Learn, Create, Connect
News and Updates from the MASD Technology Integration Committee
Mon., Feb. 25, 2019
Did You KNow...?
The weather has certainly kept things interesting the past few weeks! With all the delays and snow days, I know we've all be struggling to catch up, make up, and (somedays) just plain stand up. For that reason, I thought I'd keep this edition of Learn, Create, Connect on the lighter side. Hopefully you'll still come away with something you can use, but it won't take much of your time.
In this edition...
- BrightBytes Survey - WE NEED YOUR INPUT!
- MASD Teachers Share Their Expertise at Statewide Conference
- New Organizational Tools in Google Classroom
- Digital Tools for Deeper Learning - from the GFAL Symposium
- Create "E-books" With Google Slides or PowerPoint
We Need your input...
Data from our annual BrightBytes survey has contributed to:
- increased access to student devices at all grade levels
- a wireless hotspot loaner program at the high school
- building-level decisions about professional learning opportunities
We get the most out of our data when our student responses are compared with our teacher input. Colleagues in each building are working hard to administer the survey to all students in Grades 3-12. We need your help to make sure the teacher voices are heard, too. If you haven't yet, please take 15 minutes THIS WEEK and complete the BrightBytes survey. Refer to the email from your principal for your building's link, or contact Anne Reardon and she'll send it to you.
We are #MASDproud...
Three of our MASD colleagues presented recently at the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo and Conference (PETE&C) in Hershey. Despite the fact that the first two days of the conference were snow days, Joe Reidy (MASH), John Green (UA) and Jule Young (UA) braved the elements to share their expertise with colleagues from around the state. Joe and John teamed up to present Growing Global Citizens and Jule and John shared Making the Most of Seesaw Online Portfolios. Thanks, Joe, John, and Jule for making us #MASDproud!
Staying organized just got easier...
Recent updates to Google Classroom mean you are no longer stuck with having everything show up in the stream in chronological order. On the new "Classwork" page, you can create topics and use them to organize assignments and other posts. If you don't see "Classwork" at the top of your Google Classroom page, click here to find out how to add it. Use this link to learn about creating topics and using them to keep things organized.
Digital Tools are about more than engagement...
Our recent GFAL Symposium was a great day of learning and sharing. If you didn't get a chance to attend "Digital Tools for Deeper Learning", you can access the resources shared in that session here. The site is organized according to the six Facets of Understanding from McTighe and Wiggins and shares digital tools students might use to take their learning to a deeper level. There is also a page of additional resources that includes some collections of sites with resources for Math, Science, and more.
Create "e-Book" style publications Easily with google slides or PowerPoint
Last week Deb Hines shared an article with me from Cult of Pedagogy (one of our favorite instructional resources!) entitled Student-Made E-books: A Beautiful Way to Demonstrate Learning. We usually think of Google Slides and PowerPoint as tools to create presentations, but their use really is limited only by your imagination. Create newsletters, reports, infographics, lab reports, technical articles, and more. By customizing the size of the slide, you can create interesting and unique publications that can be shared as pdfs. In Google Slides, students could collaborate by each adding their own "page" to the book. You can also use the "publish to the web" feature, which then provides a link to the finished work.
The article includes a link to templates that are available on Teachers Pay Teachers, but there is no need to purchase those. Show students some real-world examples of the types of documents they're going to create and let them use the tools in Google Slides or PowerPoint to create their own backgrounds and designs.
This is a great option to add to the menu of choices students can use to demonstrate their learning.