Innovation @477 - EdTech Wins

Last week's blog I introduced a new contest to encourage staff to share the great EdTech things they are already doing in class. There has been a great response and I want to thank you everyone who contributed! Congratulations to Susan Jennings, Tracy Pidde and Nikki Walerius for winning the first week's contest. Keep your entries coming as new winners will be selected each week!

A Few Highlights From This Week's Entries:

• Using Class Dojo for behavior 

• I used FlipGrid to have the students introduce themselves (first and last name) and tell me their favorite thing about science. When my old brain is trying to learn a 28th year of 130 new names and faces it helped!!!

• I made a flippity for every different class I teach to make random groups or to make a lineup for AR store so it’s fair who goes first, or if I go on a field trip & need groups. If I don’t like the grouping, I just click until I do.

• Voice Thread - Students created a slideshow on Google Slides, then they saved it as a PDF, and brought the project into VoiceThread (which they had to set up) Students then recorded their voice on each slide, saved it and attached it to their original slideshow and turned it in through Google Classroom!

• Using MyMaps to have students plot landforms and also plan a trip across a continent to learn about a geography.

• I needed to throw in a one day lesson between units with my fourth graders, so I found a fun HTML coding game for them to just be exposed to it. As they worked through the activities, they earned kitten GIFs to watch. :)

• Using Google Forms for quizzes means I can send the correct version of the quiz to students (modified/unmodified) and no one knows who has what. Additionally, with the grading feature, I don't have to spend any time grading and can transfer grades right into Skyward after the quizzes are done. 

EdTech Wins in 477 for 2017

Innovation @ 477 - What I Know

Here's what I know about instructional technology use in 477 - it's everywhere! And teachers often don't give themselves enough credit for the work they are doing. What's even more impressive is the amount of work teachers ARE NOT doing because of the digital solutions they have put in place.

You likely have one, two or several EdTech wins - those things you have found that make your job that much easier. Maybe it's using ClassDojo to track Tiger Pride behavior, maybe it's using Google Classroom to help you go paperless in your classroom, maybe you use Flippity on a regular basis for organizing students for learning. Whatever it is, it is an EdTech win and it needs to be shared!

When we share our ideas with each other,  amazing things happen. You might think what you are doing is "no big deal" or "everyone is doing it" but it IS a big deal and NOT everyone is using it.

Here's what else I know, teachers are just as motivated by students with prizes. No matter the prize, winning is fun.  So let's share those EdTech wins with one another. The more you share, the more chances you have to win a prize from Jodi's Swag Drawer of Awesome and Random Prizes.

Have an EdTech Win? Share it here in this Google Form. You can share as many times as you like! The link to the form will be available in my email signature and on the Tiger Tech Tips website.

The EdTech Challenge will run through the end of December, with prizes drawn weekly!

Prize drawer sneak peek (water bottles will be filled with candy!)

Flash Player Not Working?

For those of you getting notices that Flash Player is not working on a site or that it needs to be updated, please see the attached image for the workaround.

Simply click on the padlock (or icon in your address bar) and you will see options appear.  Scroll down to the flash option and select "always allow on this site."

Innovation @477 - Up Your Google Game

Being a GAFE (Google Apps For Education) school district gives us access to myriad of educational tools. These tools directly support the teaching and refining of vital communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking skills. If you are feeling like you need some more training with these tools or are just looking dig deeper with google tools, check out these resources from the Google Training Center!

Google Classroom 

Topics include: Make Fewer Class Copies, Assign Work More Easily, Give and Receive Feedback, Create Beautiful Learning Materials and more

Google Chrome

 Topics Include: Share Chrome Apps and Extensions with Your Students, Use Chrome to Explore the Web with Your Class, Promote a Safe and Responsible Online Presence

Chromebooks

Topics include: Using Chromebooks with G Suite for Education, Getting Started with Your Chromebooks, Your Devices in the Classroom

Google Forms

Topics include: Bring Your Quizzes Online Using Google Forms, Measure Student Progress, More Ways to Add Interaction to Instruction, Get Inspired by Alternate Learning Models and more