Future Ready Focus
October, 2016
WISD 7th Grade is going 1:World in 2017-2018!
Seventh grade teachers at Tison Middle School & Hall Middle School are building their mindset & skill set to be ready for students in 7th grade to go 1:World in the fall of 2017. Through a blended format, these teachers are meeting face to face this fall as well as being "students" in an online learning environment. This will provide experience with Canvas LMS, as well as support effective technology integration into their classroom instruction.
Testing Devices & Trying New Ideas
Personalized Professional Learning
To encourage and support teachers who seek out learning opportunities that are of interest to them, we have created the WISD Professional Learning Badge program. Learn at a time convenient to you about things that you want to know about, then proudly display your badge outside your classroom or add a digital badge to your website. This allows your peers to see who can be a resource when they need a quick tip about a new tool. Learners can earn badges after completing a brief Google Form & showing proficiency with the tool. At this time, over 400 badges have been earned by teachers across WISD!
T-TESS Tie-In
Differentiation Dimension 2.4: The teacher differentiates instruction, aligning methods and techniques to diverse student needs.
Using a tool like Canvas, enables teachers to organize their digital tools and resources for students in one easy to access location. MJ McDaniel has several Canvas sessions scheduled in Workshop for this semester. Login to WORKSHOP to find a date that works for you!
I Have Chromebooks! Now What??
Here are a few helpful tips for working with Chromebooks!
- Teachers log in to a Chromebook using their full District Email. You will have to change the default weatherfordisd.net to weatherfordisd.com.
- Chromebooks are not connected to printers. If you need to print something, you can log in on a connected computer and print. Students can submit a link to their assignment or even upload a picture instead of printing.
- You won't find Office products on your Chromebook, but Google Drive will help keep you organized! Create Documents, Presentations, Spreadsheets & more and have them save automatically to your Google Drive, then access them from anywhere or any device.
- Google Apps & Extensions can be added to the Chromebook through the Chrome Web Store. One that might be helpful is Read&Write. What if you could have your computer read to you out loud? Whether you have a child who is just learning to read or are multitasking at work and would rather digest an article through your headphones, there are many reasons why this would be a useful feature. Read&Write is a Chrome extension that does just that.
Integrating Technology Into the Classroom
The SAMR model, developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, provides educators a framework for effective technology integration. Learn more about the SAMR model in the short video below, created by John Spencer.
https://youtu.be/SC5ARwUkVQg
Kajeets: Mobile Hotspots for Checkout
Are you trying to flip your classroom but not all of your students have internet access? Talk to your campus librarian about checking out a Kajeet mobile hotspot for your student. The devices are filtered through our WISD filter and have 1/2 GB per day of internet access.