May 27, 2014

Hello everyone,

​

With Quint 5 in full swing we thought we'd share some of the ways you're exploring teaching and technology.

What's working:

- Melody has used a new tool called Socrative http://www.socrative.com/ to share quiz questions with her students using their smartphones.  Another option for this kind of engagement is using Backchannel Chat http://backchannelchat.com/ - you can create spaces for students to ask questions, leave feedback at the end of a lesson or collaboratively brainstorm in a spot that records their responses (accessible via smartphone or website).

- Randy has been experimenting with 123D Catch - a free app that lets you create 3D models from your photographs: http://www.123dapp.com/catch - he's been taking photos of student's sculptures to turn them into 3D digital sculptures.   

What's wonky:

- Some of you are experiencing a bit of a learning curve with Office 365.  Greg, Alicia and I will be offering drop-in sessions for the next week and a half.  Please come by the Computer Lab, ask questions and get set up.  If these times don't work just drop us a line and we'll set up an appointment.

• ​Thursday, May 29th, 2nd period
• Friday, May 30th, all lunch periods

Next week June 2- 6:

• Monday, 2nd period
• Tuesday, 1st period
• Wednesday 6th and 7th periods
• Thursday 2nd period
• Friday 3rd and 4th periods

What you wish for:

- Both Alicia and I spontaneously said: More time.  

We're working on it!

- A more robust VPN interface. 

Just a reminder, for things that are bugging you/changes you'd like to see, please let us know via helpdesk@northwestschool.org  it really helps us keep track of issues and promptly resolve them.

Wildcards:

- Interested in an insightful take on technology?  I attended danah boyd's town hall talk - about It's Complicated, her recent book about teens, technology and the ins and outs of social networking -  and thought you might enjoy it:  http://www.townhallseattle.org/danah-boydtechnological-teens-the-ins-and-outs-of-social-networking/

- For anyone who has a google account (gmail/google drive/etc). Please read this and - if you choose - opt-out of having your photos and personal info appear in Google's ads:

http://gizmodo.com/googles-going-to-start-sticking-your-face-and-name-in-1443861985/1462317340/+ace​

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

- Catherine and Alicia

March 3, 2014

Hi everyone,

Happy Quint 4! 

A week into quint 4 here's what has been happening with teaching and technology:

What's working:

• Randy and his students are having a blast creating 3D pottery images using a fun smartphone app - Jono is surpassing Randy with his app wheel creations - http://www.potterygame.com/   Students are printing off their designs on this French site: http://www.sculpteo.com/en/ and on Shapeways: http://www.shapeways.com/
• Lisa Beemster and Kathryn Wallace are each using Pinterest - a visual bookmarking tool - to collect lecture ideas/images that inspire... check it out here: https://www.pinterest.com/ 
• Megan and Catherine Seaver met with the 9th grade to discuss Social Networking last week - it included a panel of peer mentors discussing how technology makes their lives great and also challenging, an anonymous activity to raise awareness that there is no digital shredder for words you wish you hadn't said, strategies for dealing with feelings while using our devices and a mindfulness meditation activity.  Check out Daniel Goleman's videos on Focus here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quS2kK27U_4&list=PL10g2YT_ln2gmPbtzIWIPXKsNR2_-BrWn
•  Our Helpdesk ticketing system - email helpdesk@northwestschool.org - is working fabulously. The IT team has resolved 523 tickets/issues since September! And that doesn't include answered phone calls, hallway conversations etc... way to go team! Just a reminder to all - please submit an email to helpdesk@northwestschool.org if issues arise. Call 4357 (HELP) on the phone if it's urgent, but either way please keep letting us know what's going on. That way we can keep responding promptly.

What you wish for:

• This Friday, March 7th is National Day of Unplugging - http://nationaldayofunplugging.com/ - there are a lot of ways to model and talk about this with your students.  What will unplugging allow you to do in your life?  Consider thoughtfully and perhaps download this sign to share with your students: http://nationaldayofunplugging.com/download-your-unplug-sign/
• Here's a quick video tutorial about how to embed videos into your teacher page: http://screencast.com/t/fdIJfM2nM

What's wonky:

• The VHS/DVD player in MF Spanish is not working.  Somehow the cord was ripped out, leaving the pin still in the machine.  We are looking at replacing it and possibly transitioning away from a VHS player in the space. 

A wild card:

• As more teachers experiment with our school-wide license for Voicethread, consider using Voicethread for differentiated instruction – check out some great examples and research here: http://voicethread.cmail3.com/t/ViewEmail/y/A7E5DFA88E810A53/508741A9680284D4BA4AF9908B8D85ED

A really wonderful thing:

• I received this video from Curtis Erlinger – it’s a NWS Environment Video made almost 20 years ago.   Andrew Matson found it here: https://vimeo.com/63750561   Password = nwsclassic

I hope all this helps to brighten your day!  Thank you again to all of you who share your journeys, take risks and keep learning with us.  It is a pleasure to work with you!

-Catherine and Alicia

January 29, 2014

Happy Tuesday everyone,

We’ve been joking that this wired weekday might have to shift to some sort of “Q” themed message considering it’s coming out once a quint.  It has been a busy time.  Here’s an overview of some of the ways that technology and teaching is working, wonky and leaving us wishing for more.

What’s working:

• Ongoing experiments with Voicethread: Marina has student writing poetry, illustrating, narrating and commenting on other poems in Voicethead.  Feedback from students has been quite profound regarding the impact on language learning.  Students shared that hearing themselves speak, practicing, and re-recording what they are saying has given them more insight into the language and where they need to grow.  Francoise and Steven are considering ways to use Voicethread collaboratively in their French and Spoken Word classes.   If you’d like an account with Voicethread please email me or Alicia.  If you’re curious about how it could be used, check out the ongoing discussion on our Voicethread homepage: https://northwestschool.ed.voicethread.com/
• Going old school  - as a frequent experimenter with technology, Tina is once again pushing the envelope.  She is having students call her answering machine here at school and leave a message in response to a homework assignment.  Yep, it’s that simple.  The message is automatically emailed to her and she can then use it for formative feedback.  She had tried all sorts of things from Google Voice, Voicethread, Audacity and others – but this is the simplest solution.
• The Middle School Math department has been using the ALEKS program -  http://www.aleks.com/ to great success.  Assessment and LEarning in Knowledge Spaces is a Web-based, artificially intelligent assessment and learning system. ALEKS uses adaptive questioning to quickly and accurately determine exactly what a student knows and doesn't know in a course. ALEKS then instructs the student on the topics she is most ready to learn.  This is an exciting way to make use of online learning while enriching class instruction as well.

What’s wonky:

• Documentation of the AV setup in the new dining room.  We (Alicia and Catherine) are pulling together steps (with photos) and will be sharing these in the next week.  If you do have questions about the setup please let us know.  As usual please book that space with Brenda.

What you wish for:

• Here’s a little tutorial about how to book the main office conference room: http://www.screencast.com/t/bgMeNCeGC
• The library has added a few trial databases to the resource ABC-CLIO that we’ve been testing out with classes this quint. The new databases are Issues, Modern Genocide, and World Religions. Test them out, and let us know what you think, over the following few weeks, as we’ll need to make a final decision of which (if any) we decide to subscribe to.   To test them out – just go to the NWS Catalog,  log in as you normally do and click on ABC CLIO.  The database links are on the right (screenshot is attached).
• More ways to take screen shots!  Check out this handy little website: http://www.take-a-screenshot.org

Wild cards:

• NCCE – The National Council for Computer Education conference  is approaching!  March 12-14  here in Seattle.   The deadline for early bird registration is Feb. 10^th.  Please let me know if you’re interested in joining us.  I’ll collect names and get things organized.  The conference happens just down the hill at the Seattle Conference center.  The conference website is here: http://www.ncce.org/index.php/attendees
• Here’s the keynote speaker’s blog – a refreshing perspective: http://esheninger.blogspot.com/]
• A little plug for one of our adventurous students -  Zach TB  is in 8^th grade and a co-leader of our Game Design and 3D printer Interest Group.  He was just interviewed as their Designer Spotlight on the Shapeways blog (a 3D design community):  http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/2428-Designer-Spotlight-Zach-Tsiakalis-Brown.html
• Carol Dweck’s research about the power of a little word: YET.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyAde4nIIm8

So that’s what’s been happening… and actually there will be more to share very soon about upcoming experimentation with online learning.  Stay tuned! 

If you’re still reading this – thank you! – and interested in joining me (Catherine)  tonight for the Parent Forum, we’ll be talking about parenting and technology.  We’ll talk about the power and importance of conversations, share strategies, talk about modelling a mindful approach to technology, and connect our parenting wisdom to the online world.   Should be fun!  Tonight – January 29 - in the Commons 6:30-8:30 pm.

All the best,

Catherine & Alicia

November 5, 2013

Hello everyone!

Quint two is off to an exciting start!  As Alicia and I compiled these items from conversations we’ve had with many of you, and projects we’re working on we are a tad surprised at how packed this email is.   We hope it’s helpful and please let us know if you have questions or items to add.  Here’s what’s been happening with teaching, learning and technology here at NWS:

What’s working:

• There is excitement brewing about An Hour of Code  - http://csedweek.org/ - happening Dec. 9-15,  Ages 6 -106.  No math needed.  No computers either. Curious?  Talk with Cecilia, Alicia or me about more info:
• We have two new Macs in the computer lab.  They are shiny and working great.
•  Liza Beemster is experimenting with pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/ a visual bookmarking tool that lets you pin images/sites and collect your favourite things on boards.    She’s using the new projector and laptop cart in the Drawing Studio to share these images with students.
• In response to the interest in partnering with the ILAE school in Ethiopia around projects in Humanities, we purchased a  school-wide license of Voicethread: https://northwestschool.ed.voicethread.com/  Voicethread is a tool for having conversations around media.  For instance, upload images, documents or videos and then add commentary about the shared item(s).  Voicethread lets you and your students add their own video/audio/text comments and listen to others’ responses. This can be used by any teacher here at school.  Please let me or Alicia know if you’d like an account.  Keep your eyes peeled for more info – a laptop, lunch and learn is happening this Thursday from 10:40-noon in the Library Reading Room.  Please RSVP if you plan to come.
•   There’s a new projector in Photolab – it will have interactive whiteboard capabilities, short tutorials for teachers are coming soon. 
• COOL – Committee on Online Learning –is off to a busy quint.  You’ll hear more about the experimentation with online learning experiences in the coming weeks, but we look forward to hearing preliminary project proposals from all who are interested, curious and eager to experiment.  More info to come soon…

What’s wonky:

• Booking computer lab/laptop carts – Useful Subjects - Reminder to put your name, number of machines needed and where you will be (if using a laptop cart).  An example: Catherine Seaver – 10 laptops – Chavez
• The two old laptop carts in the upper hall – the lumbering ones from Carson and Fisken – are not to be used.  They are full of old laptops that are being refurbished and e-cycled.   We’ve just put some clear signs up but just wanted to send a friendly reminder.

What you wish for:

•  An explanation of the Snipping Tool – last wired weekday I mentioned this briefly, but didn’t give enough details.  The Snipping Tool is available from your Start Menu, under All Programs.  Once it loads you’ll notice your screen looks a little faded and your cursor has become a cropping tool.  Select the section of your screen you’d like to “snip”.  Release the mouse and that image will pop up in a separate window.  You can now save this – go to File, Save As – and use it in documents, emails etc.  Handy-dandy!
• A tad more info about EOM – this stands for End Of Message and can be used in the Subject line to indicate that the email has no content.  This can make email scanning more efficient and hopefully keep emails shorter when necessary. 
•  A more dynamic classroom in Skylight – the new projector and cart are almost fully functional, just waiting for a document camera, coming soon. 

Wildcard:

• There is a video rental store called On 15^th Video – at Harrison and 15^th – that has free video rentals for classroom use.  Enjoy!
• The new laptop cart in the Upper Hall is called Upper COW because it stands for Computers On Wheels – ironically, this laptop cart is agile and small.  Quite unlike some other cow-like carts I know…

Thanks so much for reading!

Have a great week,

Catherine and Alicia

Sept. 25, 2013

Hi everyone,

Alicia and I have been keeping tabs on all that’s been happening with teaching, learning and technology… you all have been busy!  Here’s the update on how we’re pushing our boundaries; our successes and struggles so far this year.  We hope this is useful to all of you, let us know!

What’s working:

• Marina, Cecilia, Ben and I are taking an online course with the Global Online Academy –– about Online Learning Environments.  We’re learning lots and eager to share with others.   
• The EOM (end of message) heading seems to be helping us be more succinct in emails.  An important note from Alicia – if replying to an EOM message, remove those letters from the subject to avoid confusion.
• Scott and Jeremy (and others!) are huge fans of the Snipping Tool – it’s popular because it lets you quickly grab a selected screen shot of your computer.  This can be helpful for all sorts of things – lesson plans,  
• We’ve had steady attendance at our open lab tech workshops.  Stay tuned for more sessions next week, advertised in the Monday Memo.
•  We’ve purchased 250 licenses for Adobe Creative Suite, each of which includes both an in-school and an at-home install.  All of those installs are available for faculty to request:
• If faculty would like a particular machine (or all the machines in a particular room) at school to have ACS, send an email to helpdesk@northwestschool.org , and this will happen.
• If faculty would like to install ACS on a home machine, send an email to helpdesk@northwestschool.org . A dvd will be burned for you to take home, do the install from, and then return.
•  Last year many teachers used our Flip Cameras and Bloggies to record student presentations, class trips and create student videos.  You requested more of these simple, hand-held video cameras and we bought 10 more cameras, we now have 15 working Bloggies.  

What’s wonky:

• The Earth Lab Smartboard’s mouse has been hijacked by the right hand corner of the board… We are working to fix this.  The work around is to unplug the usb connection to the Smartboard (this has already been done, but just in case – you’re now in the know!)
•  The Fisken classroom has an icky smell from time to time, and it seems to be connected to how long the bulb has been on in the projector.  This will be solved shortly with a new bulb.

What you wish for:

•  Perhaps one of the cutest tech issues reported lately, the new Hutch Laptops have touchpads that are too big for the little hands of middle school students.  So, a classroom set of mice will accompany the new Hutch laptop cart.  We hope to have this portable collection ready next week, in the meantime, pop by the Library to borrow a set from the AV closet.
•  Many of you have expressed interest in more hands-on training using Smart Boards.  There is a workshop offered through NWAIS – the Classroom Technology Workshop - happening Oct. 25^th at Epiphany School.  http://www.nwais.org/page.cfm?id=18&verbose=7845  We will also have ongoing open lab sessions.
• The humanities department is considering collaboratively study a novel with the ILEA school in Ethiopia -  using Voicethread as a way to leave comments (video/audio) on a shared document/presentation.  We’re looking into purchasing a school license – you can find out more about Voicethread here: http://vimeo.com/32856071 (ignore the Penn State info at the end)

Have a fabulous day!

Catherine and Alicia

Sept. 4, 2013

Helllo everyone!

You know that moment when you think.. if I just had a bit more information I could craft the perfect email and all will be made clear??

Well… this is not that email.

Instead, I hope this gets most of your devices online and if you encounter problems with these steps please talk with any of the IT folks, me or Alicia.  The reason for this is that there are so many permutations of how this works (on Macs, PCs, Droid, and Chrome devices) that we haven’t been able to test and document everything.  So instead, I’ve written out the basic set up for the most common scenarios.  Use your own troubleshooting skills to make it work and ask any of your friendly IT/Ed Tech team for help.  Or send an email to helpdesk@northwestschool.org

Think of this as access very much like you’d get a coffeehouse.  Specifically, to access files on the Common Server or in your H drive you’ll need to use the VPN as you’ve done in the past. 

From your Mac laptop:

1. Go to your Wi-Fi icon
2.  Select Join Other…
3.  Type in NWS-Faculty
4. Click Join 
5.  Open a browser and you may receive an error message about security settings here – allow this site as an exception if this happens.
6. Enter your NWS network username and password when prompted.
7. You’re all set for the next 2 hours. 

From your PC laptop:

1. Go to the Wireless Network icon (bottom right corner)
2. Right click and select “Open Network and Sharing Center”
3.  Select “Connect to a Network”
4.  You’ll see a list of networks, select Other Network
5. Click on Connect
6. Type in NWS- Faculty (the uppercase letters matter)
7. Click OK
8. You may need to wait for a moment before a screen appears and prompts you to log in.  If you do not get prompted – open a browser (IE or Firefox or Chrome etc.) and you should on the first screen be required to enter your NWS network username and Password.
• Note: You may be asked to change security settings/allow the site as an exception – click Yes.  If you receive an error about a missing certificate click Continue (even if it’s “Unrecommended”)
9. You’re all set for the next 2 hours

From your phone: (iOS, Droid and Windows phone)

1. Go to Settings
2. Click on Wi-Fi
3. Select Other… or Add Network (depending on your type of Smartphone)
4. Type in NWS-Faculty  (the capitalization matters)
5. Leave the security option as: None
6. Click Join
7. You’ll soon see the network appear on the list and very shortly a browser window should open with your NWS network login (if you receive a “certificate error” just click Continue)
8. Enter your NWS network username and password
9. You may see a blank screen that has a tine “Success” in the top left hand corner.  Click Done!
10. You’re all set for the next 2 hours. 

Good luck and happy networking!

Catherine & Alicia

p.s. For new faculty, this is not the usual structure of my “Wired Weekday” emails… more of those to come.   Alicia and I are aiming to send them out every 2 weeks or so.

May 9, 2013

Hello hello!

Happy Quint 5 to all of you. 

Here’s a quick overview of things that have been happening in teaching and technology in the past few weeks.

What’s working:

-         Sometimes it’s the small things that can save you a lot of time.   Renee F and Jeremy have both been using the Snipping Tool to quickly grab screen shots (just search in All Programs for the Snipping Tool and use the cursor to snap a copy of any image on your screen).  As well, a quick way to enlarge or shrink anything in your browser  is to hold the Ctrl button and the + or – button, to enlarge or shrink respectively.

-          Darren and other humanities teachers are modeling collaborative writing with Google Drive (previously Google Docs), here are some helpful tips and resources: http://gettingsmart.com/cms/blog/2012/09/google_docs_for_collaborative_writing/

-          Susan has set up a Dance Studio Calendar in Outlook – you can view the calendar (add Calendar in Outlook) to see when the Dance Studio is available as well as book the space for activities.

-          Jen’s international drama project – The Water Reckoning Rolling Role Project – is using a combination of websites including http://PlaceStories.com  (PlaceStories allows individuals or  groups of people to create digital stories, communicate and collaborate online), Google Hangouts, Google Drive and it’s all described on the project webpage: http://www.water-reckoning.net/index.html

-          Tuney and Rosalyn shared some great teaching ideas including how to check the reading level of a document in Word: http://grok.lsu.edu/Article.aspx?articleid=14250

-          I created a blog for NWS Wired Weekday postings - http://wiredweekday.blogspot.com/ - you can check it out for the full collection of Wired Weekday (previously Wired Wednesday) emails I’ve sent.  It’s searchable and a nice look back at what we’ve been up to here at school!

-          Our IT team upgraded the wireless network over the break… so great to have reliable, faster access!  More on this topic coming soon…

What’s wonky:

-          Email Etiquette -  We’ve seen some discouraging email etiquette lately.  For ways to encourage more courteous correspondence, check out this “contact me” page from David Montero’s teacher page: http://teachers.northwestschool.org/nws/dmontero/contact

To add this to your teacher page, login to SWIFT go to the Contact Me (or equivalent page on your site) and in that top Introduction field enter in text you’d like to appear.

What you wish for:

-          There has been a growing interest in more robust discussion tools.  I’ve been exploring options and this looks interesting: https://piazza.com/profs  I’ve been thinking about the possibility of a department-wide online discussion area/component… eg. Humanities or Math.  Could be interesting!

-          Free group calls with Skype?  Your wish is granted… check out Skype in the classroom: https://education.skype.com/ and sign up for 12 month  of free group calls (connecting with up to 9 multiple groups).  Skype in the classroom also has lesson themes you can search to find classrooms that are doing similar activities around the world.

Wild Cards:

-          Alicia just let me know about the free streaming videos from https://www.hoopladigital.com/  - a free alternative to Netflix.    Seattle Public Library is part of the initial group of library systems offering the service and all you need is your library card number and pin to log in. 

-          I’ve seen some excellent TEDtalks lately but a standout was by author, Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of the single story: http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html

Or check out TED Playlists – Collections for Curious Minds: http://www.ted.com/playlists

-          There are more spring/summer tech workshops through PSESD – a Google Day and more: http://www.psesd.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=327&Itemid=499

-          There is a free un-conference on teaching and technology happening Saturday, May 18^th – Puget Sound EdCamp - http://www.edcampseattle.org/

Thanks so much for reading!

-Catherine