Student Can Access Archived Schoology Courses

With cumulative exams approaching (such as the EOCs and Collegeboard AP Test), remind students that they can access archived material in Schoology similar to how we access archived courses. Go to Courses > My Courses > Archived > Course. You can give students this pdf handout with the video linked. Remind students that doing work from an archived course does not imply that credit will be given.

Summer Professional Development Opportunities

Check out these great Summer PD Opportunities! 

Summer Self-Paced PD Courses

Click here to learn how to earn a Virtual Learning Certificate and board recognition from Parkway for participating in learning opportunities!

Data Validation Tips

Every day we hear about the great things that Parkway teachers are doing in their classrooms. 2 Tips From Teachers is a PD series where you can get ideas from other teachers in the form of quick (under 2 min each) video tips to share what’s working in our classrooms. This week the 2 Tips From Teachers is about data validation.

Tip #1 - Using data validation with Google Forms (submitted by Jenny Proffitt in TLA)

Tip #2- Using data validation in Sheets to create custom dropdown lists (submitted by Stephanie Filardo of West Middle)

Parent Pointer: Google Earth

written by Kristen Harms// posted by Elegan Kramer

Google Earth enables you to travel, explore, and learn about the world by interacting with a virtual globe. You can view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, and much more.

Interact to Google Earth as a family!

1. Relive family trip-drop markers on the most important places and describe them. Add personal photos and videos to make it more vivid.

2. Plan a dream vacation-do the same thing as above, but instead, show where you would like to travel someday.

3. Family History Timeline-show your family’s migration history.

4. Find You on the Map-drop a marker on your house and family members homes.  Use points of reference to identify scale and distance.

Setting up canned feedback in Google Docs or Slides

 

Providing timely feedback to students is important, yet time-consuming. One way to be efficient with feedback is to provide voice feedback with Mote as previously mentioned. Another method is to set up canned feedback in Preferences of Google Docs. To do this, go to Tools > Preferences and choose the Substitution tab. You will notice that Google already has some automatic substitution listed and you can continue to add some of your own. Just type in your personal abbreviation for a canned response and it will appear in the document when you use that abbreviation. You and the students can also use abbreviations with personal papers and notes.

This can also be done in Google Slides, however, you will need to repeat these procedures for Google Slides. (The canned feedback will not transfer.)

In order to highlight the changes to the students in green, you can change from Editing mode to Suggesting mode for Google Docs. Giving feedback in suggesting mode also makes your edits pop up as comments. The Suggesting mode feature is not available in Google Slides.

Google Slides

This week the 2 Tips From Teachers is about Google Slides. The first tip is about creating and adding audio to Slides and the second tip is about creating drag and drop activities in Slides. Check them out!

Tip #1 -Inserting an audio file from Vocaroo into Google Slides (submitted by Brigid Dolan at North High)

Tip #2- Creating drag and drop activities in Slides (submitted by Kim Bay at South High) For a full 20 min tutorial: https://youtu.be/-byn2YTVeWU

Parent Pointer: Social and emotional learning resources for families

 For Elementary -

Soar with Wings
Social and emotional learning (SEL) has the power to help children develop skills necessary to succeed in school, be prepared for the workforce, and become positive and healthy citizens. Soar with Wings aims to help K-5 students build the core social and emotional competencies - self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, social awareness, relationship skills - that they need to succeed in school and thrive in life. Parents, guardians, and caregivers help students succeed. Help your children build emotional and social skills that will strengthen them for a lifetime with these fun, easy-to-use activities.

For Secondary -

Experience Happiness

Happiness is deeply rooted in close, supportive relationships with others. Social connections are particularly important to teens and it is important to maintain them in a virtual setting. Give students the ability to lead happier lives with resources from LG and Discovery Education, Experience Happiness. Designed for children grades 7-12, this program examines the science behind happiness and helps kids learn the six sustainable happiness skills - mindfulness, human connection, positive outlook, purpose, generosity, and gratitude. Available free of charge, families can activate happiness in their household with a fun family activity titled Chain Reaction or with thought-starters highlighting the six sustainable happiness skills.

Digital Gallery Walk

written by Kristen Harms// posted by Elegan Kramer

During a Gallery Walk or a Poster Walk, students get up out of their seats and circulate the room. They look at images, text and/or student work and identify what they see, think, and wonder.  There may be discussion at each of the posters or students may write thinking or questions around the edge of the poster.  Students have time to reflect at each station, build on each others’ ideas, write clarifying questions, agree or disagree, and provide feedback.  Students may also complete a “See, Think, Wonder” graphic organizer as they progress through the gallery.

Use one of the tools below for students to view the image or artifact and decide how they will note their thinking.  You can also prepare questions, images, videos, etc. that you would like students to respond to during the gallery walk and post them to the tool that students will use for the gallery walk such as Padlet or Flipgrid.

Each slide can be a new image or artifact or multiple Slideshows can be added to a shared Drive.   Students can write their thinking on the slideshow in text boxes or on a separate document.  Example Video

Each frame can be a new image or artifact or multiple Jamboards can be added to a shared Drive. Students can drag, drop, draw, type, and insert images into the frame.

Teachers can create their own image to put into the padlet or the teacher can provide specific artifacts or links. Students can mark their thinking or questions on the Padlet.

Parent Communication

This week’s 2 Tips from Teachers is about parent communication. These two teachers have shared ways that they are keeping in touch with parents during this year where everything feels different. Check out the link below to see what is working best for them.

If you’d like to see past tips, all videos will be archived on the Innovation site.

Parent Pointer: Check for Missing Work

 written by Kristen Harms// posted by Elegan Kramer

Browse assignments that your child may be missing.

Login to Infinite Campus as a parent.

1. Click “Assignments” on the left menu.

2. Click the “Missing” tab.

*Note the assignments missing and the date they were due.

Login to Schoology as a parent.

1. Click on your child’s name in the top right hand corner..

2. Overdue assignments will be listed to the right, organized by due date.

Parent Pointer: Assessment Updates

 written by Kristen Harms// posted by Elegan Kramer

The elementary progress report link is beneficial at the end of each grading period to view students’ progress.  The link also provides information on students’ results from specific assessments and where that score is located on the progression scale.

Elementary Progress Report Link 

Google Jamboard - version history now available!

Have you ever created a Jamboard and then forgot to make a ‘new’ version for your next class? Instead of undoing all the changes, now you can do it through version history! To do this in Jamboard:

1. Go to the three-dot snowman of the Jamboard and select ‘See version history.’ 

2. In the right-hand panel, choose an earlier version.

3. Next to the version you want to copy, click on the snowman and select Make a copy.

4. Enter a name for your copy and choose where to save the file to stay organized.

Additional Tips

• You can also find who edited the file and the changes they made in the color next to their name.

• To name a version, double-click on the name and name this version. You can name it as the ‘Original copy’ or change it to the year you used the version

• To restore to an earlier version, at the top click Restore this version > Restore.

• How is restoring different from copying? Restoring only keeps one Jamboard in your Google Drive while copying makes a new Jamboard in your Google Drive.

• To go back to the current version, go to the top left and click the back arrow.

Version history is also available with Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets. 

The directions are slightly different; you have to go top, click File > Version history > See version history.

Teacher Tip: Grouping Tabs

written and produced by Kristen Harms// posted by Elegan

Are you a tab minimalist or a tab extremist?

This Google update will help both groups.

Parent Pointer: Connect to nature through technology

image from Wikipedia Commons

 

Connect to nature through technology

Happy Spring! Take time to get some fresh air and enjoy the beautiful weather. Integrate technology into your family’s outdoor experience to encourage an appreciation and a deeper understanding of the natural world.

iNaturalist

Take photos of plants, fungi, and animals (or even evidence of animals such as tracks, nests, shells, or skulls) and iNaturalist can help you identify these organisms. You can also connect with other scientists and naturalists who can help you learn more about nature. By recording and sharing your observations, you’ll create data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature. iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society. Thanks to the generous support of many organizations and individuals, it is FREE for anyone to use. iNaturalist is available on Google Play and Apple

Google Lens

Similar to iNaturalist, Google Lens can identify plants and animals from a photo. You can also take a self-guided architecture tour with Google Lens. Just take a picture of a building or a landmark and you can learn more about it. If you have Google Lens, be sure to look out for the Google Lens icon with the photo. Google Lens work slightly differently between Android and Apple devices. 

What are you waiting for? Go out, explore, and learn more about the world around you today with technology.

Annotating Tips

This week’s 2 Tips From Teachers is about annotating. Tip #1 (submitted by Erica Smalley at Central Middle) is a tip for teachers on annotating Google Slides with SMART Notebook. Tip #2 (submitted by Liz Lyons at Central High) is a tip to share with students on how they can annotate when reading an ebook from Sora. Check out the link below to see two different teachers share what is working best for them.