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2020 feels so futuristic. Remember when we were in school? Remember Oregon Trail? These days, our students have 24/7 access to the world at their fingertips. With so many apps, websites and resources, it's easy to become a passive consumer of technology. However, in the past few months we've witnessed so many of your students using technology to actively create and redefine learning.
From learning to code, to creating animations, to making interactive presentations, we are blown away with their creativity and are so excited about the direction we are heading together. Thank you for providing authentic, real-world learning experiences for your students. You are helping to empower creative digital learners. You are awesome. We wish you the best in 2020. We are truly blessed to work with such creative people. Thanks for ALL you do! Garrett, Wes & Jess
By Garrett Derr @GDerrSDOL Does your School District use the American Reading Company to ensure that every student can read, write, and think on grade level? If so, it's likely that you're always looking for ways to progress your students to the "next level". We have to get our Yellow readers to 1G, our 2G readers to 1B, and the list goes on. As we know, though, time is never really on our side. It's difficult to find the time to conference with every student each week, especially if you have a large class size. Even if you're able to find the time, the conferencing in and of itself can be time-consuming. Every second is valuable. What could possibly be out there that helps us maximize the time that we have with our students? Look no further than Seesaw. This interactive platform allows teachers to create or use a curated library to enhance the learning that takes place within the walls of our classrooms. Even better, you can use the platform to help students master their Power Goals and progress to the next color level. Rather than spend time going over long word lists during conferences, simply upload your student Power Words, Category Words, or Tricky Words right to Seesaw. You can even add voice instructions for younger readers who may have a difficult time reading your directions. Here, students are not only able to practice their words on their own time, they can record themselves reading each word, and even mark up the list! Check it out below! The best part? At any time, you can simply open Seesaw and check on your student's progress. You can open SchoolPace and log the words that students know without even conferencing!
When it's time to meet and conference with your students, there is no time wasted! Seesaw provides teachers the flexibility to enter student data during school hours or even at home. Over time, your students will build up their own individual portfolio and be able to show off their hard work! If you're a Seesaw veteran, give it a shot today. If you're new to Seesaw, check out the getting started guide! Follow #SDOLTECH on Twitter to learn more about how we're empowering creative digital learners!
By Wes Emlet
I'm not sure about you but I often forget Siri exists. Whether it's searching for an app or wondering what the weather is like outside, I'll often find myself searching these things manually and later think to myself, "Oh yeah, I could have asked Siri to do that for me." Who's Siri you may be asking? Without getting too technical, she's the built in intelligent assistant on all of your Apple Devices who uses speech recognition technology and natural language processing to convert your spoken requests into actionable responses. So instead of spending time searching for an app or inputting an equation, we can simply ask Siri to do those actions for us in a matter of seconds. So now that Siri's fresh on my mind it got me thinking, how can we use this type of technology as an instructional tool in our classrooms? Obviously, it's a time saver and we are always looking for ways to save time in our classrooms. So simply asking Siri to open an app is a quick and easy way that even our youngest learners can use to save a few seconds of searching. An excellent time saver for teachers is the use of the built-in timer. Ask Siri to set a timer during station rotations and be on your way. Need a random number? Ask Siri for one! One the best ideas I've seen so far was by Joe and Kristin Merrill this past summer at the ISTE conference in Philadelphia during their "Interactive Classroom" session. They play, "Are You Smarter Than Siri" and have their students use white boards to "race" against Siri. Check it out in action below. The possibilities of using Siri in the classroom really are endless. I added a few ideas to the document below for using Siri in the classroom. What ways are you using Siri? Please share!
Websites for Laptop or iPadGet ready! Follow directions to create accounts and assignments as needed! iPad AppsAll apps can be found in Self Service on all district iPads. Remember to install prior to Hour of Code. All done? Print an Hour of Code 2019 Certificate for your class!
We are overjoyed with the progress of all the teachers using Nearpod at the School District of Lancaster! Last November, elementary teachers launched 826 lessons in Nearpod. This year, after six weeks of school, these same teachers have launched 1,888 lessons! That's 129% increase in usage in half the time! You all are amazing! Many of you are using this tool in practical ways to differentiate instruction and to make your lives easier by using the on the spot data to inform instructional decisions. Some of you are engaging your students with content in new and innovative ways by creating your own virtual learning experiences. All of you are using Nearpod to teach digital citizenship and 21 century skills to your students! Thank you all for the hard work you are doing to promote technology usage in your classroom! Keep up the great work and let us know if we can support you along the way. We are so proud of you!
by Garrett Derr @GDerrSDOL “What are some great math apps that I can use with my kids?" I’ve probably heard this question 100 times since the start of the school year. To be honest, it’s a great question considering how much is out there. Of course there’s Xtramath. And, with a little time and research, you’ll find platforms like Nearpod and Seesaw offer already-created lessons that can be easily edited to meet the needs of your students. Eventually, though, we’ll want to give our students something shiny and new. If you’re anything like me, I always dreaded the days of handing out manipulatives to each student, only to find pieces scattered around the classroom at the conclusion of the day. Look no further than the collection of math apps created by the Math Learning Center. The interactive collection created by MLC forces students to be creative, think critically, and show their understanding in a variety of ways. Below, you will find a brief overview of each app and the different features it offers to your students. Number PiecesNumber Pieces helps build student computational thinking skills. Within the platform, students use a variety of manipulative base-ten blocks to show their understanding. Students have the ability to add text, drawings, rotate and separate manipulatives, and add color. Money PiecesMoney Pieces provides students a blank canvas with all of the currency manipulatives they could ever want or need. The platform provides coins in base-ten form or in isolation. Included are visuals to help students make sense of word problems, drawing tools, color schemes, and symbols. GeoboardGeoboard is a rubber-band free platform that allows students to show their geometry knowledge. Teachers can use the app to allow students to demonstrate their understanding with shapes, patterns, line segments, perimeter, angles, area, and even fractions. The differentiation components allow teachers to utilize across several grade levels! Pattern ShapesPattern Shapes gives students the freedom to show their understanding with shapes, patterns, and angles. Students can explore symmetry and combine shapes to create visuals. Teachers can offer students a challenge using the grid and outlines features!
Give these powerful tools a try and see how they empower your students! by Wes Emlet @wemlet 1. View Screens
This ability to see what students are doing on their devices is priceless. I can focus on the group of students I am working with but also know what the students across the room are doing with a quick glance in the Apple Classroom app. This feature helps hold students accountable for the work they are doing on their devices. This also allows the teacher to pinpoint which students may need more assistance for on the spot intervention. 2. Lock Screen When I need to transition I give my students a 10 second countdown and then I lock their screen. The countdown gives the students a chance to mentally prepare for the lock and the the lock itself is the extra step that ensures that students are hearing the next set of directions they are about to receive. Don't forget to unlock! 3. Open & Lock There may be times when you need your class to stay in one specific app for an extended period of time. Using the open and lock toggle will ensure your students stay in that app as it removes the temptation to leave the current app and navigate to the web and/or a game as it locks them into the app you choose. (You're welcome;) 4. Groups Groups are easy to make and great for differentiation. When you leave the Classroom App and navigate to Safari, you can share the URL link with your entire class OR with the different groups you've created within the App. This allows you to easily share different links, images, files to specific students in a specific group. 5. Split Screen File Sharing Utilizing split screen with Apple Classroom gives you the ability to drop files to the entire class, your groups or individual students. Have a student who is distracted? Send a funny gif to that individual to get him back on track. It may sound silly but I've seen it work numerous times! What are your favorite Apple Classroom tools ? |
Wes EmletCoordinator of Instructional Technology Gidget Dejesus Instructional Technology Coach
@MsGMDeJesus Tara Morcom Instructional Technology Coach
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