March 2014

​Name​:  Drew Mincok

​District​: Bloomfield Hills

​School: Eastover Elementary

Job Title​: 4th Grade Teacher

​Years in Education: 4

Twitter: @techminock

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Why do you make an excellent "Tech Ninja"?

I am very passionate about technology and bringing that experience to my students. I would make an excellent tech ninja because I try to be on the cutting edge of what's out there. I was the first teacher to bring Google Glass to my students as well as being the teacher who introduced Augmented Reality to my campus with my friend Brad Waid.

 

I am an elementary teacher, technology trainer, speaker, and educational technology consultant. I am currently using Twitter, Skype, Google Hangout, and Kidblog to connect my classroom with others worldwide. I believe it is important for his students to be connected and global learners. I am the Co-Founder of the educational blog Two Guys and Some iPads and augmented reality meet up AR Detroit. I have launched the popular educational podcast “The Two Guys Show” to inspire educators to reach new heights. I am also currently serving on the Teacher Advisory Board for edtech startups Remind 101, and Three Ring and I am currently serving as an educational advisor for Daqri, the world’s leading augmented reality developer who creates educational experiences that allows students to absorb and retain ideas like never before.
 

What are some of your favorite Web 2.0 tools or apps, and why?

One site I really like is Spelling City.  VocabularySpellingCity is a fun way to learn spelling and vocabulary words by playing engaging learning games using any word list. The most popular activities are Spelling TestMe, HangMouse, and our vocabulary games, available to Premium Members. The most popular word lists are Sound Alikes, Compound Words, Hunger Games and SAT Words. The free app includes ten of our most popular word lists and eight of our most popular learning games and activities.

 

Remind 101.  Remind 101 is a safe, fast, and easy way from teachers to communicate with students and parents. Teachers never see students' phone numbers and students' never see theirs. Remind 101 allows you to send a text or email to every student and parent in your classes. It also allows you to schedule messages ahead of time and view the history or messages sent! We were lucky to meet Brett Kopf and his team at ISTE. They were great people who are helping change the way teachers communicate with students and parents. They are continuously working to improve Remind 101 and enjoy hearing feedback from teachers. 

 

Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere.Create slides, draw in any color, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage.Add new or existing photos and videos. Import PDF, PPT, DOC, XLS, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and RTF files from Evernote, Dropbox, Box, GDrive, WebDAV, Email, iTunes, and any app that allows you to open these files types using "Open In…". Export MP4 movies, PDF documents, PNG images, or XPL project files directly from your iPad.

 

Three Ring.  Three Ring unlocks the power of your mobile phone or iPad. Now it's easy for teachers and students to document evidence from the classroom. Capture anything, regardless of format, in just seconds.Take a picture of any paper, drawing, or board work.Record presentations or discussions with audio or video.Students can upload their own work from any mobile device or computer.

 

Cargo Bot. The first game programmed entirely on the iPad using the Codea app. Cargo-Bot is a puzzle game where you teach a robot how to move crates. Sounds simple, right?It features 36 fiendishly clever puzzles, haunting music and stunning retina graphics. You can even record your solutions and share them on YouTube to show your friends.(Information from have used this application in our classroom to promote teamwork, problem solving, persistence, and coding. 

 

 

Why is technology important in education?

Technology is going to be a part of every one of our student's lives.  They are surrounded by it every day with everything they do.  I try to find ways to use technology with my students where they are creating something to share with the world.  I also try to give my students lots of different experiences with technology.  From augmented reality, to apps, to creating their own learning, to Google Glass.  I want my students to leave my classroom having had experience with a plethora of tools.  I am also really passionate about sharing my learning with other educators as well, hence why I started the Two Guys Show and why I'm lucky enough to get to travel around the country speaking about what I love doing!
 

Other Thoughts

The Two Guys Website:   www.twoguysandsomeipads.com

Two Guys Show: http://edreach.us/channel/twoguys/

Two Guys on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TwoGuysAndSomeIPads

Two Guys on Twitter: https://twitter.com/2guysshow