Taylor ISD DuckLink # 57
empowering student success and school improvement
August 29, 2016
a publication of the Taylor ISD Technology Department
A New School Year Has Begun!
Yeah! You made it through the first week of school. What a wonderful time welcoming back students and visiting with new staff. Thank you for your dedication and willingness to serve. The Technology Department has been extremely busy trying to get everything setup from distributing over a thousand laptops to students, setting up many programs, and working with each of you to ensure things are up and running smoothly. We appreciate your patience as we continue to get systems in place for this school year. Below are some items that may help you in the coming weeks.
T-TESS Goal Setting for Teachers
We now have a new tool for teacher evaluations called the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System. This system aligns well with our mission of preparing every student to compete in a global society through a premium educational experience and strong partnerships. It is based on a growth mindset of continuous improvement and school success. As part of this system, teachers are asked to create 2 or 3 goals based on the specific domains of Planning, Instruction, Learning Environment, or Professional Practices and Responsibilities.
This year we will be using a program called Appraise within the Eduphoria system to track T-TESS related documents. Please DO NOT use PDAS. All your evaluations have been copied over into Appraise.
You may begin creating your first goals using this handout.
T-TESS Teacher Goal Setting & PD Directions
TISD Software Update!
We are fortunate to have many programs for which you and your students benefit. We appreciate your patience as we get these systems up and running. In order to keep you better informed, we created this spreadsheet of programs which includes their current status. At the beginning of the year we have to wait for schedules to be settled before we can create new accounts and setup classes in many of these systems.
Introducing a New Gmail Experience with Inbox!
Want a fresh experience with your Gmail account? Try Inbox by simply going to https://inbox.google.com. Once you go through the tour, be sure to watch this video.
You can also download the apps here.
Note: This is optional.
Schoolway: Getting Started Guide for Teachers
We all know communicating with students and parents is important. Throughout the year I will share various tools available to you to hopefully make this process more efficient. One way is through our mobile app called Schoolway. This is a free app that anyone can download and then subscribe to feeds such as courses, athletic events, clubs, etc. The most important feature is that you can send push notifications and emails at the same time. Use this handy guide to get started this year.
Reminders!
Here are some reminders that may be helpful as you get started this school year.
- Help Desk Tickets- Please submit tickets through Eduphoria Help Desk so we can make sure we don't miss your request. Often times you don't know who to ask so this will help route the request to the appropriate person.
- Eduphoria- You now login with the same login you use for your computer. (Leave off @taylorisd.org)
- Appraise- Instead of using PDAS in Eduphoria, we now use Appraise for your evaluation. Your appraisers must select you first in the system before you will see it appear in your account.
- Edlio- There have been some cosmetic changes to Edlio and a few added features such as Google Classroom integration. This handout may help you get started.- Getting Started with Edlio Webpages
Subscribe to the IT Blog!
Visit the Instructional Technology blog. I hope to post a few tech tips per week. You can get a feed of the post via Google+ or visit the blog and sign up via email.
Help Desk Contact
Eduphoria Help Desk- http://eduphoria.taylorisd.org/
Phone: 512-365-5015 or x1900
Be sure to visit the Taylor ISD Technology site for more information.
Contact Information
JP Hale
Director of Instructional Technology
Taylor ISD
Email: jphale@taylorisd.org
Website: http://www.taylorisd.org
Location: 3101 North Main Street, Taylor, TX
Phone: 512-365-5015
Twitter: @haleedtech