Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Summer PD Opportunities

Here are some good-looking opportunities for PD this summer involving tech. I know the people presenting these and they do a good job.

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Please check out our summer offerings of workshops and courses. It is important that you register early.   Signup early to save a spot.  June 23rd is the last day to signup. Decisions will be made by the end of June if a course/workshop will not run.    Please share these offerings with your colleagues and educator friends. Class locations are Essex and Colchester, please see details below. Come learn some new technologies while creating new lessons to use with students.


Chris CichoskiKelly, Joanne Finnegan and I will be offering several options for you. We have some full day workshops and some week long graduate courses. Our focus in all of these is to increase your knowledge of the tools that you have available to you as well as integrating them into your classroom.   

Google Workshops (4 full day options) - Descriptions below - Location Champlain Valley Educator Development Center, Colchester
  • July 10: Gmail, Calendar and Google Keep - $150
  • July 11: Google Drive, Docs/Sheets, Add-Ons - $150
  • July 24: Google Forms, Google Drawing, Google Slides & Youtube - $150
  • July 25: Google Classroom - $150

Three Credit Course: Empowering Learners Using Technology - $1200 w/grad credit - Non CVEDC members $1300 w/grad credit - $825 without credit
Location: Essex Middle School, Essex
Summer Hybrid: 5 days - August 2,3,4,7,8
8 additional online hours on Edu2.0 week of July 24th
Target Audience: Grade K-12 Educators
See course description below

Three Credit Course: Weaving Standards, Technology and Lifelong Skills into Content Areas - $1200 w/grad credit - Non CVEDC members $1300 w/grad credit - $825 without credit
Location: Champlain Valley Educator Development Center, Colchester
August 14-18, Monday through Friday
Target Audience: Grade K-12 Educators
See course description below

************** Descriptions ***************************
Google workshop descriptions:(Click on Workshop Title to get to registration form)
These workshops are appropriate for all staff who work in school systems that use Google products. Each day will have a different focus and you can choose to take 1, 2, 3, or all 4.   There is an incentive if you do take all 4 - a $25 gift card. These will be held in the Champlain Valley Educator Development Center in Fort Ethan Allen, Colchester.  

This hands-on full day workshop will allow participants to become more
familiar with Google Mail and Google Calendars. We will delve as deeply into
these apps as time allows. Participants will have the opportunity to explore
and apply mail filters, labels, and additional mail settings; create and share
calendars, and create calendar events. The focus will be to help increase
productivity in your day-to-day use of Gmail and Calendar.
Google Keep is another productivity tool that will help you organize your todo lists or take notes. This session will also include a brief explanation of G+
and its features.

This hands-on full day workshop will give participants a thorough
understanding of Google Drive, including Docs and Sheets. We will
concentrate on the features that make Google Drive a tool that can facilitate
sharing documents and working collaboratively. There will be several
opportunities to see how you might use these tools to work personally as
well with colleagues and students. Participants will learn some organization
and productivity strategies for these tools. We will share some of our favorite
add-ons that make these tools even more effective.

This hands-on day long workshop will include how to create and use Google
Forms, particularly in the classroom. Forms can be used to create quizzes,
gather information, and to have people sign up for events. Participants will
also learn the basics of Google Drawing, a possible alternative to Microsoft
Publisher, and how to integrate it into other Google Products. YouTube has
several features that make editing video and creating photo slideshows quick
and easy. Google Slides, a presentation editor, similar to PowerPoint, will
also be introduced. Participants will explore ways these Google products can
be used both in the classroom and in personal life.

This hands-on day long workshop will focus on learning about the uses and
advantages of Google Classroom. This tool is excellent for distributing work
to students maximizing your teaching time. Google Classroom can improve
your class organization, allowing you to create assignments quickly, provide
feedback and communicate with parents and students easily. You will learn
about the basic and advanced components of Google Classroom, how to
share various forms of media and which websites integrate well with Google
Classroom. Be prepared to start your school year off organized and ready.


Three Credit Courses:
Empowering Learners Using Technology(click title to register)
Summer Hybrid: 5 days - August 2,3,4,7,8
8 additional online hours on Edu2.0 week of July 24th
Location: Essex Middle School
Summer Hybrid: 5 days/ 8 additional online hours on Edu2.0
Target Audience: Grade K-12 Educators
This 3 graduate credit course will explore the new and emerging technologies that can support and empower learners. Models of technology integration will be compared with focus on Scott McLeod’s Trudacot (Technology-Rich Unit Design And Classroom Observation Template), a template of questions that encourage educators to think purposefully about how technology is being used in their classrooms.
Participants will:
  • Discuss current movements in educational technology including STEAM, coding, Maker Spaces, design thinking, connected learning and blended learning.
  • Explore newer technologies including virtual reality, creation of memes and infographics
  • Explore a variety of apps that support the Four C’s
  • Develop hyperlinked digital lessons using Google Apps, the new standards and newer technologies to purposefully embed technology.
  • Create or redesign a series of lessons using the frameworks examined in class and that are aligned with the ISTE 2016 and curriculum standards.
Most of the work will be done using Google Chrome and can be accomplished on a Chromebook or laptop running the Chrome browser. Chromebooks can be provided in the classroom for those not having one to bring.  Books will be available before the start of the class as there is required reading prior  to the first classroom date.  St Michael’s registration forms will be online and need to be returned to CVEDC by 7/28/17 for graduate credit..


August 14-18, Monday through Friday
Location: Champlain Valley Educator Development Center, Colchester
Target Audience: Grade K-12 Educators
Format: 5 class days and some online hours during the week.
Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Innovation, Inquiry and Problem Solving are the Transferable Skills identified by the VT AOE.
This 3-credit course will focus on the use of technology to help all students attain National and Vermont standards and skills. Using technology tools, apps and resources that are inexpensive or freely available, educators will learn how to bring student learning to a higher level. We will focus on how to align content-based graduation proficiencies with the transferable skills to create curriculum around all content areas.
Participants will:  
  • Spend time researching apps and extensions that can be used on any device that can use a Chrome browser, including many Google Apps for Education Programs and Add-ons.
  • Explore Universal Design for Learning and the use of assistive technology to meet the needs of all students.  
  • Compare and contrast appropriate content standards, ISTE Student Technology Standards, and the Vermont AOE transferable skills identifying how technology supports these standards and skills.  
  • Design a project that incorporates transferable skills, technology, assessments, and indicates understanding of higher level uses of technology to help students achieve standards.
Contact any of us for more information.

Thursday, May 18, 2017

More on the New Google Sites

As 9th graders are using Google Sites for their PLPs, you will notice that some of them are using the "old" editor and others are using the new editor.  This is good time to update you on what's going on with Google Sites (which I posted about earlier here).

The new Sites has a fresh, modern look and allows for more precise placement of content. As of yet, it is still missing some important features, most  notably the ability to copy a site from a template.  I hope that this will be addressed soon.

You can continue to switch back and forth from old to new through 2017 (see below), however in 2018, Google plans to no longer support the old editor.  Therefore, if you are creating a new site, it is best to use the new editor at this point.






There is not currently a tool to migrate content from old sites to new sites.  This would be a manual copy and paste for now.

I will update if and when Google comes out with a migration tool.


Saturday, May 6, 2017

Some great tips for Google Docs efficiency

Here are some great time-saving tips for using Google Docs (from a post at getvoip.com).
Keep these handy!


Complete graphic is at:



https://getvoip.com/blog/2017/05/01/google-doc-hacks/

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Google Earth now works on Chromebooks!

There is a brand new version of Google Earth and it works on Chromebooks.  One popular use of Google Earth in classrooms is "Lit trips," in which students explore the geography of places they've read about.  Here's a nice step-by-step guide  by Eric Curtis for doing a Lit trip on a Chromebook.