SPLASH: New Year, New Ideas 💦 🎉 🐟

efisher713 / January 3, 2019 / NEW TECH THIS YEAR, Welcome

SPLASH: New Year, New Ideas

Bitmoji Image

Welcome back, everyone! Are you ready for it? Another great calendar year in Ed-Tech? I know I am! I can’t wait to see what this year holds. 2018 was full of so many great ideas that I know 2019 can only be better! Do you have the resolution to try something new? A “new year, new me” sort of thing? Don’t just insert innovation into your diet – try it with your instruction too! Even if it’s just something small, trying something new can reinvigorate our practice and our students. My blog has some neat ideas for new activities, such as my post on Choice Boards, Student Expression, or one of my favorite tools: Pear Deck!

As a tech-educator, I am also trying new things…here’s what I’ve tried this week! Take a look:

Curating Content: Wakelet (The new Padlet, only better)!

This is a pretty neat tool I must say! I had heard of Wakelet last year when Padlet instituted a fee structure, but I had yet to play with it. Then, I was on a Twitter Chat with my good friend Colleen Terrill before the holidays and she was able to save the WHOLE chat to Wakelet. She then shared the collection or “wake” with me! She put me in touch with James from Wakelet and he walked me through it. Well, to say I was blown away is an understatement. This tool has so much potential and you can do so many cool things with it! It reminds me of Padlet and Pinterest all wrapped into one! I’m just getting into it, but I am SO pumped about it! You could even use this awesome tool to create Choice Boards too!

This is a great post by Karly Moura about Wakelet where she includes others who are using it and her experience with it! I have a feeling you’re going to see this tool EXPLODE on the EdTech scene!

Emoji Bullets

This is so much fun! It came to be from an AWESOME Ed-Tech blogger by the name of Jake Miller. If you haven’t checked out his blog, I HIGHLY recommend subscribing. He teaches everything using GIFs! It’s so cool! I’m a video girl myself, but GIFs are quick and FUN! Check out his blog to see what I mean. Meanwhile, here’s how you can use emoji for bullets. Take a look at my video below!

Guess Who?! Digital Version

Have you ever played Guess Who? Well, this is the digital version that you can custom modify!

I caught this neat activity in another blog I subscribe too, Control Alt Achieve by the AWESOME Eric Curts! By subscribing, I get an email with little gems including his “intake” from other Ed-techies! This one is by Amanda Sandoval, a history teacher from California.

Tip of the Week: Multiple Google Accounts

Have you had family Google Photos show up in your school account? Wonder why a link is opening under your personal account when you’re logged in at school? Take a look at this great post from Shake Up Learning regarding how to manage your multiple Google Accounts. She actually suggests creating separate profiles. This is a GREAT tip!

New year, New Ideas… 🐦

For more new ideas, please join me in the first MassCue Twitter chat of the new year. We will be discussing new ideas and learning from each other! It will be GREAT!

Happy New Year! I hope you use many new ideas!

oFISHally Yours,

Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟

GREAT to be a VIking

efisher713 / August 31, 2017 / Google Sites, NEW TECH THIS YEAR

HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND EB!

Wow! GREAT JOB THIS WEEK! There are so many days where I just feel so happy to be a Viking, but this week was exceptional. EVERYONE has been so positive and upbeat – you can tell we all REALLY love our jobs! KUDOS TO YOU! We have had our challenges, but we are owning them. We reflect, pull together, and discuss how we can improve such challenges going forward.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for so many kind words this week! Everyone has a crazy first week, and the kindness and patience everyone has shown for technology has been very much appreciated! Erica, Josh, and Mary Ann are working so hard behind the scenes (LONG hours), while I’m working with teachers to put the tech in place! YOU make it happen with these kiddos, and we are here for YOU!

NO MORE NEWSLETTER

Just a reminder, I will (in a few weeks) stop sending a weekly Techletter. In order to get a weekly Tech update, which includes tutorials, teacher highlights, and new tech we purchase, you will need to subscribe to my new blog or check out the new blog on your own. By subscribing, you will get a weekly email showing all of my weekly posts. To subscribe, enter your email in the box to the right (like the one shown below).

GOOGLE SITES

This week, in only the first few days, I have seen amazing things with Google Sites. Nice work to those of you who are working on a new site, sent me a new site, or booked me to start a new site! The NEW version of Google Sites is SO MUCH EASIER than the former version. However, although easier, I’m running into a similar issue among many who have made a site: Publishing. Please view this video here to see how to “Publish” the site. Please view this tutorial here for an overview of creating a NEW Google Site. Lastly, please see this tip here for MAXIMIZING a site with posting homework.

MASSCUE

If you did not see the email from PD Academy, please check your inbox or let me know. We are now accepting interest applications for the MASSCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) conference. This is an AWESOME technology-in-education event! Please fill out the form here if you are interested in attending. Please also fill it out if you are presenting at MASSCUE as well. We will use the data from the form to determine who attends and also to provide a list to administration for sub needs.

NEW TECH

Lastly, as a quick reminder…we purchased a district-wide license for KAMI, PEAR DECK and NEWSELA*. If you find that you are NOT RECEIVING the premium services from any of these resources (which are amazing), PLEASE LET ME KNOW! You SHOULD NOT have to pay for anything on these sites. Your EBPS.NET email address should automatically receive the premium account. Also, these resources link with Google Classroom. Setting up Google Classroom may be the easiest way to access these resources. (*NEWSELA is grades 2-12). Stay tuned for another blog post strictly about KAMI! It’s a really great tool in the middle to upper grades, and a perfect first tool for the “techno-toxic” (thank you Kathy Raulinaitis for that term). *Note: I don’t think anyone is techno-toxic.

REACH OUT

If you would like to try new tech with students, have help setting up new tech, have me set up new tech FOR YOU, try something new or just ask a question please, REACH OUT! I love hearing from you and/or seeing you. There are no silly questions and there is NEVER any judgment. I could have a tool to make your job easier that you may not even know exists! Let’s chat 🙂

NEW STAFF

On a final note, WELCOME new staff and GREAT JOB! I had the pleasure of working with many of you last week and you are so great! You made it, you did it! You got through the first week with flying colors, and guess what….it only gets better!

Have a great weekend!

oFISHally yours,

Erin

“Get Hooked” on NEW Technology for EB

efisher713 / August 28, 2017August 28, 2017 / NEW TECH THIS YEAR

Hello EB!

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer! I had a great time with my three guys over the summer, swimming in the new pool and enjoying our family time. This time is always bittersweet, as I am excited to come back but sad to leave my little ones. Luckily, they are in great hands….including one of my guys at the wonderful Central School with the sweetest staff <3

For your viewing pleasure, and so I stop sending you so many emails every time I find or see something great, I created a blog. Winner Winner Chris Traynor and Laura McPhee for naming the blog and the domain, respectively. If you WANT to receive a weekly email from me (like last year) focusing on technology integration and tech tips, you can subscribe to the blog. Once subscribed you will get a weekly email on Fridays. I can post as many times as I want, but you will only see an email on Friday! Win-win for everyone!

NEW (purchased) TECHNOLOGY for EB 2017-2018

**THE PROGRAMS LISTED BELOW ALL IMPORT VIA GOOGLE CLASSROOM. IF YOU ARE GRADES 3-12, SETTING UP GOOGLE CLASSROOM FIRST WOULD BE THE EASIEST WAY TO INTEGRATE THESE PROGRAMS. (See previous blog post on Google Classroom here)

KAMI

If you are new to a 1:1 classroom, this is a GREAT way to start. Basically, KAMI will take any document (PDF, WORD, DOC, ETC) you have and allow the kids to write on it digitally. They can annotate, highlight, write text etc. You simply push it out via Classroom by choosing the K (for KAMI) button. First, you will need to sign up for KAMI via your Google account and students will also need to add the extension. You can find the extension to add here. You can read more about this AWESOME program here. I also included its highlights below:

PDF and Document Viewer

Highlight

Add Notes

Strikethrough

Underline

Voice Annotation

Text-to-Speech

Add Text

Draw Shapes

Freehand Drawing

Insert Images

OCR Text Detection for Scanned Files and Images

Split and Merge Pages

Google:

Auto-save to Google Drive

Google Classroom Integration

NEWSELA

Our district has purchased a district license for NEWSELA. This is an amazing program that has nonfiction articles in all subject areas grades 2-12. It also contains quizzes for the articles that auto grade. You can annotate the article as well if you’d like specific items to stand out for your students to see. You can also have writing prompts within the articles for students to respond to. It integrates with Google Classroom for easy use! The program also provides great student data as well.

Click here to sign up (choose the JRSRHS as your school. Although we have a district license it only shows the JRSRHS as the PRO account)

Teacher shout out: Conor Pedro, our new 6th grade hire, told me that this program pairs really well with Common Lit, another great (free) program. You can assign an article in NEWSELA and find common content in Common Lit to really maximize the information in the NEWSELA article!

PEAR DECK

Login with your Google Account to activate your premium Pear Deck account. We have many teachers in the district who have used this program and love it! Reach out if you would like a personal training, or check out the program (and orchard with pre-made decks) here! Pear Deck is a LIVE teaching tool, or student paced. It’s extremely versatile and can do so much!

Go Guardian

We have purchased Go Guardian this year for many of our 1:1 classrooms. If you are not familiar with Go Guardian, this program is incredible. Once running, it “records” the online activity taking place during your instruction, whether you’re there or not! It will send you a report each day, for each session so you don’t even need to monitor the program. You can shut down a student’s device from your own, or shut down a window you do not want them on. You can even “set a scene” and have preloaded sites you want students to visit and it will block out all other sites.

As of right now, we can guarantee all students in 7-12 classrooms will have the Go Guardian. Due to the large influx of children over the summer (Everyone knows it’s GREAT to be a viking), seats will need to be evaluated and the program needs to be set up. The tech department will roll this out soon and appreciate your patience.

REMINDER Go Guardian syncs with Google Classroom, so setting up Google Classroom is the easiest way to integrate Go Guardian in your 1:1 room.

BIG UPDATES TO OLD FAVORITES THIS SUMMER:

*Click the links below to see how each program has updated

oFISHally yours,

Erin Fisher

Category: NEW TECH THIS YEAR