ITLS Newsletter
September 4th
A Message from Julie
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. - John Quincy Adams
As I consider the opportunities ahead for our Digital Literacy Partnership, a paraphrased version of John Quincy Adams’ quote comes to mind. “If your digital literacy leadership inspires students and teachers to inquire more, analyze and evaluate more, learn more, and practice digital discernment and responsibility more, you are a digital literacy leader.”
WE are the leaders that can help people successfully address many of the Common Core Standards. Because of YOUR digital literacy leadership, Adams 12 students have more learning opportunities that prepare them to thrive in school and beyond. Thanks for your leadership! Best wishes for a restful weekend!- Julie
Announcements
ISTE in Denver! - ISTE Proposals are Due September 30th
ISTE is coming to Denver this year. It would be amazing to have our Digital Literacy Partnership represented at the conference. If you are interested in submitting a proposal, here is the link to the submission guide. Proposals are due September 30th.
Interlibrary Loans
Hi Team! I want to remind you of the wonderful resources we have on the textbook side of Destiny. I am sure you are all aware of what is housed in your own building, but did you know you could search and order textbooks from other schools? I see this being particularly helpful when working with large quantities of textbooks. The directions are right here!
--Tiah
Video Streaming Elections
Just a reminder your video streaming choice is due today. Please make your elections on this form. If you are still considering Learn 360 (but definitely do NOT want Discovery Streaming) you have until the end of September.
Generic Chromebook Logins for K-2
Print Shop Information
If you are interested in having an 11 x 17 poster printed, the size of our Digital Literacy and Digital Citizenship posters, the print shop can print them in color on white card stock for 38 cents a piece. We contacted the print shop to see if they have a quantity discount for 24 X 30 poster and they do not do quantity discounts on anything. All their prices are bare minimum pricing. A 24 x 30 cost 9 dollars.
Common Sense Media Agreements and Guidelines Revisited
For clarification, we agreed to the following for all students 3-5 for the 2015-16 school year:
All elementary students will complete 3 of the 5 Common Sense Media Passport Modules including
- Privacy;
- Cyberbullying;
- Searching.
A passing score is 80%. We will revisit this decision at the end of next school year in terms of how reasonable this expectation was and if the other 2 modules should be an added expectation. We will also revisit the secondary guidelines once the Common Sense Media Compass is completed and tested, including Digital Bytes.
Here is the Common Sense Media Educator Guide for quick reference.Writing PD
School Visits
Tiah is starting to work around to everyone’s second school. Please book some time so she can get out to see all that Adams 12 has to offer. She is also willing to spend time in collaboration with you if you want to block out more time.
Feedback Appreciated
2015-16 State Grant for Libraries
Anyone Missing Their Sunglasses?
Resources
Folder for APEX Collaborative Docs
research access right in Google Docs, share to Classroom Chrome extension, and
more templates!
Access to Past Newsletters
From Your Peers
Author Visit Option
Looking at options for an author visit this year? Last year I had local author C. Jeffrey Nunnally come to both Prairie Hills and Meridian. He was really well received by staff and students, gave a dynamic presentation to all my grade levels, and got the students thinking about their own writing. His book This House Needs a Mouse is a CCBA Picture book nominee this year. See his website at www.thishouseneedsamouse.com or email him directly at nunnally@thishouseneedsamouse.com
-Christine Cervera
Digital Literacy Partnership Staff List
You can find where your team mates are located on the staff list. Here is the direct link to the doc. It is also a link on the main ITLS web page under our new logo!
Password Keepers
Last year we struggled with keeping all our usernames/passwords straight for different programs. I'm sure many of you have systems that work, but here's an idea in case you're looking for one to try.
Kathi Pappas (tech person @ NS) and I came up with this password keeper and it seems to be working! I ran reports in IC and created color coded columns for the different types of info (pink-temporary password; yellow-student ID; blue-email). For the temporary password, I went in and added the AD12 in front of their birthdate. A little extra work on the front end, but it's all going so smoothly this year! And for those 8 year olds logging in for the first time, it really helps! Here's a link if you find this useful.
--Nadine AbrahamsI know the reality for us all...and it is good to expose kids of all ages to using a tool to help them remember. I created one for middle school kids...here it is. They don't all have accounts for all of these tools, it is just a "bookmark" of sorts I offer students and teachers in the learning commons/library along with other resources. It might be helpful for others, so I'm passing along.
--Dana LottEssential Questions
Essential Question Document from Laura Israelsen. She used this as her example from the Standards Ladder presentation. Thanks for Sharing Laura!
Does Your School Want it's Own APP?
Our school has found a great tool for building custom apps that run on Android, Apple and even an HTML version for windows users and have all the features you are looking for that include push notifications, attendance tracking, news updates, integrations to any website, teacher websites, calendars, newsletters, group notifications and much more. There is a onetime setup fee of $65.00 and a small monthly subscription fee. The app is completely customizable and is easy to configure in almost endless configurations. More than 3,000 schools use them. Great tool, easy to use, great support, I highly recommend them. Message me if you want more information.
--Becky Muller
Disclaimer
Thanks to everyone who has been so willing to share resources and ideas. We have tried to consolidate your great work in this newsletter in an effort to give you an easy way to track back and find what your peers have suggested. Although we are using the newsletter to distribute many different ideas, we have not taken those through any type of formal approval process. We have not contacted IT to determine whether the tool(s) and/or resource(s) meet their standards nor have we obtained input from district content leaders. Please know that as we share your ideas and suggestions we do so as part of an effort to make your jobs easier, but those resources and suggestions are not "officially" part of any Adams 12 curriculum. The approval/"sanctioning" process will be ironed out in the near future, but for now everything we include in this newsletter are ideas and suggestions for your consideration. If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Julie.