2022 has brought on the Wordle craze. If you or your students have caught Wordle fever, you might consider how to incorporate it in the classroom. Check out the ideas below (including some math versions).
Other Wordle spinoffs to explore include:
PCEP Year-Long Courses now with Grading Periods
High School teachers of PCEP year-long courses, please be aware that Grading Periods will be set up in your Canvas courses denoting each semester.
Year-Long PCEP Courses
- Teachers will have access to make edits, give feedback, and grade assignments in Canvas for first semester until 11:59 pm on February 2, 2022. After that date, the grades will not be editable.
- Students will continue to have access to submit assignments with due dates in the first semester UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AVAILABLE UNTIL DATE OF JAN. 28 OR EARLIER. You can edit those dates in bulk by following the steps here.
Semester 2 began January 31st, 2022. You can filter your grade book to view assignments with due dates in the Semester 2 grading period by following the steps here.
The information above was also noted in our January 18, 2022 blog post.
If you have questions, please submit a tech ticket.
Zoom Features for your Virtual Classes
There have been some updates to Zoom that help facilitate online learning for teachers and students. Check them out below.
- Save Zoom recording directly to Canvas. You can now save your Zoom recordings directly to Canvas Studio to easily integrate and share with your students. It just requires a few clicks to set this up in Canvas. Video tutorial.
- Create a seating chart in Gallery View. In your account settings, you will need to enable, “Allow host to save video order.” When you are in your meeting, arrange the students as you would like while in Gallery View and click save. If it is a recurring meeting, the video order will be saved for future meetings. More information.
- Turn on Focus Mode. This mode allows you to see all the student screens, but students only see the teacher’s video. You can even set it up for your meeting to being in Focus Mode. More information OR check out this 5 minute explanatory video
- More polling and quizzing options. Zoom has expanded their polls to eight different question types and added the ability to add images. You can also set up the poll to be a quiz. More information.
- Add video to the Waiting Room. Maximize instructional time by adding a video to play while participants are in the Waiting Room. Unfortunately, this is a general setting to be applied to all your waiting room and not tied to a specific meeting. You can customize this when logged in to your web portal at www.zoom.us Video tutorial.
- Zoom Learning Center. Zoom now offers a free educational platform for all new and existing users, including on-demand courses, live trainings, and short videos designed to give you just what you need when you need it to know how to best use their service. Login at https://learning.zoom.us/
BrainPop’s February Teacher Lounge newsletter
BrainPop’s February newsletter for K-12 instructional staff can be found HERE.
As a reminder, all district students, K-12 can access our paid subscription to BrainPop/BrainPop Jr via Clever at https://clever.com/in/pccs
Pics below show some of what’s in their latest newsletter.
REMC’s newsletter highlights & February Virtual Courses, earn 10 Free SCECHs
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2022 FEBRUARY REMC COURSES
Stay warm and learn something new! Take advantage of next month’s courses to learn new skills and tools to enhance your classroom.
February is a great time to learn in an instructor-led virtual course setting. REMC courses offer 10 free SCECHs, and are open to all Michigan school personnel.
Through the support of REMC SAVE’s vendor partners, all courses are FREE and there are no SCECH fees. You won’t want to miss out on these virtual courses that are a great way for educators to learn, connect, collaborate and grow from the convenience of their home.
Register by Friday, February 4th – Classes Begin Monday, February 7th
Check out February 2022 courses here:
- Deeper Learning through Developing Master Students of Collaboration and Communication
- Formative Assessment Tools that Support Teaching and Learning
- Digital Citizenship – Practical Implementation
- Dynamic Presentations
- Increasing Efficiency and Productivity
- Leading a Culture of Change in your School
- OER: Student-Designed OER for 21st Century Learning
- OER: The What, Why and How of Open Educational Resources
- Searching Safely and Strategically
- Transforming Education – Maker Movement
Registration deadline is Friday, February 4th. You will receive a welcome email with the course login and other information prior to the start date. If you have questions or need further assistance with your registration, please contact Erin Rommeck, REMC Event Coordinator.
New Laptops Coming Soon – Recommend Start Saving Files
All instructional staff that presently have P-CCS Windows laptops will be expected to exchange them this spring for newer, faster laptops that have recently been purchased and are now being readied. In advance of that exchange we will periodically share more details.
For starters, to assist those who will need to transition devices, please consider these steps on your current laptop….
- Saving Chrome bookmarks, passwords, settings, etc:
- Please make sure you are syncing Chrome with your @pccsk12.com account. By making sure this is synced, you are ensuring all of your bookmarks, passwords, saved chrome content will be brought over to the new laptop when you sign into Chrome on it. To make sure you are syncing with Chrome, or to learn how to sync with Chrome, please click here. For video directions, click here.
- Saving Files from Computer:
- Saving to Google Drive (Technology Department recommendation): Google Drive has a specific Windows app that you can download to load computer files directly onto Google Drive. Download Google Drive for Windows and click here for detailed instructions.
- When Google Drive is on your Windows laptop, you can simply drag files directly into the Drive. *As a tip, you can create a folder in your Google Drive and name it 2022 Old Laptop, then when you move files into the folder, they can be easily accessed for your new laptop.
- Also as an option, you can have the files stream or mirror automatically. When you turn this on your files will back up automatically to your Google Drive, and will continuously backup your data. The district is recommending STREAMING and not mirroring files. For instructions on how to do this click here.
- Some common files types that you may want to consider backing up include:
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- Documents
- PDF’s (Might be in the Documents folder)
- Pictures
- Videos
- Files in the Downloads folder
- Files on the Desktop
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- Saving to Google Drive (Technology Department recommendation): Google Drive has a specific Windows app that you can download to load computer files directly onto Google Drive. Download Google Drive for Windows and click here for detailed instructions.
As always if you have any questions or need any assistance with this process, please complete a tech request here: https://mi50.mlworkorders.com/Login.aspx (As a reminder your username is your full email address, and the password is your network password – typically the one you use when logging into your computer)
How to Cross-List your Semester 2 Courses
As we approach Semester 2, those of you who are teaching multiple sections of the same course might consider cross-listing in Canvas. Cross-listing allows you to move section enrollments from individual courses and combine them into one course. This feature is helpful for instructors who teach several sections of the same course and only want to manage course data in one location. Many teachers who have tried it have asserted they would never go back to the old way since cross-listing is such a big time saver. However, this action should only be done before a semester starts. Indeed, Canvas recommends it be done before a course is published. If it is done after a course is published and notably student work has been submitted, that student work will be lost. Please review the slideshow below carefully to help you decide if you want to do it.
Please reach out to a Technology Integration Specialist if you need help deciding if this is right for you or if you want assistance setting it up.
BrainPop’s Winter Tips
BrainPop’s Winter newsletter for K-12 instructional staff is found below.
As a reminder, all district students, K-12 can access our paid subscription to BrainPop/BrainPop Jr via Clever at https://clever.com/in/pccs
Theme: Wellness and Resilience
Right now is an ideal time for educators and students to focus on skills that support mental health, teamwork, and perseverance. BrainPOP supports this need with our collection of SEL resources that offer detailed lesson plans for educators and encourage students to connect their stories to the stories of others.
Strategy: BrainPOP Movie Engagement
Before pressing play for the BrainPOP Movie, click ‘closed captioning’. Closed captioning encourages the class to read together, shows correct spelling, punctuation & sentence structure, and helps strengthen students’ vocabulary skills. Enjoy our playlist of BrainPOP ernels offering teaching tips and tricks in 90 seconds or less.
Explore: BrainPOP Modifications Chart
Meet various instructional needs in synchronous and asynchronous learning using the BrainPOP Modifications Chart. In Make-a-Movie students can explore on their own and create movies independently around concepts addressed after whole group instruction.
Canvas Semester Transition SY21-22
Canvas Semester Transition SY21-22
Semester 1 will be ending on January 28, 2022.
First Semester Courses
- Teachers will have access to make edits, give feedback, and grade assignments in Canvas until 11:59 pm on February 2, 2022. After that date, the course will have read-only access. You will be able to copy the content from your Semester 1 course to your Semester 2 course (and beyond) even after the course has concluded.
- Students will have access to participate in Term 1 courses until 11:59 pm on January 28, 2022. After that date, students will have read-only access to the course (with the exception of quiz questions to which they will not have access).
- If you do not want them to have read-only access, you will need to update your course settings.
Please remember to publish your Semester 2 courses!
Year-Long Courses
- Teachers will have access to make edits, give feedback, and grade assignments in Canvas for first semester until 11:59 pm on February 2, 2022. After that date, the grades will not be editable.
- Students will continue to have access to submit assignments with due dates in the first semester UNLESS YOU HAVE AN AVAILABLE UNTIL DATE OF JAN. 28 OR EARLIER. You can edit those dates in bulk by following the steps here.
Semester 2 begins January 31st, 2022. You can filter your grade book to view assignments with due dates in the Semester 2 grading period by following the steps here.
Affordable Connectivity Program available for our families
Please share with our families information about the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), a continuation of the Emergency Broadband Benefit (EBB) with a few changes.
- From the FCC’s ACP website: https://www.fcc.gov/acp
- The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price. The Affordable Connectivity Program is limited to one monthly service discount and one device discount per household.
- Eligibility
- A household is eligible if a member of the household meets at least one of the criteria below:
- Has an income that is at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines; or
- Participates in certain assistance programs, such as SNAP, Medicaid, Federal Public Housing Assistance, SSI, WIC, or Lifeline;
- Participates in Tribal specific programs, such as Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Tribal TANF, or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations;
- Is approved to receive benefits under the free and reduced-price school lunch program or the school breakfast program, including through the USDA Community Eligibility Provision in the 2019-2020, 2020-2021, or 2021-2022 school year;
- Received a Federal Pell Grant during the current award year; or
- Meets the eligibility criteria for a participating provider’s existing low-income program.
- The benefit provides a discount of up to $30 per month toward internet service for eligible households. Eligible households can also receive a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet from participating providers if they contribute more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase price. The Affordable Connectivity Program is limited to one monthly service discount and one device discount per household.
- Let’s make sure eligible families in our community are aware of this federal subsidy that is fairly easy to sign up for. The EBB toolkit has been modified for the ACP, but still has all the printable resources needed to spread the word (in English and Spanish). Here’s the link to the ACP Toolkit website: https://www.fcc.gov/acp-consumer-outreach-toolkit.