Did you know that Hour of Code was originally started to align with promoting Computer Science Education Week (December 9th-15th) and help teachers across the world realize that their students can  learn to code?​ Computing is a fundamental part of daily life and just about every occupation. Computer Science Education Week is an annual program designed to inspire students to take an interest in computer science. Over 100,000 CSEdWeek/Hour of Code events are scheduled to take place around the world. Over 800 million students have participated in Hour of Code in over 180 countries! Computer Science Education Week is held annually to commemorate the birthday of computing pioneer Grace Hopper. No matter what grade level you teach, every student can participate in Hour of Code and learn the basic principles of computer science that apply to all programming languages.

To ensure the day is successful for your students, you'll want to prepare some things in advance. Here's a checklist:

• Review the Hour of Code educator guide.
• Register your event with Hour of Code. Every school that registers gets recognition and registering allows Code.org to measure impact.  
• Select 2-3 activities/tutorials from https://hourofcode.com/us/learn or let students choose.  You can search by grade level, content area, or robot!
• Tailor any of Code.org’s lessons or activities to meet the needs of your class.
• Don't forget about completion certificates for students.

Computer science education incorporates computational thinking and logic, while promoting creativity, and helping teach students perseverance. Check out this article from Code.org to talk to your students about Computer Science for Good in Your Classroom.

​Keep the learning going after Computer Science Education Week! Pave the way for your students to use #CSforGood!

At Governor’s Ranch Elementary, the Digital Teacher Librarian, Rachel McKenzie has been using WeVideo with several groups of students.  Recently, Ms. McKenzie had her 2nd grade WIN group use WeVideo to explain their understanding of severe weather.

They started with hurricane research, coming up with some guiding questions together about what they would need to know to do a weather broadcast (wind speed, common locations, etc) and then she had the kids look through library books and resources she sent them in Google Classroom to research. They organized with thinking maps.  ​They used the research to build their script for the video, trying  to put realistic facts into the video that were inspired by their research. They watched weather forecasts on YouTube so that they could try and use similar vernacular, such as "back to you in the studio!"

After filming, students were able to collaborate on the video and decide what they wanted their post production video to look like. Ms. McKenzie, with student input, edited the video, added transitions and captions and then had the students give their critiques.  Once the students chimed in, the video was completed.  Finally, the group showed it to their classmates and community so they could see their learning.  This lesson was a great way to show how WeVideo can be used to help synthesize learning and allow students to show their understanding through their own creations.  The students stated that they loved having choice in their project.  They got to decide what to research and how to create the video.  They said it was fun, engaging, and even though it was a lot of work, they really learned a great deal.  One student said that it was really cool to come to WIN and ​they were so excited to share with friends and family.

Google has developed an email subscription to a series of bite-sized videos that support educators in learning how to use the G Suite for Education. For those that subscribe, you will receive 8 weeks of short videos, delivered to your inbox. These video-based tutorials cover Drive, Docs, Classroom, Forms, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and Gmail and should take less than 15 minutes to complete each week. To sign up for these videos, please visit the Google Teacher Center.

Would you like access to bite-sized videos without having to sign up for the 8-week email subscription? Three times a month, the Google for Education YouTube Channel publishes a 90-second video to their Edu in 90 playlist. If you choose to subscribe to the playlist, you will get an email notification when a new video is created. Each episode will focus on an important topic for educators, administrators, and school leaders - things like product updates, new programs, and helpful resources for the classroom.

Last year, Classic Hangouts broke apart into two new products: Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet. Hangouts Meet is a video conferencing tool that allows participants to create virtual meeting spaces. Although Hangouts Meet is not available for Jeffco students, it is available for all Jeffco staff. This product has had a few changes over the past month that might support your work! 

1. You can now invite up to 150 people to participate in your Hangout Meet! These participants will all have screen sharing and speaking capabilities. 
2. Hangouts Meet now supports a closed-captioning feature. This is excellent for those needing additional hearing support or for those that need to  listen into a meeting with the sound turned off or down.

A few people have requested the ability to remove the Read and Write extensions from their pinned app bar at the bottom of Chromebooks. We have removed forced pinning of these extensions, but you will need to physically remove them from your app launcher. To un-pin, right-click in the tab and select "Unpin tab." There is no keyboard shortcut for pinning or unpinning a tab.

Generally speaking, Chrome Apps are bookmarked websites. Drive, Docs, Sheets, Forms, Slides, Hangouts etc. are all native G Suite Chrome apps. These apps can be found by clicking on the app icon (the "waffle") in the top of your chrome browser. You can also install third-party Chrome apps from the Chrome Webstore; however, fewer companies are continuing to manage and develop Chrome apps, as many people just choose to bookmark the website for easy access. 

Pro Tip: When bookmarking a website, delete the words to create a simple favicon. This allows you to add many more bookmarks to the top of your browser. 

Google add-ons live within G Suite for Education Chrome apps: GMail, Docs, Sheets, Forms and Slides. Add-ons are often created by third-party developers, and they enhance how the app functions.  

• Add-ons in Sheets, Slides, and Docs can be found in the Add-on tab in the top menu. 
• Add-ons in Forms can be found in the 'More' (three dots) menu. 
• Add-ons in Gmail can be found in the 'settings' cogwheel. 

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Pear Deck, one of Jeffco's digital tools, is an Add-on that functions within Google Slides and is available for all staff and students. It allows for interactive slides that provide opportunities to formatively assess students while delivering direct instruction! 

Jeffco Ed Tech's G Suite Add-on Webpage

Extensions boost the functionality of your Chrome browser. They customize the experience you have while browsing the internet, and are often created by third-party companies. Extensions can, and should, be managed regularly to ensure your browser is functioning efficiently. If your browser is acting slow or inefficient, clean out the extensions you are no longer using on a regular basis. Also, consider only adding extensions that provide a strong value to your daily browsing experience. 

Read and Write for Google and EquatIO, two of Jeffco's digital tools, are extensions that alter how the Chrome browser works.

• Read and Write for Google has two extensions (Read & Write and PDF Reader) that are automatically installed for all staff and students on Chromebooks (they must be manually installed on a laptop).
• EquatIO has a single extension that must be manually installed from the Chrome Web Store by staff and students on both Chromebooks and laptops. *EquatIO is purchased for grades 6-12 in Jeffco. 

The Power Up Pear Deck extension can also be added to increase the functionality of Pear Deck Slides. This extension ensures that videos, animations, and GIFs embedded in your Pear Deck slides play at full resolution. 

Jeffco Ed Tech's Extensions Webpage

 Android Apps are new in Jeffco and are available on TechforEd 5th and 9th grade Chromebooks; they can be installed through the Google Play Store. Android Apps were built for mobile, touch-screen devices and are similar to iPad apps. ​Although many of the Android apps also exist on the web (or as Chrome apps) the functionality between both versions may be different. For example, the Google Classroom Android app contains an annotation feature not available on the Chrome App (web) version of Google Classroom.

All apps available in the Jeffco Android App store are free to download and have been vetted for student privacy and security. You may request Jeffco add additional Android Apps through the standard district-vetting process. 

There is currently an Android App for several Jeffco digital tools: Soundtrap, WeVideo, Schoology and many of the G Suite for Education tools. 

*Currently the Seesaw Android app does not function on student Chromebooks 

Jeffco Ed Tech Android Apps Webpage

All Chrome Apps, Extensions, Add-ons and Android Apps used in the classroom should be vetted for student privacy and security. You can find out which have been approved thus far by searching Jeffco's Digital Tools website! To request that additional tools be vetted and added to the site, please complete the district's vetting process. District tool vetting occurs twice a year, during summer and winter break. If you would like to submit tools for second semester, be sure to submit them for vetting by December 1st. 

Jeffco loves Seesaw! Teachers, students and parents across the district are using Seesaw as a digital workflow in their classrooms. What is app smashing and how can that improve the student experience when using Seesaw? 

The term “app smashing” was coined by former history teacher and current edtech guru, Greg Kulowiec.
Back in 2013, he defined app smashing as “the process of using multiple apps in conjunction with one another to complete a final task or project.”
These apps could range from the most basic, like the ones that come built-in on your iPad or Chromebook (think the camera app), to the latest and greatest edtech apps in formative assessment, video-editing and so on.
By using multiple apps, not only will you become an edtech legend, but you’ll also create wildly engaging lessons and projects for your students, sparking engagement and keeping your parents and admins happy and singing your

 Students and teachers can create in Google Draw and then upload the link to Seesaw to share with their peers and their parents.  You can also have students record a voice or caption. You can control the file type. Download as a JPEG and then upload into Seesaw.

There are multiple ways to add a file to Seesaw from the G-Suite tools. ​ The tools in the G-Suite smash well with Seesaw!

Flippity is an add-on, not an app. You need to open a  Google Sheet, click on "Add-Ons" and then  "Get Add-ons" and choose Flippity from the G-Suite Marketplace.  Fippity turns information from a Google Sheet into Flashcards. You can make interactive flashcards around vocabulary. 

You've heard the EdTech department talking about "digital tools" a lot this year. What exactly are those tools? How do you use them? What do they look like in the classroom? We know it can be confusing, so in this post, we will be de-mystifying the digital tools. Below are the core applications and add-ons purchased and maintained by Jeffco Public Schools for use by students and teachers! Each tool is outlined with a short description and helpful links for getting started or diving deeper with each application. If you dive in and something doesn't make sense or you want to know more, please contact your EdTech Specialist for more information!

Remember, your EdTech Specialist is here to support you! Contact yours with any questions or wonderings you are having about any of the above tools. 

Elementary schools: Keri Douglas, Kala Munguia, Amy Oelschlager
Middle Schools: Kali Devor
High Schools: Nick Steinmetz
Central Support: Amie Adams

Students in this class also use the recording/video features to share their thinking and learning. Emily finds student recordings the most exciting feature of Seesaw, “I like how I can tell what students are thinking one by one. I can watch their videos at a later time and make adjustments to instruction and developing groups.I do this on an almost daily basis to pull groups for phonics differentiated lessons.”  
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Within Seesaw, students also share videos and comment on one another’s work. Another feature that Emily has found helpful is the Seesaw Digital Citizenship printable posters. “I teach students how to give purposeful comments that are specific to work. They can give positive feedback or comments using the sentence starters I found on Seesaw.”​

This is not just an elementary/primary tool. Secondary classroom can use Seesaw too. Checkout this video to see the possibilities! Consider getting families connected to your class and print out invites for upcoming conferences by  watching this video. The Jeffco EdTech team has put together this text set to help you learn independently or feel free to reach out to your EdTech specialist for school-based learning or questions.  

​Check out other helpful videos on their full YouTube channel

Access the toolbar by clicking on the extension next to your Chrome address bar. 
​Use the PDF reader extension in a PDF.
​Use the R&W extension in the GSuite or on websites.
Because Jeffco students and staff have the premium version, all of the toolbar features are functional!

With "Jeffcoized" video tutorials and Tech Tips

Ed Tech is hosting a session on Read&Write for Google on 
​Tuesday October 8th from 4-5:30 pm at the Jeffco Ed Center 2A
OR
​Contact your Ed Tech Specialist

WeVideo is one of the core digital tools for staff and students in Jeffco this year. As a result, students and staff have access to a wide range of opportunities to engage in deeper learning activities that personalize and authenticate learning through film and multimedia. Getting started with WeVideo is fairly straight forward and there are plenty of resources such as the WeVideo MMTS to help you get started. (Click on the image below to open the MMTS and start exploring.) However, getting started with using film creation and WeVideo for authentic tasks can be a little more challenging. Here we hope to provide a few ideas and inspirations to help you get started. 

Capturing and creating videos as part of instruction can seem daunting at first however, it's doesn't need to be a complicated process. One approach is to begin with photo stories. Challenging students to capture or collect photos that tell a specific story and compiling those photos together with a narrative or background music allows us to practice compiling stories and using video editing tools. Photo stories can be about academic content such as a historical time period, scientific or mathematical processes, or about how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They can also be about personal things such as our daily journey to school or our family history. Everyone has different perspectives so our photo stories can be shared to deepen the learning and understandings.

One of the biggest challenges to using technology in classrooms is to ensure it is not a distraction from the larger goals of learning and content mastery. A great way to begin addressing these challenges is to empower students to lead their own learning. As students gain foundational understandings of content, they can be challenged with application of the content and creating products to share their learning and additional understandings. For example in mathematics, we often ask students to memorize key facts and processes but seldom challenge them with application and sharing of the learning. We can empower students to lead their learning by asking them to look for examples in their lives where they can apply the content they're learning and capture those applications to tell their stories. With this challenge, students gain deeper understandings of why content is needed and ways in which it fits into their worlds. Students can then share their creative stories of content application with each other, another class, or students at another school, which leads to deeper learning of the content. 

One of the essential skills across many content areas involves the ability to effectively conduct research and compile our findings so we can form argumentative or persuasive claims. As humans, we regularly find ourselves in situations where multiple views are represented and the need to understand and respond respectfully to others is a foundational aspect of any democracy. As students conduct research and capture evidence that supports their claims, they can put together short films with photos or video clips to support their stance. When sharing with each other, students have access to practice listening and summarizing skills that lead can lead to civic and global engagement or the continued development of communication skills necessary to succeed in settings beyond the classroom. 

Teachers are experts at creating links between outcomes and learning which drives us all to the continuous search for new ideas and strategies. Here are a few tips to consider as you begin to design learning opportunities involving film and multimedia: 

1. ​Keep it short. No one likes to watch lengthy films unless they are coming from Hollywood or experienced film makers. The most difficult films to make are often the shortest ones because getting content that tells a great story into small time frames is challenging. Limit the films to minutes at most to keep them interesting, anything over a few minutes is far too long and students won't want to watch them. A great place to start is 60 seconds or less and work up from there. 
2. Don't forget the planning. Great films aren't just put together on a whim, they often involve months if not years of planning and revising. Setting goals and involving planning processes such as outlining, drafting, storyboarding, and deadlines, are essential to creating films that will captivate an audience. Editing and revising are also essential components that need not be forgotten. It's critically important that students understand how planning and revising are components of all processes we engage in. 
3. Group work is easier.  It's rare to see people doing great things alone, there are often multiple people involved. Providing students opportunities to work in groups when creating films will make outcomes more attainable and lead to better products. Group work also provides opportunities to develop collaboration skills. Working with others is essential to success in any environment and students need practice. Getting captures worthy of being involved in a final film product takes time and work and it's much easier to have multiple people capturing different things. This provides options for choice and the more we have to choose from the better the final product will be. Lastly, sometimes there is a need for a camera person, a director, or an editor, and working in groups makes all of these roles easier to fill as students learn to collaborate together. 
4. Portions of the work needs to extend beyond the classroom. Capturing for film should always be done outside of a classroom. Students see their classrooms everyday so capturing them is certainly no novelty. Classroom time can be used for planning, revising, and compiling however, much of film work will take place beyond the wall or outside the school. This can be a replacement for homework but shouldn't be called homework. The term "homework" has many negative connotations so terms such as capturing or filming can be used instead. Students often love to use their phones (or their parents phones) outside of school and the purpose of capturing for films makes the use of their phones interesting and purposeful, as well as, authentic. Rather than spending time scrolling through social media feeds or messaging with friends, students can find joy and purpose in figuring out ways they want to tell their stories. 
5. Celebrate the successes and challenges. There will be many successes but there will also be many challenges and celebrating both will help students want to continue honing their film skills. When students realize they didn't get the capture they wanted or something is missing, they will face opportunities to reflect and create new practices so they avoid those situations in the future. Call it building resilience, learning from our mistakes, or something else, these opportunities are priceless moments for growth and they need to be celebrated. The first film products might be a little rough around the edges but what are the areas of growth and the new learning that comes from those final products? Students will excel if we allow them time and space to reflect on their work and identify what they will do differently in the future. 
6. Don't forget about the laws. With film and multimedia come a wide range of copyright laws and it's important to know what is permissible and what is forbidden. There are plenty of royalty free options for music and images and helping students understand where to find them is useful. A great resource to help you with finding them is your DTL (Digital Teacher Librarian), they have expertise that is invaluable in these areas. We have some increased rights for using multimedia when it comes to education however, as students become more engaged in capturing and sharing their learning, it will be vital for them to understand where the lines are drawn in regards to copyrights. It's also important for them to understand so they can protect their own work as they grow into more experienced film makers. Ultimately, it's a great lesson in citizenship and ethics that will help them throughout their entire lives.
7. Look for ways to authentically challenge your students. There are a variety of options for students to begin engaging in authentic challenges when it comes to film. The Denver Film Festival has created opportunities for high school students to be a part of the festival each year by attending the festival for a day and being involved in a film competition if they so choose. You can register a group of students to attend this year's festival for free by visiting this link. At the festival, students have opportunities to engage with professionals in the industry to learn tips and tricks, as well as, possible careers in film. If you would like more information about the Denver Film Festival opportunities, contact Nick Steinmetz (nick.steinmetz@jeffco.k12.co.us). Digital Promise also has a great FilmMAKER Challenge and 360 Degree Filmmakers Challenge for students. Check out some of the student film products on the Digital Promise Student Film page or share them with your students to provide inspiring looks at how other students around the world are sharing their learning through film. 

Back in July, Teach Thought published a short piece on 6 Powerful Strategies for Deeper Learning in Your Classroom by Dr. Monica Martinez who is one of the leading experts on deeper learning. These 6 strategies are a great way to get students engaged in learning that involves their passions and interests. Film creation can be used in a variety of ways to implement and achieve all 6 strategies. As students are challenged to create films demonstrating their knowledge and understandings, they are provided additional opportunities to share their learning. Not every film needs to be publicly shared, there might be some short films that are simple reflections allowing us to go back and revisit some of the learnings we gained. Think of them more as selfie videos that are for the purpose of journaling or compiling a personal narrative. Ultimately, remembering the last strategy of "Making Technology the Servant, Not the Master" will help us leverage the power of film in more ways. As we use technology to capture and tell stories rather than consume them, we will be the masters of the digital tools we use and the time in front of a screen will have far greater purpose and outcomes. 

Looking for more ideas on how to use film in your instruction? The WeVideo blog is a great place to find ideas and examples.