CurTech93

Google Classroom released new updates this week! -Rearrange classroom tiles on your homepage -Access all Google Apps while inside Classroom -Transfer ownership to other teachers Check out additional updates here !

Edutopia published a wonderful blog post: Low-Stakes Writing: Writing to Learn, Not Learning to Write This blog post gives practical ideas for incorporating writing across the day at any grade level and in any content area. The goal for writing is to get kids writing as much as possible - so much, that it is near impossible to keep up with them!  The more they write and publish to an authentic audience, the more authentic feedback they can receive. All of the ideas in the blog post align to and can be combined with our district's writing supplemental resource: The Common Core Writing Book (K-5) The Common Core Writing Book (6-8) If you do not have a copy of the book for your grade level, please contact the Teaching, Learning and Innovation Department to get a copy. Want to start implementing, but not sure where to start?  Check with your building's instructional coach!  Your instructional coach is there to assist you and provide support as you look to incoropor...

Google released the New Google Sites platform and with it an easier way to create Google Sites with your district Google account.  Google is continuing to take feedback and add new features previously found in the old sites platform. The latest update - now you can copy sections from one page to another.  You can also duplicate sections on the same page for easier editing. Check Steegle.com's page for a video on how to activate both of these features. If you are attending our Summer Tech Academy next week, there are two sessions on Tuesday and Friday dedicated to the new Google Sites platform.

CCSD93 is proud to introduce the 2017 Summer Technology Academy! STA will be held at Jay Stream Middle School and the hours will be from 8:00am - 3:30pm with a 40 minute lunch. Our theme this year is “Lights! Camera! Innovate!”  The Summer Technology Academy Course Catalog is posted on CurTech93. You can find it on the Summer Technology Academy tab. Most courses in the catalog will be repeated at both tech academies, but check the schedule to make sure.   As we continue to confirm more courses, the catalog may change, so please keep checking back for any updates.  This year, attendance at the full week of STA will earn CCSD93 licensed teaching staff 6 in-house graduate credit hours. Partial attendance will earn LEAD hours equivalent to the amount of instructional hours attended. CSSSA Paraprofessionals must submit for pre-approval in My Learning Plan and will be able to earn PD points with their attendance. Out of district attendees will earn hours for re-certif...

The April editions of “Capture the Core” are available on the ISBE website. Articles this month focus on rubrics as learning tools, ELA Standard 6, and “Teachers as Facilitators.” The "Teachers as Facil i tators" sections offer some great insight into the new science standards and the new upcoming social science standards. If you would like to read past editions of “Capture the Core” click on THIS LINK. K-2 April Edition 3-5 April Edition 6-8 April Edition

Seesaw and Google have partnered to offer GSuite for Education integration in Seesaw!  The integration works across all devices (iPad and MacBook). Students and teachers can now access and post items from Drive including Docs, Slides and Forms. Check out the full range of updates and a tutorial video linked here Also be sure to follow Seesaw on Twitter (@seesaw) for updates, support and sharing the amazing things you and your students are doing with Seesaw. Note - Student iPad users should see the app automatically update over the next two days.  If the app does not appear to be updated, please check with your Helpdesk representative for assistance.

"Capture the Core" is a publication of the Illinois State Board of Education Statewide System of Support Content Specialists. There are specific editions for different grade level spans - one for K-2, one for 3-5, and one for 6-8.  Each of those editions are linked below. The topics for this month include looking at Language Standard 5, Mathematical Practice Standard #3, NGSS Dimension #2 (Crosscutting Concepts), and Classroom Brain Breaks. Take a few minutes to browse through these publications and grow your understanding of the standards for the benefit of your students. Each month that these are published we will post them here on the CurTech93 Blog. If you are interested in reading previous issues, you can access them HERE .    February 2017 K-2 February 2017 3-5 February 2017 6-8

Google released another update to Google Classroom, which will make many teachers very happy!  Instructors in a class in Google Classroom can now choose to post an assignment to the entire class, a small group of students, or an individual student.  This will make the process of personalizing learning for our students much easier to manage in our virtual spaces. Check out Google for Education's Blog for additional updates and a video demonstration of how to alter assignment postings.

Google Education on Air was a live event Friday evening and all day Saturday.  Many speakers presented different ideas for utilizing GSuite with students and for professional learning.  Google also announced a few new updates to GSuite.  Most exciting: parents no longer need a Gmail account to access email updates from Classroom.  Parents can now register with any email account. Check out this update and more here:  http://www.controlaltachieve.com/2016/12/new-gsuite-features.html 

 Have you been using Google Classroom? Many teachers and students are enjoying the convenience of using Google Classroom to push out  and turn in assignments, to hold student resources (like rubrics, anchor charts, etc.), and to flip classrooms. Did you know that iCurio now connects to Google Classroom? You can assign any resource found in iCurio through your Google Classroom. Here is a brief video that demonstrates how to move iCurio content into Google Classroom. Not sure how to access iCurio? Not sure how your students can access iCurio? Be sure to visit CurTech and review how to do those things. There are a number of digital resources available in our district. Sometimes it is difficult to remember how to access them all! Go to CurTech, to the Technology Resources page and find your resource. Click on the link and you will find videos, documents, and other links that support you as you make use of these digital resources. If you still have questions, the l...

“Let’s Recap” is a website that was featured at the August 2016 Summer Tech Academy.  “Recap is a free student video response and reflection app developed by the makers of Swivl. It gives teachers and parents insight into students’ learning and progress. Recap provides evidence of student thinking, improves formative assessment, and supports personalized learning.” Some ways it can be used: “ Formative Assessment Quickly and easily gather deep insights on each student for personalization and differentiation. Present thinking Meet common core standards with video that captures evidence of thinking when doing or completing assignments. Build Reflective Practices Help each student and the whole class build upon each lesson with regular reflections. Keep parents engaged Share with parents to gain alignment and help answer “what did you learn in class today?” This is how it works: “ Assign Create and assign questions to a student, a group of students or t...

Are you looking to expand your classroom globally? Check out Discovery Education’s “Collaborative Projects.” You can find this information by clicking on the Professional Learning tab at the top of your Discovery Education home page. Scroll down to the blue box entitled “Events and Experiences,” and then choose “Collaborative Projects.” These offer a connection to classrooms around the world. "A unique, web-based educational platform, GlobalLab enables students, teachers, and learners of all ages to pose questions and together find a n swers." Projects are available for grades K-8 and align with various standards (Science, Social Studies, and ELA). If you choose to get involved with Discovery's Collaborative Projects, tweet about it using the hashtag #CelebratewithDE.

This is our 3rd blog post around Discovery Education updates this fall!  Attached is an overview of the updates in the Science Techbook. Be sure to download this document since it includes numerous links that will give you more information about the updates. Some of those updates include: A simplified design New phenomena-driven questions Technology-enhanced items (many mirror PARCC items) Integrated STEM learning experiences   Also attached is an overview and an invitation to Discovery Education’s VIRTCON ! VIRTCON is a virtual conference run by Discovery Education that takes place on Saturday, October 22nd. Check it out!

Google has announced multiple new updates - the biggest being Google Apps for Education (GAFE) is now called G Suite.  The name change reflects the wide range of applications in a "suite" format.  More information and updates can be found at the G Suite official update blog: https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/ Enjoy the new G Suite!

Google has released additional updates to Docs and Drive.  Here are two updates we wanted to highlight to everyone: 1)  Drive will now do spelling recognition - if your spelling is a little off, the search feature in Drive will recommend search words to you.  This can be very helpful to our students who may have had frustration searching in Drive. 2)  You can now add columns to a Google Doc!  In the past a table was the only way to add a column.  Now the page can be divided into columns.  Click on "Format" then "Columns." Both of these updates will roll-out slowly to all district Google accounts over the next week.  Be on the look-out for these great updates! Read more about these updates (and a few others) here: http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com/2016/09/what-you-love-about-google-search-now.html

This is our second blog post in our Discovery Education series.  Attached is an overview of five ways to " Rediscovery Discovery Education " this school year.  Included are: Board Builder Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) Virtual Experiences The new Professional Learning Center Accessing student accounts Be sure to check out My Learning Plan as more LEAD courses are being offered focusing on Discovery Education. Have a wonderful week!

We hope the school year is off to an amazing start!  Discovery Education has been putting together information to help get the year started.  We will be sending their info brochures for the next few weeks. This week's feature: 1)  How to archive a class from last school year (if you created classes) 2)  How to create new classes for this school year 3)  A welcome back with new features to explore We will also be hosting the DEN Ambassador Program again this fall.  The three face-to-face meetings will focus on teaching with digital media in the classroom.  It is a wonderful LEAD experience for all grade levels and content areas!  You can access this LEAD course in My Learning Plan Archiving Classes and Creating New Classes New Features

Welcome Back! Another new school year is under way! There are always so many things to remember to get done when students return to the classroom. We have created a specific page on CurTech93 to help you with these tasks. When you are on CurTech93, please choose the tab “ Getting The Year Started .” This will provide you with reminders about digital tools to set up, links to your curriculum resources, and resources to review. Please let Becky or Karen know if there is anything missing from this page, that would be beneficial as people set up classrooms at the beginning of the year. Have a great 2016-2017 School Year!

Welcome back from CurTech93!  We are very excited for the 2016-2017 school year! We have three professional development opportunities to consider for the first part of the school year.  Please let Karen and Becky know if you have any questions. We will be hosting the Discovery Education DEN Ambassador Phase 1 program again this fall.  This LEAD course will introduce you to the DEN Ambassador program, focus on incorporating technology and teaching with digital media, and looking into all the opportunities for learning and growth with Discovery Education.  We have three face-to-face meetings (with pizza!): Wednesday, September 14th Elsie Johnson Innovation Center 4:15pm-5:45pm Wednesday, October 19th Carol Stream Innovation Center 4:15pm-5:45pm Wednesday, November 30th Roy DeShane Innovation Center 4:15pm-5:45pm We are offering an online book study for the book Flip Your Classroom by John Bergmann and Aaron Sams.  Bergmann and Sams give practical advice ...

 The 4th Annual CCSD93 Summer Tech Academy is taking place during the weeks of June 13-17 and August 1-5.  We have over 70 different classes this year, with 90% of them taught by classroom teachers! Sign up in My Learning Plan to attend part of the week or the entire week (3 credit hours for full week attendance). Some new classes being offered this year include: Math“app”matics Dubin This is a session for iPad users that want to become more familiar with math apps offered on the iPad.  We will learn and share ideas for using math apps throughout the different levels of SAMR and allow time to practice and explore the apps while we learn.  Please have the following apps downloaded and ready to use: Math Doodles, Geoboard, Number Pieces, Ten Frames and Pattern Shapes. All Levels iPad Early Childhood Teachers, K-2 Teachers Math 90 minutes Please install Math Doodles, Geoboard, Number Pieces, Ten Frames and Pattern Shapes prior to this ...