Patience
Sometimes I think I have a whole lot in common with my one-year old grandson. When I want something, I want it NOW! And I imagine if you are teaching grades 1-8, you're kinda feeling that way, too, right now. IXL, Reading Plus, Read 360 & HMH Integration, Class Link. So many awesome tools, and none of them are fully off the ground yet.
Then I look at the calendar. We're seven days into the school year, and we've got some amazing stuff going on. Teachers are discussing learning targets in PLC's, pulling out Sandy Snow's yellow sheets to discuss effective formative assessments, and digging into figuring out how to use Eduphoria in new ways. That's big stuff. Important stuff.
By December, we're going to be able to look at the tools in our toolbox and the data that they elicit to have some powerful conversations about student growth, budget, and purchasing decisions for 2020-2021.
To keep you in the loop, here's where we are with our instructional technology purchases at grades 1-8.
- The initial IXL training yesterday afternoon showcased some amazing features that will allow 1-8 teachers to differentiate instruction to address Tier 1, 2, and 3 needs for reading and math, track data, and engage students in their own data tracking. While our 3-8 students are uploaded, they are not attached to teachers. I have a call scheduled today to get our grade 1 & 2 students uploaded and get all of our kids attached to teachers. My goal is for us to be rocking for next week, if not sooner. I'll keep campus admin posted on the progress. Sonya will be back Oct 23 to work with the "data" person from each grade level/dept. That person will need a 1/2 day morning sub. Training will be at HCE. Confirm attendance with your campus administrator.
- Renaissance & HMH Integration: RenLearn will need to take our site down for 3 days to do the HMH integration. Your campus admin will advice me today their preference for dates to do that.
- Reading Plus training for HCE and AES will be the week of September 9. Check with your administrator for details.
- Classlink: Technology has pushed Classlink to the elementary groups. When a student powers up a Chromebook, he/she will be given a choice to sign in with Google or with a quick card. When he/she chooses quick card, the camera is activated, and the student can hold the qr code on the quick card in front of the camera. Right now, Google is the only site connected. You can go to launchpad.classlink.com/bandera and sign in with Google to begin to explore Classlink. If you click on edit, you can add new apps. I will send out a form next week to begin to collect information about apps that each grade level/department would like added to the students' Classlink dashboard.
For Our English Language Learners
- Did you know that the Google Translate extension in the Chrome Web Store will translate webpages into a student's native language?
- TEA and ESC 1 have put together a great "toolkit" of strategies for ELL's. It's along the lines of Sandy Snow's yellow sheet. Check it out HERE.
Digital Learning
Brush Ninja is one of my fav drawing tools for all grade levels. It's an oldie but goodie tool that allows students to demonstrate learning.
Extending Your Professional Learning Network
Looking for some some daily doses of PD from blogs, podcasts, or the Twitterverse?
Catlin Tucker @Catlin_Tucker
Kasey Bell/Shake Up Learning @ShakeUpLearning
Matt Miller/Ditch That Textbook @jmattmiller
Google Teacher Tribe (podcast)
