CPP Technology Today
A Communication of the CPP Technology Committee - Vol 2.8
In This Issue
- Instructional Technology Professional Development
- Technology In Our Schools - Rockin' In The New Year - Tech Style - At Calvin U. Smith - By Michael Clarke
- Library Media Update - K-5 Library Media Program Incorporates Tech AND Research Skills Into Student Projects - By Jennifer Taylor
- Applying Google Apps: Sharing in Various Google Apps By Carrie Howe
- District Technology News: Master Plan Technology Goals - Goal 5 - Technology Requests
- Technology Committee - Members
- BITS Team Members
- Updates from Tech Services
- Newsletter Suggestions and Ideas
Tuesday, Jan 10, 2017, 10:00 AM
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Instructional Technology Professional Development
Unless otherwise indicated, classes run from 3:30-4:30. Teachers are welcome to attend trainings in any building. There is no pre-registration process - "drop in" when you're able! Be sure to sign in for in-service credit.
Contact the team members offering each class with any specific questions.
January Dates:
1/3 - Severn Library - Jen Taylor - Symbaloo - 3:15-4:15 (All Teachers)
1/3 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - Google Calendar - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/10 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - 10 Programs You Can Implement in your Classroom Now - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/17 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - Screencast-O-Matic - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/17 - Smith School Library - Jill Mertus - Symbaloo - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/17 - Gregg School Lab - Rachel Ketchum - Nearpod - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/10 - Carder School Library - Laura Tolbert - Forms and Flubaroo - 2:45-3:30 (All Teachers)
1/24 - Severn Library - Jen Taylor - Open Labs - 3:15-4:15 (All Teachers)
1/24 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - YouTube Channel (All Teachers)
February Dates
2/7 - Carder School Library - Laura Tolbert - Typing Club and Kahoot - 2:45-3:30 (All Teachers)
Technology In Our Schools
Rockin' In The New Year - Tech Style - At Calvin U. Smith
By Michael Clarke
The district’s One to One Initiative is rockin’ in the New Year at Calvin U. Smith. Here’s what’s happening:
- As previously reported in the Technology Newsletter, at the start of the school year, first graders took the NWEA using chrome books—successfully. Second grade is jumping on board as the Winter testing window approaches.
- Second grade is also using chrome books for a center during morning center time. Lynn Fie says the students use Moby Max, fact fluency and Story Line as part of the Daily Five. She says the children have become truly independent in the use of the chrome books.
- Third grade is using Google Classroom for links to programs such as Moby Max and Spelling City. Mitch Peck has also used Nearpod to post open ended questions and for a lesson on the distributive property in math. Students and the teacher receive immediate feedback and can address any misconceptions which he says is a powerful teaching tool.
- Fourth grade is honing in on keyboarding skills using Typing Club in order to meet the technology standards; i.e. typing a one-page document at one sitting. Cindy Watson says the students are improving and many have already met the standard.
- Fifth grade is full bore into Google Classroom. The teachers have created multiple quizzes in all curriculum areas as checks for understanding using Google Forms and Flubaroo. Again, the immediate feedback is a powerful tool. In order to meet the Common Core writing standards, especially writing research papers using multiple resources, Google Classroom allows the teachers to link short videos, articles, maps and other resources as a one stop shop allowing students to conduct their research with teacher guided questions.
- New to the building, the Holiday Sing-a-Long was streamed live to all classrooms as well as the monitors in the lobby and the cafeteria. Since the gym was packed, this allowed the overflow of parents to view the extravaganza. In the works: the morning news streamed live to all classrooms. More at eleven.
Technology is a motivating tool for students, and teachers are finding more and more ways to incorporate the Chrome Books into instructional practices.
Library Media Connection
K-5 Library Media Program Incorporates Tech AND Research Skills Into Student Projects
By Jen Taylor
Elementary librarians throughout the district are gearing up for research/notetaking in grades four and five. The real news is that intermediate students will be learning how to use Google Slides as their presentation tool on their Chromebooks!
Students in grade four research one of two topics: either they can choose a Colonial trade to research, (such as blacksmith, apothecary, cooper, etc) to investigate or they learn about and research a Revolutionary War figure whose life coordinates with their classroom curriculum. Using prescribed websites that highlight the colonists’ skills, tools and trademarks or the war figures’ impact on the Revolutionary War, students take notes to answer questions that will be reflected in their presentations. The true test for students is learning how to paraphrase their findings, no matter what their topic is, after learning all about copyright and plagiarism! The project culminates with students presenting their slide shows to their peers in library for self/peer assessment.
Students in grade five have a more challenging assignment. Even though they also will be learning how to navigate Google Slides, they will be researching athletes who break barriers using recommended websites that may/may not fit the bill. Students will be analyzing websites for currency, reliability, accuracy and point-of-view--better known as the CRAP test. Already, students are having to question: Is this athlete known for breaking a barrier OR a record??? And since students are investigating their athlete of choice, they are being asked to infer character traits AND support their reasons with information from text.
Once both grades have accomplished the task of research/note-taking, they will be more than excited to learn how to insert images, format font & backgrounds and transition through the Google Slides. They will also be introduced to the "Explore" feature on Google Slides. Explore offers the ability to search (web, images, and Google Docs) while working on Google Slides. Just click on the EXPLORE feature and a pane pops up that allows you to manually type in the topic of your choice without having to open another window. Students working on their research projects can input images directly from the pane or they can check the accuracy of their notes by clicking on websites provided through EXPLORE.
All K-5 School Library Media Specialists plan to work closely with classroom teachers to provide instruction that benefits student learning in curriculum areas, as well as technology!
Applying Google Apps
Keep it All Straight - Managing Sharing in Google Apps
Many staff members have begun to utilize (or are thinking of starting to utilize) Google Apps, for professional, administrative or instructional purposes.
Keeping the different Apps (programs) straight, and remember how to collaborate on and share information within the different Apps can be tricky at first. Access the "cheat sheet" below for quick and easy reminders on sharing folders, docs, posting information in Google Classroom and more!
District Technology Updates
Master Plan Technology Goals - Year 2
The 2015-2020 Master Plan for the Corning-Painted Post Area School District contains goals to help the district grow in many areas, to better serve our kids and community. Technology is an area identified in that plan for particular growth, to ensure that all students, staff and families have access to the tools - and the training to use them - to support teaching, learning and daily operations for all of us.
GOAL 5: Request Process: Create a uniform process for requesting technology devices and programs
The inclusion of this goal in the Master Plan was based on confusion on how to go about requesting technology, particularly for instructional and classroom use. Practices were different within and between buildings, and at the district-level as well.
In working to achieve this goal, a sub-committee of the technology committee worked to identify a process to request technology, create a method of implementing that process, and determine how the technology requests would be approved.
The subcommittee determined that:
- Instructional purchases must be driven by curriculum needs
- Collaboration and communication between teachers (at a grade level or content area level) should be demonstrated
- Requests fill a need that is unmet by current district technologies, or indicate a current program that could be replaced by the new request
- A plan for creating professional development for the new programs should be incorporated into the request
- Requests would be evaluated a least monthly by a sub-group of the technology committee, who would make recommendations for purchase
A Form has been created to request technologies. Teachers should work with curriculum coordinators (Michelle Caulfield, Kerry Hochreiter, Brenda McClure, Cathy Honness, Kristie Radford) and within curriculum groups to determine where in the curriculum a technology would be used, and then complete the request form found here. This form is also located in the "For Teachers" section of the CPP Technology Website.
Technology Committee Membership
BITS Team - Instructional Technology Support
Last week in this newsletter, the Building Instructional Technology Support (BITS) team members were introduced, and their roles were discussed. Remember that these individuals are available within your buildings to help teachers utilize instructional technology. They can recommend programs and resources, suggest ways to implement technology and tech skills instruction into the curriculum, and provide teachers with help in introducing programs to students. Any hardware-related issues should still be referred to IT, with requests sent in by emailing helpdesk@gstboces.org.
BITS representatives in each building include:
Carder – Jamie Nichols, Laura Tolbert and June Keuhn
Gregg – Rachel Ketchum and Colin Sinko
Erwin Valley – Jen Haischer and Peggy Marsiglio
Severn – Jen Taylor and Karen Cleary
Smith – Mike Clarke, Jill Mertus and Matt Cornacchio
Winfield – Kathy Rapisarda and Shari Smith
CPP HS – Robin Robarge and Stacie Martinec
CPPMS - Carrie Howe
District - Lori Pruyne
BITS representatives are also going to be conducting after-school professional development classes on various instructional technology topics after school each month. These sessions will be held around the district, but all sessions are open to all teachers - you do not have to attend only sessions held in your individual buildings. Class times and locations will be listen on the Professional Development Opportunities page of the CPP Technology website.
Updates From Tech Services
Windows Defender Message
We have had a number of people report a pop-up message from Windows Defender asking whether you would like to analyze files to see if they are malicious.
If the message begins with “Items detected on your PC require further analysis”, then this is a false alarm and you can ignore it.
We have BOCES looking into the issue and we hope that they can come up with a resolution soon.
Newletter Information
Email: lpruyne@cppmail.com
Website: cpptechnology.weebly.com
Location: CPPHS B215
Phone: 3503