Instructional Technology Newsletter September 2017

Welcome back teachers

With the start of the new school year there are always new ideas for implementing instruction and certainly new ways of supporting those ideas with technology. As the new instructional technology coordinator I am a resource to help you integrate meaningful technology into your instruction! Please don't hesitate to reach out cgorniok@pdsd.org.

  • Whether you are just getting started or want to to try the latest thing. I can meet with teachers individually, as a PLC, grade group, or dept to support your instructional needs.
  • Gain confidence in using new tech by getting support in the classroom when trying something new.
  • Get assistance developing new ideas for incorporating technology when designing lessons.

Looking for ideas, resources, additional support or training?

Visit the Instructional Technology Webpage by clicking the button below.

Share your tech tricks, tips, apps & activities!

As a community of professional educators please share some of the wonderful things you are trying out with technology. By sharing effective use of technology we can inspire and support each other and create tremendous learning opportunities and outcomes for our students. If you have something that works well and you like to share it email cgorniok@pdsd.org. I'd love to include some of the great things you are doing in the next newsletter.

What's new in google Classroom?

Stay current and check out some of the new features Google Classroom has to offer!

Try screencasting with Screencastify

Screencastify is a wonderful free Chrome extension with tremendous opportunities for both students and teachers. Teachers can record their computer screen to demonstrate a skill or activity they narrate. They can also record themselves directly through the webcam. All videos can be embedded in a website, placed in Google classroom for instruction/assignments, or shared in various other ways. This is a great tool for flipped classroom, blended learning activities, or creating video messages to parents or students. Students can use this tool to reflect on learning or to demonstrate knowledge or skill. All the recordings save directly into Google Drive. The lite version is free and allows for 10 minutes of recording per screen cast. The Pro Plan even allows for editing of your videos right in Google Drive for a modest cost.

Zip Grade!

Make manual grading of benchmarks or other bubbled responses a thing of the past. ZipGrade turns your phone or tablet into a grading machine similar to a Scantron. It reads free-to-download answer sheets in multiple sizes. By scanning response sheets you can get instant feedback to students as soon as they finish. The free download includes 100 scans. The full version is $1.99 for 2 months or $6.99 for 1 year. ZipGrade is available for iOS and Android.

Quizziz: Fun And Formative

If you like Kahoot you will probably love Quizizz, a free formative assessment tool that allows you to conduct assessments both in class and as homework. Unlike Kahoot Quizziz allows students to work at their own pace and it works on all devices! Quizizz uses fun elements like memes, avatars and gamification to get your students excited about learning! Create amazing quizzes in minutes by combining questions from an extensive library, or create you own. Analyze your students’ performance using detailed reports. View them online or download them as spreadsheets.

Looking for just the right fun formative assessment? Click the link below to see a comparison of the top formative assessment apps.

http://ditchthattextbook.com/2016/04/21/game-show-classroom-comparing-kahoot-quizizz-quizlet-live-and-quizalize/

Interested in becoming a Google certified educator?

Click the link https://edutrainingcenter.withgoogle.com/certification to get started. This is an excellent way to stand out as an educator and get in depth knowledge of the Google software and ideas for implementation at your own pace. In addition to free online training provided by Google, contact Mr. Gorniok for any additional support to get ready to pass the exam.

If you have questions, would like more information or support please email

Cgorniok@pdsd.org or call x8318

Follow me on Twitter

@CGorniokEdTech

I wish you all a wonderful start to your school year!

Credits:

Created with images by blickpixel - "board electronics computer" • cambodia4kidsorg - "twitter"

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