Summer 2019: Tools and Blended Learning

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In our 4th year of Blended Learning June offerings, we are excited to offer Hall County teachers access to professional learning around the most effective tools to use in a blended learning setting. Online offerings open May 30th and blended offerings start the first face-to-face training day.

All face-to-face training is at the Hall County Instructional Support Center, 2750 Atlanta Highway, Gainesville, GA 30504.

*teachers are not eligible to participate in certifications if they already hold that certification.

Canvas Apps

Canvas Foundational Courses: K-12 Hall County Teachers, 90 spots, $450 paid for completion
Blended format: Leveled to current Canvas instructor experience, this training provides one day of face-to-face training with a Canvas Trainer. To complete the course, finish two days worth of learning, submissions, peer reviews, and assessments online.

brainpop app

*BrainPOP Certification: K-8 Hall County Teachers, 50 spots, $300 paid for completion
Blended format: This training provides one day of face-to-face training with BrainPop. To complete the course, finish one more day online.

thinglink app

*ThingLink Certified Educator Certification: K-12 Hall County Teachers,
20 spots, $150 paid for completion
Online format:
Submit to ThingLink before June 14th.

nearpod app

*Nearpod Certified Educator Certification: K-12 Hall County Teachers, 20 spots, $150 paid for completion
Online format:

Submit to Nearpod before June 14th.

newsela app

*NewELA Certified Educator Certification: K-12 Hall County Teachers, 20 spots, $150 paid for completion
Online format:

Submit to NewsELA before June 14th.

flipgrid app

*FlipGrid Certified Educator (Level 1 & 2) Certification: K-12 Hall County Teachers, 20 spots, $150 paid for completion
Online format:

Submit to FlipGrid before June 14th.

*teachers are not eligible to participate in certifications if they already hold that certification.

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Remind District Subscription

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For all those teachers already using Remind in their classroom, congratulations on the upgrade!
Hall County Schools has purchased a district license for Remind, formerly Remind101. This provides existing users using their Hall County email address Premium Features.  Look for integration with Canvas LMS in August!

Make your own copy of this presentation.

Blended Learning Support Team leaders at each school received training on the administrator’s dashboard.
BLaST leaders were encouraged to form a school plan for communication this Spring with the school leadership.

School BLaST & Administrator Training Resources:

UPDATE for 19-20 School Year:

Brief 30-minute train-the-trainer refresher webinar for BLaST leaders/school Admin or leadership on Remind:

K-5: August 2nd at 9 & 11 AM, 12 & 2 PM 30-minute sessions for a train-the-trainer model/school as a refresher on Remind.

6-12: August 1st at 9&11 AM, 1&3 PM 30-minute sessions for a train-the-trainer model/school as a refresher on Remind.

 

Check with your Principal on the new handle or username for your school this school year!

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RAZ Plus: Finish the Year Strong!

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Hall County purchases Reading A-Z, RAZ kids, RAZ Plus, and Science A-Z for our elementary schools. There are several ways to learn more about the parent company, Learning A-Z:

  1. Please find below the April schedule for webinars.
  2. Our professional learning representative from Learning A-Z, Angela Romano also offers Teacher Talk, the 2nd Wednesday of every month. https://attendee.gototraining.com/r/3807150668191627266
    Training ID: 458-428-396
  3. Please see Top 10 End of Grade/Course Resources newsletter below.

Read more

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Gizmos for Math and Science 6-12

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Gizmos are standards-aligned simulations for math and science classes.  Gizmos are currently purchased for Hall County students in 6-12 grades.

Improved Integration

Starting Fall of 2019, students and staff will have easier login procedures as Hall County’s integration with Explore Learning evolves. Future logins from LaunchPoint will create user account versus a current process where students had to create an account.

New Cases Format

Explore Learning has newly added 3 STEM cases and handbooks this spring. Students assume the role of a scientist trying to solve a real-world problem. They use scientific practices to collect and analyze data, and form and test a hypothesis as they solve the problem.

  • Each STEM Case uses real-time reporting to show live student results.
  • STEM Cases take between 30 – 90 minutes for students to complete, depending on the case.
  • Multiple grade appropriate versions, or levels, exist for each STEM Case.
  • Each STEM Case level has an associated Handbook. These are interactive guides that focus on the science concepts underlying the case.

Expect 3 more STEM cases to be added this summer and 3 more next fall.

Support

Training is on-going through eLearning and redelivery planning support to departments/content areas can be supported by eLearning.

As the type of Gizmos content continues to grow, you may want to test student devices from time to time, especially when you try a new Gizmo. You can check System Requirements and Check your Video Card by finding “System Requirements” at the bottom of any Gizmos page.

This is also where you can find email or phone support. eLearning does not have a view into this system, so often the teacher will want to reach out to Explore Learning directly.

 

Explore Learning Banner

 

 

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OneNote

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OneNote is a Microsoft product to help organize content. It integrates with other Microsoft products you already use as well.

It can be used as a productivity tool for planning, collaborating, routine tasks. But it can also be used to push out content to students. It can even allow students to interact with that content and keep a copy of it in their personal Class Notebook (in Canvas).

Where to Find OneNote

Hall County training so far has covered OneNote Online, accessible through Office 365. You access this version via LaunchPoint > Office 365 with your HallCo Credentials.

Office 365 Online Apps

You may intuitively understand the difference between OneNote Online and the other versions. The online versions exist on the Internet, The Cloud. And both OneNote 2016 and the Windows 10 app are tied to a device.

Look for these on your HallCo issued device.
If you have not upgraded to Windows 10 yet, here is one more reason!

OneNote Win 10 app beside OneNote 2016

When you want to explore the difference between OneNote and OneNote 2016, follow this link. You can designate either version to be your default app for opening OneNote links and files. Learn how to change the default version of OneNote.

How to Use OneNote

The OneNote Quick Start can be a great reference until you become familiar with all the functionality.

Teacher Productivity

Teachers have innumerable tedious tasks which need to be tracked, organized, documented. Curriculum maps, parental contact, meeting minutes can all be captured in OneNote and neatly stored and searchable in one place. Outlook integrations are promising (you’ll want to Google for the version of OneNote you select and Outlook) and the ability to share Notebooks with other teachers in

the organization can revolutionize a team, grade level, or school’s organization.

Do you have many handwritten notes? Microsoft has the mobile app Microsoft Lens for you to take a picture and upload to your OneNote or OneDrive.

Student Facing Content

The ability to use OneNote within Canvas is already enabled. Published courses with students, and the Canvas “Class Notebook” Navigation setting enabled, are expected to create a Class Notebook with the same name as your Canvas course within your OneNote. Users have to sign in once with their HallCo credentials the first time they access OneNote via Canvas. After an initial log in per course, the user has access to OneNote within that Canvas course. That appears to be the extent of the integration at this time, LTI 1.0.

In Canvas, the Class Notebook remains accessible no matter where a student is in the course. The Class Notebook could be used to push out and organize information for students, as textbooks used to. The Class Notebook could also

You can enable the Teacher Only feature in a Notebook to hide content form students until you are ready to distribute it.

Student interact (ink over, type in, add to, read) with their copy of your shared items in the Class Notebook. They don’t turn these in, and you don’t grade them. However, you can view them and use them as formative feedback and evidence. Some great ideas for use are given in the Canvas Community post, the Portfolio idea was very detailed and interesting.

https://youtu.be/h_Dc8nDf_U4

Additional Resources:

How to turn a teacher into a OneNote Ninja
www.onenote.uservoice.com

www.onenoteforteachers.com

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