Transform, Engage, Collaborate, and Help with Technology: February 2017

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Tech Newsletter for 2/21

Teachers and Students are inserting YouTube videos in Google Slides, but now you can create and use your own videos saved in Drive.

For more on this click here.

Teri Pendley and the Pepperell Elementary School staff have been brushing up on their Twitter chat skills and expanding their professional learning network by participating in their own Twitter chat (#pesdragonspln). Follow #pesdragonspln on Twitter to keep up with the great things happening at PES!

Share what’s going on in your classroom or school on Twitter by including the hashtag #floydpln. A hashtag allows users to easily view Tweets that contain a specific hashtag.

FCS Twitter Guide

Technology allows you the capability to do things you’ve done before in a new and innovative way. Tim Yancey at Model High School is working to modify his instruction by using the Lucid Chart Add-On within Google Docs. This allows students to create flow charts, Venn diagrams, and other graphical data interpretations. Need to compare/contrast? Be like Tim and give this a shot.

EdCamp Rome is FULL!

However you can be put on a waiting list Here

Interested in being a presenter at the Kickoff Classic? Submit a session proposal HERE

Friday, February 17, 2017

Tech Newsletter for 2/14

Are your students researching for Black History Month? Using Google Scholar for Middle and High school students; and KidRex for Elementary students, can provide valuable reliable information for their research reports.

Have you heard about the trending “escape rooms”? Mrs. Phinazee, an ELA teacher at AMS, brought the concept to her classroom by utilizing Google Sites and Google Forms to create a digital escape room experience for her students. Put your critical thinking skills to the test and see if you can break out of Mrs. Phinazee’s digital escape rooms:

Shakespeare Escape Room

To Kill a Mocking Bird Escape Room

Twitter is an incredible tool to share events at your school. Jamey Alcorn, principal at Pepperell High School, used it to live stream the return of wrestlers from the individual state championship in Macon, Georgia.

Click here to see the stream via Twitter

Piggy-backing on what our runner above is doing in her classroom, Mrs. Phinazee had to learn how to use the tools to design her digital breakout. To do this it took the use of Data Validation and Conditional Formatting in Forms. This is a powerful tool! See your ITS for assistance in building your own Breakout!

The 2nd Annual Edcamp Rome!

Saturday, March 18, 2017

at Rome High School in Rome, Georgia

www.edcamprome.com

What does it cost?

Nothing! The day is entirely FREE.

More info Register

Friday, February 10, 2017

Tech Newsletter for 2/7

It’s February and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Here’s a fun ELA/writing activity using Google Drawings to create magnetic poetry, courtesy of @ericcurts (follow him on Twitter) & Control Alt Achieve

Students in Jenni Stansell’s Science class at AMS, are developing Google Sites that address solutions for tomorrow’s environmental challenges. Mrs. Stansell’s students are completing this task in conjunction with the 2017 TAG-ED Middle School Webchallenge, a STEM challenge that focuses on the integration of technology and curriculum. To learn more about the TAG-ED challenge, click here.

Twitter is an excellent medium for learning from others or sharing the great things going on in your classroom or school within the Floyd County PLN or with educators across the country.

Check out the link below to see Mr. Carvajal’s class at MMS doing a Google Hangout with Cat Flippen.

Link to video on Twitter

With Valentine’s Day coming up, why not integrate some SAMR into the experience. Just to remind you SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. The idea of SAMR is to move learning to the Redefinition stage because tech allows for the creation of new things.

This site has some GREAT SAMR lessons for any grade level for Valentine’s Day. There are no tech, low tech, and high tech options available. Get to making some Valentines!