GoNoodle, iTutoring and Tech Support- Tons of great info to share!

By Kris Walsh

Hello and welcome back. For my first edition of Techy Tuesday I have several things that I am going to share so please read through the whole post so you don’t miss any of the super awesome things that I am sharing today.

GoNoodle.com

First I want to share some information about GoNoodle.com. This tool may seem elementary at first, but I first heard about it from some Indianapolis middle and high school teachers over lunch at a training I attended this summer. They enjoy using this with older students, so I think that anyone will be able to find this tool useful.

Many of us have heard the research behind allowing students to have brain breaks and step away from their work and even move around a bit before getting back down to business with more focus than they had before the break. This site does a good job of making that process more formal and structured and has some activities that students enjoy.

GoNoodle.com is a free site that teachers can use to present different types of brain breaks of their choosing to their class. The breaks are broken down into categories: calm, energize and focus. You can select which category meets your needs and an appropriate break. These videos illustrate this better than I could describe with words. Please check out this short video to see how GoNoodle works. As with any tool that we share, please let any of us know if you need any support getting things started and we will be glad to get you started.

iTutoring.com

While I was writing today’s issue of Techy Tuesday, Bob Linne dropped by and shared a new tool that we have access to. itutoring.com is a site that both teachers and students can use to access quality math videos and lessons for a variety of topics in math that range from Algebra 1 through Pre-Calculus. When you log in to the site (scroll down to enter the username and password for the corporation) you can then click on a course and then see the breakdown of topics that are offered. In addition to the course specific tutoring, there are resources that can be used for SAT prep as well. This site does require a username and password. I cannot share that info on the blog, but I included that info with the email. You can also request the info from Mr. Linne or me. This will prove to be a great resource for students when they work independently. (the picture below is not a video, I could not get one to post. Don't click play, it won't do anything :) )

Student Tech Support

Many of you have already had one of our student tech support interns come to your class and assist you or your students with a minor tech issue. This is a new creditied class that students can take to learn more about technology and how to assist others who need help. In working with the students, my main goal for them is that they are professional in their demeanor with you and provide the best support that they can to staff and students. Since they are students, they may not have the answer, but Mr. Wright and I have talked with them about referring more advanced issues to him or to the eLearning team. Students are stationed in the high school library if they do not have any tasks assigned to them.

This is a graded class for these students, and in addition to getting graded on the quality of their work and their professionalism when performing their tasks, students in this class are also going to be responsible for writing one blog entry per quarter. We will be featuring these blog entries in Techy Tuesday starting next week. This will bring a student’s perspective to our blog and hopefully prove to be a positive for us. Don’t get too upset, Phil, Jamie and I will still be taking our turns with the blog as well. :)

Sorry for the book today, too many cool things to share.

Happy Tuesday,

Kris

Our Best Resources...May Be One Door Down

By: Phil Zellers 

Since this is a "techy" blog,  you are probably assuming this is going to be about tech resources such as My Big Campus, Twitter, or a number of other helpful websites.  Many of us have been to some great conferences over the summer and learned about some awesome and cool new tech tools to make our classes better.  I know I learned about some new tools I’m incorporating this year.  Those are all resources that can add tremendous value to our classes and are very useful but that’s not the direction I’m going with this one.  Sometimes, it can be easy to get lost in those resources and forget about some of the best resources available to us…each other. 

Last year, when we started doing instructional rounds, I sat in on one of Dave Reese’s classes.  I had Dave for a teacher when I was in school and had worked with him in the Social Studies department for several years but had never sat in on one of his classes since becoming a teacher.  I learned so much in one class period about connecting with students.  Sean Risse and I worked as team developing content for our social studies classes last year.  From that collaboration, I got some great, new ideas to incorporate in my content for that class.  A couple of years ago, I co-taught a class with Amy Rasche.  From her, I learned a lot about how to get students to look for deeper meaning when reading texts and how to help them make connections.  A lot of ideas from that experience were applied to all my other classes. 

This year already, I have learned from Josh Wilson how to conduct a great activity with students, based on them taking a personality test.  He let me come in a couple of class periods last week to watch him conduct it and even came down to help me get it going in my class.  Now I have a new activity to help students learn more about themselves, make connections, and build relationships…perfect for my passion based learning class, STEAM.  I worked with Gary Hanan, over the summer, to have him teach me the computer aided drafting program, Inventor, and went into his classroom this year to see how he teaches it.  This is a tool I will be needing for one of my new classes.  These are just a few examples of how other teachers have made me a better teacher and there are many more.  I am thankful for these learning opportunities.  Fortunately for all of us, Perry Central is full of great people willing to share ideas.     

The point I'm trying to make is this, continue finding great websites to increase engagement, connecting through Twitter, and using My Big Campus as a platform to deliver content and assessments. Those are all wonderful tools that have transformed my classes and tools that I use on a regular basis.  They are valuable and necessary in today’s classroom but also keep in mind how much we can learn through brainstorming, conversations and watching others in action, even those outside our content areas or grade levels.  In keeping with the theme for the year, “be brave.”  Try something new and then start asking around because the resource you need might just be one door down the hallway from you (or several doors down, or in a different building, you get the point...somewhere on our campus!).  I know, for me, that has been the case.  If you think the eLearning team can be that resource, please let us know.  As always, we are more than happy to help in any way we can. 

Time Saving Messages

By Jamie Guillaume

Timesavers!  Being educators, parents, spouses and attempting to have any sort of life outside of these school walls makes all of us extremely busy!  Anything that can make tasks I already complete more efficient and just as effective, I will gladly accept. 

Prior to school beginning, I participated in a Skyward training with the purpose of being able to help train teachers and answer questions that arise.  A feature that particularly stood out to me was the Message Center.  Within the message center, teachers can send mass messages to their students’ parents and/or send messages to particular parents.  Many teachers create newsletters, notes home, and have announcements they want to get to parents on a regular basis.  This features allows teachers to send a message to parents effectively and efficiently through Skyward, an already implemented program.

 

To send a message through Message Center you simply open a gradebook, go to “Other Access” and click on “Message Center.”  Here you will be able to follow the buttons on the right-hand side.  To add a new message, simply follow the prompts to add specific students or send the message to all student parents.  Through this feature, you are able to type a message as well as add attachments-what a great way to send a newsletter or parent letter!  The Message Center even allows you to set the date and time you want the message to be distributed because let’s face it, the timeframe you have to create the newsletter and the timeframe you want the newsletter delivered are never going to coincide. 

This feature particularly appealed to me because at our Summer of eLearning conference, PowerED Up, teachers really seemed to like the Remind program that sends text messages to parents.  I also like this program.  However I also believe we as educators need another login or program to work through like we need a hole in the head!  I typically prefer to use the features of programs we already have in place versus adding more.  

If you would like more information or an individual training on this feature in Skyward, do not hesitate to contact one of your friendly eLearning coaches.