I want to be the very best

Here it is! My first big jump into Augmented Reality.  Thanks to my Twitter PLN.  Three shout outs need to go to @kinderMI who is going on this journey with me although she might be doing a bit better at this point.  That probably helps me gain more inspiration form her.  Then the two guys @TechMinock and @techbradwaid for providing plenty of passion and inspiration. 

Now let's go back through this process. About a month ago I decided I needed to find people who were passionate about the same things as me.  I was getting really defeated by not being able to find anyone in my building.  I finally dove into twitter.  I found some chats, the two guys, more people for my PLN, and Aurasma.  Then my creativity took over.

How was I going to implement it? My kids have 1:1 but with Dell laptops that are probably close to ten years old using Windows XP, and they can only use IE 8 as their browser.  How was I going to put AR in their hands?  Well, I started to encourage them to bring their own devices in. I have at least six kids every day with a device capable of running Aurasma. During the process we had a lot of issues with connecting and getting triggers to work. Luckily, the kids have dove into this and helped me stay excited.  One student even had his mom create him an Aurasma account and has been making auras at home for fun. 

Now that we had some devices and had gotten it to work once in class and now we needed to design the bulletin board on Japan. The kids first had to defend how Pokemon was connected to Japan and then connect to a Pokemon. I figured this would help them connect with one piece of the rich Japanese culture instead of just memorizing countless facts and traditions.  The kids enjoyed it and once we got past drawing Pokemon pictures they really connected to the Pokemon.   In addition to containing these videos of kids explaining their poke on choices they added five life lessons that you can get from Pokemon on the board.  Inspired by some other Pokemon bulletin boards I found on the web.  Be careful when you google for Pokemon bulletin boards.  You will find the life lessons examples, but most of me are about not catching them all (referring to STD education). That isn't something I think I should be teaching third graders. 

Our first major barrier came the week of finishing the bulletin board.  Our school turned off the public network in the classrooms so students had to connect to the BYOD wifi which blocks a connection with Aurasma studio and required a lengthy login process. Luckily I made some time after school and tried to set up the triggers using my account in my iPad. This transferred over BYOD. I'm not sure why the same triggers wouldn't work when doing it in my studio account, but anyway I got it working again.   This is after several emails trying to trouble shoot with my media specialist, who is awesome. 

So the big day came and went and anyone who saw it was impressed and inspired.  I even had one teacher tell me how she is so excited and her kids with learning disabilities are so excited about AR. I know I have inspired at least one other teacher to improve her practice by using AR so that makes this adventure a success. That and anytime my kids have free time they ask to go watch the videos on the bulletin board.  

Next week my focus shifts to writing poetry for a collaborative ebook we are taking part in. I think my next big AR project is going to be a scavenger hunt.  I'll probably get my two kids with their own iPads to even set up the whole thing. What advice can you give me in taking this on? Even resources I could adapt for third grade would be fantastic. Help me find out what is next in AR. 

Now for the title. I think I know what my goal is as a connected educator. I want to be the best. Although after reading Drive I realize it isn't about being he best, but about working toward mastery. I have a long way to go and am not sure of the path. So I guess I'm asking my PLN to help me. Help inspire me, guide me, and help me find what is next to get better to become the best educator I can be. Instead of a Pokemon Master I want to work on becoming an Education Master. 

I'm not sure how this post will turn out. I'm writing it on my iPad because I think this may be the easier way for me to blog without completely removing me from my family. I've had to stop several times to let my 13 month old son play with my iPad. Fortunately for me his attention span isn't long so he moves on quickly.  Finally, happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.  Especially my wife and my own mother who I should probably call.