CPP Technology Today
A Communication of the CPP Technology Committee - Vol 2.7
In This Issue
- Instructional Technology Professional Development
- Technology In Our Schools - Hour of Code Provides Computer Science Foundation for All Gregg Elementary Students - By Rachel Ketchum and Ann Collins
- Resource Spotlight - Whooo's Reading - By Jennifer Haischer
- Library Media Update - Computer Science Education Week at CPPHS Library - By Stacie Martinec
- Applying Google Apps: The "Surprise" Google App: YouTube
- District Technology News: 1:1 Update at the Middle School - Focus on Citizenship and Responsibility - By Carrie Howe
- District Technology News: Master Plan Technology Goals - Goal 4
- Technology Committee - Members
- BITS Team Members
- Updates from Tech Services
- Newsletter Suggestions and Ideas
Tuesday, Dec 20, 2016, 10:00 AM
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Instructional Technology Professional Development
Unless otherwise indicated, classes run from 3:30-4:30. Teachers are welcome to attend trainings in any building. There is no pre-registration process - "drop in" when you're able! Be sure to sign in for in-service credit.
Contact the team members offering each class with any specific questions.
January Dates:
1/3 - Severn Library - Jen Taylor - Symbaloo - 3:15-4:15 (All Teachers)
1/3 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - Google Calendar - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/10 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - 10 Programs You Can Implement in your Classroom Now - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/17 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - Screencast-O-Matic - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/17 - Smith School Library - Jill Mertus - Symbaloo - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/17 Gregg Computer Lab - Rachel Ketchum - Nearpod - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
1/24 - Severn Library - Jen Taylor - Open Labs - 3:15-4:15 (All Teachers)
1/24 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - YouTube Channel (All Teachers)
1/31 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - Google Add-ons - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
December Dates:
12/5 - Carder Library - Laura Tolbert - Google Forms and Flubaroo - 3:00-3:45 (If you have a completed form with some submitted responses, bring it along!) (All Teachers)
12/6 - CPPHS Library - Robin Robarge - Trello for Teachers (All Teachers)
12/12 - Winfield Library - Kathy Rapisarda - 3:30 - Google Drive Q&A (All Teachers)
12/13 - Gregg Computer Lab - Rachel Ketchum - 3:30-5:00 - Google Forms (All Teachers)
12/13 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - Creating a Google Quiz and Setting Answer Keys - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
12/14 - Smith Computer Lab - Jill Mertus - Bring Your Questions Open Labs Time - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
12/20 - Middle School Library - Carrie Howe - Google Drive Sharing and Managing Content - 3:30-4:30 (All Teachers)
Technology In Our Schools
Hour of Code Provides Computer Science Foundation for All Gregg Elementary Students
By Rachel Ketchum and Ann Collins
On December 9, 2016, every K-5 student who came to Gregg School- along with staff and guests- participated in the National Hour of Code Event! We had students from Mr. Melanson’s high school computer science class to help students complete this hour. It was so incredibly exciting and energizing that we are already planning another event for the spring.
What Is the Hour of Code?
The Hour of Code started as a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics, and to broaden participation in the field of computer science. It has since become a worldwide effort to celebrate computer science, starting with 1-hour coding activities during Computer Science Education Week (December 5-11, 2016). Hopefully, after spending just one hour coding, your child will want to keep going with many more hours of code.
Why Computer Science?
By providing the opportunity for every student to learn computer science, it opens up possibilities for their future. It helps nurture problem-solving skills, logic and creativity. By starting early, students will have a foundation for success in any 21st-century career path.
The Hour of Code is also a safe way for students to learn about coding, as no account creation is required. Most of the follow-on courses require account creation to save student progress, but students can remain totally anonymous.
How Much Can Anyone Learn in an Hour?
Resources Spotlight
Resource Spotlight: Whooo's Reading
Are you having a hard time motivating your students to read? If you’ve tried Reading Logs, Accelerated Reader, Book-It, or other motivational programs without much success, you may want to try Whooo’s Reading. Students love Whooo’s Reading, because of its interactive features. They are able to animate their own owl avatar with the "coins" they earn, after logging reading or responding to an open-ended question. Students also love this program, because they can collaborate with their peers. Teachers are able to differentiate instruction, review data, and easily give feedback to students. Instead of just reading, students will gain 21st Century skills by typing, blog-style writing, collaborating, and creatively thinking.
The newest features on Whooo’s Reading include standards-aligned reading activities and online graphic organizers. Students can now practice skills, such as finding the main idea, citing text-evidence, and making inferences right on their 1:1 devices!
Library Media Connection
Computer Science Education Week at CPPHS
By Stacie Martinec
December 5th-9th marked Computer Science Education Week this year and at the high school library we participated by hosting computer career speakers on Wednesday the 7th. We had a variety of speakers this year who discussed video game creation, cybersecurity, data analytics, software engineering, and computer forensics. Students were able to come in and see speakers that interested them. We also had a student presenter this year, Jake Johnson who presented to a group of freshmen students about learning to code and the projects he is creating online.
Modeling the technology that the presenters discussed, one of our presentations again this year was done through Skype. Students were able to connect with the owner of a video game design company and RIT Computer Science Professor. This is a wonderful opportunity to connect with someone we could not bring in, but who is close enough that students can see Rochester as a possible place for them to go to college or work in the future.
Cindy Dubots, from the Career Development Council, worked hard setting up these great speakers for our students! In addition to the speakers, we also hosted the Hour of Code on Friday 12/9. Again this year, we had the opportunity to bring in some of our computer science students who presented to groups of students and worked one-on-one to teach them coding with our iPads and the code.org website.
Skyping In
Career Opportunities Awakened
Coding, Anyone?
Applying Google Apps
The "Surprise" Google App: YouTube
It is possible, of course, to use YouTube without an account. But when you are logged into your CPP Google Account, and you visit YouTube, you are "logged in" to your YouTube account.
With a YouTube account, aside from just watching videos, you have and manage your own "Channel" of YouTube. On your channel, you're able to:
- create "Playlists" that help you easily store and access other videos that you like, want to watch, or use with classes
- follow other users (National Geographic, Chromebooks, Ted-Ed, and just about any company or organization you can think of from zoos to museums to Typing Club have YouTube channels with videos they've created). Following those users helps you easily access their videos, and be notified when they add new ones
- copy the playlists others have created (physics in the real world, addition, 60 Second Lit recaps... all playlists that might be useful in the classroom, that are already created!)
Exploring YouTube within an account allows you to take advantage of more of the features that the program offers, and use it more efficiently (no more searching for a half hour for that video you used last year!). Check out the link below for a tutorial to help create your first playlist on YouTube!
District Technology Updates
1:1 Update at the Middle School - Focus on Citizenship and Responsibility
The winter season brings kindness and empathy towards others. This, therefore, is the perfect time to continue to move forward to transition our middle schools 1:1 program to its next level - a more student-centered approach. A major step toward making the 1:1 more efficient and student-centered focuses on how students access their devices. Rather than use a different computer from a cart in each classroom, students receive their computers in homeroom, where they will login and prepare their machine each morning. At the completion of the school day, students return to their homerooms to plug in their device for nightly charging. This process will be repeated each school day. Administrators, teachers and support staff will all help students as needed to navigate the 1:1 process as students learn how to utilize their laptops to best fit their CPP educational experience. This change allows students to save time each class period, and also to develop skills needed to responsibly care for their devices. Middle School staff members have been developing processes for teaching these skills, and continue to develop new ways to support students as they learn to be responsible, safe and considerate technology consumers and creators. To support this initiative for students Good Morning Hawks has helped to produce and air three videos on the topics of "How to Care For and Handle Your 1:1 Device" and "How to be a Digital Citizen at the Middle School." These videos help develop students natural desire to be responsible when provided with tools that address the way they would like to learn. Curiosity, productivity and open-mindedness will all apply to the way students will treat and use their 1:1 device at the Middle School.
Master Plan Technology Goals - Year 2
The 2015-2020 Master Plan for the Corning-Painted Post Area School District contains goals to help the district grow in many areas, to better serve our kids and community. Technology is an area identified in that plan for particular growth, to ensure that all students, staff and families have access to the tools - and the training to use them - to support teaching, learning and daily operations for all of us.
GOAL 4: 1:1 Implementation: Develop a 1:1 approach across all grade levels to provide adequate access for the full integration of instructional technology for teaching and learning
Objective 1: To identify curriculum based technology needs at each level (Aug 2015) Objective 2: To evaluate potential devices based on curricular needs (Nov 2015)
Objective 3: To select a device that meets student and curricular needs (Jan 2016)
Objective 4: To evaluate potential learning management systems and select an appropriate system based on devices
Development and maintenance of the 1:1 program is a major component of the Master Plan Technology Goals. Work was accomplished on Objectives 1 and 2 last year, where curriculum matrices and the Technology Scope and Sequence were used along with teacher feedback to determine what technology needs existed at each grade level. Chromebooks were selected for grades 3-5 in response to all this information, including teacher concerns that previous devices took too long to log on and didn't possess adequate battery life.
Per Objective 3 of this goal, analysis of different devices to best meet student and teacher needs through the 1:1 continues. Chromebooks are being evaluated throughout this year, as a sub-committee of the District Technology Committee is collecting data relative to use around Chromebook in 3-5, as well as additional data analyze possible Chromebook use at other levels.
More and more teachers are utilizing technology to help increase engagement, efficiency and efficacy in their classrooms. Objective 4 establishes a process by which we are evaluating a variety of learning management programs, that serve as "starting points" for whatever online resources teachers wish to use, are available. Learning Management Systems also differ from other resources such as websites in that they are interactive - teachers can provide students with resources, but students can also provide links, complete assignments, submit them and receive feedback. Google Classroom is being investigated as a LMS. Teachers are receiving professional development on the use of Google Classroom through a variety of district and in-building offerings, as well as resources available on the District Technology Website.
Technology Committee Membership
BITS Team - Instructional Technology Support
Last week in this newsletter, the Building Instructional Technology Support (BITS) team members were introduced, and their roles were discussed. Remember that these individuals are available within your buildings to help teachers utilize instructional technology. They can recommend programs and resources, suggest ways to implement technology and tech skills instruction into the curriculum, and provide teachers with help in introducing programs to students. Any hardware-related issues should still be referred to IT, with requests sent in by emailing helpdesk@gstboces.org.
BITS representatives in each building include:
Carder – Jamie Nichols, Laura Tolbert and June Keuhn
Gregg – Rachel Ketchum and Colin Sinko
Erwin Valley – Jen Haischer and Peggy Marsiglio
Severn – Jen Taylor and Karen Cleary
Smith – Mike Clarke, Jill Mertus and Matt Cornacchio
Winfield – Kathy Rapisarda and Shari Smith
CPP HS – Robin Robarge and Stacie Martinec
CPPMS - Carrie Howe
District - Lori Pruyne
BITS representatives are also going to be conducting after-school professional development classes on various instructional technology topics after school each month. These sessions will be held around the district, but all sessions are open to all teachers - you do not have to attend only sessions held in your individual buildings. Class times and locations will be listen on the Professional Development Opportunities page of the CPP Technology website.
Updates From Tech Services
Windows Defender Message
We have had a number of people report a pop-up message from Windows Defender asking whether you would like to analyze files to see if they are malicious.
If the message begins with “Items detected on your PC require further analysis”, then this is a false alarm and you can ignore it.
We have BOCES looking into the issue and we hope that they can come up with a resolution soon.
Newletter Information
Email: lpruyne@cppmail.com
Website: cpptechnology.weebly.com
Location: CPPHS B215
Phone: 3503