Huskies in the 21st Century
Content
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± February 8, 2012 Many of our teachers attended the EdModo/IMovie training on Monday in Room E5. Even if you are not interested in utilizing EdModo with your students, you are able to benefit professionally by utilizing the "teacher communities." The teacher communities allow educators to share and discuss classroom ideas. To access: dieruff.edmodo.com
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± February 7, 2012 Tomorrow, February 7, is Safer Internet Day. The Safer Internet Day website offers offers a couple of lesson plans for appropriate for use with teens and tweens. On the same page as the lesson plans you will also find printable posters about acceptable use policies. There is a set of posters for students age six to eleven and a set of posters for students age eleven through sixteen. Website:
http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/guest/resources A Thin Line is a digital safety education resource produced by MTV in collaboration with other media partners. The purpose of the site is to educate teenagers and young adults about the possible repercussions of their digital activities. A Thin Line offers a series of fact sheets about topics like sexting, digital spying, and excessive text messaging and instant messaging. A Thin Line gives students advice on how to recognize those behaviors, the dangers of those behaviors, and how to protect your digital identity. Students can also take a short quiz to practice identifying risky digital behaviors. Website: http://www.athinline.org/ Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± February 3, 2012 During the past two weeks, most teachers have attended our Discovery Education training. Discovery Education provides a wide range of excellent digital media content for use in your classroom. Here is a great idea to use in-conjunction with Discovery Education: try backchanneling! Backchanneling is the practice of allowing real time, networked conversation during an event allowing instant feedback and communication during the event. Backchanneling can be done using a variety of resources; however, my favorite is highlighted below. Cover-it-Live Replay of example from History in Film:
Cover-it-live is quick and easy to set up and will allow you and your students to have a live-time conversation while utilizing digital content!
One quick idea from a Technology Coach: "I'm a technology coach and I recently turned 3 different teachers onto Cover It Live. All 3 teachers used the tool while students watched a video in class. By blogging live the students were much more engaged than simply taking notes during the video. We ended up with more than 10 pages of comments per class during the events, much more conversation than we would have had by just watching a video. Teachers can pose questions to the class while watching without stopping the video. I highly recommend using this tool to create a back channel. We were able to turn a non interactive activity like passively watching a video into something fully interactive."
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 26, 2012 We are very excited about National Digital Learning Day, which will take place on February 1! In an earlier email, I mentioned that Allentown School District is in the process of planning a digital showcase. At this point, we have had a number of teachers either participate, or show interest in participating. We would like to use National Digital Learning Day as catalyst for further digital innovation at Dieruff High School! I would like to invite all teachers to participate! If you are interested, the list of 21st century tools included below may help you. http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Presentation+Tools You may also check out the Digital Learning Day website for further ideas: http://www.digitallearningday.org/ For further help and collaboration, please do not hesitate to contact either Melanie Hoskins or Dave Stauffer! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What is Digital Learning Day?
Digital Learning Day is a culminating event in a year-round national awareness campaign to improve teaching and learning for all children. On Digital Learning Day, we are asking everyone, no matter your comfort with technology±teachers, librarians, school leaders, afterschool programs, community groups, parents±to sign up and be counted in this effort by doing the following:
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Start a conversation. At a PTA/PTO meeting, in your school, department, library, or community-based organization, talk about your goals for your students and how digital learning can help meet their needs. Watch the Digital Learning Day National Town Hall meeting on February 1, 2012 and participate virtually. Watch the daylong webcast and pass it on to others who care about student learning! Not sure where to start? Check out our Getting Started section (coming soon) and soon you'll be on your way! Try one new thing. Sample an online lesson, use mobile devices in class, start a wiki, use digital storytelling, start a project-based learning unit, but above all, challenge your teaching, learning, and
y
pedagogy and see what digital technology can do for you and the students you serve! Check out our resources and toolkits and go digital!
y
Showcase your success. Submit a video of how you are innovating to give the students you work with the best learning experience possible! Better yet, have your students take the lead and show us how digital learning works for them! Check out the Awesome Ideas! page to see what others are doing to celebrate Digital Learning Day.
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Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 24, 2012 The Doodle for Google art contest is back for the fifth consecutive year. The theme of this year's contest is, "If I could travel in time, I'd visit..." The contest is open to K-12 students in the United States. The winner will receive a $30,000 scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for his or her school. Submissions for the contest are due by March 23, 2012. This year pre-registration is not required. That should make it quicker and easier for schools to make submissions. IDEA: This could be a great tie-in as a creative writing project in either English or Social Studies. Writing prompt "If I could travel in time, I'd visit..." I would love to post your student's finished products on our Allentown School District Technology Wiki! You can find more information at (I highly encourage you to watch the intro Youtube video): http://www.google.com/doodle4google/
If you plan to use an online resource to create your Doodle, here are a few suggestions: Crayola's online drawing canvas provides students with a blank canvas on which they can draw using virtual markers, crayons, pencils, and paints. Drawings cannot be saved online, but they can be printed. http://www.crayola.com/coloring_application/index.cfm Sketchpad is a free, feature-rich, online drawing tablet that I recently came across in my stumbling around the Internet. Sketchpad offers users the ability to quickly create drawings. http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/ Psykopaint is an image editing tool that uses the color schemes in your existing images to provide you with a custom palate of colors for touching-up your images. You can also use Psykopaint to draw on an image. http://www.psykopaint.com/
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 17, 2012 Are you interested in an online learning platform? Are you looking for a simpler alternative to Moodle? Dieruff is now hosting EdModo as an online learning tool. While Moodle is a tremendous tool for ³in depth´ elearning, if you are looking for a quick way to post content to your students and receive student assignments then EdModo may be the way to go.
dieruff.edmodo.com (school code is gjp4fi) Edmodo provides teachers and students with a secure and easy way to post classroom materials, share links and videos, and access homework, grades and school notices. Teachers and students can store and share all forms of digital content ± blogs, links, pictures, video, documents, presentations, and more. Furthermore, the interface of EdModo is an exact copy of Facebook«so it will look familiar to students. I have taken a quick snapshot of the EdModo interface and included it below. I have also attached directions on how to get started. Setup and training is extremely quick and easy! If you would like to get started, please email Dave Stauffer at [email protected] or Melanie Hoskins at [email protected].
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 6, 2012 Want to use an online Web 2.0 Tool but students can't create accounts because they don't have access to email? SOLUTION: 10 Minute Mail http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html Email address expires after 10 minutes. Students can create a 'disposable' email account, create Web 2.0 account, verify in 10 minute email account, and start working.
Facebook fans: Set up your allentownsd.org Yammer account! Let's get our Husky Family connected. Go to: https://www.yammer.com/allentownsd.org/ and join the Dieruff Group.
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Organize meetings. Post announcements. Loan & Borrow stuff. Congratulate & Acknowledge colleagues. Share successes & frustations.
Professional Development Opportunity ± Complete a PreConference Form (it never hurts to ask!) We wanted to take a moment to announce that registration is now open for East Stroudsburg Area School District's 5th annual Spring Into Technology Conference. The conference will take place on Saturday, March 24, 2012, at East Stroudsburg South High School. This conference is designed to offer teachers hands-on, workshop sessions in technology integration. Our sessions are presented by district teachers as well as outside presenters. The cost for out-of-district attendees is $40 (early bird of $25 by 2/10/12) which includes up to 3 hands-on workshops, a catered lunch, participant gifts and the chance at some fantastic door prizes. Get ready for a day to renew and reinvent your lessons! Feel free to share our conference website with anyone you might think interested: www.esasd.net/sit. You will find our 2012 conference program, 2012 Conference Registration, directions, and more on our website. Please contact us with any questions you may have ([email protected]). Act fast because registration is limited! Hope to see you there, Brooke Langan, Joseph Martin, Maureen Seidel & Shawn Wescott Technology Integration Coaches East Stroudsburg Area School District
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± December 16, 2011
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± November 18, 2011
2011/2012 Allentown School District Technology Showcase At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, Allentown School District is planning to host a Technology Showcase. The showcase will highlight a variety of technology projects created by ASD students and our goal is to have the final products displayed on the ASD website. Within Dieruff, we are hoping to work with at least one or two teachers in each department to create a ³technology driven,´ ³project based´ lesson plan. At the moment, we have a handful of teachers that have begun the planning process for the Technology Showcase. English Teacher, Megan Elias, will be using "digital storytelling (via www.goanimate.com)´ to recreate scenes from The Crucible. For more information on digital storytelling and GoAnimate.com, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTtETTQUJD0 We are confident that our students will have a lot of fun with this project. If you are interested, we will help you create your lesson plan and will help walk you through every step of the creation process! Upcoming Technology Workshops Are you new to Dieruff High School? Do you need a technology refresher?
We will be offering workshops in E5 during the week of 11/29. The current schedule is below:
Just a quick reminder Please report any/all vandalism of technology to our administrators. Vandalism is a level three offense and will be dealt with in a very serious manner. Currently many of our Macbooks have an expired warranty; therefore, if a computer broken or defaced it will be difficult for us to provide an immediate replacement. Thanks!
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - October 28, 2011 Thank you to all for participating in our Technology Survey! The feedback that we received was tremendously helpful! We are working to alleviate your concerns! As an added bonus, Mr. Mcnulty offered to fund a pizza party for three lucky participants of our survey. Congrats to our winners!: 1. Mr. Quatrone 2. Mrs. Troxell 3. Ms. Reisch If you still have not participated in our survey, it can be found at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFpEVmVhR3UzY05TTEMyX1ZGc1M0eVE6MQ
NEO 2s and Renaissance responders are now available! We have a large quantity of NEO 2 responders and Renaissance Responders available to be assigned to your classroom! A classroom response system (sometimes called a personal response system, student response system, or audience response system) is a set of hardware and software that facilitates teaching activities such as the following: A teacher poses a multiple-choice question to his or her students that is transmitted directly to the responder y Each student submits an answer to the question using a handheld transmitter (a ³clicker´) that beams a radio-frequency signal to a receiver attached to the teacher¶s computer. The Neo2 functions in a similar capacity to a responder; however, it also contains a keyboard. Because of the keyboard function it can be used for writing prompts and the writing responses are sent directly to you. NEO 2s also can be used for word processing!
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We will be glad to deliver a cart to your room & work with you to set it up.
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - October 14, 2011 A reason for your students to take out their cell phone«just for a quick second! www.remind101.com Would you like to gain instant communication with your students? By utilizing Remind101 you can communicate with your students via text message, however teachers don¶t see student phone numbers and students don¶t see teacher phone numbers. In fact, students don¶t even see each other¶s phone numbers. Sign-up takes just a few moments! Once your students are enrolled, you can instantly send a message to a class of students or their parents by using the Remind101 website. Teachers can then send class updates and reminders via text message to anyone that has signed up ± smartphone not required. To learn more, go to: http://www.remind101.com/learn_more Are you looking for a way to give quizzes and test online? www.thatquiz.com Although Moodle offers the ability to give quizzes and tests online, some find the interface of the quiz creator to be troublesome. ThatQuiz.org is a quick and easy test creator. Your tests can be taken online or can be printed. Loading your rosters only takes a minute and all of your students are assigned a password for their test. If you are using Moodle, you can link to That Quiz directly by adding a URL resource. If you are interested in receiving a tutorial on That Quiz, please contact either Dave or Melanie. Set up and training is extremely quick and easy!
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - October 7, 2011
About Huskies in the 21st Century Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new. Introducting Diigo- A better way to search the internet! Social BookMarking ± Do your students spend too much time 'Googling' information with not enough emphasis on collecting quality research information? Create a 'Social BookMarking' Group to steer your students in the right direction. Try Diigo!
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - September 29, 2011 About Huskies in the 21st Century Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new.
Introducing Noodle Tools - http://www.noodletools.com/ As senior projects approach, it reminds me that one of the most common difficulties for our students is the creation of a properly formatted MLA Work Cited page. Allentown School District now offers a great tool to help students create their Work Cited page. Noodle Tools is a ³bibliography composer´ that will analyze, organize, and cite your student¶s sources in proper MLA format.
More information directly from Noodle Tools: Welcome to NoodleBib, a fully-integrated note-taking and documentation program which is anchored in the best practices of academic research and inquiry learning. Known as the most comprehensive and accurate bibliography composer on the Web, NoodleBib also includes a note-takincomponent which enables you to extract, organize and synthesize information that you find during the research process. NoodleBib is a flexible teaching tool which supports both individual learning preferences and a variety of teaching styles. Taking notes and correctly citing your sources has never been easy, as the 50-70% of students who admit to plagiarism can testify. To extract, understand, summarize, synthesize and integrate notes from multiple online and print sources requires both analytical and creative thinking. Documenting those sources by sifting through hundreds of pages of the appropriate style manual is challenging ± and the examples in those books don't always match the information you can find about the source you have. Finally, printed notes don't facilitate a comparison of the authority and value of your sources. That's not to say that examples of notecards or citations aren't available. Many Web sites show samples of notetaking cards, examples of summaries and paraphrases, and thousands of Web sites contain citation examples. If you compare an example given on one site with a similar example on a different site, you are likely to become confused ± they're inconsistent. University professors, database vendors, and librarians often disagree about methods and formats. Nor does telling you to "say it in your own words" provide you with the just-in-time scaffolding and organizational structure that can help you think and create your own work. The NoodleBib solution: Convenient Web-based software to extract and organize notes from your sources as you build your working bibliography. Tools that help you think, assess, and synthesize ideas -- and complete a
polished source list that accurately reflects the latest editions and interpretations of the MLA Handbook, APA Publication Manual, or Chicago Manual of Style.
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - September 23, 2011 About Huskies in the 21st Century Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new. Wikispaces ± A website made easy! Would you like to maintain a website for your classroom? Great news«Wikispaces are fun, easy to create, and completely free! Wouldn¶t it be great to have your own website to show to our visitors during open house night on September 28? As a matter of fact, our Dieruff Technology website was created through Wikispaces (http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/)! Please contact Dave or Melanie today to set up your Wikispace page! About Wikispaces: · · · · Create collaborative content Host class information, materials, and projects centrally so everyone can retrieve information and contribute information. No coding or webdesign experience is needed. Accounts are required for use. Students do not need email addresses to join your wiki.
To create your account: http://www.wikispaces.com/content/for/teachers
A Big Thank You! We understand that there have been many technologicial challenges during the first few weeks of school. Our Technology Coaches along with our IT Department have worked tirelessly to correct all existing problems. We thank you for your patience! As the school year progresses, Dave and Melanie will always be available to support you with integrating technology into your daily instruction. Let's lead our students to Higher Order Thinking Skills as we focus on Eligible Content!
** For all IT issues, Jonmichael Vito and Spencer Bernhard are available at Dieruff High School on a full-time basis! **
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - September 8, 2011 Great news! The new Allentown Moodle system is now open and operational. The new Moodle can be found at: http://moodle.allentownsd.org/
What is Moodle? Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS). It has become very popular among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic websites for their students. Moodle has several features considered typical of an e-learning platform, plus some original innovations (like its filtering system). Moodle is very similar to a learning management system. Moodle can be used in many types of environments such as in education, training and development, and business settings. Some typical features of Moodle are
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Assignment submission Discussion forum Files download Grading Moodle instant messages Online calendar Online news and announcement Online quiz Wiki
Example of a Moodle used at Dieruff High School: VISIT MR. STAUFFER'S MOODLE COURSE (click: log in as a guest): If you are interested in using Moodle in your classroom, I am available for one-on-one training session to help you with your course set-up. Please e-mail me with your availability! Hi All, Welcome to a new school year! With a new school year brings new changes. Tom Derhammer has been named Director of Technology for Allentown School District, and his former position as Technology Integration Leader is now being directed by Dave Stauffer and myself (Melanie Hoskins). We are excited to take on this role and look forward to working very closely with Dieruff High School teachers in the education and development of our students. Dave & I will be working together this year on a number of projects. Our responsibilities include: Afternoons: LCCC Dual Enrollment ³Tech Support´ in Rooms B-6, F-17, G-5, & D-9 All Day: Cyber Learning / Credit Recovery in Room E-5 extension 2584 CDT Testing Coordinators Instructional Coaches Below are some updates about your concerns: POP & Sapphire Access on SHARED MacBooks ± There is currently a Parental Control feature activated that is blocking those sites. IT is coming over this afternoon to show us how to rectify the problem and we will come around tomorrow and change this for you. Teachers will not be provided with the ADMIN password for these machines. You will have to go through IT for software installation & updates.
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SMARTBoard Software ± If you have ADMINISTRATOR rights, you can install it yourself. See link below. If you do not ± we can install it for you when we change Parental Controls. For SMART Notebook Collaborative Learning software download information please follow:http://www.smarttech.com/us/Support/Browse+Support/Download+Software (Product key: NBAEAAN-CADPM-R9484-DSCAB). Use the 10.8 version for MAC or Windows. GREAT NEWS ± We have an in-house technology specialist, Jonmichael Vito & Tech Assistant Spencer Bernhard, who will be available to answer heat tickets in a timely manner. Please email [email protected] or call HELP (4357) with issues relating to internet, network, hardware setup, computer connections, printers, software installation, projectors, interactive whiteboards & other general computer problems.
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ATTN: Moodle Users ±NEW SITE http://moodle.allentownsd.org/ The site is now public. Start by creating your account using your allentownsd.org email address. More details will follow with instructions on how to create courses and add students. Math Teachers & Computer Labs ± I understand the math curriculum involves a lot of online work & assessment. Please work together with scheduling online work & sharing carts within your department. There is a computer lab in B-6 that you can sign up for at the library help desk. Also, Room F-17 is available for sign out during Periods 1-4. Email Dave or me if you wish to use this room. Projectors ± FYI there are a few in the library available for sign out. What do Dave & I actually do? Our #1 goal as Technology Integration Leaders (TILs) is to guide you in the incorporation of technology into your curriculum & daily lessons.
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As a resource, we have created http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/home1 that is loaded with links, ideas, & helpful hints that you are welcome to explore. This site will serve as a resource for all technology related material, including news and tech bulletins. a. Start HERE: http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/newmedia b. or HERE: http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/Project+Starters 2. Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new. Please email us or call 2584 for an appointment! We hope you all have a great year!
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Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± February 7, 2012 Tomorrow, February 7, is Safer Internet Day. The Safer Internet Day website offers offers a couple of lesson plans for appropriate for use with teens and tweens. On the same page as the lesson plans you will also find printable posters about acceptable use policies. There is a set of posters for students age six to eleven and a set of posters for students age eleven through sixteen. Website:
http://www.saferinternetday.org/web/guest/resources A Thin Line is a digital safety education resource produced by MTV in collaboration with other media partners. The purpose of the site is to educate teenagers and young adults about the possible repercussions of their digital activities. A Thin Line offers a series of fact sheets about topics like sexting, digital spying, and excessive text messaging and instant messaging. A Thin Line gives students advice on how to recognize those behaviors, the dangers of those behaviors, and how to protect your digital identity. Students can also take a short quiz to practice identifying risky digital behaviors. Website: http://www.athinline.org/ Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± February 3, 2012 During the past two weeks, most teachers have attended our Discovery Education training. Discovery Education provides a wide range of excellent digital media content for use in your classroom. Here is a great idea to use in-conjunction with Discovery Education: try backchanneling! Backchanneling is the practice of allowing real time, networked conversation during an event allowing instant feedback and communication during the event. Backchanneling can be done using a variety of resources; however, my favorite is highlighted below. Cover-it-Live Replay of example from History in Film:
Cover-it-live is quick and easy to set up and will allow you and your students to have a live-time conversation while utilizing digital content!
One quick idea from a Technology Coach: "I'm a technology coach and I recently turned 3 different teachers onto Cover It Live. All 3 teachers used the tool while students watched a video in class. By blogging live the students were much more engaged than simply taking notes during the video. We ended up with more than 10 pages of comments per class during the events, much more conversation than we would have had by just watching a video. Teachers can pose questions to the class while watching without stopping the video. I highly recommend using this tool to create a back channel. We were able to turn a non interactive activity like passively watching a video into something fully interactive."
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 26, 2012 We are very excited about National Digital Learning Day, which will take place on February 1! In an earlier email, I mentioned that Allentown School District is in the process of planning a digital showcase. At this point, we have had a number of teachers either participate, or show interest in participating. We would like to use National Digital Learning Day as catalyst for further digital innovation at Dieruff High School! I would like to invite all teachers to participate! If you are interested, the list of 21st century tools included below may help you. http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Presentation+Tools You may also check out the Digital Learning Day website for further ideas: http://www.digitallearningday.org/ For further help and collaboration, please do not hesitate to contact either Melanie Hoskins or Dave Stauffer! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------What is Digital Learning Day?
Digital Learning Day is a culminating event in a year-round national awareness campaign to improve teaching and learning for all children. On Digital Learning Day, we are asking everyone, no matter your comfort with technology±teachers, librarians, school leaders, afterschool programs, community groups, parents±to sign up and be counted in this effort by doing the following:
y
Start a conversation. At a PTA/PTO meeting, in your school, department, library, or community-based organization, talk about your goals for your students and how digital learning can help meet their needs. Watch the Digital Learning Day National Town Hall meeting on February 1, 2012 and participate virtually. Watch the daylong webcast and pass it on to others who care about student learning! Not sure where to start? Check out our Getting Started section (coming soon) and soon you'll be on your way! Try one new thing. Sample an online lesson, use mobile devices in class, start a wiki, use digital storytelling, start a project-based learning unit, but above all, challenge your teaching, learning, and
y
pedagogy and see what digital technology can do for you and the students you serve! Check out our resources and toolkits and go digital!
y
Showcase your success. Submit a video of how you are innovating to give the students you work with the best learning experience possible! Better yet, have your students take the lead and show us how digital learning works for them! Check out the Awesome Ideas! page to see what others are doing to celebrate Digital Learning Day.
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Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 24, 2012 The Doodle for Google art contest is back for the fifth consecutive year. The theme of this year's contest is, "If I could travel in time, I'd visit..." The contest is open to K-12 students in the United States. The winner will receive a $30,000 scholarship and a $50,000 technology grant for his or her school. Submissions for the contest are due by March 23, 2012. This year pre-registration is not required. That should make it quicker and easier for schools to make submissions. IDEA: This could be a great tie-in as a creative writing project in either English or Social Studies. Writing prompt "If I could travel in time, I'd visit..." I would love to post your student's finished products on our Allentown School District Technology Wiki! You can find more information at (I highly encourage you to watch the intro Youtube video): http://www.google.com/doodle4google/
If you plan to use an online resource to create your Doodle, here are a few suggestions: Crayola's online drawing canvas provides students with a blank canvas on which they can draw using virtual markers, crayons, pencils, and paints. Drawings cannot be saved online, but they can be printed. http://www.crayola.com/coloring_application/index.cfm Sketchpad is a free, feature-rich, online drawing tablet that I recently came across in my stumbling around the Internet. Sketchpad offers users the ability to quickly create drawings. http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/ Psykopaint is an image editing tool that uses the color schemes in your existing images to provide you with a custom palate of colors for touching-up your images. You can also use Psykopaint to draw on an image. http://www.psykopaint.com/
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 17, 2012 Are you interested in an online learning platform? Are you looking for a simpler alternative to Moodle? Dieruff is now hosting EdModo as an online learning tool. While Moodle is a tremendous tool for ³in depth´ elearning, if you are looking for a quick way to post content to your students and receive student assignments then EdModo may be the way to go.
dieruff.edmodo.com (school code is gjp4fi) Edmodo provides teachers and students with a secure and easy way to post classroom materials, share links and videos, and access homework, grades and school notices. Teachers and students can store and share all forms of digital content ± blogs, links, pictures, video, documents, presentations, and more. Furthermore, the interface of EdModo is an exact copy of Facebook«so it will look familiar to students. I have taken a quick snapshot of the EdModo interface and included it below. I have also attached directions on how to get started. Setup and training is extremely quick and easy! If you would like to get started, please email Dave Stauffer at [email protected] or Melanie Hoskins at [email protected].
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± January 6, 2012 Want to use an online Web 2.0 Tool but students can't create accounts because they don't have access to email? SOLUTION: 10 Minute Mail http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html Email address expires after 10 minutes. Students can create a 'disposable' email account, create Web 2.0 account, verify in 10 minute email account, and start working.
Facebook fans: Set up your allentownsd.org Yammer account! Let's get our Husky Family connected. Go to: https://www.yammer.com/allentownsd.org/ and join the Dieruff Group.
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Organize meetings. Post announcements. Loan & Borrow stuff. Congratulate & Acknowledge colleagues. Share successes & frustations.
Professional Development Opportunity ± Complete a PreConference Form (it never hurts to ask!) We wanted to take a moment to announce that registration is now open for East Stroudsburg Area School District's 5th annual Spring Into Technology Conference. The conference will take place on Saturday, March 24, 2012, at East Stroudsburg South High School. This conference is designed to offer teachers hands-on, workshop sessions in technology integration. Our sessions are presented by district teachers as well as outside presenters. The cost for out-of-district attendees is $40 (early bird of $25 by 2/10/12) which includes up to 3 hands-on workshops, a catered lunch, participant gifts and the chance at some fantastic door prizes. Get ready for a day to renew and reinvent your lessons! Feel free to share our conference website with anyone you might think interested: www.esasd.net/sit. You will find our 2012 conference program, 2012 Conference Registration, directions, and more on our website. Please contact us with any questions you may have ([email protected]). Act fast because registration is limited! Hope to see you there, Brooke Langan, Joseph Martin, Maureen Seidel & Shawn Wescott Technology Integration Coaches East Stroudsburg Area School District
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± December 16, 2011
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter ± November 18, 2011
2011/2012 Allentown School District Technology Showcase At the end of the 2011-2012 school year, Allentown School District is planning to host a Technology Showcase. The showcase will highlight a variety of technology projects created by ASD students and our goal is to have the final products displayed on the ASD website. Within Dieruff, we are hoping to work with at least one or two teachers in each department to create a ³technology driven,´ ³project based´ lesson plan. At the moment, we have a handful of teachers that have begun the planning process for the Technology Showcase. English Teacher, Megan Elias, will be using "digital storytelling (via www.goanimate.com)´ to recreate scenes from The Crucible. For more information on digital storytelling and GoAnimate.com, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTtETTQUJD0 We are confident that our students will have a lot of fun with this project. If you are interested, we will help you create your lesson plan and will help walk you through every step of the creation process! Upcoming Technology Workshops Are you new to Dieruff High School? Do you need a technology refresher?
We will be offering workshops in E5 during the week of 11/29. The current schedule is below:
Just a quick reminder Please report any/all vandalism of technology to our administrators. Vandalism is a level three offense and will be dealt with in a very serious manner. Currently many of our Macbooks have an expired warranty; therefore, if a computer broken or defaced it will be difficult for us to provide an immediate replacement. Thanks!
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - October 28, 2011 Thank you to all for participating in our Technology Survey! The feedback that we received was tremendously helpful! We are working to alleviate your concerns! As an added bonus, Mr. Mcnulty offered to fund a pizza party for three lucky participants of our survey. Congrats to our winners!: 1. Mr. Quatrone 2. Mrs. Troxell 3. Ms. Reisch If you still have not participated in our survey, it can be found at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFpEVmVhR3UzY05TTEMyX1ZGc1M0eVE6MQ
NEO 2s and Renaissance responders are now available! We have a large quantity of NEO 2 responders and Renaissance Responders available to be assigned to your classroom! A classroom response system (sometimes called a personal response system, student response system, or audience response system) is a set of hardware and software that facilitates teaching activities such as the following: A teacher poses a multiple-choice question to his or her students that is transmitted directly to the responder y Each student submits an answer to the question using a handheld transmitter (a ³clicker´) that beams a radio-frequency signal to a receiver attached to the teacher¶s computer. The Neo2 functions in a similar capacity to a responder; however, it also contains a keyboard. Because of the keyboard function it can be used for writing prompts and the writing responses are sent directly to you. NEO 2s also can be used for word processing!
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We will be glad to deliver a cart to your room & work with you to set it up.
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - October 14, 2011 A reason for your students to take out their cell phone«just for a quick second! www.remind101.com Would you like to gain instant communication with your students? By utilizing Remind101 you can communicate with your students via text message, however teachers don¶t see student phone numbers and students don¶t see teacher phone numbers. In fact, students don¶t even see each other¶s phone numbers. Sign-up takes just a few moments! Once your students are enrolled, you can instantly send a message to a class of students or their parents by using the Remind101 website. Teachers can then send class updates and reminders via text message to anyone that has signed up ± smartphone not required. To learn more, go to: http://www.remind101.com/learn_more Are you looking for a way to give quizzes and test online? www.thatquiz.com Although Moodle offers the ability to give quizzes and tests online, some find the interface of the quiz creator to be troublesome. ThatQuiz.org is a quick and easy test creator. Your tests can be taken online or can be printed. Loading your rosters only takes a minute and all of your students are assigned a password for their test. If you are using Moodle, you can link to That Quiz directly by adding a URL resource. If you are interested in receiving a tutorial on That Quiz, please contact either Dave or Melanie. Set up and training is extremely quick and easy!
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - October 7, 2011
About Huskies in the 21st Century Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new. Introducting Diigo- A better way to search the internet! Social BookMarking ± Do your students spend too much time 'Googling' information with not enough emphasis on collecting quality research information? Create a 'Social BookMarking' Group to steer your students in the right direction. Try Diigo!
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - September 29, 2011 About Huskies in the 21st Century Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new.
Introducing Noodle Tools - http://www.noodletools.com/ As senior projects approach, it reminds me that one of the most common difficulties for our students is the creation of a properly formatted MLA Work Cited page. Allentown School District now offers a great tool to help students create their Work Cited page. Noodle Tools is a ³bibliography composer´ that will analyze, organize, and cite your student¶s sources in proper MLA format.
More information directly from Noodle Tools: Welcome to NoodleBib, a fully-integrated note-taking and documentation program which is anchored in the best practices of academic research and inquiry learning. Known as the most comprehensive and accurate bibliography composer on the Web, NoodleBib also includes a note-takincomponent which enables you to extract, organize and synthesize information that you find during the research process. NoodleBib is a flexible teaching tool which supports both individual learning preferences and a variety of teaching styles. Taking notes and correctly citing your sources has never been easy, as the 50-70% of students who admit to plagiarism can testify. To extract, understand, summarize, synthesize and integrate notes from multiple online and print sources requires both analytical and creative thinking. Documenting those sources by sifting through hundreds of pages of the appropriate style manual is challenging ± and the examples in those books don't always match the information you can find about the source you have. Finally, printed notes don't facilitate a comparison of the authority and value of your sources. That's not to say that examples of notecards or citations aren't available. Many Web sites show samples of notetaking cards, examples of summaries and paraphrases, and thousands of Web sites contain citation examples. If you compare an example given on one site with a similar example on a different site, you are likely to become confused ± they're inconsistent. University professors, database vendors, and librarians often disagree about methods and formats. Nor does telling you to "say it in your own words" provide you with the just-in-time scaffolding and organizational structure that can help you think and create your own work. The NoodleBib solution: Convenient Web-based software to extract and organize notes from your sources as you build your working bibliography. Tools that help you think, assess, and synthesize ideas -- and complete a
polished source list that accurately reflects the latest editions and interpretations of the MLA Handbook, APA Publication Manual, or Chicago Manual of Style.
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - September 23, 2011 About Huskies in the 21st Century Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new. Wikispaces ± A website made easy! Would you like to maintain a website for your classroom? Great news«Wikispaces are fun, easy to create, and completely free! Wouldn¶t it be great to have your own website to show to our visitors during open house night on September 28? As a matter of fact, our Dieruff Technology website was created through Wikispaces (http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/)! Please contact Dave or Melanie today to set up your Wikispace page! About Wikispaces: · · · · Create collaborative content Host class information, materials, and projects centrally so everyone can retrieve information and contribute information. No coding or webdesign experience is needed. Accounts are required for use. Students do not need email addresses to join your wiki.
To create your account: http://www.wikispaces.com/content/for/teachers
A Big Thank You! We understand that there have been many technologicial challenges during the first few weeks of school. Our Technology Coaches along with our IT Department have worked tirelessly to correct all existing problems. We thank you for your patience! As the school year progresses, Dave and Melanie will always be available to support you with integrating technology into your daily instruction. Let's lead our students to Higher Order Thinking Skills as we focus on Eligible Content!
** For all IT issues, Jonmichael Vito and Spencer Bernhard are available at Dieruff High School on a full-time basis! **
Huskies in the 21st Century - Newsletter - September 8, 2011 Great news! The new Allentown Moodle system is now open and operational. The new Moodle can be found at: http://moodle.allentownsd.org/
What is Moodle? Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS). It has become very popular among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic websites for their students. Moodle has several features considered typical of an e-learning platform, plus some original innovations (like its filtering system). Moodle is very similar to a learning management system. Moodle can be used in many types of environments such as in education, training and development, and business settings. Some typical features of Moodle are
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Assignment submission Discussion forum Files download Grading Moodle instant messages Online calendar Online news and announcement Online quiz Wiki
Example of a Moodle used at Dieruff High School: VISIT MR. STAUFFER'S MOODLE COURSE (click: log in as a guest): If you are interested in using Moodle in your classroom, I am available for one-on-one training session to help you with your course set-up. Please e-mail me with your availability! Hi All, Welcome to a new school year! With a new school year brings new changes. Tom Derhammer has been named Director of Technology for Allentown School District, and his former position as Technology Integration Leader is now being directed by Dave Stauffer and myself (Melanie Hoskins). We are excited to take on this role and look forward to working very closely with Dieruff High School teachers in the education and development of our students. Dave & I will be working together this year on a number of projects. Our responsibilities include: Afternoons: LCCC Dual Enrollment ³Tech Support´ in Rooms B-6, F-17, G-5, & D-9 All Day: Cyber Learning / Credit Recovery in Room E-5 extension 2584 CDT Testing Coordinators Instructional Coaches Below are some updates about your concerns: POP & Sapphire Access on SHARED MacBooks ± There is currently a Parental Control feature activated that is blocking those sites. IT is coming over this afternoon to show us how to rectify the problem and we will come around tomorrow and change this for you. Teachers will not be provided with the ADMIN password for these machines. You will have to go through IT for software installation & updates.
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SMARTBoard Software ± If you have ADMINISTRATOR rights, you can install it yourself. See link below. If you do not ± we can install it for you when we change Parental Controls. For SMART Notebook Collaborative Learning software download information please follow:http://www.smarttech.com/us/Support/Browse+Support/Download+Software (Product key: NBAEAAN-CADPM-R9484-DSCAB). Use the 10.8 version for MAC or Windows. GREAT NEWS ± We have an in-house technology specialist, Jonmichael Vito & Tech Assistant Spencer Bernhard, who will be available to answer heat tickets in a timely manner. Please email [email protected] or call HELP (4357) with issues relating to internet, network, hardware setup, computer connections, printers, software installation, projectors, interactive whiteboards & other general computer problems.
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ATTN: Moodle Users ±NEW SITE http://moodle.allentownsd.org/ The site is now public. Start by creating your account using your allentownsd.org email address. More details will follow with instructions on how to create courses and add students. Math Teachers & Computer Labs ± I understand the math curriculum involves a lot of online work & assessment. Please work together with scheduling online work & sharing carts within your department. There is a computer lab in B-6 that you can sign up for at the library help desk. Also, Room F-17 is available for sign out during Periods 1-4. Email Dave or me if you wish to use this room. Projectors ± FYI there are a few in the library available for sign out. What do Dave & I actually do? Our #1 goal as Technology Integration Leaders (TILs) is to guide you in the incorporation of technology into your curriculum & daily lessons.
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As a resource, we have created http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/home1 that is loaded with links, ideas, & helpful hints that you are welcome to explore. This site will serve as a resource for all technology related material, including news and tech bulletins. a. Start HERE: http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/newmedia b. or HERE: http://dierufftechnology.wikispaces.com/Project+Starters 2. Every Friday, we will share a newsletter titled ³Huskies in the 21st Century´. This newsletter will take an indepth look at resources available for your classroom. We look forward to invitations from you to work on creating technology-infused lessons. We can also be available to co-teach with you or even be a second set of eyes in your classroom if you would like to try something new. Please email us or call 2584 for an appointment! We hope you all have a great year!
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