My Upcoming Schedule:

• Tuesday, Nov 1: Park Rapids all day
• Wednesday, Nov 2: Park Rapids 8-2:00, Nevis 2:30 – 5:30
• Thursday, Nov 3: Park Rapids all day
• Friday, Nov 4: Unscheduled. Let me know if you want to meet. J

Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com) or my Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) .

Scheduled Classes:

There is a two-hour technology class scheduled in Nevis on Wednesday, Nov 2, on Google Forms, and one in Park Rapids on Thursday, Nov 3, on using Google Forms. All of you are welcome to attend any of these classes. Please email me to let me know if you’ll be joining us. Thanks!

Google Tip:

Google Apps for Education is undergoing some improvements, including a brand new name – G Suite for Education. While I’m not too sure about the new name, some of the feature updates will be very helpful.

One new feature is Explore. Explore can be found in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Calendar, and was designed to make complicated tasks easier. Here are a few examples:

• In Google Calendar, you can use Explore to find times when attendees are available for a meeting and locate available meeting spaces more effectively. If you plan with other teachers and use the “invite” feature of Google Calendar, you may find this update very helpful.
• In Google Docs, Explore will use “machine intelligence” to recommend websites, articles, images and videos that relate to the content of the text.
• In Google Sheets, Explore will allow you to convert written questions into formulas, so you don’t have to know, or locate “help” to find formulas, you can just type in “what is the total cost” and Google Sheets will provide the formula you need.
• And, in Google Slides, Explore will provide recommendations to improve the overall look of the presentation, suggesting design enhancements that will enhance the content without any extra work.

BINGO:

A free Bingo card creator can be found here: http://goo.gl/vmV0LH. This link will bring you to www.kidsCerts.com, a website that will help you create free, great-looking certificates and Bingo cards. One of the nice things about this site is that you can use images as well as text – so the results look amazing, and can be printed easily to multiple, unique cards. The certificates on this website are also easy to create and beautiful to look at. Give KidsCerts a try today!

Have you ever done a “Twitter Chat”?

A Twitter chat is an incredible way to network with other educators from your own home. Using any device or a computer, you follow the tweets at a certain time of day, commenting to the questions if you have something to say, or just reading the great comments others are sharing. During a Twitter Chat you will learn about great resources, new teaching methods, articles, freebies, and more, and will be able to personally communicate with like-minded educators from around the world.

A few Twitter Chats to check out, in case you’re interested:

#Edtechchat – Monday, 7PM CT: This chat is focused on using technology in the classroom.

#edchat – Tuesdays, 11AM CT and 6PM CT: This chat is focused on education, and has a different theme each week.

#Ntchat – Wednesdays, 7PM CT: New Teacher Chat was created to provide mentoring for new teachers.

#whatisschool – Thursdays, 6PM CT: Conversations about schooling, with weekly questions related to the future of education.

#EngageChat – Fridays, 7PM CT: Conversations on how to keep students engaged.

#Satchat – Saturdays, 6:30AM CT: Discussion for current & emerging school leaders.

#Sunchat – Sundays, 8AM CT: Global chat for educators around the world.

You don’t have to connect “live”. Search the hashtag to read all of the tweets from the past chat whenever you’d like.

November Resources: Native American Heritage Month

NEA has a terrific resource of Native American Heritage lesson plans and activities for all grade levels on their website at: www.nea.org. To get you to the right spot, here’s the breakdown by grade:

K-5 www.nea.org/tools/lessons/native-american-and-alaska-native-heritage-month-grades-k-5.html

This resource includes non-fiction text, information-gathering, creating a board game activity, a study of Alaskan animals, Native dolls, pourquoi stories, modern/ancient tool comparison, vocabulary (place names), and many background resources.

6-8 www.nea.org/tools/lessons/native-american-and-alaska-native-heritage-month-grades-6-8.html

Including poetry, fighting injustice, examining US expansion, pottery, modern-day Native American cultures, teaching historic places, expeditions, Stories from the past, and much more.

9-12 www.nea.org/tools/lessons/native-american-and-alaska-native-heritage-month-grades-9-12.html

This list includes links for expansion of the US, three-voice narratives, teaching with historic places, the Ancestral Pueblo People, cultural stories of rock art, the Smithsonian Education American Indian Heritage Teaching Resources, campfire stories, traditional crafts, video resources, and more.

Science & Math Resources: http://scimathmn.org

SciMathMN is a non-profit partnership promoting quality science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. Housing all of the science and math standards, SciMathMN also contains best practice information, and every benchmark from Kindergarten through high school. Select a benchmark and you can view an overview, misconceptions students have, teaching vignettes, teaching resources, assessments, resources for differentiation, and information for parents and administrators. It is a wealth of information no science or math teacher should be without!

My Upcoming Schedule:

• Monday, Oct 24 – in Park Rapids all day
• Tuesday, Oct 25 – in Park Rapids all day
• Wednesday, Oct 26 – Park Rapids, 8am – 12:15, Nevis, 1:00 – 5:30
• Thursday, Oct 27 – in Park Rapids all day
• Friday, Oct 28 – in Nevis, 11 – 4:00

Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com) or my Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) .

Scheduled Classes:

There is a two-hour technology class scheduled in in Nevis on Wednesday, Oct 28, on Seesaw student portfolios, and one in Park Rapids on Thursday, Nov 3, on using Google Forms. All of you are welcome to attend any of these classes. Please email me to let me know if you’ll be joining us. Thanks!

Google Tip:

Google Forms is one of the best and easiest ways to get information from your students, from other teachers, or from parents. I’ve used it for years, and have loved the way I can survey a group quickly and easily. But Google has added a new feature to Google Forms, and it is one that makes this an even better tool for teachers! The new Google Forms has a built-in feedback loop that allows you to make your form into a quiz with all of these quiz options:

Grading:

• Release grade immediately
• Later, after manual review (which turns on email collection

Respondents can see:

• Missed questions
• Correct Answers
• Point values

Let me know if I can help you set up a form and give this a try!

Keyboarding Links:

Want to share a few keyboarding links with your families, or try some with your students? Here are a few to take a look at:

Typing Club: www.typingclub.com

Typing Study: www.typingstudy.com

Dance Mat Typing: www.dancemattypingguide.com

Ratatype: www.ratatype.com

Creating Amazing videos to share

One of my favorite tools for sharing pictures and video with the community is through the use of Animoto, which is an online tool as well as an iPad app. Although a paid service, Animoto offers an educational use that is free of charge – and that allows you to let your students create free videos from their pictures and video clips!

To get a free education account, first create a trial account at www.animoto.com. Use your school email address! (If you want to create home videos you can create a separate account with your home email address.) Then go to https://animoto.com/education/classroom and click on the “APPLY NOW” button. Typically you will receive an email in the next 24 hours letting you know that your account has been approved. Each year you will need to reply to an email from Animoto reminding you that your free education account is expiring unless you follow the link to continue it for another year.

So, why do I love Animoto? Using their pre-created themes and music, you can put your pictures and video clips together into a professional-looking video! This is a great tool to use to tell the story of a field trip, classroom event, project, concept, or activity. Animoto makes digital story-telling easy and fun – with a terrific video to share after just minutes of putting it together!

The Animoto blog has a terrific list of 10 Ways to Use Video in your Classroom. Read it here: https://animoto.com/blog/education/ways-use-video-in-classroom. Take a look at these terrific ideas today!

Social Media in Class

Are you using Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram accounts with a classroom account (or are you considering it?) Please share your classroom account with the school so we can follow your page. It also is very helpful if you use the school’s hashtag so we can follow what you’re doing each day! The Park Rapids District Twitter account is: @parkrapidsisd (or you can use #parkrapidsisd).

Interested in seeing what other classes are posting? Here are a few to watch:

• Miss Weeding’s Class: @busybees104
• Panther Phy Ed: @pe_panther
• Park Rapids math: @parkrapidsmath
• Nevis Robotics Tech-No-Tigers: @tnt3102

If you choose to promote your classroom activities through the use of any of these accounts, here are a few rules to follow:

1. Keep the account separate from your personal account.
2. Be open with parents about what you’re doing: have parents sign a permission slip
3. Never post student last name’s or location/school.
4. Post photos that show groups of students, not individuals
5. Be cautious about “following” others: do not follow personal accounts.

 

My Upcoming Schedule:

• Tuesday, Oct 18, Park Rapids, 8am – 4:30pm
• Wednesday, Oct 19, Park Rapids, 8am – 4:30pm

Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com) or my Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) .

Scheduled Classes:

There is a two-hour technology class scheduled in Park Rapids on Thursday, Nov 3, on using Google Forms. I am available most days after school so please let me know if you’d like to meet with me.

Google Tip:

Very often when I’m signing up for a new account in any website I’m asked if I want to sign up (or log in) using my Google account. If the app is related only to school I will do so using my school account. This makes it easy for me to log into these apps without having to remember additional user names and passwords. But how do I know what I’ve connected? And how do I delete one that I’m not using any more? This is where your security settings come into play. Go to: https://myaccount.google.com/security and scroll down to the list of connected apps. From this list you can view all that are connected  – and remove those that you no longer user.

Links:

I want to share a few resources for free electronic books. These resources will allow you to have students open the same book on devices in your classroom (giving you full sets of books for language arts lessons), and will give you a large number of books to share with families to increase the size of their home libraries. These resources are mostly geared toward elementary students, although some have a selection of books for older students as well. Please note: if you’re looking for multiple copies of classics, all of them are available free in any electronic book reading app.

Unite for Literacy: http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/

Original non-fiction picture books support beginning readers of all ages. Features include predictable, rhythmic language; images with clear, familiar subjects; and text that ranges from one word up to a few sentences per page. Children everywhere can “see” themselves and imagine their full potential through the images in our books. Pictures that reflect a child’s eye view of the real world, in all its rich complexity, encourage rich conversation and a personal connection with books. Our books provide unique audio support to families who speak (or are learning to speak) English, indigenous or foreign languages. Simple audio buttons on each page allow you to hear narrations by native speakers in warm, expressive voices.

International Children’s Digital Library: http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

The ICDL Foundation’s goal is to build a collection of books that represents outstanding historical and contemporary books from throughout the world. Ultimately, the Foundation aspires to have every culture and language represented so that every child can know and appreciate the riches of children’s literature from the world community.

More Reading Resources…

EPIC! https://www.getepic.com/educators  Thousands of books are available for teachers to use with their students a no cost! The app works on all devices and is a great resource for reading!

Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page  Over 53,000 books for readers of all ages. This collection holds ebooks for all the classics, providing multiple copies for your students.

Presenting: THE GREAT GLOBAL PROJECT CHALLENGE AND GRANT

Educators are interested in engaging in project-based learning with other classrooms around the world. Often they embark on time consuming journeys to identify potential deep learning opportunities and project partners. And, it is sometimes difficult for educators who design projects to find active participants. The Great Global Project Challenge is an initiative designed to collate projects and connect interested collaborators.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) recently revised its standards for students. ISTE calls for students to become empowered learners, digital citizens, knowledge constructors, innovative designers, computational thinkers, creative communicators, and most notably, global collaborators. The Great Global Project Challenge will help educators provide authentic learning opportunities for students to meet these standards.

Between now and December 1, 2016, global educators will design collaborative projects in which other students and teachers may participate during the course of the 2016-2017 school year. The objective is to create and present as many globally connective projects for students and educators as possible. Let’s see how many teachers and students we can engage in globally connected learning opportunities during the course of the next year!

Any teacher, school, nonprofit, or company can participate in this challenge and have their project listed on the Global Collaboration Day website. There will be a grant available to educators from non-profit accredited Pre-K-12 schools, thanks to sponsors VIF International Education and the Partnership for 21st Century Learning.

The Great Global Project Challenge Grant

Grants of $1,500 (US dollars) will be issued to the the top ten projects that are designed and successfully implemented between now and April 1, 2017. The project design teams for grant-eligible projects must be made up solely of educators employed by non-profit accredited schools and can come from any country.  If projects are to be conducted in a language other than English, proposals must be submitted twice. One submission needs to be in the home language; a duplicate needs to be in English. Grant details are available here: http://www.globalcollaborationday.org/the-great-global-project-challenge-grant.html

These grants must be used for professional development, classroom equipment, or other resources that will facilitate future globally connected project-based learning. Recipients will be required to submit a plan for use of the grant monies and will be required to present at the online 2017 Global Education Conference.

A committee comprised of leading global educators and organizations will serve on the evaluation team for the Great Global Project Challenge Grant. This group will design an evaluation rubric for scoring these projects.

Curious about global project? Let me know! I’d love to work with you!

Thank you for the great pictures for Facebook, Twitter, and the website! Please keep them coming! And, if you are tweeting in your classroom, the addition of the Park Rapids hashtag, #ParkRapidsISD will help bring additional viewers to your tweets. Please include us! Thank you!

My Upcoming Schedule:

• Monday, Oct 10: Park Rapids, 7:30AM – 5:30PM
• Tuesday, Oct 11: Park Rapids, 7:30AM – 2:30PM/Nevis, 3:00 – 4:30PM
• Wednesday, Oct 12: Park Rapids, 7:30AM – 6:00PM
• Thursday, Oct 13: Park Rapids, 7:30AM – 12:30PM

Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com) or my Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) .

Scheduled Classes:

There is a two-hour technology class scheduled Monday in Park Rapids from 3:30 – 5:30 in the Century Elementary computer lab on the Seesaw digital portfolio tool. Here’s the full description:

Monday, Oct 10 3:30 – 5:30 PM

Seesaw Student Portfolios Seesaw allows students and teachers to easily post items into a student portfolio, which can also be shared with families. Children as young as preschool can learn how to scan a QR code to add an image or document, and teachers have full control of everything posted. Seesaw is a powerful tool, yet is easy to use…and free!

I realize it is a busy time with conferences this week. Please let me know if you are planning to attend. If no one is we will reschedule this one. It’s an awesome program!

Google Tip:

Want to share an article with your students, but aren’t happy with all of the advertising around the edges? This is where the Google Chrome browser can really come in handy. Head to the GoogleChrome Web Store and install the extension called Readability. Then when you are viewing a page from the Internet that has advertising or images around it, click the Readability image (which looks like a little chair)  and save the page. You can then print it as a PDF or open it in a book app (like Kindle or Nook). This creates a great class handout or addition to Google Classroom!

Links:

Need to pick a random student? Use the random name picker at classtools.net. Easy set up, save, and use! www.classtools.net/main_area/fruit_machine.swf (doesn’t work on an iPad)

Greg Tang Math: www.gregtangmath.com is a wonderful resource for engaging math professional development, math center resources, word problem work, and games.

Flippity.net

Instructions

1. Go tonet
2. Follow the on-screen instructions and prompts to:
   Make a copy of the provided Google Spreadsheet.
   b. Enter your questions and answers.
3. Publish the spreadsheet and copy the URL
4. Return to flippity.net
   e. Paste the URL you copied in step 3.
   f. Click the “Go” button.
5. Use the icon in the lower right corner to flip and advance the flash cards
6. Click the “Share” button to get the URL and/or a QR code for your published flippity cards.

Classroom ideas:

• Could be used for any content area!
• If the “questions” are links to online images, the images will show on the flash cards!
• Students could submit questions and answers via a Google form and they could be compiled into a classroom set of flashcards.

A new webpage? Why? Our website hosting company, Blackboard, acquired a company called Schoolwires. While Blackboard has been focused more on delivering content, the focus of Schoolwires has always been on creating good-looking school webpages. Blackboard has decided that over the course of the next year all of their schools will migrate over to the Schoolwires format. Park Rapids opted to begin that process at the end of July, so all of the content in our current page has been copied and reformatted over the last several weeks.

Websites of all types have been moving to a format that is much more interactive, including utilizing a multitude of images, headlines, calendar events, surveys, and feeds from social networks, rather than websites that just store content in a more static, unchanging way.

Consequently, our Schoolwires website affords us huge opportunities to engage and interact with our community. I am excited to share it with you and see what we can do with it!

Initially you will be required to log into the site, update your contact information, add any other information you’d like, and add your schedule. If you’re interested, you can add photo slideshows, Twitter feeds, video players, links, additional pages, and more!

I am meeting with many of you this week, with a goal of meeting with EVERYONE by Oct 13, as our new website will be announced to the public on Monday, Oct 17^th!

My Upcoming Schedule:

I will be in Park Rapids Schools Tuesday – Friday, Oct 3-7. Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com) or my Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) . This week I am really focusing on completing the update of the school web page, as well as beginning to train teachers and staff to use it. I am so excited to share it with you!! I think you will find it easy to work with!

Scheduled Classes:

There is a two-hour technology class scheduled Tuesday in Park Rapids from 3:30 – 5:30 in the Century Elementary computer lab. We will be looking at a variety of ways that technology tools can assist you in managing student behaviors, as well as tools that you can use to deliver your instruction through technology that keeps their focus. Here’s the full description:

Using Technology to Improve Classroom Behavior

Managing a 21st Century Classroom can be a tall order. Find out ways of Improving your overall classroom behaviors by using technology to increase the frequency and consistency of positive feedback, manage behavior interventions, and keep easier records for goal setting.

Google Tip:

Using Google Chrome for the first time this year? Here are Alice Keeler’s 6 Tips for taking advantage of all that Classroom can do. For more from Alice, see: http://www.alicekeeler.com/ (My go-to for Google answers!)

1. All directions in Google Classroom – Type directions into the description. Stop giving directions/stop repeating yourself. More time to work with kids! Bonus: special ed staff have all specific directions, documents and due dates.
2. Go paperless – Create an assignment, students open it and add their work.
3. Use collaborative Slides – Create one slide and share. Each student adds an additional slide.
4. Use collaborative Sheets – Students input information into cells, or each add a tab.
5. Use Google text Docs – Give students feedback before the assignment is due to increase the quality of work handed in.
6. Use Google Classroom for everything – Push documents out and collect student work. Classroom is your workflow homebase. Every comment, edit, and feedback is recorded and dated (and no more clogged email boxes!)

Educreations: Draft Syncing!!

The biggest thing since sliced bread has come to Educreations – and I am excited about it! When sharing iPads and using Educreations, the most frustrating has been the fact that you really need to complete the Educreations project in one sitting, because it was not possible to save a draft. Recently, Educreations at least allowed draft saving – but only as long as the user went back to the same iPad. Finally it has arrived!! Now your students can begin creating an Educreations project on one iPad, and finish that project on any other iPad – as long as they log into their account. Draft syncing makes it possible – and now it is finally realistic for students to use Educreations for multiple projects. There is no more worrying about other students accidentally deleting their drafts. This is a huge update! If you haven’t tried Educreations let me know, and let’s use it in your curriculum soon! I am happy to be there to help support you and your students.

What is ck-12.org?

Are you looking for additional practice for your students? Are you searching for games and simulations that will help make your curricular content more clear? Trying to locate material that will challenge your gifted learners? Look no further than ck12! Originally built for high school, ck12 now includes content for K-12 in math, and includes the sciences (earth science, life science, physical science, biology, chemistry & physics), English (writing & spelling), and includes engineering, technology, astronomy, history and health.

As a teacher you can add your students to ck12 and follow their progress as they work their way through lessons and simulations, and are tested through practice activities. Ck12 offers skill builders, extra credit activities, and ways to differentiate for your students. Ck12 is totally free, the activities work on all devices, and all activities can be integrated into Google Classroom. http://ck12.org/

Links:

The coolest thing I’ve seen lately? Google Expeditions. Learn more here:  https://www.google.com/edu/expeditions/ You’ll need to download the app – and then you “guide” the class on a virtual field trip. Try it out with a friend…and then with your entire class. It is amazing!! I’d love to help you lead your class on a virtual adventure!

 

 

 

Feeling stressed? This first month of school can be exhausting! Managing the high-level energy of students all day, on top of managing new curriculum, new routines, busy families…it can totally stress a teacher out! Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher (and education leader), shares these ten tips for managing stress in teachers. You can read the full version here: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/manage-teaching-stress/ but I’ll give you the short version, in case you don’t have time!

Ten Stress-Busting Secrets of Great Teachers by Vicki Davis, Cool Cat Teacher

1. Acceptance (Quit worrying!)
2. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones
3. Keep a joy journal – look for joy in your day!
4. Make time to sleep
5. Drink enough water
6. Exercise outside
7. Make time for faith – meditation, deep breathing, aromatherapy, prayer (your choice!)
8. Develop deep relationships
9. Touch! Hugging, kissing, massages…touch is a proven way to reduce stress!
10. Unplug and recharge – turn off devices an hour before bed, charge your phone outside your bedroom

My Upcoming Schedule:

I will be in Park Rapids Schools Monday – Friday, Sept 26-30. Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com) or my Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) . My schedule is quite flexible, and I am spending a lot of time working in an office on the school webpage when not meeting with teachers.

Scheduled Classes:

There is a two-hour technology class scheduled for Wednesday, Sept 28 from 3:30-5:30pm in the Century Elementary Computer Lab. There will be a sign-in sheet for CEUs. If you are unable to attend the entire two hours, feel free to stay for as long as you can.

Thursday, September 28 at Century School, Park Rapids: Questions & Work Time

Please see the next page for the complete list of classes being held in Park Rapids this fall.

Questions & Work Time

Trying out Google Classroom and need some questions answered? Can’t remember what you learned last summer in a tech class? Need some time to set up some classroom technology? This class is for you! There will not be a formal presentation, but instead Laurie will be there to answer questions and provide assistance. Please bring your questions or materials to make this a valuable hands-on work time. Need suggestions, or want to talk something over ahead of time? Give me a call!

Google Tip: Printing multiple Google Doc files

One of the biggest questions I’ve heard over the past week has to do with printing student documents. In most cases the teachers has said something like this: “I want to print them so I can grade them, but the students don’t really need to print. They can submit the assignment through Google Classroom. But do I have to open every document in order to print them all? That will take forever!!”

Here is a great solution! Go into your Google Drive and find the folder containing all the documents you want to print (probably one full assignment). Select them all and then click on the three stacked dots, and select “download” from the bottom of that menu.

The files will all be zipped into a new folder, which will be downloaded to your desktop. From there, select all of the files, right-click, and choose print. Your documents will flash by quickly as they are each printed.

In addition, there is an add-on that makes this process even smoother. The details are here: http://alicekeeler.com/2015/08/16/pdf-my-google-drive-folder/ Please contact me if you’d like me to join you the first time through. I am happy to!

PD in your Pajamas?

The Internet has made it easy to attend professional development sessions any time of the day! Last week I mentioned the webinars produced by Seesaw, but if you’re looking for a broader range of opportunities, and particularly those focused on learning or utilizing a specific tool, look no further than Simple K12. Here is a current listing of their most recent free webinars – which you can attend live or watch on your own time: http://www.simplek12.com/

What is EdPuzzle?

Are you an EdPuzzle user? If you haven’t tried it yet, this is one great tool you will want to take a look at! EdPuzzle takes your Youtube video and allows you to crop the beginning/end, add questions, narration, or quizzes, and keep track of your students’ progress viewing the video. Even if you only use it to crop and share videos through Google Classroom (or for yourself) it is an awesome app!

Please note that EdPuzzle recently launched a Google Chrome extension – so with the click of a button you can save a video into EdPuzzle! Send any video straight from Youtube to EDpuzzle, in just one click. Then edit it and make it your own vide-lesson 🙂 Download EDpuzzle’s Youtube Extension for Google Chrome and check it out!

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/edpuzzle-make-any-video-y/oligonmocnihangdjlloenpndnniikol?hl=en

Links:

Yes, the election is looming, and it seems like this year, more than ever, unbiased information on the candidates is getting harder to find. For a great resource on the election turn to Teaching Tolerance. Their election coverage will help you focus your students attention on the real issues of the election. Check it out here: http://www.tolerance.org/election2016 Their print journal is available free for educators as well. You can view it in full on their website, or subscribe here: http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/subscribe

 

 

Whew! Two weeks down! I hope things have gone exceptionally well for you, and that you and your students are settling into your school routine.

This year I will once again be available to help with integrating technology into your classrooms. This can take the shape of meeting with you/your team before, during or after school – to plan, review or learn, or it could be co-teaching, team teaching, or providing support for you. Please contact me to find ways to utilize technology in your teaching, locate & organize new tools & resources, and to find 21^st century solutions to classroom problems.

Although people often see my focus as being on technology, I would really like to stress that it is not the technology, but the learning objective that I see as the highest priority. Technology should help you teach, save you time, and help your students better understand the goals and objectives of your lessons. Technology should make your life easier – not harder! My goal is to manage that with you.

My Upcoming Schedule:

I will be in Park Rapids Schools Monday – Wednesday, Sept 19-21, and I will be in Nevis on Thursday, Sept 20 from 1 – 5:30. Please feel free to contact me at any time via my cell phone (320-241-6150), my home email (lconzemius@gmail.com), Park Rapids email (lconzemius@parkrapids.k12.mn.us) or Nevis email (lconzemius@nevis308.org).

Scheduled Classes:

Please see the next page for the complete list of classes being held in Park Rapids and Nevis Schools this fall. It is perfectly fine for teachers to attend a class at either district! In order to reserve a spot in the class, please send a quick email to lconzemius@gmail.com indicating your plan to attend. I am happy to hold every class regardless of the number of attendees, but if no one is coming I’d like to know that ahead of time and I will cancel the class. Thank you!!

The classes I am scheduling are two hours in length. There is no charge for any class. There will be a sign-in sheet for CEUs. If you are unable to attend the entire two hours, feel free to stay for as long as you can.

Thursday, September 22 at Nevis School: Questions & Work Time

Thursday, September 28 at Century School, Park Rapids: Questions & Work Time

Questions & Work Time

Trying out Google Classroom and need some questions answered? Can’t remember what you learned last summer in a tech class? Need some time to set up some classroom technology? This class is for you! There will not be a formal presentation, but instead Laurie will be there to answer questions and provide assistance.

Google Tip:

Using Google Classroom? To save yourself headaches in the long run, one thing you’ll want to do is to create simple and consistent naming conventions for every assignment you add. Consider including the semester or school year to keep things organized. Example: #021 Unit 1 Quiz  (To have them display in alphabetical order, number them 001, 002, 003…) It’s not too late to begin this practice if you haven’t already done so, and you’ll be so happy you did when you go to locate your materials!

What is SAMR?

SAMR is a framework through which you can assess and evaluate the technology you use in your class.

Substitution
In a substitution level, students are using new technology tools to replace old ones. An example would be using Google Docs to replace handwriting. The task (writing) is the same but the tools are different.

Augmentation
Though it is a different level, we are still substituting but with added functionalities. Again using the example of Google docs, instead of only writing a document and having to manually save it and share it with others, Google Docs provides extra services like text-to-speech and auto saving.

Modification
This is the level where technology is being used more effectively not to do the same task using different tools but to redesign new parts of the task and transform student learning. An example of this is using the commenting service in Google Docs, for instance, to collaborate and share feedback on a given task.

Redefinition
If you are to place this level in Blooms revised taxonomy pyramid, it would probably correspond to synthesis and evaluation as being the highest order thinking skills.  Students would convey analytic thought and incorporate multimedia tools.

Here it is explained in a quick two-minute video: goo.gl/wZQCHq

Curricular or Calendar Links:

The Teacher’s Corner is a great resource for monthly activities. Check it out here: https://www.theteacherscorner.net/calendars/september.php

You might also want to check them out for daily writing prompts, pen pal activities, seasonal bulletin board ideas and much more. https://www.theteacherscorner.net/