A great place to find tech tools

If you are looking for a new technology tool for teaching, you know we love to help you in the
library :). However, if it is midnight and you need it for tomorrow, it might make more sense to go to edshelf.com!  Edshelf calls itself a "discovery engine" of websites, apps, programs and electronic products for teaching and learning. Each tool in edshelf has a brief description, teacher reviews and a video to help you quickly understand the tool's uses.  The search feature in edshelf allows you to search through thousands of tech tools to find one that might be right for your situation, try the search feature by clicking here.   

Another great feature of edshelf is the ability to create and view "shelves" of tech tools, which are basically categories you make and organize how you want.  In the library, we are making shelves for different categories of technology tools and including our own description for each tool of how you, South High teachers, might use the tool in your classroom.  We will continue to update these shelves and they are linked to the library website.

Click on the links below to see each of the shelves we have created so far: 

Flipping the Classroom Tools

Formative Assessment Tools

Online Presentation and Product Creation Tools

Research 

Update on Restrictions and Webzones: 

This week we switched all students who are on tablet/computer restrictions due to their grades to "Tier 2" restrictions rather than Tier 3. Tier 2 is less restrictive and hopefully this will eliminate the need for Webzones in your classes as most websites you would use in your class should function normally.

What that means for students on grade-related restrictions is that they should still be blocked from YouTube and from the "games" category of websites, but that other sites should function normally. ​While we cannot block every entertainment site available online, we believe this new system will eliminate many of the distractions without taking away from instruction.

If a student is still blocked from a site in your class, first have them restart their computer (many haven't restarted and the Tier 2 won't kick-in until they do). Then if it still doesn't work, you could use a Webzone for that day and let us know the site and we will try to get it on the "safe" list to automatically bypass the filter. We are hoping that there won't be many of those sites that teachers use in class that will be blocked by Tier 2.

For students that have violated the Responsible Use Policy, they will continue to be on Tier 3. Those students are very few (there are two students in the school on Tier 3 right now), but teachers will continue to need to use Webzones or other ways to deliver Web content to those students.

Additionally, I have shared with teachers in their email the responses for a Google form that will be filled out when students are placed on restrictions (after today). We hope this document will alleviate the confusion brought on by not being aware of which students are on restrictions. Note that these form responses as of today don't have complete data since this is a new form, but will at least allow all teachers to see which of their students are on restrictions.

Follow the link below for Web Zones instructions in case you need them :)
Web Zones Instructions

It's Research Time!

It's that time of year! This post is geared toward teachers who have students research current/recent events.

NewsELA is a fabulous online resource that allows teachers to adjust the reading level of the online articles to accommodate your students' needs. Some articles can also be translated into Spanish! Watch the video below for more information.

There are also some free classroom possibilities that allow teachers to assign particular articles to students. Happy Reading!

NDATL- Take-aways

Hello again!

Wow! This fall's NDATL conference was a fantastic day of professional development.

The keynote speaker, Don Wettrick, gave some wonderful insight on how all teachers can incorporate innovation, creativity, and critical thinking into their classrooms by giving students voice and choice in their projects. This can lead to some awesome ideas and incredible student projects. Through these projects, students can find their passions and make a HUGE impact on their communities and world. Check out his website, linked above, for more information. If you'd like to read his book, pure genius, I'd be happy to lend it out :-)

The breakout sessions focused on creative approaches to class assignments and makerspaces, places of creative exploration. After this conference, I can talk to your departments about the following:

• Green screens
• Makerspaces
• "Tinkering" for learning
• Teaching students to code
• Incorporating innovative PBL into your classrooms.

I look forward to sharing more as teachers come in for collaboration. :-)

Hello from NDATL!

Hello, South High School!

I am writing today from the North Dakota Association for Technology Leaders Conference in Minot. I can't wait to bring back what I am learning to South High. On the agenda today are multiple sessions on Maker Spaces. I will share more about what I learn at the end of the day today, but until then, here is some information on Maker Spaces. Enjoy!

https://makerspace.com/

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/creating-makerspaces-in-schools-mary-beth-hertz

Screencast-O-Matic to Record Videos

Are you looking for ways to deliver content quickly to students so you can use more class time applying concepts or digging deeper into your content? 

One popular way of doing this is using the flipped classroom model where students watch a short video of their teacher giving content instruction, then use the majority of the class time to work on activities that apply what they have learned or explore content more deeply.  A great tool for teachers to record these videos is Screencast-O-Matic. It is an online video maker (or app) where you can make videos of your computer screen and/or yourself from your computer's webcam. It is easy to use and you can upload your video directly to YouTube. There is a 15 minute limit on length of each video unless you use the pro version and we do have some of those available for free to you, so ask us in the library. The pro version also has some advanced editing tools. This tool could also possibly be used for students to create videos from their PLDs, though they would have to also download and install it.

See this basic "getting started" video to check it out or, as always, stop by the library and we can help you!