Connecting Educators
June 2022
Coding in the Classroom PD
What: a PD opportunity that aims to provide teachers with a chance to learn about the Sphero indi and Sphero Bolt, as well as, how they can use them to teach coding in their classroom.
Where: JCISD KEC Building
When: June 13, 2022 (9-11am)
Cost: Free
To learn more, check out the Coding in the Classroom webpage.
Mornings with TeamJXN
What: Looking to amp up your curriculum this summer with some great tech tools? Need some help or a great space to work? Join us this summer for coffee, a light breakfast, and EdTech support. Jump-start your school year with TeamJXN.
Where and When:
6/23/2022 - Jackson Coffee - Mechanic St.
6/30/2022 - Callaghans (Brooklyn) - Main St.
7/12/2022 - Rough Draft (Hillsdale) - Union St.
7/19/2022 - Roaming Goat (Grass Lake) - South Lake St.
7/25/2022 - Vitos (New Location - Spring Arbor) - Spring Arbor Rd. (Used to be Spring Arbor Cafe)
We will be at each location from 8:30-11:30am. Feel free to arrive at any time.
Cost: Free
To learn more and to sign up for reminder emails, check out the Mornings with TeamJXN webpage.
Innovation Camp
Join us for a two-and-a-half-day scholastic esports event. Educators don't need to know anything about esports to participate. They will bring a team of up to three students to participate in project-based learning centered around entrepreneurship, media creation, and technology skills. Student teams will compete in the TeamJXN Innovation Cup, a tournament featuring school-friendly esports games on day 3 of this event. Winning teams will get their choice of a Nintendo Switch or gaming chair for their classroom.
UPDATE: Jackson College is hosting part of this event. We will be walking over there for gameplay sessions and for the third-day tournament.
Gaming Chair
Nintendo Switch
Innovation Camp Shirt
TeamJXN at Jackson Reads Museum Day
Security
Google Forms Phishing Scams
Just because you are getting a response receipt, doesn't mean you actually completed a Google Form and requested that receipt. Spammers send a response receipt with a prefilled form tricking users into giving additional information. If you receive an actual receipt, IT SHOULD NOT BE ASKING YOU FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
Read more about it in this article from Chrome Unboxed
Google Updates/Google Tips
Graduating Seniors: Move a school google site to a personal google site
Video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qt3INYl48A8EaR2uUB0gxSCeikaux3eP/view?usp=sharing
Google Drive Web: Cut, copy and paste files using keyboard shortcuts
You can now use familiar keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + C (or ⌘ + C on Mac), Ctrl + X and Ctrl + V to copy, cut and paste Google Drive files in your Chrome browser. This saves you time by allowing you to copy one or more files and move them to new locations in Drive, and across multiple tabs, with fewer clicks.
Additionally, a link to the file and its title will also be captured when copying a file, which allows you to easily paste them into a document or an email.
To help you more easily organize files in multiple locations without necessarily creating duplicate files, Ctrl + C, Ctrl + Shift + V will create shortcuts.
Lastly, you can open files or folders in a new tab using Ctrl+Enter, so that you can easily view multiple files at once, or use different tabs to more easily organize files between two different folder locations.
Cut, copy and paste files using keyboard shortcuts in Google Drive Web
Google Docs: Use new table templates and dropdown chips to create highly collaborative documents
You can use dropdown chips to easily indicate the status of your document or various project milestones outlined in your document. There are two default dropdown options:
- Project Status, which includes selections for “Not Started”, “Blocked”, “In Progress” and “Complete”
- Review Status, which includes selections for “Not Started”, “In Progress”, “Under Review” and “Approved”.
Additionally, you can create a dropdown chip with custom options and colors to best suit your needs.
Use new table templates and dropdown chips in Google Docs to create highly collaborative documents
Google Tasks: Set recurring task end options directly
Previously you could only set the end date option for a recurring task (never, on a certain date, or after X occurrences) by opening the task in Google Calendar. With this launch, you can now set this option directly in Google Tasks. This gives you more control over how and until when your tasks repeat.
Tech Tools & Resources
MACUL Grants
MACUL will support your innovative educational ideas or classroom projects with up to $1000. Apply today and share how technology tools or resources can help meet your needs. Check out the grant guidelines and information and submit your application today. https://macul.org/grants
CS/MITECs Crosswalk
These resources can help teachers easily implement CS/MITECS in their classroom without it being a heavy lift.
6-8: in the works!
Media Literacy Toolkit
Talking with Students About Shocking or Disturbing News
Age-based tips and lessons to help students process upsetting events.
In our 24/7 breaking news world, there seems to be a new crisis every day. As news outlets compete for clicks, all of us -- including kids -- are immersed in more headlines than ever before. Unless you teach current events or social studies, most of the day's news probably won't make it into your classroom. But certain news events are just too big to ignore. When this happens, a lot of teachers ask themselves: How should I address this with my students? And, should I address this at all? - Common Sense Media
The Personal Purchase Program is back this year!
Girls Hack IT Program
Don’t miss the best tech event of the year!
Introducing Girls Hack IT—where a hackathon meets a middle school dance party! This event teaches middle school girls STEM-related skills to prepare them for a tech career. Participants will learn how to code, develop, and deploy real-world solutions while having fun in an upbeat environment. Working together, you will get hands-on experience and the mentorship you need to succeed at the hackathon.
Girls Hack IT Program:
In-person hackathon event on December 10, 2022
+ 6-week online prep courses prior to the event
Registration starts September 1, 2022
University of Michigan Summer Tech Camps
UofM has a wide variety of summer camps. Some options include coding, game development, robotics, and design for kids and teens. Visit their website for more information: https://www.idtech.com/locations/michigan-summer-camps/university-of-michigan
Updates from Powerschool
- PowerSchool Rollover will take place the week of July 18-22.
- Systems will be unavailable for login during this process.
- Please be sure you have completed all your End of Year steps before this time.
- For more information on End of Year processes click here.
PD Opportunities
Calling all middle school Social Studies, Arts, and Language Arts teachers interested in….
Michigan State University is working with leading researchers and professional development providers from Telos Learning and Mouse to offer integrated computational thinking Professional Development and inviting PD participants to deepen this work as iCT Design Fellows. This opportunity is open to any middle school ELA, Social Studies, and Arts teachers from across the country.
REMC Esports Institute
The REMC Esports Institute will guide schools and districts through developing a personalized, long-range (three years) implementation plan to build or expand access to esports.
The goal is to capture all interested students through multiple pathways and ensure inclusion in this engaging and competitive learning opportunity.
This institute is appropriate for new or veteran programs and will support the creation of a clear and concrete communication plan and steps to provide a welcoming esports school culture. The REMC Esports Institute will be held on July 25-27 in person at the Winding Brook Conference Center in Shepard, Michigan. Food will be provided for the in-person session. A virtual format will be available from August 9-11. Participating schools/districts must register a team of at least three members; teams should include someone in a leadership role and someone at the classroom level. We highly encourage including a student representative.
Registration is open now! For more information on Esports and resources already available, please visit REMC's website.
REMC: VIRTUAL COURSES & Webinars
Check out June 2022 courses here:
Inquiry and Questioning: Igniting Student Curiosity with Technology
Remixing and Revising Open Educational Resources from #GoOpen Michigan
Tech support
Connect with Us!
Email: edtechteamjxn@gmail.com
Website: edtech.jcisd.org
Location: 6700 Browns Lake Road, Jackson, MI, United States
Facebook: facebook.com/teamjxn1
Twitter: @edtechjxn