If you'd like to improve the quality of student projects, here are a few easy steps you can take in each phase of student production.

0:00 - Introduction 

0:28 - Traditional areas of concern on student projects 

0:58 - Prior to Project 

1:52 - While Working 

2:38 - Editing 

3:23 - Producing Quality Presentations 

4:21 - Wrap-up

Everyone with a cell phone has personalized it in some way.  Whether you have increased the text size or turned on the ability to speak your text messages, you have made the device a little easier to use...for you.  

Both the student and teacher iPads have a myriad of accessibility features and customizable options.   Jason will walk you through the settings for speak screen, highlighting spoken content, text size,  and more.

Thanks to Files, you'll never need to hand out a second copy of anything again!  

All students and teachers have the Files app on their iPads.  The Files app can be used to house all of the students' work, notes, handouts, and more.   

Students can take pictures of anything they want to keep, such as handouts or assignments, and keep them in Files.  Furthermore, students can create folders such as "science," "math," and "art" to get and stay organized.

The question Jason and Jeff most often is, "Can I get both my and my students' iPads to appear on my classroom screen?"  The answer is yes, but there are two different paths to do so and you'll need to determine how old your Mac laptop is before knowing which path is for you.

To determine when your laptop was made, go to your menu bar and click the Apple icon in the top left.  Then, click "About This Mac."  In the window that pops up, you'll see what year your Mac was made.

Laptops older than 2018 - Laptops from 2017 or older will need to use software called Reflector.  You'll need to have Reflector installed by the IS department as we have a limited number of licenses for it.  IS can be reached at 483-4242.

Laptops from 2018 to Present - If your laptop was produced from 2018 to present, you'll need to update your machine's operating system to Monterey.  To update, click the Apple icon in the top-left of your menu bar.  Then, click "About this Mac."  You'll see which operating system you are running.  To update to Monterey, click "Software Update."  This might take a while, so doing so at the end of the day is a good idea.  One warning: you may run into issues updating to Monterey, especially if you don't update your laptop often.  The IS department can fix it, but they may issue you a loaner in the interim.

Once you have upgraded to Monterey, click the apple icon and open "System Preferences."  Then, open the blue folder called "Sharing."  In the next window, be sure that "AirPlay Receiver" is checked.  Consider also requiring a password in this menu window.

Once you have activated your Mac as an AirPlay receiver, both you and your students should be able to locate your machine in the Screen Mirroring menu on iPad.  To get to that menu, drag down from the top-right corner of your iPad screen (where the battery indicator is).  Then look for an icon with a rectangle overlapping another rectangle.  Scroll through to find your Mac and click it.  

Your Mac will give you an "Accept" or "Decline" option.  If you accept, the iPad will now display on your screen.  If your laptop is hooked up to your big screen, the iPad will display there, too.  To stop mirroring, repeat the process on the iPad (Pull down from top-right, find screen mirroring icon) and then click "Stop mirroring." 

Try using Safari on your iPad to access your Google Slides and Docs.   It will give you the full desktop version and not the watered down app version.

Classroomscreen.com is a free tool for teachers that includes lots of great classroom management widgets all in one quick and easy-to-use platform.  You'll find a random name selector, dice, sound level indicators, a quick way to post media links, a QR code generator, a drawing tool, a text tool, groups work symbols, a timer, a stopwatch, a clock, and a calendar - all for free.

Jason walks you through how to have the kids' cameras on in Zoom and still be able to navigate the internet.

Leverage the JAMF teacher app to help facilitate learning and manage student devices.  With this teacher iPad app, you can:

• Set up lessons where you decide what apps and websites are available.

• Lock students into one app for testing situations.

• Block or allow music sites like Pandora and Spotify.

The list goes on.  Give yourself peace of mind when students are working with devices in your classroom by using JAMF Teacher.

Apple Classroom had a big visual update.  Make sure to watch this video to know how the changes will effect you in your classroom.

Ever wish you could take over a students' machine to help them through a technical problem?  Well, you can do that in Zoom if the students are on Chromebooks or MacBooks.  The video at right will explain how to control a students' screen during a Zoom call.

1.  Have your student share their screen

2.  Click Video Options at the top of the shared screen

3.  Click Request Remote Control

4. After student approves, you now control their cursor.

With the increased number of unwanted guests into some of your video sessions with students, it seems like a good time to review how to lock down your Zoom meetings to the best of your ability. Please review the the following site for tips on securing your Zoom rooms: https://blog.zoom.us/best-practices-for-securing-your-virtual-classroom/

In addition, Jeff and Jason have compiled a series of screenshots to give you a visual on how to accomplish the task of securing Zoom. View those screenshots at the following link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZLxzEzSkxR_Yy_GaLELTWfbZfFPMIGxpFLyejObT1I/edit?usp=sharing

We shared the link as “Edit” so if you have some extra tips, please add them to the doc!

One of the challenges of online learning is keeping kids organized.  By utilizing weekly playlists/agendas, teachers can help parents and students avoid confusion.

Here are three examples of what playlists might look like.