Jeff sits down with Patrick Larkin from Burlington High School and Jessica Johnson to discuss how they use iPads and technology in their schools.

Topics Covered:

• Starting the school year off with a bang… How to prepare for the new semester
• What are todays expectations for our students? Graduates? Teachers? Schools? Administrators?
• Using Social Media in our schools and classrooms
• Should Teachers blog/tweet?, Should Schools blog/tweet?
• How can schools develop safe methods for using Social Media in the classroom
• How to use todays technology to communicate with parents
• How to teach todays parents about what their kids are learning
• Safe ways to continue educating after the bell has rung
• How to make the most use of our iPad….. How to use the iPad to maximize productivity in yourself… and in your staff
• How to run a class… or school using an iPad and what apps to choose
• Personal Learning Networks
• Creating a 1:1 environment for our schools

Websites and Apps Discussed:

• Splashtop Remote
• ScreenChomp
• Evernote
• Google Apps
• Flipboard
• Blogger

About our Guests:

Jessica Johnson is the Elementary Principal for the Dodgeland School District in Juneau, Wisconsin. She has previously served as a teacher, instructional coach, and Assistant Principal in Minnesota and Arizona. When she made the move from a large urban Phoenix school district to rural Wisconsin she found the isolation of the administrative role to be like an island. She was fortunate enough to discover twitter and continue to learn from others in her Professional Learning Network, which continues to grow each day. She has begun presenting the power of twitter to educators/administrators at conferences in Wisconsin (along with other Wisconsin principals she found on twitter).

In addition she is a co-moderator for the #educoach chat on twitter. You can find her on twitter as @PrincipalJ or follow her blog at www.PrincipalJ.blogspot.com.

Patrick Larkin is the Principal of Burlington High School in Massachusetts where he is in his 14th year as a high school administrator and seventh as a building Principal. Prior to serving as a school administrator, Patrick was a high school English teacher. As an Assistant Principal, Patrick was named Assistant Principal of the Year in the state of Massachusetts. He also is a former Executive Board member in the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Administrators Association (MSSAA) and he recently completed a two year term as a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges Commission on Public Secondary Schools.

Patrick’s school will be making the transition to a 1:1 environment for the 2011-2012 school year. He is active presenting to colleagues on the power of social media for administrators, teachers, and students. In addition, he is an avid blogger and a proponent of social media to better engage teachers, students, and parents in the education process. Patrick is one of the founders of theConnected Principals Blog and #cpchat on Twitter. He is one of the authors of the Super Book of Web Tools for Educators, an avid blogger and a proponent of social media to better engage teachers, students, and parents in the education process.

Both Burlington High School and Patrick have been highlighted in national and regional publications during Patrick’s tenure at BHS.

• T.H.E. Journal – When Students Run The Help Desk
• Fox 25 Boston Checks Out Our iPad Deployment
• USA Today – Students Cast Wide Net For Mentoring With PLN's
• Edutopia – How My School Is Transitioning to Digital Textbooks (Organizing: Step 1 of 5)
• Edutopia – A Web 2.0 Class: Students Learn 21st Century Skills, Collaboration, Digital Citizenship
• Converge Magazine – Principals Learn Through Social Media
• Converge Magazine – Four Ways To Transform Your School Culture 
• T.H.E. Journal – Tweets For Teachers
• Boston Globe – Laptop Learning

“I have learned more from my Personal Learning Network (PLN) in less than two years than I did in my previous decade in education,” says Larkin. “This is the most exciting time in history to be involved in education and I am enjoying every minute of it!

Patrick is a graduate of Assumption College and he received his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Framingham State College.

You can find Patrick's blog here.

Recorded in 2011