Week 13

Here are some highlights from Technology this week:

                         Week 13 (November 13 – November 17, 2017)            

Thursday Giggles:            How much do pirates pay for their earrings?
                                            A buccaneer.

Pick and choose your favorites.  Don’t use every tool. 
Chefs don’t use every ingredient.  Gardeners don’t plant every type of plant. 

Free Technology Classes.  TEACHING SESSION 2: Google Classroom – Would you like to learn how to use Google Classroom?  We will design a Classroom.  We will design assignments.  We will locate student work.  What does teacher feedback look like in Classroom?  I will show you more than one way to help your students improve their online work.  Have you thought about moving to a flipped classroom model?  Aren’t quite sure how?  Come with your questions.
                Session 2B: Wednesday, November 29, 2017
                @ Copper Hills Elementary School from 2:30 – 3:30 in the Computer Lab
                EVENTBRITE LINK HERE – REGISTER FOR CLASS HERE

Hour of Code.  Did you know that in Great Britain, kindergarten students are taught how to code?  It’s part of their technology framework.  I encourage you and your students to explore one hour of code during this global tech event.  For the gift card (one winner), our window of completion will run from Monday, November 17 – Friday, December 22.  Here are four websites to consider:
                Code.org – This is the easiest one.  Great for all grades.
                Code Monkey – found in Clever
                Code Academy – found in Clever (Google Slides / PowerPoint you may copy and use.)
                Scratch – various online tools
When you explore code with your students, take a picture of what you are doing.  Then, fill out THIS Google Form and let me know that you participated.  You will be entered into a drawing (CN area elementary teachers only).  One winner will receive a gift card for $20 (Amazon, Starbucks, something local).

Website.  Did you know there are teaching videos on my website?  If you don’t know how to use some of the resources I have highlighted, you can find some of them on my website.  Check out the videos tab on my website for more information.

EdPuzzle. If you have never explored EdPuzzle as a learning tool before, I encourage you to try this resource.  It takes videos that are already online and it lets you modify these videos for teaching/learning purposes. Not only that, you get to embed questions into the video.  Lastly, student responses are collected so that you can analyze them when you are done with the assignment.  EdPuzzle works seamlessly with Google Classroom.  You can drop the link into your Classroom through EdPuzzle.  The children watch the video you modified (very easy to do) and they are forced to stop at the questions you placed in there.  They advance when they are done answering the question.  Need more ways to test listening skills?  This is a great tool to do just that.  Millions of videos to choose from. Have a video you like on YouTube?  Search for that video through EdPuzzle.  Khan Academy video?  Search for that one too.  Vimeo?  Those work too.  Some of the teachers I am working with this year have been quite impressed with this tool and they are already implementing this into their classrooms.  Combo?  Gate?  One more awesome tool to add to your resource list.

Computers.  Lab booked?  Cart already signed out?  Wish you had more computers in your classroom?  Have you ever thought about borrowing computers from another teacher?  Phone a friend.  Send an email.  Ask.  Maybe that other teacher may even send students your way to deliver the laptops.  Not every tech lesson needs a whole class set of computers.  Children can share.  Brainstorm.  Collaborate.  Work as a team.  Small groups.  Rotation.  Experiment and see what works for you.  Tell others what worked for you and what didn’t.  You just might inspire someone else to borrow and share computers.

One Drive.  Is your computer maxed out on space?  No more room to hold any more files?  Don’t go out and buy an external hard drive.  You can keep your files safe in One Drive.  It’s free.  If you have a brand new computer, your files are already being backed up on One Drive (that’s what I was told).  If you aren’t already backing up your files there, head over to Microsoft 365 (Employee tab on the CUSD website).  Open One Drive.  Drag and drop your files into the loading space.  Yes, Drive is an option too.  This just gives you another place to store your files (if you like this one better).

Kindly,