Return of the NPR Student Podcast challenge

As they did last year, NPR is hosting a student podcast challenge.  I know a lot of students are doing podcasts already (but this contest doesn't assume any previous experience).  It's a great opportunity to get student voices heard!

There's even a nice curriculum guide for teachers, complete with lesson plans and a guide for students.

Playing Audio in Google Sites

Google Sites allows you to insert all kinds of content, from images to videos to Google Drive files (docs, slides, etc.). If you want to insert an audio file, the process is a bit different.

Here's how it's done:

1. Put the audio file in Drive
2. Share appropriately and copy the link
3. In Sites, choose embed by URL
4. Paste in share link
5. Adjust the size of the audio player

Here's a video showing how it's done:

And here's an example of it in action.

Getting there with fewer clicks

Teachers,

Where do you go to take attendance? Or to get to Moodle?

You may be missing out on a much easier way.

If you:

• Go to the CVSD website.
• Click through to the CVU website
• Click the Faculty/Staff portal
• Click the icon for Attendance or Enriching Students,

THAT'S A LOT OF CLICKS!

It's important to understand that the icons on the dashboard are simply shortcuts for URLs (the addresses of the respective tools). So, clicking on, say, the Google Drive icon just brings you to https://drive.google.com.

INSTEAD, TRY THIS…

Go to the Chrome omnibox (the place where you type in website addresses).

Type "gra" or "moo"

By the time you've even started to type the third letter (or often even after the first letter), Chrome will have already found the site you're looking for (provided you're on the device you usually use or are logged into Chrome).


For example,

If I type moo, this happens (see how Chrome remembered the rest of it-- in blue?)




And if I type gra, I get this (note that "normal" attendance is through grades.cvsdvt…)




In most cases, the first few letters of the name of the app will get you where you want to go.

Here are the first few letters of each of the commonly used tools at CVU:

To get to….	Type...
Attendance (non-Connect)	gra
Enriching Student (for Connect)	enr
Moodle	moo
Google Gmail	mai
Google Drive	dri
Google calendar	cal
JumpRope	jum

Not sure of an address?  The dashboard will still be there to remind you!

You can also bookmark the sites or add them to your Chromebook desktop or "shelf."

Hope that save you a few clicks.

Digital Citizenship Week (great resources)

Next week (October 14-18) is Digital Citizenship Week.  While it's a bit of a funny week for us with testing and conferences, it's a reminder that we can all play a part in helping students become good digital citizens.  And of course, you can celebrate Digital Citizenship Week any time!

There are many excellent resources at Common Sense Education.  What's great about them is that they're well thought out, produced, and organized; all you have to do it follow the provided lesson plan.

If you've used Common Sense curriculum resources before, you should now that they've recently been updated.

Take a look at the lessons here:
https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/curriculum?grades=9,10,11,12

And here are short videos (with accompanying questions for discussion) that you can play and discuss in a 15-minute window.
https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/5-videos-that-get-teens-thinking-critically-about-media

I'm happy to help you integrate these materials.  Please just let me know.
And also please let me know what you're doing in your classes around digital citizenship so we can share it out.

Thanks for reading.