It is the start of a brand new school year…excitement is high…new resources and new opportunities present themselves…and new tools are at our disposal. As we start the school year here in the Georgetown County School District, located in Georgetown, SC, we are in the midst of moving to our one-to-one device initiative. This means that we want to provide a device for every student to be able to access the Internet, the web tools and the abundance of resources, and have access to these devices anytime they are needed in the classroom. How is this different from last year? Last year, and over the last several years, teachers were asked to sign up for laptop carts that were then rolled to the classroom to use with certain lessons involving the integration of technology. Teachers had to schedule times for the laptops and make sure there was an available set to work with. Many times they would have to reschedule certain lessons because another teacher had already scheduled the laptops, and there were none available for the time requested. This problem is going away with every student eventually having access to a device whenever a teacher’s lesson calls for it.
The tool that we are using is the Google Chromebook in the elementary and middle grades, and the Dell Laptop in the high schools. While all do not have a Chromebook in the elementary and middle schools yet, the Dell laptops can be used for Google Classroom as well. The Chromebook device is faster, lighter, and has storage in the Cloud that, for students, is basically unlimited. The newer laptops are better suited to the speed needed for real time application.
The Tech Coaches in the district, along with the administration at the District Office and the Principals in the schools are quickly taking advantage of the Google Suite for Education tools. In this package is Google Classroom. Classroom is a free suite of safe and secure productivity tools that includes a calendar, document creation, presentation tools, storage, and the ability to work collaboratively with other classmates online in real time. You can also interact with the teacher in real time to answer questions, see announcements and complete assignments, and it can be all paperless. Classroom helps teachers save time, keep classes organized, and improve communication with students. A really huge feature of Google and Google Classroom, is that students and teachers can access their classroom on any device, from anywhere, at any time…as long as they can get Internet access. If teachers are absent due to illness or attendance at a professional development conference, they can still assign and monitor their classes from their location. If students are absent, they can still access their classroom and get assignments and announcements from home if they have a device and Internet access. Think of the advantage of a homebound student being able to get information and assignments easier. Assignments can be geared to the individual needs of a student as well, and sent to those students with an IEP without distraction or undue attention.
As a bonus, there is a communication tool within classroom to keep parents and guardians in the loop. With the Guardian Tool, teachers can add parents to their class, and it allows the parent or guardian to see their child’s tasks, due dates, and monitor progress toward completion of assignments.
So as we move more and more into Google Classroom, we will all be learning more about how to make the learning experience better for our students, and improving our technology skills along the way.
The District Tech Coaches have created several “How-To” videos for using Google Classroom. Please ask your Teech Coach how you can access these videos.
Never stop learning!
A fusion of lowcountry technology and instruction
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Runners in Scoring Position
Runner in Scoring Position
The “runner in scoring position” phrase is a
baseball/softball term meaning that because the team has a runner on second
base (generally) or even third base…that if the next batter gets a hit, that
there is a real possibility that they will score.
Well after three days of this new EDPD class, Integrating
Technology in the Classroom, the overwhelmed feelings are slowly diminishing
and “we have runners in scoring positions.”
There is a diverse group of learners that signed on for the summer class;
elementary, middle and high school teachers…teachers with varying degrees of
comfort with using computers and the technology tools. Some get frustrated quicker than others, but
all are determined to see it through to the end.
As we move from day to day, we are building on the previous
day and allowing practical use of the tools taught. With familiarity comes comfort. With comfort comes the willingness to take
risks. With risk-taking comes the
learning. With the learning comes the
application in the classroom.
Our concentration this week is with Google and Google
Classroom. By the end of the week,
teachers will know how to use, and get opportunities to practice using Docs,
Sheets, Slides, Blogspot, YouTube, forms, shortener, and Google Grader.
Our students in grades 3-8 are moving into a one-to-one
initiative using Google Chromebooks…and in grades 9-12 continuing with Dell
laptops, and ALL of them will have access to our district’s institutional
Google accounts. We are excited about
the Chromebook Initiative, and the Google Classroom tools, and we can’t wait to
get all of our folks rounding third base and heading for home!
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Digital Storytelling
Lately, we have been asked by several teachers, at several different schools, to share all of our favorite digital storytelling tools. We of course, comply and try to assist teachers and students alike to be able to tell their story digitally. There are so many tools out there that it’s sort of hard to keep up, but here, we’ll share a few of our favorites:
A free tool that can be used right from the Internet without having to sign up for anything. It allows you to create a video of anything that appears inside of the framed section on the screen of your laptop. It has a neat pointer feature that puts a yellow circle around a moving mouse pointer, to allow the viewer to easily follow your “how-to” instructions. When you click on a place or icon, it will turn blue in an outward radiating flow of blue. Be careful not to move your move around too much during the recording, otherwise it could be distracting.
2. Movie Maker
Comes on most Window’s based laptops. Easy to use and easy to edit as you insert both video clips and still images. You can add title pages, insert text graphics, insert transitions and music where you want, and even fade it in and out.
3. ZimmerTwins
It is all about creative storytelling. ZimmerTwins is a web2.0 tool that allows students to give vent to their imaginative powers and exercise their storytelling skills from early stages to advances ones. This site is very intuitive. Although a “basic” kind of animated cartoon, it has some good merit.
4. Publisher
This tool also comes on most Window’s based laptops. It gives you templates for creating infographics or allows you to create from a blank canvas. Easy to post pictures, articles, or pictures. Sets itself up as a great tool for a newsletter or tri-fold bulletin.
5. Capzles
This is where you and your students can create rich multimedia stories with videos, photos, music, blogs and documents. It is really awesome.
6. Paper Slide Videos
An easy to create and easy to share project that is basic in its elements, but powerful as a teaching and learning tool. Plenty of videos on You Tube on how to make a Paper Slide Video, but click HERE for one of our favorites.
7. FlipSnack
FlipSnack allows you to save documents as a PDF, and upload them into their site, creating a digital book. You can create a Title Page and make the pages front/back…you can share the book or use it as a study guide book.
Click the links below for some other great tools:
Monday, January 23, 2017
Office 365. What are you waiting for?
Teachers and students alike, in the Georgetown County School
District, have access to the Office 365 tools…compliments of our I.T.
Department, our District Administration and ultimately, our Board of
Education. The Microsoft suite bundles
many of the commonly used tools, along with some new ones, to enhance the
teaching and learning experiences in our schools.
“But doesn’t it take a lot of time to teach the students how
to use all of them?” It doesn’t have
to…many of the tools are intuitive…but an introduction including initial access
is the best way to get started on the right foot.
There is a Terabyte of storage offered for students inside
the Office 365 One Drive…that’s equal to 1,000 GB of space. Storage there is
easy and smooth. Students can store Word
documents, PDF documents, Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentations,
pictures and more. Students can also do
this on the drives or storage areas at school that they have access to such as
the G Drive (school-wide storage) and the H Drive (student’s personal storage). Both of the aforementioned are good
alternatives, but they both have their drawbacks. The G Drive, or the general drive is a whole
school storage place. That means that
anyone at the school that is logged on as himself or herself (and not a generic
login) can access anything else on there.
Hardy a secure place to put anything.
The H Drive on the other hand, while offering the security of just the
one student to be able to access their storage, it is only accessible while at
school on a school district device.
The One Drive is accessible anywhere you can get to the
Internet from your device, at home, at the public library, at a friend’s house,
at a grandparent’s house, in another state or even another country. Student will have this Terabyte of storage
all the way through until they graduate, as long as the District has a
subscription for the Office 365. Usually
after the third month from graduation, those graduates’ accounts will be
cleaned off and passed back to the newest students in Kindergarten. But until then, the account goes with the
student from school to school, as long as he or she is in a subscribing
district.
Briefly, here are a few of the student uses and features:
- · 1,000 GB of storage
- · Drag and Drop storage capabilities
- · Ability to download the Office Suite on a home computer if needed
- · Use of Online Word
- · Use of Online Excel
- · Use of Online Power Point
- · Collaboration Space Yammer
- · One Note – note taking digital notebooks
- · Forms for creating/filling out surveys
- · Calendar
- · Event Planner
- · Use of Office 365 email
- · Creation of Student folders
- · Creation of Teacher folders and share work by dropping in the folder. That’s it!
- · Ability to share folders and projects “live” with other students and teachers
- · Ability to have several people working on the same project online at the same time from different locations
- · Ability to share outside the walls of the classroom for a more global outreach
The Tech Coaches highly recommend that you invite them into
your classroom to have them introduce Office 365 to your students. Many teachers already have, and their
students are reaching new heights in technology and the skill set they will
need for the future. What are you waiting
for…book your Tech Coach today!
Friday, November 18, 2016
Collaboration Nation
There are so many web tools out there that have educational value, are easy to work with, and are fun and engaging for students. Students love the interaction with the computer. Whether it’s a laptop, a touch-pad or a phone device, more and more interaction on these devices is becoming the norm.
What makes the difference, however, is whether or not the devices are being used as a way to occupy students’ “free time” in the classroom or for the early finishers, or used as reward for various things. I put the words “free time” in quotes on purpose…I don’t believe in teachers giving students “free time” where there is supposed to be instruction or practice of newly learned objectives. I am OK with the use of devices for early finishers, as long as it’s not to play some type of Arcade Game. Having students earn time to work on devices should go hand in hand with past, present or future learning, and in an organized manner. I like to call them ACD’s…or Activity Choice Days…but, I digress.
Since so many districts across the country have gone to a one-to-one system, where every student has their own device, doing their own work, research and projects. I think it is more important than ever to teach them how to work together. Expanding the number of devices is great, but let’s not lose the collaboration skill that we worked on so diligently before all of these devices became a part of our daily school activities.
Fortunately, there are tools out there that that have plenty of ways to share and collaborate. Without trying to name all of them, for fear of not mentioning a good one that folks out there use and endorse, I will share the one we have made use of in our district. We have the Microsoft Office 365 package. There are so many Apps in the O365 suite that allow for collaboration. Just recently, a teacher asked me to help her in the classroom with having students create a group project. Working and planning with the teacher, we shared the tools, created the groups, decided on the basic parameters of the project, and created the rubric.
We hoped the small groups would work together and figure a way to collaborate thoroughly on the project without us telling them exactly how…since some of the work would have to be done at home, meaning working independently…or did it? Because of the previous work we’d done with Office 365, one student in the first class of the day, asked out loud if they could create their project and share it with each other using O365. We were thrilled and told them ‘Certainly.” It caught on like wildfire. Those that were very comfortable with how to make this happen, readily helped all of the other groups get on board to collaborate online as well. Watching this “help” session was so fulfilling, seeing them excited to lend a hand to their fellow classmates. Leaving the classroom and mingling in the halls, the news spread quickly, and all of the classes for the rest of the day wanted to follow suit.
So now these students are working online, working as a group at school, working independently at home, yet working together online on a “live” project.
Because of the way this teacher was open to letting the students work in groups, and be innovative thinkers, they became a “Collaboration Nation.”
What makes the difference, however, is whether or not the devices are being used as a way to occupy students’ “free time” in the classroom or for the early finishers, or used as reward for various things. I put the words “free time” in quotes on purpose…I don’t believe in teachers giving students “free time” where there is supposed to be instruction or practice of newly learned objectives. I am OK with the use of devices for early finishers, as long as it’s not to play some type of Arcade Game. Having students earn time to work on devices should go hand in hand with past, present or future learning, and in an organized manner. I like to call them ACD’s…or Activity Choice Days…but, I digress.
Since so many districts across the country have gone to a one-to-one system, where every student has their own device, doing their own work, research and projects. I think it is more important than ever to teach them how to work together. Expanding the number of devices is great, but let’s not lose the collaboration skill that we worked on so diligently before all of these devices became a part of our daily school activities.
Fortunately, there are tools out there that that have plenty of ways to share and collaborate. Without trying to name all of them, for fear of not mentioning a good one that folks out there use and endorse, I will share the one we have made use of in our district. We have the Microsoft Office 365 package. There are so many Apps in the O365 suite that allow for collaboration. Just recently, a teacher asked me to help her in the classroom with having students create a group project. Working and planning with the teacher, we shared the tools, created the groups, decided on the basic parameters of the project, and created the rubric.
We hoped the small groups would work together and figure a way to collaborate thoroughly on the project without us telling them exactly how…since some of the work would have to be done at home, meaning working independently…or did it? Because of the previous work we’d done with Office 365, one student in the first class of the day, asked out loud if they could create their project and share it with each other using O365. We were thrilled and told them ‘Certainly.” It caught on like wildfire. Those that were very comfortable with how to make this happen, readily helped all of the other groups get on board to collaborate online as well. Watching this “help” session was so fulfilling, seeing them excited to lend a hand to their fellow classmates. Leaving the classroom and mingling in the halls, the news spread quickly, and all of the classes for the rest of the day wanted to follow suit.
So now these students are working online, working as a group at school, working independently at home, yet working together online on a “live” project.
Because of the way this teacher was open to letting the students work in groups, and be innovative thinkers, they became a “Collaboration Nation.”
Friday, May 13, 2016
Getting Ready for a Tech Fair
A school district’s Technology Fair brings about many emotions for teachers and students. Anxiousness, excitement, anxiety, and restlessness. Now understand, that these can be both positive and negative…depending on how you spin it.
We typically hold our Technology Fair at the end of the school year. Keep in mind that there are so many things going on at the end of the school year, and this issue in itself can cause one to be stressed about participating in the Tech Fair. There is State Standardized testing, MAP testing, End of Course testing, teacher evaluation final reviews, teacher–administrative conferences, awards programs, District Art Shows, Academic Programs, Junior Scholars, and concerts and athletic banquets…not to mention having to get grades in and notes to the permanent records.
With the newer approach to testing online, computers are imaged, updated and sequestered for much of the testing time, which can last from two to four weeks. When a school doesn’t have enough computers for all to test in a shorter time frame, or the infrastructure to handle the extreme band width, it is just going to take a longer time.
That being said, computers may be held in a secure place to insure they are in proper working order for the testing, and kept away from students for a time. If this time happens to coincide with the request for computers from teachers and student…it becomes stressful; especially if lessons, activities or technology projects are planned.
Well, take heart, there is good news. Being involved in this process for several years now, I began to tell teachers that their Tech Fair projects, and those of the students should be happening all year long. When you integrate technology in the classroom from the beginning of the school year, students benefit. They are more familiar with the keyboard and shortcuts, they become more skilled at using programs and web tools, they become problem solvers and intuitive learners, and their confidence builds.
I know many teachers, who not only start integrating technology in the first week of a new school year, but they start within the first month or school, talking about the Technology Fair. They use the rubrics from the Tech Fair as the rubric for their class projects. They invite the Tech Coaches into their classrooms to work with them and their students early and often. They save projects all year long, and then as the Tech Fair season gets closer, they bring them out and have students take a look at them again…just tweaking them, and reviewing them enough to be sure they meet all of the criteria of a particular category for the big event.
For all of the reasons above, some teachers might be hard pressed to participate, or even find that they have to drop out of events. It is understandable with all that is going on at the end of any given school year. By the same token, the ones that start planning for their Tech Fair in August and September, that plan with and invite their Tech Coaches into the classrooms, and that use the Tech Fair rubrics in their classrooms all year long, will be the ones that are less stressed, and more excited when it comes time to submit projects for themselves or their students, and even enter multiple projects. Think about planning with your Tech Coach to integrate technology projects into your lesson plans early and often. Good luck to all you enter Technology Fairs across the country, and across the world.
We typically hold our Technology Fair at the end of the school year. Keep in mind that there are so many things going on at the end of the school year, and this issue in itself can cause one to be stressed about participating in the Tech Fair. There is State Standardized testing, MAP testing, End of Course testing, teacher evaluation final reviews, teacher–administrative conferences, awards programs, District Art Shows, Academic Programs, Junior Scholars, and concerts and athletic banquets…not to mention having to get grades in and notes to the permanent records.
With the newer approach to testing online, computers are imaged, updated and sequestered for much of the testing time, which can last from two to four weeks. When a school doesn’t have enough computers for all to test in a shorter time frame, or the infrastructure to handle the extreme band width, it is just going to take a longer time.
That being said, computers may be held in a secure place to insure they are in proper working order for the testing, and kept away from students for a time. If this time happens to coincide with the request for computers from teachers and student…it becomes stressful; especially if lessons, activities or technology projects are planned.
Well, take heart, there is good news. Being involved in this process for several years now, I began to tell teachers that their Tech Fair projects, and those of the students should be happening all year long. When you integrate technology in the classroom from the beginning of the school year, students benefit. They are more familiar with the keyboard and shortcuts, they become more skilled at using programs and web tools, they become problem solvers and intuitive learners, and their confidence builds.
I know many teachers, who not only start integrating technology in the first week of a new school year, but they start within the first month or school, talking about the Technology Fair. They use the rubrics from the Tech Fair as the rubric for their class projects. They invite the Tech Coaches into their classrooms to work with them and their students early and often. They save projects all year long, and then as the Tech Fair season gets closer, they bring them out and have students take a look at them again…just tweaking them, and reviewing them enough to be sure they meet all of the criteria of a particular category for the big event.
For all of the reasons above, some teachers might be hard pressed to participate, or even find that they have to drop out of events. It is understandable with all that is going on at the end of any given school year. By the same token, the ones that start planning for their Tech Fair in August and September, that plan with and invite their Tech Coaches into the classrooms, and that use the Tech Fair rubrics in their classrooms all year long, will be the ones that are less stressed, and more excited when it comes time to submit projects for themselves or their students, and even enter multiple projects. Think about planning with your Tech Coach to integrate technology projects into your lesson plans early and often. Good luck to all you enter Technology Fairs across the country, and across the world.
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Get Out of Their Way
It is critical that we build a foundation in all of our educational content areas. In Math, we teach whole numbers, fractions, and add, subtract, divide and of course the multiplication tables. In ELA, we teach our students sight words, compound words, sentence structure and on to basic writing. It’s the same with Social Studies and Science, Physical Education, Career Courses and Music. So why do we assume that students know all of the basics for using technology? Some might say that the students now are so much more familiar with technology and use it all the time. Partly true, but it doesn’t apply equally to all of our young people.
We should try to steer our efforts toward the technology basics, and there are some things we need to be sure to cover, especially Digital Citizenship. Too many of our students already have multiple Social Media accounts, and in reality, many are not ready to use them appropriately. Well, many adults don’t use them appropriately for that matter.
But as we guide our student population down the path toward computer basics and digital citizenship, let’s be careful to NOT overstep our bounds…and be too rigid in our assignments. Yes, direct students to be mindful of others’ feelings on social media. Yes, warn students of the dangers of putting too much personal information out there for those with mal intent might want to use. Yes, reinforce the no-bullying policy. Yes, remind students that they are creating a “digital footprint” as they travel the cyber world. Yes, reinforce using good grammar, correct spelling and punctuation. Yes, give students as much opportunity as possible to practice with laptops, so that they are familiar with the keys and the functions of the laptops. Teach them to write…teach them how to drag and drop files and folders…teach them how to input files…teach them how to save, transfer and share files. No, we don’t want to impede their creativity or innovation.
When I was young, my mom used to let me use the cookie cutter to stamp out cookies in the shapes of animals and stars, and people. The cookie cutter allowed me to make the cookie in a designated pattern, and pretty much they all looked alike. I liked the consistency. However, when it comes to students, I prefer to avoid the “cookie cutter” approach. All of the students don’t look like, don’t learn alike, and don’t produce academically like the next student. We talk a lot about the techniques with differentiated instruction, and I think we need to be reminded to remember the differences in our kid’s personalities and styles as well.
As professional educators, it is imperative that we lead by example. Try new tools, try new strategies that integrate technology, use the programs that are available by your district or company. When we are teaching and facilitating, it is super important that we lead, guide and assist students…BUT…as soon as they catch the vision for their projects…as soon as you see the spark in their eye, and realize that they understand their assignment…that we are smart enough to “get out of their way.” Give them some parameters, give them some structure, and give them a time frame…because that’s what they’ll see in the real world…but then, “get out of their way.” Let them create. Let them invent. Let them be innovative. Sometimes the more reluctant students, when given the opportunity to use computers, and be hands on…they will take on a new persona. Give it a try…”get out of their way” and watch them shine.
Follow the Georgetown County School District Tech Coaches on Twitter:
Keith @KTech8
Jenny @ItsThatJenny
Marc @FrechetTech
Doug @FreshD85
We should try to steer our efforts toward the technology basics, and there are some things we need to be sure to cover, especially Digital Citizenship. Too many of our students already have multiple Social Media accounts, and in reality, many are not ready to use them appropriately. Well, many adults don’t use them appropriately for that matter.
But as we guide our student population down the path toward computer basics and digital citizenship, let’s be careful to NOT overstep our bounds…and be too rigid in our assignments. Yes, direct students to be mindful of others’ feelings on social media. Yes, warn students of the dangers of putting too much personal information out there for those with mal intent might want to use. Yes, reinforce the no-bullying policy. Yes, remind students that they are creating a “digital footprint” as they travel the cyber world. Yes, reinforce using good grammar, correct spelling and punctuation. Yes, give students as much opportunity as possible to practice with laptops, so that they are familiar with the keys and the functions of the laptops. Teach them to write…teach them how to drag and drop files and folders…teach them how to input files…teach them how to save, transfer and share files. No, we don’t want to impede their creativity or innovation.
When I was young, my mom used to let me use the cookie cutter to stamp out cookies in the shapes of animals and stars, and people. The cookie cutter allowed me to make the cookie in a designated pattern, and pretty much they all looked alike. I liked the consistency. However, when it comes to students, I prefer to avoid the “cookie cutter” approach. All of the students don’t look like, don’t learn alike, and don’t produce academically like the next student. We talk a lot about the techniques with differentiated instruction, and I think we need to be reminded to remember the differences in our kid’s personalities and styles as well.
As professional educators, it is imperative that we lead by example. Try new tools, try new strategies that integrate technology, use the programs that are available by your district or company. When we are teaching and facilitating, it is super important that we lead, guide and assist students…BUT…as soon as they catch the vision for their projects…as soon as you see the spark in their eye, and realize that they understand their assignment…that we are smart enough to “get out of their way.” Give them some parameters, give them some structure, and give them a time frame…because that’s what they’ll see in the real world…but then, “get out of their way.” Let them create. Let them invent. Let them be innovative. Sometimes the more reluctant students, when given the opportunity to use computers, and be hands on…they will take on a new persona. Give it a try…”get out of their way” and watch them shine.
Follow the Georgetown County School District Tech Coaches on Twitter:
Keith @KTech8
Jenny @ItsThatJenny
Marc @FrechetTech
Doug @FreshD85
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