JEFFCO ED TECH

How Jeffco Public Schools Got its Tech on

1/30/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
After the success of last year's inaugural Get Your Tech On event, 600 Jeffco educators joined our Ed Tech department on January 8th, at Green Mountain High School, to get their tech on this year! This annual day of learning put technology to transform learning and Jeffco Generations Skills at center stage. Educators across the district shared how technology can support our call to transform the task and learning experience for all students. Educators engaged in tasks that used technology to  increase student collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking across all grade levels and subjects. The learning these 600 teachers received has the power to impact approximately 32,000 Jeffco students! 

"I love having the time to talk with teachers from other schools about what they are doing at their schools as far as technology. ​"

I can’t wait to attend “Get Your Tech On” tomorrow at Green Mountain High school. #JeffcoTechON I’ve planned out my four blocks to help support transforming the task.

— Kristi Uhrich (@KristiUhrich) January 8, 2019

Learning is our Super Power 

Swanson teachers getting pumped up for their personalized learning presentation. Go get 'em COLTS!#JeffcoTechOn #risktakers#jeffcogenerations pic.twitter.com/LW1Zj5gLRw

— Swanson Colts (@ColtsSwanson) January 8, 2019
The spirit of Get Your Tech On is professional learning for teachers, by teachers.
​72 different sessions were facilitated by Jeffco educators, showcasing how 21st century skills can transform the learning experience for all students. This year, we saw sessions begin to switch their focus from tool-driven to pedagogy-focused. Sessions on blended learning, technology and curricular connections, project-based learning (PBL), assessment and feedback, and making student thinking visible were choices that all centered around transforming the student task. 

WOW! @MrChurch has brought an impressive array of tools (& fruits) to help @JeffcoSchoolsCo educators learn about #CS4All in the classroom. He even gave free @MergeVR cubes to his attendees so they can begin tomorrow w/ #students! #JeffcoTechON #JeffcoGenerations @CarmodyMiddle pic.twitter.com/N3dASAJvFq

— Jeffco Ed Tech (@jeffcoedtech) January 8, 2019
​"My highlight was gaining new tools to use to increase motivation in my classroom and creative apps that I can teach my students to increase their understanding of technology."
This year, one of the biggest session trends focused on computer science. Educators were eager to share how 3D printing, robotics, and coding are creating new opportunities for their students. We expect that this trend will continue as more schools consider how to create space in their schedules to bring computer science to all Jeffco students. 

​The presenters have graciously linked their materials to the GYTO Schedule, so if you couldn’t make it, you can still access the learning. If you did make it, you can access and show other teachers or seek out new learning for yourself!​​

Are you #boldschool?

Weston Kieschnick, author of Bold School: Old-School Wisdom + New-School Technologies = Blended Learning That Works, joined us as this year's keynote speaker.  His Bold School message connected directly with Jeffco Generations and reminded all of us "that technology is great, but teaching is better," and that our charge, as educators, is to keep learning the main thing in our lesson design and instruction. Weston shared the Bold School Framework to use in lesson design that puts goals and strategies ahead of tools and devices. This was a great reminder as eager educators headed off to sessions to learn about new tools and pedagogies that would have an impact on teaching and learning.

After lunch, Weston kicked off the second portion of the day with group session on cultivating grit, problem solving and productive struggle. In this interactive experience, we persevered through rigorous learning scenarios, and we discussed how these types of experiences can provide our students with joy, purpose and a belief that they can be successful in challenging situations. 
Ten lucky participants who attended either the morning or afternoon keynote sessions, received a free, signed copy of Weston's book, Bold School. ​​

Don’t let the excitement of new tech lead to bad decision making. Design with intention. Don’t ask ‘what am I going to do with (inserttechtoolhere)?#boldschool#jeffcoedtech #jeffcotechon pic.twitter.com/YtQb13wrSJ

— loriguyll (@LoriAGuyll) January 8, 2019
"I really enjoyed the keynote speaker. I was able to bring back some things I learned during the reading segment and immediately implement them in my classroom."

This is going in my lesson plans this week! In both ELA and Science! @Wes_Kieschnick #jeffcotechon pic.twitter.com/RypyRrepOW

— Brittany Reed (@ReedAbroad13) January 8, 2019

So Now What?

​"I am truly inspired to be back in my classroom!"

I learned so much from this training! @jeffcoedtech #JeffcoTechOn #thankyou #neverstoplearning @Wes_Kieschnick #learning #evenfunnierinperson #LeadLoveLearn pic.twitter.com/ZntqLSUUku

— TeachingwithMsG (@teachingwithmsg) January 9, 2019
Get Your Tech On is a day of inspiration that carries forward into our schools and classrooms  in order to support student success.
So now that the day is over, what is your next step?
  • Have you transformed a learning experience with technology which other teachers could benefit from your amazing thinking? Share your brilliance through the Bridge to Curriculum Sharing Project. 
  • And don’t forget to share your idea with @JeffcoEdTech and others on Twitter, using #JeffcoTechOn.​​
  • Share the learning and resources with a colleague, teammate, or friend who couldn't attend. Just think of the students who could be impacted through the power of peer support!
  • Consider partnering with your Digital Teacher Librarian or Ed Tech Specialist to co-plan, answer lingering questions, or take the next step. 
  • Add Jeffco Ed Tech to you professional learning network. Connect with us in the way you'd like:
    • Read our weekly Blog
    • Bookmark our Website
    • Follow us on Twitter
    • Subscribe to our YouTube channel

ThankS and Appreciation

This professional learning opportunity couldn't take place without our amazing partnerships. 
Thanks and appreciation to:
  • Green Mountain High School
  • GMHS student volunteers
  • Jeffco ECTS department for technical support
  • Teacher leader presenters
Picture
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Google Goodness: January (2.0)

1/23/2019

0 Comments

 

​GOOGLE FORMS: LOCK-DOWN MODE 

Need help with Google Forms?
​Visit the Google Forms Learning Center
Jeffco has entered the beta program for the new lock-down feature in Google Forms! Locked mode prevents students from navigating away from the quiz in their Chrome browser until they submit their answers. 

To enable locked-quiz mode, click the settings wheel at the top of your opened Google Form. Select the Quizzes tab, make the form a quiz, and then check the box to turn on locked mode. ​

GOOGLE CLASSROOM: CREATE A QUIZ IN CLASSROOM

Picture
You can now create a quiz assignment directly in Google Classroom. With a quiz assignment you can lock a quiz, import grades, see student answers and return grades. To add a quiz assignment, click your Classwork tab, click the "+ Create" button, and click "Quiz Assignment." As with all assignments in Classroom, you can decide when the assignment will be posted, make edits, reuse the quiz in another class, and add class comments. 
  • ​Classroom Help: Create a Quiz Assignment​

0 Comments

Automastery: A blog by Educator, Andrew Gitner

1/22/2019

1 Comment

 
Picture
It is a familiar and understandable experience for teachers to groan at professional development. There are so many memes about it that finding samples for this blog post was one of the simpler Google searches of a lifetime. Here’s a few:
Picture
Picture

Thoughtful Instruction 

We are familiar with the buzzwords about transforming the task, and there are real merits to those. However, if every task in every class was transformed, students would be too exhausted to learn anything.   Sometimes there is a real benefit to something that is worked for years: a true formative quiz that leads to differentiated instruction. This is not a pursuit of the new and shiny. I’m not advocating silver bullets. We’re educating children, not killing werewolves. I want to introduce one Google Forms add-on that does the heavy lifting of differentiating instruction for teachers.

Just to establish some credentials, I learned more last year than I ever have about transforming the task through technology. I read Bold School, 50 Things You Can Do With Google Classroom, 50 Ways to Go Further With Google Classroom, The Google Infused Classroom, The Hyperdoc Handbook, listened to The Google Teacher Tribe, attended last year’s Google Summit, went to every (paid) professional development the Jeffco EdTech team offered last year and had 4 classes of willing sophomores each semester to experiment with. Inspired by a fellow teacher, I wrote a few grants, got my own cart, and I’ve tried a lot of the things. I’ve learned with mostly 10th-grade students, who ranged in abilities from Pre-AP classes to a higher-needs special education co-taught class. I’m not going to pretend they’re all successful.   And my students were pretty familiar with telling me something was broken and having to fix it with a roomful of 15-year-olds staring at me. I’m not trying to brag, but I’ve learned to find what’s useful instead of what’s shiny.

Read More
1 Comment

Google Goodness: January 2019

1/18/2019

0 Comments

 

Google Classroom: Grade book Beta Program

Shortly after winter break, Jeffco received access to the Google Classroom Grade Book beta program. You will now see a Grade tab at the top of Google Classroom. In the Grade tab, teachers can:
  • See all grades for a class in one place
  • Add and update grades for classwork created in Classroom
  • Create grading categories and set weighted percentages or default points for each
  • View an overall grade (including averages) for students based on all work for a class 
In the beta program, you can still export student grades to a spreadsheet; however, you cannot find this feature under the Grade tab. You will still need to use the old workflow by clicking on an individual assignment, clicking the settings wheel, and then clicking on the export method of your choice (Sheets file or CSV). 
​
*Google Classroom Grade Book beta does not integrate with Campus. 
​

Google Classroom: Organize Assignments 

This past year, Google Classroom keeps improving options for organizing assignments! Earlier this past year, they released the ability for you to organize and group assignments by topic or subject. Now they have increased that functionality and have added the ability to drag and drop assignments into different topics or rearrange the sequence of assignments within the same topic. 

Google Classroom: Organize Your Topics 

G Suite: Activity Dashboard

Picture
Many of you probably know that you can use Google's Revision History feature to see who has modified or edited one of your Google files. You can also use Revision History to restore an old version of a file.  However, Google has released the Activity Dashboard feature that allows users to see who has last viewed a file. At the top of your file, click the Activity Dashboard icon (zig-zag arrow in the top, right-hand corner). You can also access the Activity Dashboard by clicking the Tools menu at the top of your document. The Activity Dashboard allows the user to see the most recent date and time that collaborators viewed the document, in addition to being able to check viewer trends over time.  Users can turn off this feature by individual documents, or on all documents, at any time within the Activity Dashboard settings.

Tip of the Month:
​Google Search Tricks for the Classroom

0 Comments

Learning with Digital Annotations

1/11/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Digital annotations are not new to the realms of technology and education. Digital annotation tools continue to be available and ever changing. The power of digital annotations rests with the user and their abilities to capture their thinking, as well as, share it with others. In K-12 classrooms, digital annotations can be a great tool that empowers learners to begin capturing their thoughts and ideas leading to artifacts of learning which demonstrate understandings. Digital annotations can also be a great source for digital/e-portfolios allowing learners to reflect on their growth and development. 

Why use digital Annotations? 

Picture
Why should digital annotations be a part of every classroom and learning environment? Reading, writing, speaking, and listening are all fundamental components of learning which lead to critical thinking and digital annotations have the ability to cover all four areas. Digital annotations empower us as learners to engage with text, capture our thoughts, share with others, and gain insights from others thinking. Writing is a great way to process our thinking and allows us to begin identifying the process to where our thinking is going. When we digitally annotate and begin to share those annotations in collaborative spaces, our annotations become the center of collaborative dialogue and learning in which we grow collectively. When we begin to learn about annotating for learning, collaborative spaces for sharing and engaging in digital discussion opens doors to understand annotation strategies and processes from other learners with more annotation experience. 

Getting started with Digital Annotations

Picture
Where and how to begin using digital annotation tools can be daunting and intimidating however, there are a few simple tools that can empower us as learners to get started on the journey. The comment feature in Google is one of the simplest ways to get started. The feature is available on Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Drawings and a few other tools in the G-Suite. It is even now available on any file housed in Google Drive. Comments can be added to PDF's, images, MS Word documents and more when stored in Google Drive. A simple highlight of targeted text or information allows a user to capture thinking and share thoughts collaboratively. 

Picture
If you're looking for a more robust tool with increased options, Kami is a great selection. Kami has paid versions with additional features however, the free version has plenty of options that are perfect for learners to get started annotating digitally. Highlighting, underlining, and strikethroughs (in a variety of colors) are all available at no charge. Additional features include adding text, comments, and drawing shapes. Under a 14-day free trial when you begin your account you'll have access to drawing, text to speech and a few other advanced options to try them out. Collaborative annotations with Kami are a breeze and users can save their annotated files in Google Drive if need be. It also works well with Google Classroom. ​

Picture
Digital annotations can occur on web-based material as well. Hypothes.is is a great option to consider for annotating web sites. Hypothes.is is entirely free to all users for all features. The tool was originally created for medical professionals who were collaborating around medical journal readings to increase learning and growth. Hypothes.is requires a login which is fairly simple and free to set up. Users can highlight information on websites and even add annotations (notes) which appear in a side bar. Annotations can be public, private, or in collaborative groups. Tagging annotations is offered as an advanced feature at no charge as well for users to quickly access collaborative discussions or topics. Annotations appear to users when visiting websites while the Hypothes.is extension is enabled. ​

Digital annotations can be highly beneficial to us as educators along with our students. Collaboration is now easier than ever with access to new technologies and the tools shared above work just as well for adults as they do for kids. Curating and sharing resources saves us all time and energy and digital annotations can be a quick way for us to collaborate across schools, districts, states, and more. How are you thinking about using digital annotations whether for your professional practice or during instruction with students? We'd love to hear your thoughts using the comment section of this post and look forward to learning more about how you are transforming tasks through digital annotations. 
0 Comments
    Picture

    Connect:

    Ed Tech Website

    Categories

    All
    Blended Learning
    Chromebooks
    Classroom Spotlight
    Computational Thinker
    Creative Communicator
    Digital Citizen
    Digital Teacher Librarian
    Digital Tools
    Empowered Learner
    Global Collaborator
    Google
    Innovative Designer
    Knowledge Constructor
    News & Events
    Professional Resources
    Schoology
    YouTube

    Tweets by @jeffcoedtech

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly