The Tax-Free Edition! August 2015

It is so great to have so many familiar faces back at work, and it’s a privilege to have the new faces among our ranks! We have been busy, busy this summer. The summer got off to an exciting start at our 3rd annual summer technology

conference, Make Our Tomorrow. More than 150

teachers attended. Participants learned about topics from metacognition to iPads in the classroom to strategies for connecting their students to others around the globe. We had a great lineup of district teachers and educational technology pros from around the state on hand. Summer camps were an amazing success once again. We had well in excess of 300 students in attendance at a variety of camps

this year, including everything from music to chess to theatre to the great

outdoors. Of course, we also had some amazing

technology camps, including 2 sessions each of Minecraft, robotics, and a maker camp called Matador Innovators, where students made electronic artworks, toothbrush robots, learned coding basics, and more. Our classroom iPad rollout is fully underway, with 5 iPads having been added to each elementary classroom’s resources, and the same number shortly on the way in the middle school campuses. This gives our core classrooms at least 9 student devices from kindergarten through 8th grade! Be sure to check out the next page for some great tips for using these devices in your classroom. Several hundred SISD teachers also used the summer to learn how technology resources fit into their classroom practices through dozens of Tech Comp courses. It was productive and exciting, indeed, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg on an amazing year to come!

The iPads Are Here! Now What? 6 Ways Your IPads Can Impact Your Classroom From Day 1:

1. Formative Assessments. The iPad is an effective device for collecting real-time data on students’ progress and understanding. Apps like Socrative and NearPod let you create custom, quick assessments. Plickers turns 1 iPad and a set of response cards into assessment instruments. Websites like Kahoot! are amazing when paired with an iPad.

2. Screencasting. Screencasting involves creating video recordings of whatever is taking place on a computer’s screen. Teachers or students can record short instructional videos about anything desired with apps like ShowMe, Explain Everything, or ScreenChomp. Videos can then be shared through your website, Youtube, DVDs, or on the iPad or desktop.

3. Adaptive Instruction. iPads have already demonstrated extensive power as tools for students with special needs. Apps have been developed for students needing help with spoken language, dyslexia, autism, hearing and visual impairments, and much more. Two lists you can find online to help get your search started may be found here and here.

4. Telling Stories. The iPad is a powerful tool for students to tell their stories, whether in the form of creative fiction or describing a science project’s results. The available apps for storytelling are virtually endless, but a few that shouldn’t be missed include Puppet Pals, Our Story, Sock Puppets, and Shmuppet. Blogging tools like AudioBoom make audio stories fast and easy enough for even the youngest students to compose.

5. Accessing District Resources. Tools like Accelerated Reader, iStation, Learning.com, and BrainPop are all accessible through FREE iPad apps, meaning they are available at all times in your classroom—no need to head to the lab or library every time. You can access and download these applications through your devices’ Catalog app.

6. Web Browsing and Research. Your iPads come with wireless internet and Safari web browsers, so your students can access countless online tools and information.

For everything iPad in Seguin ISD, check out the official district online resources here. Be sure to check on the following page to find a list of upcoming iPad training sessions!

 

How about a quintet of inspirational videos to get you inspired to inspire this year? • Audri’s Monster Trap – hats off to those who find

ways to let students invent and build and even get a little bit messy!

• Caine’s Arcade – one of the best ever. Great reminder that not all types of genius can be measured by bubbles on an answer sheet.

• Maker Ed: A Story of Why Making Matters – 3 children show off their creations and share why opportunities to make and invent are important to them.

• Failure: The Secret to Success – A Honda Documentary – well-produced short documentary about the role failure has played within the culture at Honda.

• How to Escape Education’s Death Valley – Sir Ken Robinson shares 3 principles human minds need to flourish.

Did you know that some of the bulbs for classroom projectors can run upwards of $300 to replace? That is a serious amount of money that could definitely be used for other educational purposes. Just a friendly reminder that you should be sure your projector is OFF when you are out of the room or otherwise not using it.

Getting Started With iPads—upcoming training sessions (Tech Comp credit):

9/22 9/24 9/28 9/30 10/2 10/5 10/6

Classes will take place from 4:15-7:15 PM at the iMac Lab in the Administration Building.

Get Your Professional Reading On! Creative Schools: The Grassroots Revolution That’s Transforming Education, by Sir Ken Robinson (2015)—A very interesting look at how real schools are innovating and increasing student engagement and achievement even within the confines of the system that often seems to discourage such efforts. Good discussion starter!

 

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In the right hands, PowerPoint slideshows are powerful tools of communication, deftly combining images, video, text, and effects to focus attention and drive home key points. Students and teachers can, however, suffer from bouts of PowerPoint paralysis if subjected to bullet point abuse. Students (and some educators...ahem) need to learn what makes a PowerPoint work and what makes it painful. Here are 5 tips for more effective presentations:

• WAY Less text. Eye-catching images and simple graphics are more effective than wordy slides, which research has shown actually distract viewers from the presenter’s spoken message.

• Spare the effect, save the show. Use transitions and effects only if they actually enhance the viewer’s understanding of the presentation.

• Bullets can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Which means pretty much all hands. If you need 22 bullets on a page, you need a new speechwriter.

• No serifs. “Sans serif” fonts, such as Arial or Century Gothic, are typefaces that don’t have the little lines at the top/bottom. Fonts with serifs, like Times New Roman (see right), are harder for audiences to see, so avoid using them.

• More video, more audio. The best presentations absolutely utilize short video clips or audio recordings. The key, again, is to only use clips that actually enhance the audience’s understanding.

Here is a really good article from the official TED blog about making good presentations. It would be very useful to share these concepts with students.