I was in graduate school when I first learned about Rocketbook - a notebook that erases in the microwave and slickly syncs your notes into your favorite cloud services. As a teacher, I had never really used notebooks and never though I would find an authentic means for using it. In my new role as a Professional Learning Partner, however, I have found a notebook useful for jotting down small thoughts during meetings and creating better visuals for concepts. After months of trying not to simply chase the latest shiny gadget, I finally gave in and bought one for myself, even though the executive size I originally wanted was sold out. After using it for all of one day, I wanted to share my initial impressions. If you're note familiar when Rocketbook, below is a great introductory video.

Currently, Rocketbook will send pages to Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, OneNote, and iCloud based upon the icon checked at the bottom of the page. The scanning process is very easy, since the QR code at the bottom of each page helps align the page well for your camera. The file is named according to date scanned and the page of the notebook. 

I have currently set icons for Evernote and different folders in Google Drive. My journey into using Rocketbook is still very early, but I'll be sure to update you after I've used it more.
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What do you think? Could this be the next big thing? How would you use Rocketbook? Please leave your thoughts in the comment below!

As a part of my new position as a Professional Learning Partner, I have been tasked with creating certificates for professional learning participants. For many educators, certificates serve as more than a piece of paper - many use them to renew their licenses with the Colorado Department of Education. Originally, the process was to open the blank Word template of the certificate, and manually enter the participant name, session title, date and contact hours. I would then save the file with the participant name and repeat the process using 'save as' for each additional participant. Once I went through this process, I vowed to find a better way. I'm happy to say that I've found a solution, and its remarkably elegant. It's name is autoCrat.

autoCrat is a Google Sheets add-on that allows you to merge data from a Sheets file into a Google Doc template you create. You can then choose an export option, saving the file to your Google Drive and sending the file via email. This means you can literally generate certificates with the push of a button, given the right Sheet. As a result, I have decided to change my sign-in sheet policy for departments I support. Departments can either use an electronic sign-in sheet that generates the information I need, or departments can fill out a template with the necessary information. Given this change in policy, below is a comparison of my before and after process.

You may be asking yourself - How can I do this amazing thing?!?! I started by watching a great tutorial video by Jeff Bradbury. If you've never heard of Jeff or TeacherCast, I strongly recommend you check them out as great edtech resources. Below is the video I used to work this magic.

If you're interested in doing this in your role, there are a few things I learned in this process that you may want to keep in mind.

• When creating your autoCrat program, be sure that anything you tag with << >> has the column header inserted, not the value you have in your Google Doc template
• Check with your district to make sure your automated emails get through any spam filters. I had our Department of Technology Services white-list my email so that all of the automated emails will get through.
• Test the process with a few people before you go live
• Craft any policies related to sign-in sheets in a way that will make this process even faster
• Consider creating a Google Form to feed into the Sheet that participants can use to enter their own information

​I've officially been working in my new position as a Professional Learning Partner for over a month now. While it has been very strange not having high school students as co-workers, I've experience a great deal of freedom that have completely blown my mind. I've been able to do a lot of things that I would never have been able to do as a classroom teacher. 

I think we often take for granted the sacrifices teachers make on a daily basis and some of the freedoms non-teachers enjoy. I don't think that people always understand that summers off (often filled with professional development) come at a cost for the 9 months of the school year. Teachers basically have to fall off the face of the earth and stick to an early bedtime (or have no sleep) in order to work their magic for students each day. Next time you step out to get a cup of coffee or take a break while working, appreciate that special opportunity and thank a teacher for their hard work and dedication to students.