Blog: “Why I am Flipping for Flipgrid”

If you’re not using Flipgrid already in your classroom, we are totally flipping out on you! It’s flipping awesome and your kids are going to flipping LOVE it…but we digress.

Please check out this great blog on why Flipgrid is great, how it solves teacher troubles, and more importantly, supports your students’ learning!

Blog: “Why I am Flipping for Flipgrid”

While you’re over on Medium, be sure to browse around for more amazing topical blogs. Medium is awesome.

The Teacher’s Guide to Digital Choice Boards – (FREE eBook!)

Get a free copy of this eBook or podcast from Shake Up Learning on digital choice boards! Blended learning has many flavors, but one thing it has in common is providing more voice and choice for students. Creating digital choice boards for your students is a great way to implement small group instruction, differentiate, and create universal design for learning and opportunity for all students.

The Teacher’s Guide to Digital Choice Boards

Get your FREE copy of The Teacher’s Guide to Digital Choice Boards here.

For EVEN MORE on blended learning, visit: https://sites.google.com/pccsk12.com/nearpod-blended-learning/blended-learning

Why games in the classroom?

Using games for review and/or formative assessment is a great way to make learning fun and engaging. Instead of calling on a few students during a review, every student is accountable for reviewing, practicing, and learning important information.

  • Games keep student’s attention focused on review.
  • Games allow for much easier cumulative review so students don’t forget the information you want them to know.
  • Games create challenges for a high score or fastest completion to increase competition between students and award excellence.
  • Games are great for bellringers, before or after a lesson presentation, and/or at the end of class.

Do you GOT GAME? Try this one!

WISC-ONLINE GAMES

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Rejoice! Scheduled Send feature now available in Gmail.

The feature seems pretty easy to use. If you are accessing Gmail through the browser, after you’ve composed the email, you click the arrow next to the send button, click Scheduled send and then choose when to have it send. 

Note, if you don’t see the down arrow, log out and back into your Google account to have the feature load.

If you are accessing the service through the Gmail app, tap the three stacked dots next to the send arrow, then select Schedule send. Again, a menu will appear that lets you pick when you want the message to be sent.

If you later choose to reschedule the message, you can do that by opening the email and repeating the above steps, or you can choose to delete it.

Are you a Maker? Wayne RESA has an opportunity for you!

The goal of the maker movement is to empower students to tinker, invent, create, innovate, and make their ideas take shape. Making doesn’t need to have a designated space, but it does need to foster the maker mindset of learning through doing, experimenting, and experience. It’s about creating a maker culture that provides students with open-ended challenges and opportunities to produce something, often for a purpose.

To increase STEM awareness and opportunities through project-based learning and maker activities, Wayne RESA is looking to build a 2019-2020 cohort of 24 teachers/media specialists from 12 different districts throughout Wayne County to build and/or expand the maker culture in a school. Selected sites will be awarded $3800 to purchase Maker/STEM materials and a year membership to National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Each site will submit an application for TWO educators to be a part of our first Maker-STEM cohort. If selected, these educators must agree to be a part of the cohort and commit to participating in three face-to-face days of professional learning. Each member of the cohort will also be part of the RESA Makers network where ideas and resources can be shared. Wayne RESA Application Deadline: Friday, May 17, 2019

Wayne RESA Makers Application

The REMC Classroom Maker Ambassador Program is looking for two teachers from each REMC to be a part of the 2019-2020 cohort. Participating teachers will commit to at least ONE training and earn $400 through REMC Save to spend toward classroom maker tools, along with access to a network of peers implementing maker in the classroom. REMC Application Deadline: Friday, May 3, 2019

REMC Classroom Makers Teacher Ambassador Application

Please forward this information to anyone that you think might be interested

REMINDER: Voicemail System Change Coming May 3, 2019

Please note that on May 3, 2019, the Technology Department will change the default length of time voicemails are saved within our voicemail system.

The Technology Department recently discovered that several voicemails did not reach their intended destination because the intended recipient’s voicemail box was full. Conversations with district staff revealed that many individuals use Gmail to listen to their voicemails and do not log into the voicemail system to delete their voicemails. While convenient to process voicemail within GMail, deleting a voicemail message in GMail does not also delete the voicemail from our voicemail system.

Beginning May 5, voicemails can only be saved in our voicemail system for a maximum of 30 days. Voicemails that are older than 30 days will be automatically deleted from our voicemail system. This change will help keep voicemail boxes from filling up and will restore storage capacity in those voicemail boxes that are already full. Unless a staffer has deleted them, voicemails will remain available in a staffer’s GMail account and this change will not affect any voicemail saved in GMail.

If you have any questions or believe your voicemail messages are not reaching your GMail inbox, please submit a service request that includes your room # and extension.

Read, create, translate, or download an endless stream of free stories.

StoryWeaver looks like an amazing site that is designed to create and translate children’s books into a ton of different languages and make them accessible online for free. Users can translate books on the site into different languages or easily create their own books. It’s also a great site for students to write for an authentic audience. ELL teachers and their students could get a lot out of the site, and it seems to me that other language teachers could have their students use it, too.

https://storyweaver.org.in/

Kapwing- Create Gifs, Memes, and a whole lot more

Kapwing is a free video/image editing tool that allows you to create and edit gifs, memes, add subtitles, add audio to video, etc. The end product will have a little kapwing watermark on it but is not very obtrusive. Click on the link above to find out more about this awesome tool.

Innovative Educator Corps Grant Application Window Closes May 5

LANSING – The Innovative Educator Corps (IEC) is seeking applications for new members who teach in Michigan and help prepare their students for 21st Century careers in innovative ways.

An online application for the IEC’s second cohort is available at http://tinyurl.com/IEC-Spring19 April 1-May 5, 2019, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) and program co-sponsor Genesee Intermediate School District (ISD) jointly announced today.

Learn more…