Instructional Technology
August 2017
Go Guardian
Google Forms
G Suite
Need Training Help With Any Of The Tools Above?
Google Teacher Certification Test
If you are interested in taking the Google Level 1 Certifiaction test, please email john.vaughn@cowetaschools.net for more information and details.
Certificate renewal is now tied to professional learning goals that you set with your principal at the start of each year. Using or implementing technology in your classroom is a great goal to use for this purpose. The Google certification test is a perfect way to achieve professional learning goals for the 2017-2018 academic year!
Google Sites Training
Click https://goo.gl/mvVqCa to register!
Check out these Chrome extensions, add-ons, and technology driven websites for your classroom!
Momentum
One Tab
Cite This For Me
Techie Teacher Spotlight
A New Phenomenon called the "Internet"
“My greatest joy is to facilitate students in their excitement and wonder about science. Technology and science are the future for my ‘darlings,’” according to Sheila Barnes, a physical science teacher of gifted and talented eighth graders at Arnall Middle School (AMS).
“My first experience with technology was in Bartow County schools when the administration was looking for a volunteer to attend a training on a new phenomenon called the ‘internet.’” Barnes raised her hand at the time and has been leading the way ever since as an early adopter of instructional technology initiatives.
According to Barnes, one of her most successful tech tools is using Google Forms for data collection and analysis. “The rapid results I can get on pre- and post-assessments is incredible. It lets me intervene meaningfully in student learning right when they need it,” she said.
Combining Google Forms, Doctopus, and Goobric at AMS, Barnes and her colleagues are able to review projects virtually for the annual science fair and collaborate on selection criteria for the Coweta Innovation Expo entries.
“LiveBinders has been a great resource for implementing a blended classroom model at AMS,” Barnes stated. “It easily enables me to provide online materials to support a modified flipped classroom learning environment,” she explained. Student engagement increases when learning is available on demand.
While some teachers still consider cell phones at school a classroom management challenge, Barnes takes a different view. “I embrace student cell phones as an avenue to teach responsibility and model other ways to use this technology besides just texting, surfing or catching up on social media,” Barnes said.
She and her students routinely use apps that enhance their study of physical science. For example, students use cell phones to collect sound level data from hallways, cafeteria, gym, and classrooms on campus. This data is developed into a spreadsheet that the class uses to examine trends in noise levels in different locations and times throughout a typical day.
Barnes is a teacher leader who shares her passion for technology with teachers across the school system and presents at the Tech Summit each year. She holds a bachelor of science and a master of science degrees in middle grades math and science from Kennesaw State University, as well as a specialist’s degree in educational leadership from Columbus State University and a doctorate in educational leadership from Samford University.
In the future, she hopes to add even more technology components to her instructional design, such as programming robots and drones and developing apps for technology.
“Coweta has gone a long way in enhancing my dream of technology by using Chromebooks, Ipads, and cell phones in the classroom,” Barnes stated. “The newly-enhanced infrastructure has transformed the use of technology in my class to an every period and every day opportunity.