Technology

Teachers,
Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday.”

Technology —
Technology in the classroom is an amazing tool to help in our teaching. It opens up the world to our students which can be amazing. As we use more technology in our classrooms it means more opportunity for teachers and students. It also means more management to see that students are doing what they are supposed to. Procedures need to be thought out. Students need to be trained. But what we can do with the Chrome books and Google Drive in the classroom is incredible. Using our Chrome books gives us opportunity to share devices and still track what each student is doing because their history and bookmarks follow the student, not the device. iPads will still be used in Kinder and First Grade to offer them apps that will help them learn but still gives us the ability to lock them into an app.

Wifi has been spotty lately and should get better soon. Have an alternative plan if it shuts down. have the students shut their Chrome books and read for a minute or work on something else. If you get them trained to do something like this you will know when there is a problem and if it is one student or the wifi. Have a wifi checker and when it is back up get them started again. Management. Plan for everything possible.

We will be having a optional tech trainings every couple weeks starting in October. We decided to wait until October to give you another month to settle in. The trainings will be short and will be about tech you use or will use everyday in your classrooms.

Quote from Calvin and Hobbes I’m pondering —
Calvin: They say the world is a stage. But obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines.
Hobbes: Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.
Calvin: We need more special effects and dance numbers.

What I’m watching —
The Power of Yet
When a student does not get a concept the first time, they get frustrated. We get frustrated. The power of yet is a mindset that they might not get it now, but they will. So the answer to a student that says, “I don’t understand this” is, “You don’t understand it yet, but you will”. Yet give students hope. It gives everyone hope.

Favorite App This Week —
Explain Everything $4.99
I don’t like paid apps, especially expensive ones, but this app is amazing. It is a whiteboard app that you can draw on, record video or take pictures on, and even record what you are doing on a web browser. So what you say? We have used it for tracking students for spelling, recorded students reading during one minute timings (adding notations during the reading), and had students cut out words for a word sort on the app. There are some amazing things to do. It is worth the price for me. If you don’t like the price, Doceri is a free app that is similar but not as powerful. There is a Chrome Book app (there is a cost here also) that is great for touch screen devices.

A Big Thank You —
Thank you Lisa Wright and her team. Scheduling the individual help for our LLI students is a nightmare. Lisa worked through the DRA scores and found the students that need the most help. Her team is amazing on how they work with each small group. With all the schedules they needed to work around and with as many students they needed to work with, it was a huge undertaking. Thank you Lisa and your team for all you do at our school for the students. Thank you.

I appreciate everything you do for the students. Have a wonderful weekend.