Hour of Code Week is Over but Coding Never Ends

Thousands of Westerville City Schools students enjoyed exploring coding activities during Hour of Code Week.  It was wonderful watching our students work through self-paced modules learning and discovering code or at least the building blocks of code.  If you missed this opportunity, no worries, the modules are still on the Hour of Code web site.  With Friday, December 18th being our last day before break and the opening day of the Star Wars movie, it might be a fun learning experience for your students to work through the Star Wars coding module. The modules are self-paced, easy to navigate and best of all you do not need to know code to enjoy working through the activities.

If you decide to introduce your students to the site for the first time, have them choose to build with Blocks. The site provides all the directions and navigation from there on. Have fun learning!

https://code.org/starwars

Revised Ohio Technology Learning Standards are open for public comment

The revised Ohio Technology Learning Standards are now open for public comment. Please click here to participate in the online review of the draft standards. Ohio educators from all content areas and the public are invited to participate. The survey will remain open through December 31, 2015.

We appreciate your feedback!

Connecting Outside the Classroom

How Tech Tools Help Us Learn Together Globally

A Walnut Springs student conducts an interview with a researcher at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK.  See below for the 7th grader's comments on the project and click the link to watch the interview.

In looking for an interview for my National History Day 

project, I contacted the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, UK.  I spent 30 minutes in a Skype Interview.  We used an iPad, a microphone, and a camera to record the session.  Through this process I experienced a connection from halfway around the world and I met a professional in the field of my research.  She shared interesting facts that I would not have found otherwise.

Brendan Smucker

7th Grade

Walnut Springs Middle School

Click here to view the interview:

Brendan Smucker conducts an interview with the Scott Polar Research Institute 

#WestervilleWay

If you are not using Google Maps to teach Geography, why not?

I found this short article, "Explore Machu Picchu in Google Maps and the Google Cultural Institute,"from Richard Byrne about Google Maps and more specifically Google Street View.  If you go to Google Street View you will find 360 degree views of locations from around the World.  If you have not looked at this, it will amaze you.  There are image collections from over 65 countries including Loch Ness, Northern Lights in Finland, Taj Mahal and even under the oceans of the World.  It is a phenomenal collection and paired with Google Maps a powerful resource to teach Geography.  

3 Tools to Video Conference

As we work through the Teaching and Learning Roadmap, I am continually looking for more opportunities to connect with the outside world.  Over the past several weeks I have seen Westerville teachers and students connecting with a weatherman in Texas, Marzetti Dressing and with a classroom in China. The connections have provided students with opportunities to ask questions of experts, gain new perspectives and hold conversations with other students from around the world.
Below is a list of things to remember when connecting to an outside resource and three excellent choices in our district to support your connections. These are not the only choices but we have tested these connections and they work well within our network. 

Things to Remember when connecting outside our district:

1. Test your connection to the other site with microphone, speaker and projector before the video call.
2. On a Chromebook the microphone is built in.
3. On a desktop, an external microphone will be needed if your students will be interacting with the connection site. Contact your WCSOH EdTech Coach if you need a microphone.
4. Mute your microphone when on the conference call. Unmute when necessary.
5. Make sure the lights are on and sunlight is not behind you.
6. Position the camera at eye level.
7. Look at the camera when talking.
8. Speak up
9. Introduce yourself before talking.
10. If more than one site, give your name and location before speaking.
11. If more than one site, direct your question to a specific site.
12. Set up a backchannel to communicate with the other group you are trying to connect with.

Three Great Tools to Video Conference

1. Google Hangouts -Works with our desktops(remember to connect an external microphone) and Chromebooks.  Check out "How Educators and Schools can Make the Most out of Google hangouts," for a great description of how teachers are using Hangouts with their classroom. After reading the article join the Google Hangouts in Education Community or Mystery Hangout.  Here you will find teachers from all over the world looking for classrooms to connect with and your students.  If you need assistance setting this up, contact your WCSOHEdTech Coach.

2. Skype in the Classroom - Skype only works with our desktop computers. Again, please remember to use a microphone if you plan to have your students talk during your connection.  Start by reading "Skype Connects Classrooms with Field Trips Around the World."  The article explains how classrooms are connecting around the world and gives links to make connections with teachers.  Check out Sypke Field Trips and Mystery Skypes when you are ready to begin Skyping with other classrooms.

3. Big Blue Button in Schoology - Big Blue Button is the video conference tool provided to all Schoology Enterprise districts. It works on both desktops and Chromebooks. Using Big Blue Button allows a teacher to set up conference calls with other Schoology classrooms.  The nice part is that students can enter the call on their own using their Chromebook but cannot create their own video conference call.  This allows the teacher to create small group calls and assign students to the group call. This is great for classroom to classroom collaboration. Here is directions how to use Schoology Big Blue Button. If you need help finding other Schoology teachers to connect with, contact your WCSOH EdTech Coach.

Using Maker Workshop Theory in the Math Classroom

I was reading through my Twitter account last night when I came across this article from Mindshift, "How Turning Math Into a Maker Workshop Can Bring Calculations to Life." The article is a phenomenal read about how a Middle School Math teacher turned her remedial math class into a thriving student empowered learning community. The most fascinating line from the article to me is the teacher saying, “I didn’t know how to do it, but I could teach them how to learn,” when explaining the process of transitioning her classroom to a Maker workshop. Later in the article she shares her findings from her classroom in a report about how to start a Fab Lab in the classroom.  If you have a moment this weekend, this is definitely worth a read.

Uploading Files and Folders into Google Drive

In Westerville City schools, we are currently in year two of our Learning and Teaching Roadmap. The Roadmap is a plan put in place by the district to create a culture of 21st Century Learning. The plan looks at teaching and instructional practice as well as access and support in the implementation of technology. One technology resource we have adopted in Westerville is Google Apps for Education.  Google Apps for Education(GAFE) is an online productivity and organization tool provided to school districts through Google Education.  As we continue to use Google productivity tools, one of the first things teachers should do is upload their previously created files and folders to Google Drive. Doing this has several advantages. First, all your files will now be saved to the Google Cloud server.  This allows you to access your files from anywhere that has an internet connection.  Second, now that your files are online, you can take advantage of the wonderful sharing tool Google provides. Every Google file has a unique URL and can be shared with students, peers, community members or the public.  Third, by uploading your files you will now have easier access to sync and combine your work with other Google tools to build web sites, blogs, newsletters or anything else to support your teaching and learning. As always, contact your Ed Tech Coach if you have additional questions about how to upload your previously created files.

Read directions from the Google Drive tutorial here.

Additional Google Apps for Education tutorials can be found here.

Upload files and folders

You can upload files, images, and videos to Google Drive on the web so you can work on them anywhere and anytime.

Upload files

There are two ways to upload files to Google Drive.

Drag and Drop

If you’re using the latest versions of Chrome or Firefox, you can drag a folder from your desktop into Google Drive. You can also drag files directly into folders or subfolders.

Upload files using Google Drive

To upload files using Google Drive:

1. Go to drive.google.com.
2. On the left, click New.
3. Select File upload.
4. Select the file you want to upload. To select multiple files, press Ctrl (PC) or Command (Mac) and click all the files to upload.
5. You’ll see a box that shows the progress of your file upload. To open the file, click the filename. To close the box, click the X.

Upload folders

There are two ways to upload folders to Google Drive using Chrome. Uploading folders is not available on other browsers.

Drag and Drop folders

If you’re using the latest version of Chrome, you can drag a folder from your desktop into Google Drive. The folder, all subfolders, and files will start uploading right away.

Upload folders using the “NEW” button

To upload folders using the “NEW” button:

1. Go to drive.google.com.
2. On the left, click New.
3. Select Folder upload. If you see "Enable folder upload," you'll need to update Chrome to the latest version.
4. Select one or more folders to upload.
5. You’ll see a box that shows the progress of your folder upload. To open the folder, click the folder name. To close the box, click the X.

The WCS Learning and Teaching Roadmap (a teacher's perspective)

Read about the Westerville City Schools Learning and Teaching Roadmap from the perspective of Hawthorne Elementary ESL teacher, Chris Poynter.

Click here to see the article.

Comic Strips with Google Drawing/Slides

Earlier this week I had the pleasure to work with Jennifer Furey of ITSCO in Mrs. DeMooy's 5th grade classroom at Emerson Elementary. Jennifer led the students through a lesson creating comics using either Google Drawings or Google Slides.  Using comics is not only fun but it makes students think about how text and images work together to tell a story.  The finished comics can then be downloaded as PDF's or photo formats(PNG, JPG) to be inserted on a web site, tweeted out, added to a blog or embedded in a classroom newsletter. Thank you Jennifer for the great idea!

Google Smarty Pins Game

Students love learning with games.  Try out the new Google Smarty Pins Game! It’s a great Geography lesson.

Go to: http://smartypins.withgoogle.com/

Click the “Start a game now” button

Optional – Click “Select a category” to filter the type of questions. (History is my favorite)                 

When the game loads, you’ll see the question on the left.  Grab the pin and drag it to the correct location on the map.

.

Click the “Submit Answer” button.

If you submit the answer within 15 seconds, you get a bonus!

After 15 seconds, a hint will appear under the question.  .You start the game with 1000 miles. If you get the answer right, you keep all of your miles;  If you  “miss”,  the miles are subtracted from your total.  See the “Miles Remaining” gauge under the question. Keep answering questions until you win or until you use all of your miles. Have Fun!