Tuesday Tech Tips
A little tech goes a long way!
Seen Around the District
Instructional Technology Coaches - Frequently Asked Questions
Question - What is an Instructional Technology Coach?
Response - An instructional technology coach assists faculty, staff, and administrators with the integration of technology into the curriculum and provides ongoing professional development in order to ensure success.
Question - How do I contact my ITC?
Response - Elementary schools in the district are served by Robin Harris. Middle schools, high schools, the Enrichment Center, the College and Career Academy, and Central Office are served by Leslie Fagin.
Question - How can an Instructional Technology Coach help me?
Response - An ITC can help with modeling lessons, providing one-to-one instruction on new tech tools, facilitating professional learning, providing support to district wide technology initiatives, and answering questions on integrating technology into the curriculum.
Question - What do I do if my technology stops working?
Response - Submit a work order so that the proper technician can be notified and the work can be completed. Submitting a work order is the fastest and most efficient way to get your technology back in working condition.Helpful Google Calendar Tips
When you first start out on Google Calendar, you're given one calendar to start with -- it's the one with your name under "My calendars." So if you want to use your calendar for multiple things (ex: managing your actual schedule, planning periods of heads-down working, and scheduling repeating reminders), you only have one place to do it. But when you're only working with one calendar, all of those things get treated equally -- meaning you can't quickly and easily pull up the non-repetitive, important tasks you have for the day.
To combat this, just create a new calendar for each part of your life you'd like to keep track of on your Google Calendar.
To create a new calendar, click the little arrow next to "My calendars," and you'll see an option to "Create new calendar." Select that, choose your desired calendar options, and then voilĂ ! You've got yourself another calendar. You can even color-code each calendar to make it easy for you to pick out what you've got to do each day.
Mineo, G. (n.d.). 16 Little-Known Google Calendar Features That'll Make You More Productive.
Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-calendar-tips
Win a trip to ISTE 2018
We did it last year, and we are doing it again! The GSCS Instructional Technology Department is giving away one FREE trip to ISTE 2018 which will be held in Chicago, Illinois from June 23 -28, 2018. ISTE is the largest educational technology conference in the world, and if you are the lucky winner, you will have the opportunity to network with others who are just as excited as you are to embrace and effectively integrate technology into your classroom. You will also have the opportunity to choose from thousands of sessions that will further spark your passion for using technology.
The contest is open to currently certified teachers in the Griffin-Spalding County School System. To be eligible for the contest, you will need to complete this form and submit it no later than March 1, 2018 by 11:59 PM. The winner will be selected from the pool of eligible applicants who complete the required activities by the deadline. Once the winner is selected, he/she will be notified on March 15, 2018. If you have any questions, please contact your appointed instructional technology coach Robin or Leslie.
Stay tuned for updates on last year's conference by Amy Brown, 3rd grade teacher at Jackson Road Elementary. Amy has a lot of information to share with anyone who is interested. We will announce the time and date for her ISTE 2017 update session.
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Safari Montage Important Announcement!
We are continuing to get reports that Safari Montage is not working. We want to remind you that you should only log in to safari.gscs.org by using your first.lastname as the username. DO NOT add the @gscs.org to the end. Also, you must use Internet Explorer if you want to be able to view the live stream of your classroom. Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge will not work if you want to view the live stream. Take note, the icons for Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer are very similar.
If you continue to have issues, please submit a ticket so that we can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
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STEAM Field Trip Opportunity
For downloadable teacher guides, please visit this site or call 404-880-4833.
Tech Integration Made Easy with Sutori!
Free webinar hosted by TeachersFirst:
Event details:
When: Tuesday, November 14, 2017 from 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM EST
How to register: Please visit this link and enter the requested information.
Google Ninja Updates
The GSCS Ninja Academy is undergoing some renovations. You may continue to work on the different belts, but please be patient with us as we make the needed updates. If you have questions, please reach out to one of us. We are aware that there are issues with the leaderboard and are working on a solution for that as well.
Congratulations to these Google Ninjas, who have earned all four Google Ninja belts!
Tami Williamson
Amanda Nelligan
Are you next?
To begin your Google Ninja Academy journey:
Go to classroom. google.com to join the Google Classroom. Once you access the class, you will see a plus (+) sign in the upper right hand corner. Click the sign and choose to join a class. The class code for the Ninja Academy is ctbid6.
Once you enter the code, you will be enrolled in the class. You will NOT have to type in the code again. You will notice that there is a test and video tutorials for each belt. The videos are there to help familiarize you with the particular app. Once you are ready to take the test, just click on the link for the Google Form and take the test. There is also a link to the leaderboard . Just like last year, you can take the tests as many times as need be.
If you have difficulty accessing Google Classroom, please email Lonny Harper.
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How Are You Using Technology?
There are lots of good things going on in our district, and we want to spotlight those lessons, moments, and successes.
Please take a moment to complete this very short form. If you have pictures or a video, please send us that as well.
You are doing good work! Why not share it with the entire district?