The Captive Curator
River View Local Technology Newsletter, February 2016
'New' Technology Focus Group
The recently formed technology focus group consists of the following members:
Dalton Summers, Dan Hothem, Jeff Eick, Joel Moore, Jesse Smoulder, Brian Darr, Stephanie Kopec, Tod Martin, Dawn Justice, Mark Hogue, and Christie Ireland.
The main purpose of the group is to 'focus' on technology in relation to our six buildings. You will notice each of our buildings are represented by technology driven individuals. Please understand, these representatives are not the selected Tech Support for your buildings. If you have needs, please continue to use the work order form found here. Or contact Christie Ireland to schedule appointments or any other technology related questions. The main job duty of these individuals are to help make district driven technology decisions and then relay important information back to their respective buildings through short sharing times during building meetings.
Goals of the Focus Group for the remaining 2015-16 school year
We will review, update and seek board approval of the Acceptable Use Policy for Staff and Students by late April 2016.
By March 2016, we will develop a plan for future district hardware and software purchases.
We will discuss best practices regarding social media and YouTube use in our district by March 2016.
By the end of May 2016, teachers will document technology housed in their classroom on a district prepared document.
By June 2016, meet with representatives to gain information with the intent of changing website providers.
Schoology ~ Why something else?
In case you haven't heard all District Curriculum information will be found here! You will find information on pacing guides, quarterly assessments (if collaboratively created), live testing calendar, state testing information, SLO dates, and much more.
If you have not visited the site for quite some time, your username is your first.lastname.rv and the initial password is 'teacher.' If you changed your password and forget what you set it as, you can click on the 'forgot password' link to retrieve.
Check out the PUBLIC resources inside of this platform. Search by filtering by activity, grade, subject, etc. You are promised to find some really great stuff posted by educators like you! Remember these are educators from all around the world!
Have you joined a new group? If not, go to 'groups' at the top of your schoology screen and search for the button 'see all.' You will notice from this screen there are many groups available for you to join. If you get into a group and decide you do not like the group or it wasn't what you thought, you can always leave the group by clicking on the left-hand side under the information tab, 'leave this group.' Please DO NOT leave any River View Group.
Building Wifi. Are you logging in wrong?
There are 4 different networks in each building. Which one should your device be on?
If you happen to get a message that your device is blocked from your building network, it could be you are on the wrong network for the device you are using.
The following is an explanation of each network:
Chromebooks ~ Only Chromebooks should be on this network
Guest ~ Parent/Student devices should be on this network
Staff ~ Personally owned devices on this network
School ~ School owned devices on this network. These are devices with an asset tag.
HSTRY~Calling ALL Teachers (Not just Social Studies)
Wow! If you haven't checked out this site, you need to head on over here!
This is a perfect site to assign timeline work for students or introduce a topic to students. The login capabilities and class assignments allow for easy use for class presentations.
Here is an example of one I created over the Titanic. Pretty Easy!
I encourage to check out examples in your curriculum area even if your grade level is not listed. A lot of really great ideas!
English: Edgar Allen Poe (HS)
Paper Towns (MS/HS)
Lord of the Flies (MS/HS)
Parts of a story (K-2)
Informational & Expository
Fun Reading Activities (K-3)
I Wanna Iguana (Students record reading for fluency)
Children's Literature: Caldecott Award winners K-5
The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (grades 3-6)
Student Portfolios: Imagine pressing play at your next parent-teacher conference and listening to a student's fluency progress. Teachers are recording students reading a passage at regular intervals throughout the year and uploading the audio files to HSTRY.
Social Studies: Absolute Rulers (Student Example)
Science: Student Reports: Bullfrogs
Math:
Roller Coaster Design (hmmmmm... high school friends)
Division with Multi-Digit Whole Numbers with Area Drawings (5)
Geometric Vocabulary (3-6)
Timeline Templates to be used in any classroom:
Just a little Tech Humor...
River View Local School District
Email: christie.ireland@rvbears.org
Website: http://www.river-view.k12.oh.us/education/components/layout/default.php?sectionid=1
Location: 26496 State Route 60 Warsaw, Ohio
Phone: (740) 824-3521
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/River-View-Local-School-District-367798316724614/?fref=ts
Twitter: @RiverViewLocal