Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Use code to light up a tree in our nation's capital

This holiday season you can design and customize the lights on a tree outside the White House using Google's Made with Code Lights Project. Once your code is completed you can watch your work in action. You will be able to select one of the 56 state and territory trees to display your custom light show. You will also be given a time when your tree will be lit up with your code.

The Made with Code program was created in to inspire millions of girls to learn to code and be creative and make awesome things. The holiday light project is an opportunity to see how cool coding can be in a very big way - at the White House!
Google's Official Blog states "That’s what Made with Code is about: discovering that creating something new and exciting—whether it’s a holiday tree, a video game or a driverless car—can be accomplished with the power of code."


Have your class light up a tree in Washington D.C.


Try it out as a whole class. To access this activity, go to the Google search page and click on the link or visit the Made with Code Holiday Lights website.



Invite one or two girls to experiment with the Blockly programming language to customize a light display. Have them download the animated gif of their design and share it with class or embed on a class blog or website. You can even have the whole class try it together!

You could also let students design trees in teams and then vote on the best light display. Promote your holiday tree light displays by sharing when they will be on display at the white house via class newsletters, blogs, social media or text using Remind.



Give it a try - let the kids take the lead and see what they can do!




My light display which will light up the Northern Mariana Islands Holiday Tree on 12/5 around 1:46 p.m. (PST)

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Talking points when admin wants to know if Google Apps Edu is secure


NOTE: This post does not constitute legal advice.

Recently, I have been hearing discussions in my district and others about how secure student information is in Google Apps for Education (GAFE). According to Google's security page, "more than 40 million students, teachers and administrators rely on Google Apps for Education". 

More and more GAFE schools are using tools like Google Drive to store student information from assessment scores and student portfolios to school counseling notes and student school health files. Is this ok? Of course you should always discuss these issues with your school legal counsel, but here is information I have found that might help when these discussions take place at your school.


“Google has proven that they’re a secure company. I don’t know of any school district that has passed the same rigor of security testing that Google has.”
Hank Thiele
Assistant Superintendent for Technology & Learning,
Maine Township High School District 207, Illinois

Google's servers are probably more secure than your school servers 

With more than 450 full time engineers, Google has one of the world's most advanced and secure infrastructures. Google Apps and Google Cloud Platform undergo examinations from independent auditors to make sure security and privacy controls are in place and working. You can read more on Google's security page. Additional resources can be found on the Google in Education page.


Is Google Apps for Edu FERPA compliant?

Google states that they comply with FERPA and the US-EU Safe Harbor agreement. Google Apps for Education complies with FERPA and our commitment to do so is included in our agreements. Google is registered with the US-EU Safe Harbor agreement, which helps ensure that our data protection compliance meets European Union standards for educational institutions.
​   



Do you have to worry about HIPPA when storing student school health records on Google?

According to the U.S. Department of health and Human Services and the U. S. Department of Education, "Because student health information in education records is protected by FERPA, the HIPAA Privacy Rule excludes such information from its coverage. " Additionally, "At the elementary or secondary school level, students’ immunization and other health records that are maintained by a school district or individual school, including a school-operated health clinic, that receives funds under any program administered by the U.S. Department of Education are “education records” subject to FERPA, including health and medical records maintained by a school nurse who is employed by or under contract with a school or school district. "



Don't blame the technology

Inadvertent sharing of private student information could happen in a variety of ways (and I believe it has happened in the past before Google was in schools). Staff should be trained in all of the ways this can happen so they know how to treat student information in any situation.  Make sure school staff know how to keep student information private whether digital or hard copy and regardless if it is stored on Google's servers or in a file cabinet.


Tip of the day: Google Drive

Did you know you you can prevent others from downloading non native files in Google? When you upload PDF's, MS Word or other files you can select the file, open the details tab and then select the option to prevent users from downloading the file.  


Click the 'i' to open the details tab





When starting to use GAFE be sure your domain administrator sets the default sharing for docs to 'private' so that users have to manually share files. This can prevent sharing accidents.





Monday, October 27, 2014

My Paperless Classroom: Sphero Giveaway


Your students need robots! 

This is an awesome opportunity to bring programming and robots into your classroom.

My Twitter friend, +Sam Patterson Ed.D. , posted this awesome opportunity to win Sphero robots for your classroom. I met up with Sam at the fall CUE conference in Napa this past weekend and he shared some of the amazing things students can do with these robots. 2nd grade, 6th grade or high school, all students can learn from and engage with Sphero. Read more about classroom lessons with Sphero and the SPRK Education Program.

Reposted from My Paperless Classroom: Sphero Giveaway:

I am excited to announce that Mypaperlessclassroom has partnered with SpheroEdu to offer an amazing giveaway. To support my mission of getting more teachers programming and using robots to support learning, we are giving away a Education 10-pack of the Sphero 1.0.

How do you enter? Easy: just fill out this form. You can enter once a day. Want to increase your chances? have multiple people from your site enter daily, the winner will be announced on 11/10.

Be a pal and share this page with other teachers, come back and enter daily. Let's get more robots into classrooms.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

(Wûrk’ shēt)

Wassup with Worksheets??


collaboration.jpg
It is time for the 2nd annual No Worksheet Week, October 13 - 17, 2014! This movement was started last year by Matthew Weld and quickly went global.  To read more about the development of the No Worksheet Week Teacher Challenge you can read here, here or here.  Matt and I are collaborating on this post so we can help teachers interested in taking the challenge learn how to to go worksheet free and discover the benefits for their students as well as providing support and new ideas for past participants.


Why do we need No Worksheet Week?



Going worksheet free is about much more than not using paper.  A worksheet-free week is not necessarily paper-free.  Remember that both technology and paper are tools for learning.  What we are working toward is real learning, and worksheets do not promote real learning. Think about the last time you learned something.  Did you have to answer a bunch of true/false questions, or did you have to DO it - demonstrate mastery - in order to show your learning? In order to move away from the dreaded worksheet, we first need a common definition:  
  • Worksheets are mass-printed, either by the teacher at the copier, or by a publisher in a workbook.
  • Worksheets are given to every student in the classroom.
  • Worksheets contain questions with black & white, right or wrong answers.  For example, they may be fill-in-the-blank, true/false, multiple choice, or math computational problems.


Worksheets do not support deep thinking or reflection.  If the answer to a problem is only found in the textbook and must be copied or paraphrased on a worksheet, it only demonstrates the student’s ability to copy down information.  A completed worksheet, or getting an answer right on a worksheet, does not demonstrate understanding of the material. When I was in the classroom I used to ask my students three open ended questions about a topic; if they could answer those questions verbally and discuss the topic with me then I knew they were ready for assessment.  Try asking a student to explain and discuss material after completing a worksheet, and you will be surprised by the lack of understanding they have obtained.  According to Best Practice (Zemelman, Daniels & Hyde, 2012) meaningful and useful assessment “involves students in developing meaningful responses, and calls on them to keep track of and judge their own work.” To achieve this, we need to change the way classrooms work and we also need to involve students in activities and collaborative projects that foster discussion and deeper thinking.  


There are many ways to guide students to deeper learning as you ditch those worksheets.  Take a look at Matt’s Autopsy of a Worksheet post or Rae’s Thinglink image that takes on a 4th grade worksheet about sentence rules. You can see more examples of #NoWorksheetWeek ideas or share your own on our collaborative Padlet wall.


The two big ideas of #NoWorksheetWeek

  1. Increase the 4C’s - Creativity, Critical thinking, Collaboration and Communication in the classroom.
  2. Bring relevance to learning through real world applications of learning and authentic assessment.


What does a worksheet free classroom look like?





Please participate in the No Worksheet Week Teacher Challenge and share your experiences using the hashtag #NoWorksheetWeek.  We will be sharing some of your best ideas on our blogs, so get creative!


You can also join our Google+ Community

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Sharing: My key to great'edu'ness

Day 10 of the Reflective Teaching 30 Day Blogging Challenge for Teachers is about sharing.

Sharing is a big part of my personal learning network (PLN). I share with others in hopes they can learn from it or use the information.  Others share with me and that is where I get my EDU Super Powers.  The magic of my PLN is evident daily. In fact today, A teacher told me: "You always find interesting stuff to help teachers, when you find topics related to my subject, can you send them to me?" It pays to have a #PLN and I truly believe we are #bettertogether

And now I will share with you!


5 Random Facts About Myself
  1. I make the best chocolate chip cookies
  2. I used to play the oboe and even made my own reeds for a short time
  3. 1st Wave is one of the saved channels on Sirius radio in my car (Bonus points if you know what music they play)
  4. One summer I worked as an animal trainer at Marine World Africa USA
  5. I don't drink coffee - never have

4 Things From My Bucket List
  1. Travel to Madagascar to see the Berenty Lemur Preserve (I once hand raised a Black and White Ruffed Lemur and named him Berenty)
  2. Publish a book (I started a children's book about Berenty the lemur)
  3. See tigers in the wild
  4. Take a year o ff to travel the world
  5. Own a maserati

3 Things I Hope For This Year 
  1. Both of my kids complete a successful, first year of college
  2. To continue to help teachers use technology effectively to support student learning
  3. A new maserati! :)

2 Things That made Me Laugh or Cry As An Educator
  1. When my oldest son graduated from high school one of his best friends did not. He was a few units short of graduation.  My husband and I invited him to live with us and I helped him each day work towards finishing his units so he could get his diploma.  I remember after he completed his work we drove to the school so he could pick up his diploma. When he got back to the car with it in hand he declared, "I got it!"  This made me both laugh and cry.
  2. My first year of teaching I taught high school science. One young man who was a good foot taller than I derived pleasure from trying to break me. In fact he told me once that he was there to do just that. I remember one time he hid in a closet during class to try and frazzle me, didn't work, and eventually he just came out and we moved on with the lesson.  The funny thing is years later I saw him and he ran up, hugged me and said he really like me as a teacher and was sorry he was so 'hard' on me but that I took it well. 

1 Thing I wish More People New About Me

I am actually an  introvert, but with a passion for teaching

Monday, September 8, 2014

My Desk -- #ReflectiveTeacher Blog Challenge Day 8

Today's challenge was to describe what is in my desk drawer and discuss what I can infer from those contents.  I have a glass top desk (ikea: vika gruvan) and so anyone can easily see what is in my desk.  Now what does this say about me? You tell me! Please feel free to analyze me in the comments below.

I think my desk contents are pretty typical for most educators. There is lots of stuff and a mound of things in need of attention. Educators are so busy these days that time for organizing, responding and reflecting is rare.  My desk reflects that I am busy, involved in many projects and a bit of a tech geek.

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Reflective Teaching 30 Day Blog Challenge Day 5 - My Classrrom

Day 5: Post a picture of your classroom and describe what you see....and what you don't see that you would like to.

For three years now I have not had my own classroom.  I help teachers integrate technology into learning, which takes me in to many classrooms.  In these classrooms I see students using technology more than ever before.

1st grade students creating books

A 3rd grade student working on her first Google Doc

One of my favorite photos: demonstrating the importance of mobile devices
to allow students to move and find the right 'space' to learn

What I would like to see more, is collaboration and sharing. Critical learning is missed when we don't encourage students to explain their thinking, share their ideas and collaborate to solve problems.  As we start this new year I hope to be able to create more opportunities like this for students.

Students collaborating on their coding projects

While working with 5th grades students on coding projects I observed many instances of spontaneous collaboration.  Students would group up to discuss how to solve a problem or to share a new accomplishment. We also encouraged students to share each stage of the process as they were creating with the class by projecting their working via Apple TV and the projector.

This picture is awesome because it shows students working together in informal groups
and you can also see that students are watching someone sharing their work
with the class via the projector. So much collaboration and sharing!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Reflective Teaching 30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 4

What do I love most about teaching?


Igniting a passion to learn is the best part of the job.

It doesn't happen as often as I would like, but it is rewarding to see learners smile and get excited about new ideas or acquired skills.  These days I mostly work with teachers, but I try to get in the classroom as much as possible.  I work hard to address the needs of all learners in my classes and workshops. It feels good when a session ends and a teacher tells me thank you usually followed up with, "I don't know how you handle all of our questions". The truth is that when I can help teachers or students navigate new learning I feel great. Let me just take this opportunity to say thank you to all of the wonderful people I get to learn with everyday.

Teachers in Lake County sharing their learning
about Google Apps and SAMR


Del Norte USD teachers learning to code
for the Hour of Code event 2013

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Reflective Teaching: 30 Day Blogging Challenge Day - 1, 2 & 3

I have officially accepted the +TeachThought 30 Day Blogging Challenge for Teachers. Using their list of topics for the month, I will reflect on my practice and blog (at least a little) each day.  It is already three days into the month and I am just starting so I hope it is ok to combine the first three days into this one post.  If you are reading this, please join me and start the challenge today. Even if you are late getting started (like me) it is always beneficial to reflect on what we do as educators.

Here are the three topics for this post:

Day 1
Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you’d like to be!
One goal for this year is to build capacity among teachers in my district to support educational technology integration into the classroom.  I hope to train a cohort of teachers to be technology leaders at their school sites to support the use of technology to improve student learning.
Another goal is to increase blended and online learning opportunities for teachers and students.  Well designed online and blended programs provide personalized and differentiated learning environments for students.  When teachers are skilled at teaching with this format they are better able to meet the needs of all students. I truly believe that digital tools give every student a voice and creative outlet to share their learning and ideas.
Day 2
Write about one piece of technology that you would like to try this year, and why. You might also write about what you’re hoping to see out of this edtech integration.
This year I want to implement a Wordpress site with badge integration to create a personalized, online learning portal for teacher professional development in our county.  This idea came from the World of Learning platform at New Milford High School. So far,  the Wordpress site has been set up and the badge plug in has been installed.  Now, I need to create the content and then introduce teachers to it.  I am looking for ways to make this type of learning meaningful to educators and would love to hear from others who have experience with gamified or badge enhanced teacher learning programs.
Day 3
Discuss one “observation” area that you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.
Motivating and supporting teachers to learn to use technology to modify and re-define lessons is a focus for this year.  Just like our students, sometimes teachers get a fixed mindset about their ability to successfully integrate new technologies into their teaching.  I want to find out what those teachers need to break free from the chains of feeling fearful or frustrated by technology so that their students are able to experience learning that is relevant and builds needed technology skills.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Teacher Led Learning in Del Norte County


Recently, we had a full day of professional learning for teachers in our county. For a couple of sessions we did not have formal presenters, instead, we let teachers lead discussions with their peers. These turned out to be some of the most popular sessions of the day. Session topics included iPads, Chromebooks and a Share Fair. 

Here are the instructions I created for the Share Fair, based on the idea that was shared from +David Theriault. SHARE FAIR INSTRUCTIONS We had over 25 teachers create Share Boards during this session.

One of the teachers who helped facilitate the iPad discussion, +Kendall Pickenpaugh, wrote down some thoughts after the session. I wanted to post her thoughts here so everyone could benefit from the knowledge that was shared.

Here is Kendall's post:
Thank you to everyone who came to the iPad discussion group. That hour just flew by and Pilar did such a great job of introducing us to her favorite apps. I had a few things I wanted to share and was hoping that we could start a dialogue about best practices. Toward that end, I made this google doc editable by all so please feel free to share any techniques or links or what have you. Also, Rae does have an iPad Educators DN Google Community where she shares great gems throughout the year. She would be glad to add you!

Pilar brought up a great point with her need of a 12 step program to stop downloading Apps.
This post from one of my favorite blogs can help with that:
Jo-Ann Fox - AppEducation Jo-Ann recommends One Page of Apps .
Jo-Ann refers to the SAMR Model. She has a great 120 sec overview in the first link above. This is another incredible Resource for the SAMR Model  Interactive SAMR Model

Good Stuff
iMovie = creativity unleashed!
Poem Movies One of my student’s iMovie from last year, if you click on my name, you can see more (you get a youtube channel with your Google Account, great place to share student work so they can show it off!) We used this Storyboard Template to plan.
“Trailer” Feature - Each of the trailer Templates has a specific structure. If we are trying to get the students to integrate technology and give proof of deeper thinking, purpose and forethought are crucial. Here is the link to specific storyboards for each iMovie trailer template. Book Trailers instead of Book Reports...fun!

Nearpod - Interactive delivery/assessment. Engaged kids!
Khan Academy  - some glitches with the help videos for the kids (youtube)
   - goes down to K-2 now

What I want to try this year

Blogs to follow - Please Add more!!!


Jo-Ann Fox - AppEducation

Jennie Magiera - Teaching Like It’s 2999

Finally, my summer goal was to plunge into Twitter. So glad I did! Yes it is social media, but, you can create your own experience and if you follow folks at the end of any of these links (and Rae!) you get to have your own Professional Learning Network delivered right to your device. Retweet gems and they are there for you to read and explore whenever you have the time and inclination. Even if you don’t tweet, it is a great place to learn.

Have a fabulous year!

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

5 Ways To Be A Technology Leader in Your School

Do as I say, not as I do.  Don't be that administrator.


Many times, this is the way school administrators encourage technology use. We, as administrators, need to stop saying that teachers and students need to use technology for learning and start modeling how to do it.  This is how you will begin to see real gains in effective technology integration in your classrooms and with students.

Like all of us, the idea of starting something new with technology can be overwhelming. We worry about having the time and the skills to do it well.  As administrators, we need to be OK with finding new ways to incorporate technology into our daily work and modeling the learning process along the way. If you improve as you go, doesn't that send a great message to staff and students?
For this school year, pick one new technology tool to use and make a commitment to use it regularly and to continue learning how to best leverage it in your work.

Here are 5 ways you can use technology to be a leader in your school.


1.  Start Blogging


"My fellow bloggers can attest to how easy it is to blog. 
If you can type a word document then you can blog." 

- Patrick Larkin, Principal, Burlington High School (MA)

What do you have to blog about? Tons!  An excellent way to build community and improve school culture is to share your vision and goals for the school and provide updates on progress toward school learning goals and achievements. Blogging will improve your reflection and encourage collaboration.  Visitors to your blog can join the conversation through comments and with moderation tools you can pre-screen these.  You will be surprised how respectful comments are and how much your blog is appreciated by teachers, parents and the community. Blogging models writing for a purpose and for an audience and encourages your teachers and students to do the same.   To learn more ready Patrick Larkin's blog post, "Every Principal Needs a Blog"

Tip! To build your audience post a lot about athletics and school events initially so that parents and the community visit the blog on a routine basis.

Take a look at these principal blogs for ideas to get started.
Principal Greg Miller - Educational Leadership in the 21st Century
George Couros - The Principal of Change
Darcy Moore
Eric Sheninger - A Principal's Reflections
Patrick Larkin - Learning in Burlington

2. Take Up Microblogging  

It can take less time than a regular blog, but provides a huge impact in communication.  Use Twitter to send our brief updates about the learning happening in your school. Tweet about upcoming activities and events, highlight student as well as teacher learning and accomplishments, spotlight safety information and other announcements.  Make a goal to send at least one tweet a day.  You can utilize tools like Hootsuite to schedule tweets ahead of time so in just a few minutes you can have tweets scheduled for the entire week. Promote your twitter account and let parents, students and the community know that this will be a consistent way for them to connect with you and the school. Unsure about how to use Twitter? Try my Online Twitter Workshop for Educators.

Here are some Twitter accounts from connected principals:

Eric Sheninger (@NMHS_Principal)



Ryan McLane (@McLane_Ryan)



3.  Keep everyone informed with Remind

As many of us know from experience, the one device we have on us almost all of the time is our phone. One of the easiest ways to connect with parents about their students is to text them. However, not everyone is ready to share their personal cell phone number. That is why Remind (formerly Remind 101) is a perfect way for educators to maintain an open line of communication to parents, guardians and the community. You can send out reminders out daily or weekly with the safe, one way communication of Remind. It is a broadcast system that allows users opt in using their cell phones to receive school updates.
Awesome features in Remind 101:
You can send a message to one class, several classes or individuals in a class
Attachments can also be added to the message. Go ahead and attach the field trip permission slip or other document you need parents to have. No more lost papers on the way home from school!
Insert links to online resources. You can add websites and other resources to your messages. We use Google Docs and I was able to add a link to a flier for a school event to my message.
Messages can be scheduled for later - you can sit down on Monday and schedule all messages for the day, week or month!

Message History: All messages are stored in your account and can be exported from your account for auditing purposes

To read more about Remind and how to set up your account check out my previous blog post.

4. Get Vocal With Podcasts

Use a tool like Audioboo for Education to embed voice messages on your school website. Take that boring "principal message" page up a notch with an Audioboo recording that conveys your passion and enthusiasm better than any typed message. Commit to making one voice recording a week and give your administration a voice.  Audioboo enriches your message and engages your community like never before.  Inserting a short audio recording (or podcast) is easy and reinvents the principal relationship with the school community.

Here is a short recording I made with Audioboo. I recorded and embedded this is under 2 minutes!


5.  Tech Smash With Multiple Tools  

Really impress by incorporating more than one of the tools listed above = Tech Smashing!

Here are some ideas:  Embed an audio recording on your blog and and make that your new principal page!  Promote your school Twitter account and blog by using Remind to push out when new updates are posted. You can probably come up with dozens of other ideas as well.  Using more than one tech tool can streamline your work and improve engagement.

Make a commitment and make it happen

No longer can educators and schools 'opt out' of technology integration.  Lead your school and model using technology for learning with one or more of the ideas presented in this post.  Set a reminder on your phone or calendar and commit to doing something every week.  You and your school will be amazed by the benefits.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

View only unread email on your iPhone

Sometimes, little tips like this are helpful.  In case you haven't found this feature on your own, here is how you can read only 'unread' mail on your iPhone.  I have three email accounts on my phone and sometimes I just want to see what hasn't been read yet, rather than sorting through all of the mail.  To do this follow a couple of simple steps.

  1. Launch the mail app on your device and navigate to the Mailboxes screen
  2. Select EDIT
  3. Select UNREAD (You can also select other features like ALL INBOXES to create a mailbox for mail from all accounts)
  4. Select DONE
Now you have a new mailbox created called UNREAD where you can view all email that has not been opened from any accounts on your device.

This is a great feature I recently started using.  I wish there was the option to create a mailbox for unread email for a specific account, sometimes I don't want all accounts blended together.

There are certain email accounts I check more often than others and so I like to arrange them in my mail app.  To do this, follow steps 1 and 2 above and then grab the three grey bars next a mailbox and drag it to order them however you want.


Friday, June 6, 2014

Managing Your Apple TV in the Classroom


Many classrooms in my district have Apple TV's installed.  This tool allows teachers and students to wirelessly display content from the iPad on the existing projection system.  The ability to mirror the iPad while modeling an activity helps teachers integrate this tool into their teaching.  The real magic is when students create on the iPads and then share and explain their work with their peers via Airplay.


Using Airplay via Apple TV, 1st grade students display shapes they found
during a shape hunt with the iPads.



During a coding project, this student uses Apple TV's Airplay
to demonstrate the game he created.

Keeping your Apple TV working properly allows you to seamlessly maintain a creative and collaborative culture in the classroom.  Here are some tips for managing your Apple TV so it is always ready when the learning is happening.


This is Apple TV - small and just $99

Updating your Apple TV is essential to keep Airplay working correctly. If Airplay has stopped working recently it could be because your Apple TV is not updated.


To update your Apple TV use the remote and go to:

SETTINGS → GENERAL → SOFTWARE UPDATES

Be sure UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY is ON

Select UPDATE SOFTWARE 

(note that if your Apple TV is still on some older versions the option to UPDATE AUTOMATICALLY will not show up until after you perform the update manually once).




Have you ever turned on your Apple TV and had the movie previews appear and totally derail your class? 

You can easily remove movie trailers and other channels so they don’t appear on the home screen in class and distract students. You may need to do this periodically and Apple introduces new channels.

To customize your Apple TV homescreen:  
  • Be sure you have updated the Apple TV first.
  • To remove movie previews select SETTINGS → iTUNES STORE → HD PREVIEWS → toggle to OFF
  • To remove channel previews select SETTINGS → MAIN MENU → now toggle off all of the channels you do not want to appear when the home screen is displayed.  
  • To toggle: scroll to a channel and then hit the center button on the remote. Select HIDE on the channels you do not want to appear.

Naming the Apple TV can help distinguish between multiple Apple TV's on campus. If multiple Apple TV's are using the same wifi network, naming can stop those little 'accidents' when the teacher next door takes over your screen.

Giving the Apple TV a name is easy. Simply go to SETTINGS --> GENERAL --> NAME and enter a name for the Apple TV. 

You could name it after the teacher, room number or 80's movies!
You can also add a passcode to your apple TV for added security and control over who can project in your classroom.
Newer Apple TV's updated with iOS6 or newer now have Conference Room Display which is useful in schools. When you turn on Conference Room Display, you can see onscreen instructions for using AirPlay. You can use this display with multiple Wi-Fi networks or Apple TVs, such as in businesses and schools.



To learn more about the power of Apple TV in the classroom take a look at this video from Max Interactive, featuring Apple Distinguished Educator +Mark Hammons. Apple TV in Education