TECH CONNECT
GCSD Instructional Tech Newsletter Vol. 4 Issue 2 -10/25/16
DATES TO REMEMBER
Oct. 27 - Teacher Forum - 4:00 pm
Nov. 1 - Report Cards go home
Nov. 8 - Election Day (No School)
Nov. 11- Veteran's Day (Half Day Schedule)
Nov. 14 - Media Specialists Mtg. - 2:00 pm
Nov. 17 - Teacher Forum - 4: 00 pm
Nov. 23-25 - Thanksgiving Holidays (No School)
ATTENTION - Tech Fair date change
The Tech Fair, usually held in May, had been changed to April 12, 2016. This gives you a little less time to get ready, BUT, it also gets the Tech Fair finished before Spring Break and before end of the year testing. This should help with the availability of laptops for projects as well! It will still be held at Waccamaw Intermediate. Mark your calendars now!
NEW - OFFICE 365 EMAIL
Most accounts have been migrated over to the new Office 365 Outlook by now. If you need assistance to get familiar with the new Outlook, please contact your Tech Coach.
Nina Runion - GMS Middle Teacher Spotlight
Nina Runion is a teacher at Georgetown Middle School. She is certified in Elementary Education and is a Middle Level Science - National Board Certified teacher. She has her Masters in Divergent Learning and has 30 hours above the Master’s degree. She has over 20 years of teaching experience and was a Science Coach for the Middle Schools for two years. She has been a presenter at several conferences and served on the State Curriculum Development Team. Mrs. Runion employs a lot of technology in her classroom, and is one of the leading STEM teachers in the district, and teaches two classes of the Project Lead the Way Curriculum. She keeps her web page up to date for parents and has her own Weebly web page for Science Resources. Mrs. Runion regularly has the Middle Tech Coach into her classes to work on projects and tools, including: USA Test Prep, Socrative, Weebly, Padlet and the PLTW Modules. She also has a set of Google Chrome Books for her classes and has students working and saving projects on the Cloud.
Sarah Colegrove - WIS Middle Teacher Spotlight
Sabrina Billiings - McES Elementary Teacher Spotlight
“It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." --Andrew Carnegie on teamwork.
Sabrina Billings, a 4th grade teacher at McDonald Elementary is the epitome of teamwork. She has a relentless work ethic and is an inspiration for anyone fortunate enough to learn with her.
Mrs. Billings jumps at any opportunity to learn. She has consistently researched and implemented tools like Plicker, Padlet, Class Dojo, and Kahoot as well as many others. Her consistent use of technology inspires her learners to appear in the GCSD Tech Fair repeatedly. This past summer she volunteered to go to USC to attend training as a lead teacher for Project Lead the Way. She jumped at the opportunity to utilize iPads and implement STEM in her 4th grade classroom. Mrs. Billings influence spreads beyond the 4th grade hall at MCE. She has helped several colleagues use Pearson Realize with their learners this year. It is easy to see how her passion for greatness has influenced both of her sons on the football field too. A common sight at any GHS or CCU football game, Mrs. Billings is always providing the fuel for her boys as they take the field. Thanks for helping to make everyone around you better!
Jamie Langston - GHS High School Teacher Spotlight
English Teacher Jamie Langston is our high school spotlight teacher for this edition of Tech connect. Ms. Langston serves many roles at Georgetown High School: teacher, Literacy Design Collaborative, National Honor Society Co-sponsor, and Mentor Teacher. Ms. Langston has a steadfast focus on student success, and maintains this mindset by offering her students a challenging and rewarding education experience that is aimed at preparing students for productive lives outside of school. In Ms. Langston’s own words you can hear her passion! I have extremely high expectations of all of my students, and I expect nothing less. This year our focus will be on rigor. I want to challenge you to go beyond your comfort zone and to become a life-long learner in an environment where "I can't" is not accepted and "I can and I will" is accepted. I want us to celebrate in your success.”
Ms. Langston uses technology as a way to enhance her lessons through Edmodo, infographics, and Kahoot. Additionally Ms Langston had been a participant in tech fair and is looking forward to competing again this year. Keep up the excellent work Ms. Langston!
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
Follow us, and we'll follow you back. Who knows, you might even see some of the activities in your class on Twitter.
Marc Frechette......@FrechetTech
Keith Brown...........@KTech8
Doug Henderson...@FreshD85
HOUR OF CODE
Join in and participate in the Hour of Code…any time during the week of Dec. 5-11, 2016. Your Tech coaches will be happy to assist teachers in any way to get their classes set up to participate.
For starters, go to https://hourofcode.com/us and click Join Us to register your classes.
Please let your Tech coach know in a separate email if you registered, so they can arrange their schedules to assist you, as you have needs.
Tech Tool Video
Guidelines for Identifying a Tech Fair Project: All throughout the year.
CATEGORIES
Creativity
Communication and Collaboration
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making
Educator
Innovation
PROJECT TOOLS
Use any of several available tools, including, but not limited to Power Point, Prezi, Photo Story, Movie Maker, Knovio, iMovie, Pow Toons, eMaze, Podcast, Screencasts, etc.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER
Does the project have a “WOW!” effect?
What is creative or innovative about the project?
Does the project suggest ways to solve a problem?
Does the project have possibilities to reach outside the walls of the classroom?
Does the project positively promote student learning?
New for the Tech Fair in 2017
Administrator's Category: Ideas, Projects, and other ways that School-Based Aministrators use technology with their students, staff or parents.
Rubik's Cube Contest: Awarded to individuals and a team of two, At the Elementary, Middle and High School levels, who can solve the Rubik's Cube the shortest amount of time.
GCSD Instructional Technology Coaches
ELEMENTARY: Marc Frechette MFrechette@gcsd.k12.sc.us
MIDDLE: Keith Brown KeBrown@gcsd.k12.sc.us
HIGH: Doug Henderson DHenderson@gcsd.k12.sc.us
Email: gcsdtechfair@gmail.com
Website: www.gcsdtechfair.weebly.com
Location: 2018 Church Street, Georgetown, SC, United States
Phone: (843) 436-7224
Twitter: @KTech8