What the Tech?
Your Monthly Instructional Tech Newsletter - October 2017
Don't Click That Link!
Happy October!
I love this time of year as the weather (hopefully) begins to change to cooler temps!
I wanted to take a minute in this month's newsletter to talk about spam/phishing emails. Spam emails come in many different forms and unfortunately, there has been a recent increase in spam/phishing emails making their way through to district emails, and even coming to your inbox from a FWISD employee (even though it wasn't really that person). Please be very cautious when opening emails that are formatted in an odd way, are from someone you don't know that doesn't have a FWISD email, or that's asking for personal information. The district is aware of these emails and they are working on it. If you see an email that looks suspicious, don't click on any links within the email, and please do not forward the spam email. I have received some recently asking me to verify or validate my Office365 account or everything will be deleted. These are not valid and should never be clicked on. Simply delete them. If you are receiving spam emails mentioning job openings at outside companies, delete those as well. If you ever have a question regarding an email being legitimate or not, you can email me to verify, but please just screenshot the email and send me the screenshot, do not forward me the email. :) Take a look at the graphic below for some helpful tips on how to spot a phishing email!
Tech Highlight of the Month
Buncee is similar to PowerPoint in the way that students use Buncee to create presentations. Buncee is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it a bit more approachable than PowerPoint, especially for beginners. The other great thing about Buncee is that it has so many amazing things built in to it! There's hundreds of pre-made backgrounds, stickers, animations, etc. that students can browse through or do specific searches and then a couple of clicks and it's added to their presentation! There's no limit to how you can use this in your classroom, but here's a few ideas to get you started:
- Join the Buncee Pen Pal program!
- Use it to create your own presentations or directions for the class!
- Highlight Book Recommendations from the Teacher
- Student Book Reviews or Book Reports
- Making their own graphic organizer and filling it in
- Words problems and solutions
- Team Projects
- Here's some ideas straight from the Buncee Blog about using the new Buncee Boards feature!
- Booksnaps (I'll be highlighting this further next month!)
Buncee can be used on desktops, chromebooks, and tablets via the app making it very easy to use in your classroom, even if your classroom technology is limited in number. Give it a try and if you need help, please let me know!
Tech Troubles?
Digital Citizenship Training
FWTC 2018
More About Me
I'm happy that I've taught such a wide range of grade levels as it truly helps me to understand the needs of each level and how different they all are. I've always been the type to try new things and just jump right in! I hope to help everyone try new things this year in regards to tech integration with the curriculum! If you're afraid to try new things, that's OK, because I'm not, and I'm here to support you! No matter how long you've been teaching, digital learning and tech integration is very possible and can be done!
Email: daina.roberts@fwisd.org
Website: bit.ly/edtechwithDaina
Phone: (817) 829-0549
Twitter: @EdTechDaina