No Shhing Here

With all the options for Virtual Reality, what did we select? We’re now the proud owners of four Oculus Quest headsets! The incredibly immersive experience combined with the benefit of an all-in-one device convinced us that this was the best choice for instructional options. One of my favorite things to do is to let our students open packages, and the VR headsets were no exception. This group of study hall students had the privilege of unboxing the new arrivals and it was so fun to watch their excitement. Unboxing the Oculus Quest  Now that the new devices were here, it was time to get them up and running. Because I don’t have administrative rights or passwords to our wifi networks, this was a job for our super-star LAN-tech Tom. The set-up was not difficult, but you will be required to install the Oculus app on a cell phone or iPad which walks you through the process. Initially, Tom used his own phone to set-up the devices, but ultimately it made sense to use my phone ...

I'm always looking for little activities - AKA "bellringers" - to kick off a class period -- something for the kids to do while they wait for their classmates to log on, papers to be handed out, etc. Bellringers help ease the transition from the hallways to instructional time.  The best bellringers: Require little or no instruction Have directions that can be posted on the SmartBoard Are engaging (a game, competitive challenge, relevant to teens, etc) Reinforce information literacy skills (DUH!) Recently, Google provided the EXACT thing to fit the bill. It's called " A Google a Day. " Thanks, Geek Dad , for introducing it to me (I'm neither male, nor a parent, but I still dig the blog). Google provides a daily question, and challenges users to find the answer. Users playing along search via a special interface that filters out results designed to specifically answer the Google-A-Day question. Google says, "to keep the game interesting for ever...