Dawson County Schools Tech Update
Sharing the good news of Instructional Tech in our schools
Instructional Technology Committee News
Swipe https://www.swipe.to/ was demonstrated to the committee as a way to provide a presentation to multiple devices (like a room of iPad users) and control what is presented on their screens. Synergyse https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/synergyse-training-for-go/idkloemkmldbemijiamdiolojbffnjlh an extension that can be added to the chrome browser, was demonstrated. This extension provides free Google Apps training from inside your browser!
Mr. Harrison thanked the committee for their efforts this year on behalf of our students and staff.
From the Executive Director of Technology- Roman Gaddis
Exciting news... The iPads have been ordered and should arrive in early June. Next year will be very exciting as we provide an iPad for every Sixth, Seventh, Eighth Grader and Teacher in Dawson County. We will be delivering professional development regarding the use of the devices in the classroom and using our Learning Management System, Schoology, next school year. These two initiatives will fundamentally change and shape how we engage and teach students.
Along with this we are also implementing a portal for online student registration called PowerSchool Registration. This will eliminate some of the paper work at the beginning of the school year for new and returning students.
Also next year we will be introducing Google Accounts for students. Every student in Dawson County will have a google account and access to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Gmail. This will transform how you interact and communicate with your students.
As always, I want to remind everyone the technology team is here to assist and help you with your technology needs and with these exciting changes in Dawson County.
How We Teach with Tech
Suzanne Smith: BMES Technology Teacher & Support for 18 years, prior with The Coca-Cola Company for 17 years as an Executive Administrative Assistant
One word the best describes how I teach: standards-based
Current mobile devices: iPhone 6, mini iPad, MacBook Pro (personal), iPads (classroom)
Current computer: MacBook Air
What’s on my desk or classroom? Technology posters & information, recycled CDs turned into animals, 29 iMacs, SmartBoard
What apps, software or tools can’t you live without - Google Apps for Education including the Chrome Browser, MS Word, and MS PowerPoint
What is your favorite app for instructional organization, management - Google Drive
What apps or tech activities appeal the most to your students? Internet research followed-up with a PowerPoint that students present to their classmates, and a Computer Bingo game I purchased from Teachers Pay Teachers https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ which is a fun way to teach and reinforce technology terminology.
Where do you find more ideas for technology integration in your classroom? Google Apps for Education, interaction with teachers on the System Technology Team, Brian Buffington from RESA, and Neil Harrison.
What advice would you give other teachers on how to integrate technology in their classroom? Using websites to introduce lessons, providing a visual for students which only takes a couple of minutes, YouTube videos are a great way to teach a topic and to get students interacting in conversation, look at standards, Google search what you want students to learn, and make an interactive lesson or project, use the SmartBoard to interact with students, make a research worksheet and follow-up with a presentation or iMovie. Students need to do lots of research! Make it fun and interesting!Technology Integration Strategies
Take a peek at the Schoology Blog https://www.schoology.com/blog to discover more neat things Schoology can do for your school and students.
Once you are logged in for the first time, Schoology may start an introduction tour for you. Here is a great place to start, found in the Schoology Support section: https://support.schoology.com/hc/en-us/articles/206621517-Getting-Started-on-Schoology-For-Instructors
Every Schoology User has unlimited storage in your Personal Resources area. This is a great place to store websites, documents, assessments that you will use when preparing lessons with your classes. It can even connect with your Google Drive.
Schoology will allow you to "Blend", "Flip" your current classes and even provide pure on-line learning for courses and professional learning that do not require student attendance at certain place and time.
You can design "Synchronous" learning activities that students participate with at the same time, like assessments, class review, introduction of new information, teacher presentations. Your lessons will also contain "Asynchronous" learning activities such as projects, book reports, presentations that students prepare independently or in groups, through out the course. This is a great way to develop independent learners and help differentiate your instruction to student needs.
Looking for resources, aligned to standards, to use in your lessons? Here are 3 great places to start:
Georgia Virtual School (GAVS) offers shared resources to all Georgia Public School, MS and HS courses, at this site: http://www.gavirtuallearning.org/Resources.aspx
Open Educational Resources Commons (OER) https://www.oercommons.org/about offers teaching and learning resources that you can freely use and reuse at no cost. In fact, GAVS is a member of the OER Commons and OER offers resources for K-12, University and Professional Learning.
As a Schoology user, you have access to the shared public resources, including lessons, plans, activities and documents, that other Schoology teachers use and share freely. Learn more about using Resources here: https://support.schoology.com/hc/en-us/articles/201001923-Resource-Center-Updated-March-20th-with-Rubrics-Functionality-
Google Apps for Education (GAFE) Learning Resources
Google Slides has a new feature, Presenter Q and A, which allows you to be even more interactive with your audience allowing you to ask for questions and respond to polling. Here is a great "how to" from Alice Keeler, what a great feature when your audience has devices to respond with: http://alicekeeler.com/2016/05/05/google_slides_questions/
All through this current school year Dawson Co. Schools staff have learned to implement Google Apps for Education into their work day and related tasks, from using Gmail to using Docs, Sheets, Slides and more. Starting in the fall, students will have Google accounts with access to these apps and powerful collaboration opportunities. We will find ourselves coaching and teaching our students how to use these tools in our classrooms and this is a serious responsibility. Luckily there are many resources available to help us with this task. Many resources can be found in past issues of this newsletter and many more can be found on the internet.
This is a great resource, provided by Google to learn more about how "DOCs editors" (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings and Forms) work: https://support.google.com/docs#topic=1382883
Here are some PDF documents provided by Google that are great resources to keep close by as a reference:
GMail Cheat Sheet
https://apps.google.com/learning-center/products/gmail/cheat-sheet/
Google Drive Cheat Sheet
https://apps.google.com/learning-center/products/drive/cheat-sheet/
Google Docs Cheat Sheet
https://apps.google.com/learning-center/products/docs/cheat-sheet/
Google Sheets Cheat Sheet
https://apps.google.com/learning-center/products/sheets/cheat-sheet/
Google Slides Cheat Sheet
https://apps.google.com/learning-center/products/slides/cheat-sheet/
Google Forms Cheat Sheet
https://apps.google.com/learning-center/products/forms/cheat-sheet/
This is a great resource, provided by Google to learn more about getting started with Google Apps https://apps.google.com/learning-center/
Google Apps for Education (GAFE) and specifically, Google Drive and YouTube give teachers a great place to store instructional videos they create for the "flipped" classroom. Here is a link to a great Blog entry by Alice Keeler, a teacher who uses and teaches with GAFE each day http://alicekeeler.com/2015/08/30/30-second-videos-for-your-students/
Did you know that as a Google Apps for Education user you have your own YouTube account? YouTube is a powerful resource for learning. Good teachers are always sharing good resources, and you can share a great Youtube resource with others. Paola Epstein, DCHS Spanish teacher shares this great link to many YouTube resources http://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/technology/teaching-youtube-197-digital-channels-learning/
Good teachers are always sharing good resources, and you can share a great Youtube resource with others. Watch this quick lesson on "Three Ways to Share a YouTube Video" https://www.thegooru.com/three-ways-to-share-a-youtube-video/
Google also offers free, online training that you can participate in, at your own pace. Lessons are broken up into building skills to implement GAFE into your classroom. Upon completion and passing an exam, you can earn Google Certification. Explore this website for more information: https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/
Looking for more information and tutorials about working with Google Apps for Education?
One great site to visit is https://www.thegooru.com/. The newsletter is free and has great step by step directions for using Google Apps. Google Apps are available to all Dawson County School employees, and in the future, to all Dawson County school students.
Check out this link from http://www.freetech4teachers.com/, a great website to explore. Richard Byrne has compiled over 70 short tutorials on using Google Apps
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/p/google-tools-tutorials.html#.VjDhv66rTUJ
Get to know the power of Google Forms with these two videos:
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2015/10/an-introduction-to-google-forms-for.html#.VjIDlq6rTUI
Alice Keeler at http://www.alicekeeler.com/teachertech/ is a teacher and Google Certified Educator, and her website is a wonderful place to find out how to implement Google into your classroom.
Here is a link to a collection of Google Apps for Education that Pioneer RESA collected, a great place to learn more https://www.pioneerresa.org/Google.php
A Tip of The Hat!
A Tip of the Hat to Stephanie Danuser who is creating an end of the year video with BMES staff to share with students for the last week of school.
A Tip of the Hat to Brittany Hunt who will be offering augmented reality software training to teachers at Riverview Elementary in May. Tana Martin, RVES Media Specialist reports, "Ms. Hunt is a wealth of knowledge about various technology tools and spends a great deal of personal time staying current and exploring trends in technology."
A Tip of the Hat to Executive Director of Technology, Roman Gaddis who has proven to be an effective agent of change. From leading and supporting new technologies and strategies to meeting with students and parents explaining opportunities in the future, he is building a foundation for technology integration efforts in our school system.
Tech Tips
As we finish up the school year, just one tech tip to consider. Technology is simply one tool we use to accomplish the task and goal. Effective technology strategies may engage our students and improve student achievement, but teachers are the enablers of success in the classroom. Teachers are the agent of change in classroom, developing positive relationships with students and encouraging students to do their best as they prepare for the future.
For more daily tech tips, follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dcschoolstech
and on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/DCSchoolsTech/instructional-technology/
Summer Professional Learning at the Allen Street Technology Center
Please email Neil Harrison mailto:nharrison@dawson.k12.ga.us as per which sessions you would like to attend.
Here are the sessions scheduled:
- Tuesday, May 31, Google Apps in the morning, Schoology in the afternoon
- Wednesday, June 1, Schoology in the morning, Google Apps in the afternoon
- Thursday, June 2, Google Apps in the morning, Schoology in the afternoon
- Friday, June 3, Schoology in the morning, Google Apps in the afternoon
- Monday, June 6, Google Apps in the morning, Schoology in the afternoon
- Tuesday, June 7, Schoology in the morning, Google Apps in the afternoon
- Wednesday, June 8, Google Apps in the morning, Schoology in the afternoon
- Thursday, June 9, Schoology in the morning, Google Apps in the afternoon
- Friday, June 10, Google Apps in the morning, Schoology in the afternoon
- Monday, June 13, Schoology in the morning, Google Apps in the afternoon