Instructional Technology Newsletter
February, 2017 - 7th Edition
This Month...
Our February newsletter is filled with recognitions, as well as tips, tricks, and other useful information.
Past Editions have been moved and can be found HERE or by using the link at the end of this newsletter.
In this month's edition, we spotlight:
- Innovative Educators
- Cohort Shout-Outs
- School/Teacher Shout-Outs
- Technology Resources
- Technology How-To's
- and much more!!
Sara Lobaugh, Shannon Morgan, and Bethany Payne
Bloomingdale Elementary School
Turn up the sound and view the video
Success Story from Godley
I just wanted to share a success that we had on our team today. Today we took advantage of being a multi-grade team and having 1:1 technology. The 6th graders finished drafting their essays in Google Docs, and we were able to use flexible scheduling to pair them with 8th grade peer revision partners. The partnerships were formed based on writing strengths and weaknesses. It worked beautifully. The 8th graders did a fantastic job of using academic language to show the 6th graders the skills they have mastered. The 6th graders were very attentive and open to the suggestions of their 8th grade peers.
Mrs. Schrambeck's Class Learns Seesaw
East Broad Students at Writing Kiosks
1:1 iPads @ Hodge Elementary
1:1 iPads @ White Bluff Elementary
Reading & Writing Resources
Writing Kiosks - providing opportunities for students to write and compose at the keyboard.
Write About - digital writing for classrooms where students are writing for an authentic audience.
Your IT Coach is available to assist with these resources.
Math Resources
Math.com - is dedicated to providing revolutionary ways for students, parents, teachers, and everyone to learn math
Zearn Math - personalized digital lessons
EngageNY - developed and maintained by New York State Education Department. Contains Common Core resources and more.
Reach out to your IT Coach for assistance.
Trends Reshaping Education
CONGRATULATIONS to all finishers of Cohort activities in Quarter 1 and/or Quarter 2!! Who are they? Check out our Wall of Fame below and consider joining them by participating and finishing quarterly activities.
Automating Assessment to Differentiate Learning
Mercedes Josey ... Jarvis Dean ... Alexander Roth
Creating More Authentic Lessons using G-Suite
iPads in the PK-2 Classroom
We have 217 K-2 and SpEd teachers joining the iPad Cohort.
Angel Harlin ... Melanie Coleman ... Belinda Adair
Monica Eve ... Heidi Schaffner ... Meredith Sanders
Janique Darden ... Jennifer Norrell ... Renee Rabbitt
Audrey Newsome ... Belinda Adair ... Letha Moore
Monica Eve ... Malik Jasper ... Heidi Schaffner
Suzanne Sweeney ... Meredith Sanders ... Connie Hinely Janique Darden ... Shanicka Washington-King ...Jennifer Norrell ... Ladonna Campbell-DeLoach ...Akilah Payne ... Cashala Bowers ... Sariah McCall ...Mary-Elise Ulin ... Colleen Bibby ... Wonza Williams
Transform YouTube into MyTube
New Cohort! Future Schools Project
Google goodness
You can now differentiate assignments for your students within Google Classroom. Instead of sending the same assignment to everyone, you can now send different assignments to a single student or a group of students. Differentiation at its finest! Kasey Bell of Shake Up Learning offers a great overview of how to accomplish this.
If you need assistance, be sure to contact your IT Coach.
Join several of your IT Coaches and others - let's learn together! Click HERE.
IPADS
Have your iPad read to you
Tap to top
Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts
These keyboard shortcuts can be illustrated on the screen by holding down both the CTRL and ALT buttons and then tapping the “?” key. This pops up a handy interactive keyboard reference on the Chromebook screen showing the keyboard shortcuts. Pushing the SHIFT, CTRL and ALT keys shows what that particular key combination will type or do on the Chromebook.
For more information click HERE.
Emoji Keyboard on ipads
How could you incorporate this to get students excited about writing? Check out this idea for using emojis to describe your weekend. There are plenty of ideas out there. Give it a try and share what the students created with your IT Coach.
Take a Day to Reflect: Field trip for educators
Looking for a day to catch your breath and rethink some of your teaching strategies? Come to a Future Schools Project professional development day at STEM Academy. Spend the day touring the school, interviewing students, reflecting and rethinking some of our traditional practices in education including: classroom environment, roles of students and teachers, and practices that help students become real-world, problem solvers.
Audience: Teachers and school leaders K-12
Dates: February 28th, March 1st, April 26th, May 4th
Movers and Shakers in Education - check out these amazing educators for inspiration and innovation!
- ITC Blog - We aim to provide timely and usable information.
- Edutopia - Hosted by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Edutopia has plenty of well-indexed information on how technology can be used in classrooms.
- Cycles of Learning - Ramsay Musallam recognized how useful hacks could be in classrooms, so he set up Cycles of Learning to share practical education tech hacks to make teachers’ lives just a bit easier. Who doesn't like easier?!
- Participate Learning- Check out all that Participate Learning has to offer educators.
- Learning in Hand is an educator's resource for mobile and digital learning created by Tony Vincent.
- TeachThought - full of articles for education
- Ditch That Textbook - "I’m Matt Miller. It’s my passion to equip teachers to thrive in this new era of education and think differently about the craft of teaching."
- Alice Keeler a must read. Full of resources and ideas.
- Vicki Davis - Cool Cat Teacher
Are you Reading?
What is going to make our newsletter something you look forward to each month? We are asking for your input! Please use the link below to submit your ideas.
Know Your Instructional Technology Coach!
The Instructional Technology Department is responsible for coordinating, organizing, and facilitating the effective use and integration of technology within the schools in order to increase student performance.
Instructional Technology Coaches
Angela LaPlante ... Dru Piersol
Gillian Riley ... Melissa Milligan
Libby Miller ... William Harris
Media Services
Carol Tarnowski - Library Media Technology Coach
Deborah Hargroves - Media and Broadcast Trainer (part-time)
Lakeshia Bostick - Media Support Assistant (912) 395-1124
Program Manager