As students buy their supplies in preparation for the new year, Bellevue Public School's teachers are getting comfortable with their new 13” MacBook Air computers. All teacher laptops were replaced at the end of last year with the new computers. All iPads that are 4-5 years old are being replaced with new iPads so that teachers and students can utilize the most updated technology tools in the classroom. BPS secretaries also received 21.5 inch iMacs. Secretaries will now be on the same platform as the teachers and administrators in their respective buildings. High school journalism, CAD, A+ and business labs also received new desktops this summer.

As we move forward with our 1:1 initiative, 65 classroom sets of iPads will be making their way to various buildings in the first semester. The teachers receiving these iPads have already been trained and will be receiving a two day refresher course before getting their iPads followed by nine weeks of classroom coaching. Watch for an e-mail this fall from Greg Boettger on how to apply for the next round of training.

One of the pillars of blended learning is creation. To facilitate creation, each media center will start the year with a green screen and mesh stands available for students to use when creating projects to demonstrate mastery of learning objectives.

The video creation possibilities on the iPad are limitless and a powerful way for students to demonstrate their understanding of a curriculum concept. With the green screen, students can record themselves in front of the green screen with the camera app and then use the Green Screen App by Do Ink to add backgrounds to the videos. The portable green screen will provide students opportunities to create either in the media center, the classroom, or hallway.

The mesh stands are just what students need to create paper slide videos. Students create a script for their videos along with paper visuals which can include paper puppets. Students record their video using the camera app with the iPad balanced on the mesh stand. Students can easily upload the completed videos to the Seesaw app for sharing. Learn more about paper slide videos in the video below.

Making Announcements in Courses

Create an update in your course and then click the dropdown arrow next to the purple "Post" button and click the bell. This will create an announcement that will post to the top of your course and stay there until you remove it. Great for reminders that you don't want pushed down to the bottom of the page as you add more updates.

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