CLX Digital Lead Teacher Newsletter
September 2018
Whew! Halfway through September already?!
New this year are the CLX Staff Lesson Plan Reflections and these forms offer you a chance to reflect on your practice. I appreciate the opportunity to review these to see what professional development we may need or targeted support a teacher is requesting. Please use that space to offer feedback and request support with regards to digital learning. We're doing amazing things and I hope to capitalize on your amazing classrooms and teaching.
The Power of Computer Science for Everyone.
The fastest growing group: female students and underrepresented minorities!
Female students and underrepresented minorities showed the greatest increases from last year:
- Black or African American students — 7,301 participants, up 44%
- Hispanic or Latino — 20,954 participants, up 41%
- Female students — 38,195 participants, up 39%
- Rural students — 14,184 participants, up 42%"
To learn more about the growth in AP exams and computer science from Code.org, go to: https://goo.gl/F4y2nY
Virtual Field Trips with Exploring by the Seat: September Events
Starting this week, events for the school year officially kick off for Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants! This is a great free resource for making global connections to your content. Camera spot sign-ups are now open for these new events as well as a couple spots remaining in previously announced events, like the one mentioned above.
Contact me if you're interested and need some help getting started!
http://www.exploringbytheseat.com/lessons/#upcoming
Do you SeeSaw?! Great free tool to capture student learning in K-5!
Tips for Kids with Learning and Attention Issues from Common Sense Media
IMPORTANT! Set up your CLX Google Calendars!
The STAFF Calendar is for STAFF ONLY. This will include in-house information as well as staff members that are absent. We don't need this info out on our website BUT we do need you to have it.
Go to these links to add them to your calendar and 'toggle' them on or off to see what's happening.
Want to be notified if an event has been changed or cancelled?
What tech does my classroom get?
Level Up 2.0! Digital Learning Competencies and You!
In order to meet state requirements, I will continue to meet with all certified staff each month to deliver Digital Learning Competencies. As a reminder, if you are in the renewal cycle for 2018, you will be required to have 2 CEUs in the Digital Learning Competencies. The ACS Digital Lead Teacher team have been working together to deliver PD to cover these standards and ensure that teachers receive content they need.
Our topics have been broken down into four topics:
1. Leadership in Digital Learning
2. Digital Citizenship
3. Digital Content and Instruction
4. Data and Assessment
We will continue to award badges and CEUs to certified staff that take their learning beyond the conference room! You can refer to the CLX PD Calendar to see when these topics will be covered.
Our first session will be on Thursday, September 20th on Digital Citizenship!
Are You Using Pear Deck yet?
Want to take a quick formative assessment on map skills or even on how they're feeling that day? Use Pear Deck! Students can access this easily from the web browser of an iPad or Chromebook.
Here's a great link on 20 ways you can use Pear Deck in your classroom!
Broken tech? Contact your Tech Ninja: Shelly Powell!
Ms. Powell is our tech contact and media assistant rock star!
Something not working? Please put in a tech ticket: https://helpme.asheville.k12.nc.us/ The link can also be found under 'Staff' on the Claxton website. Type in your first.lastname and your ACS password (same as logging into your email OR network computer). Select 'Have a Problem?' and select 'Claxton help desk'. Once your tech is submitted, it gets emailed to me and Ms. Powell, which is the quickest way for us to manage our tech support.
Hashtags for Claxton:
#clxleaders #clxsocialjustice #theACSway
Hashtags for Educators:
#nced #5thchat #4thchat #2ndchat #3rdchat #1stchat #kinderchat #skype2learn #mysteryskype #edtech #TLIM
EdCamp WNC
EdcampWNC is an unconference for teachers to talk and learn from one another. This free event is open and available to all teachers:
Learn more at http://edcampwnc.strikingly.com