BISD Website: Share Your Thoughts
We are currently in the process of redesigning our www.banderaisd.net website. The new site will roll out later this summer. To best meet the needs of those who visit our site, I'm seeking input from those who use it most frequently: YOU!
Are there are things that you love about our site, and don't want to see changed? Are there areas that you would like to see improved? Are there things not on the site that you would like to see added? Click here to share your thoughts. Feel free to share this form with your students and their families. The form is anonymous and does not collect identifying information.
Two Awesome G-Suite Updates
A great big Bulldog thank you to our Technology Director, David Brown, for getting BISD involved in the Google Form beta to lock students' screens while they are taking Google Form quizzes. Check out this two-minute video below to see some pretty sweet features. (Thank you, Ashley Jones at HCE for letting me know that the beta feature was live for BISD!)
The second update in G-Suite is the gradebook feature in Google Classroom. (Thanks, Stephanie Jones at BHS for letting me know this much-anticipated feature is live.) While we're not yet able to export grades from Google Classroom and import them into TXEIS, we can grade right within classroom, which makes keeping track of grades and communicating them to our students easier. The video below shows you how. Google invites you to use the comments section below the YouTube video to request features. Changes may not happen immediately, but Google has been pretty responsive to user requests to improve its products.
It's baaaccck! Sync Audiobooks for 2019
Sync Audiobooks kicks off its Summer 2019 free audiobook downloads on April 25, 2019. Download two free audiobooks a week through August 1, 2019. Click HERE for a list of the 2019 titles. These are YA/Teen reads, but if you are looking for travel books for the summer, you might find some titles that you enjoy, as well.
Google Educator Certification
Google Educator certifications have to be renewed every three years. My Level 1 certification expires in May. If you're interested in taking the Level 1 certification exam, I'd love some company. If you have questions, Cassie Simon (BMS) and Lisa Gherman (AES) earned their Level 1 certifications last six weeks. Taking the certification exam helped me grow in my Google-ness and learn new ways to integrate G-Suite tools into instruction. The test costs $10 and has a 4-hour time limit. Click HERE for details.
Challenge: Discovery Education Spotlight on Strategies
Every educator in BISD has access to Discovery Education, and one of Discovery Education's hidden gems is its Spotlight on Strategies resources which offer collaboration and critical thinking opportunities to our students across the curriculum. Last week I received an email from Susan Reeves at Region XX that offers a challenge to allow educators to explore the Spotlight on Strategies, share their tips/tricks with other educators, and earn some swag along the way.
Looking for a fun way to share Discovery Education with other educators? Look no further! Discovery Education Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) are research-based instructional strategies for integrating digital media in meaningful, effective, and practical ways.
Haven't signed up for a DE account? See your campus librarian for your campus's site code.Encourage educators at your school to sign up and learn more through this challenge! Each week for five weeks we'll send you a hand-selected SOS instructional idea to your inbox, complete with ready-to-go graphic organizers and examples of how other educators are using it in their classrooms.Try the strategy and let us know how it went in the DEN Online Community, and we'll select one response each week to receive a limited-edition Discovery Education hoodie. #DEswagEncourage your friends to sign up, share this information and share the fun and new ideas to help you finish the school year strong.Registration closes Friday, April 13. Sign up: https://teachers.discoveryeducation.com/ spotlight-on-strategies- challenge
