Week 2

CN Teaching Team,

Here are some highlights of what happened this week in Technology.

Week 2 (August 28 – Sept 1, 2017)

Several teachers came into the Technology Lab.  One site worked with rotating carts all day long.  The charge worked until the end of the day.  We had no dead laptops.  Team, you did a great job with this transition.  Thank you for your positive attitude and your team-oriented nature.  We rocked that rotation!

My first graders were able to log in successfully for the very first time ever!  Yeah guys!!  We found the backspace button and the space bar.  We figured out how to sign out when we were done.  I even had some expert computer techs walking around to help their peers.  Way to be a team, guys!

Grades 2-5 (for the most part) were able to log into Clever successfully.  From there, we moved to the online version of the ELA text.  Many children were able to have access to the annotation area, pen, highlighter, text, and audio play buttons.  Some classes accessed the shapes and magnifying tools.  This is a great at-home or in-class learning tool.  The teacher does not have to send the text home for study purposes, if the text isn’t finished yet.  You can encourage the children to get online at home to access the text.  Or, you can use the audio feature in class for a listening station, if you wish.  Additionally, the annotation tools are a great small group learning tool.  Lastly, the annotation tool may be used from the online teacher text for teaching purposes.  The children can follow along on their paper version while the teacher uses the digital version through the projector.

Sixth grade was able to look at the student version of the online math textbook.  They found teaching videos online and various printable resources.  We located the glossary and the online quiz tool.  Together, we accessed the bottom-of-the page tool where students could type in a particular page and locate it easily.  We explored the magnifier, the pen, and the highlighter utility.  Now, the students have no excuse to get their homework done.  The teacher won’t accept, “I forgot my book at school.”  When a child goes on Independent Study and says, “I left my book at school,” the teacher can send mom and dad a reminder email that the book is online at clever.cusd.com.

Website.  I met with teachers individually to work on website development/updating.  Google Sites is the only CUSD approved platform for website hosting.  Reach out and let me know if you need help with this tool.  Or, watch video #1 on my website for a short introduction (there are five mini tutorials in that first video, speed up and find where my tutorial transitions to Sites).

Email.  A few of my teachers now have cute signatures for their emails.  Let me know if you need to add/change/edit your email signature.  I can help you with that.

Lesson Planning.  A few teachers reached out and asked for website ideas.  “What would work well with this lesson?  What would work well with that lesson?  I want to teach _______, what can I use?”  Thank you for reaching out.

Have a great three-day weekend!  I’ll see you next week.

Kindly,