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…

Printing from your Chrome Web Browser

Having trouble with printing from the Chrome web browser? Try using Ctrl + Shift + P to print. This will take you to the Windows print dialogue (instead of the Chrome print dialogue), where you can print using Find Me Printing. Please see the tutorial below for additional information and images. If you have any trouble, feel free to submit a service request.

Tech Toolbox for Administrators

Administrators, just like teachers, your plate is full, and if your plate isn’t full, you are spinning multiple plates at a time. The promise of technology can be real when it saves you time and frustration in ways that it can keep you organized. The following Google Slide deck was presented at MACUL 2019 and contains GREAT ideas and tools to help you in your important roles in our schools.

Keep in mind that your local friendly Tech Integration Specialist (Matt Smoot or Rick Coughlin) can be sequestered to your office by appointment to assist you with any of these tools you think would help you! Visit the deck here: goo.gl/WLndyc

New for Google Slides: Auto Closed Captioning

Google Slides has launched a new feature to make presentations more accessible for everyone with automated closed captioning. When you present with Google Slides, click the CC button in the lower left corner or press the Ctrl or CMD+Shift+C shortcut to enable closed captioning. Then keep your laptop close by, and as you talk, your mic will pick up everything you say and add it as closed captioning on the bottom of your presentation. Here’s the Google Support page on this feature: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/9109474?hl=en

Google Slides closed captioning supports spoken English, using Google Chrome on a Mac or PC for now, and captions aren’t stored at the moment. You can, however, record your screen while presenting then save the finished video with your captions recorded as well. And soon, Google hopes to expand closed captioning to additional languages and devices to make all presentations more accessible. Check out 6 Ways to make the most of captions in Google Slides for more ideas on why this is so important!

This is PERFECT for a blended learning tool in your classroom! Using Screencastify or WeVideo to screencast automatically takes your whole group lessons and allows you to employ them in a blended or flipped learning environment. Want to learn more about Blended and Flipped learning, this site is a great place to start: https://www.blendedlearning.org/basics/