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 18th – Puget Sound EdCamp
- http://www.edcampseattle.org/
Thanks so much for reading!
-Catherine
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