just an electronic worksheet but my 5 yr. old loves this:)- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad ... Read More about The Post is Within the Picture – Creativity???

Top 100 Administrator Blogs

Below is a link to an awesome list of administrator blogs. If only more admin were blogging. I shared the link with my district admin team and hopefully they will read some of them, some of the time:) There are some great ideas among these blogs that you can implement in your own school. What an ... Read More about Top 100 Administrator Blogs

Montessori Crosswords App Review

Back in November I started using iPods and my iPad with some of the students in my school. I was not convinced that these devices were more than just mere toys/games. However I found that they were valuable when it came to the "word work" part of our new Daily 5 routine. When the kids were released ... Read More about Montessori Crosswords App Review

Teacher PD = Brain Gym

Yesterday was a teacher workday in my district. In the morning teachers meet with their Cadres (Math, Literacy, or School Succss). In the afternoon we had an in house expert present to us on Brain Gym movements. Mrs. Houghtaling teaches 1st grade at Willard Central Elementary and has been using ... Read More about Teacher PD = Brain Gym

Sub D MAESP Meeting Jan. 20th

Hello Principals!!! I hope your year is off to a great start! Some of you may have had some extra time off with this crazy weather. Here is the information about our meeting next week: Who: MAESP Sub D - BRING A FRIEND!!! When: Thursday Jan. 20th 1:00PM - 3:00PM Where: Ebbet's Field on South ... Read More about Sub D MAESP Meeting Jan. 20th

Leadership Team-Builder – Story Cube App

For me, team-building is a way to get to know my staff better and make the transition, from a busy day, to our meetings. I try to do team-building activities as often as I can but sometimes you just have to get the point of a meeting an get started. This week I chose to do an activity. At my ... Read More about Leadership Team-Builder – Story Cube App

District Literacy Team

This afternoon we spent 3 hrs. Learning and discussing writing conferences. I hope to be able to go back and do some conferences with some students and document to help the teachers out. It was good stuff!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone ... Read More about District Literacy Team

Principal Back to School To-do list….

Writing this post was on my to-do list for Monday that I obviously didn't get done until today:) Seriously, why did I even make a Monday to-do list? Anyway, here is what was on my list for Monday and/or this week after being off work for 2 weeks of holiday break: Write my to-do list in this ... Read More about Principal Back to School To-do list….

The Tides are Turning

As the new year begins I can feel the tides are turning in education. What will our profession look like and feel like a year from now? Merit pay? Vouchers? Charter schools? Peer input in evaluation?The end of tenure as we know it?Or will we still be right here?Let us all remember IT'S ABOUT KIDS! ... Read More about The Tides are Turning

Nov. 28 Meeting Follow up – Walk-Through Information

Image credit Hello SW Principals! We had a very productive meeting on Nov. 28th at Ebbet's Field! Everyone brought their current Walk-through forms and shared how/why they use their forms. Below is a link to a PDF of all copies. I am sure you can find something that will fit your school. Next ... Read More about Nov. 28 Meeting Follow up – Walk-Through Information

Promoting your school through Smilebox

There are lots of photo publishing tools for the web but I recently became a fan of Smilebox. Teachers can even get a free subscription if they ask. Here is an example that I am going to post to my school website for parents and to my school facebook page. Make your own photo album ... Read More about Promoting your school through Smilebox

iPod Lessons Learned

Last week I worked with Kindergartners using iPod Touches. It was pretty exciting for them and for me:) It's nice to interact with students one on one and I admit I need to do that more often. Okay, lessons learned from 1st introduction to iPods: iPod Touches are pretty small for ... Read More about iPod Lessons Learned

1st Attempt at Garageband and Picture Podcasting

Well..... let's see how this works. ... Read More about 1st Attempt at Garageband and Picture Podcasting

Kindergarten Word Work on the iPod Touch

K Word Work Decided that the best way to determine the value of the iPod in the classroom is to try it out myself. So I packed up the 4 of the 26 iPod Touches that are not checked out to TEACHERS:) and tried them out with Kindergartners. Yes! I said Kindergartners. Crazy thing is that they can ... Read More about Kindergarten Word Work on the iPod Touch

Adding Pics When Posting from iPad

Downloaded a flickr creative commons pic to my iPad using Flickr Search and Stamp. Then uploaded to Blogpress and let's see what happens!- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad ... Read More about Adding Pics When Posting from iPad

SWMAESP Sub D Meeting Nov. 30th

Hello SW MAESP Members!!! Rather than creating another website/blog to share our information I decided to just add information to the blog that I already keep. This is a personal/professional blog that is not necessarily attached to my school in any way. It is a public blog and anyone can read it. ... Read More about SWMAESP Sub D Meeting Nov. 30th

Study Island Student Interviews

Podcasting with iPadio