Need a Little Variety?
If you're tired of looking at your same old PowerPoint and Google Slides templates, then your students most likely are as well. Enter Slides Carnival. This great bank of presentation templates will make your day! And if you happen to exhaust all of the options, here's an article that will lead you to even more! You can never have too many of these to choose from, so why not one more spot that will offer you 600 + themes to select from?
Speaking of Slides
Did you know that it's incredibly easy to use Google Slides to annotate? Check out this video to learn how.
Library Things
Have a look at this adorable book talk from Hutchins Library.
Teaching Strategies Repository
Meeting of the Minds
While we've all been using Google Meet for over a year now, Google has pushed out updates, so it might be about time to revisit what we know about Meet. Take a look at Google's Meet support page to learn everything you'd ever want to know about video conferencing platform.
You also might have some parents asking about tips for using Meet. Look no further than the Guide to Google Meet for Parents and Guardians. Make the Move to Schoology
Did You Know?
Keeping Up with EDU
There is so much to keep up with when it comes to digital age learning. It's almost too much to handle. Well, Google for EDU realizes that and has a series called EDU in 90 to address just this idea. It's a bank of videos in YouTube that addresses various topics related to digital age learning in education.
Here's their playlist's description: EDU in 90 is a video series from Google for Education. Each episode, we'll focus on an important topic for educators, administrators, and school leaders - things like product updates, new programs, and helpful resources for the classroom. Don't Forget these PD Opportunities
Last month, I told you about a learning opportunity facilitated by Region 20 called the Digital Learning Summit. This is just a reminder about that event. Registration is open, and it's free to our district. Check it out! You can check out more Region 20 offerings here.
​My passion is to help provide South San ISD students with the best educational experience possible. One of the ways I can do that is to provide teachers with resources that will help them with instruction. Please help me understand how to best help you by completing this feedback form. Note: the form is anonymous.
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Smithsonian has recently released nearly 3 million 2D and 3D images into the public domain. This is great news for educators and students, since the images have been given a Creative Commons Zero License, meaning You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Make sure you have a look at this gigantic collection of images. You can get to the Smithsonian Open Access collection here: https://www.si.edu/openaccess |
Would you like to know MORE about images and sounds you and your students can download for projects? Take a look at South San Library Services resources site to learn about many other resources.
What's Happening in the Library?
Genially: Interactive Content Tool
Genially is a fantastic creation tool! It's rare to find one resource that will help you do so much. You and your students can create presentations, interactive images, infographics, video presentations and much more. Watch a tutorial video below to get started with this amazing opportunity. You may also visit the Help Center to learn more. |
Here are the types of creations available to you with Genially:
Try this tutorial video:
Five Palms Elementary Morning Announcements
Five Palms Elementary has entered the world of live morning announcements! Five Palms music teacher, Mr. Tudyk is doing a great job of planning, creating, filming (and so much more) the live announcements each morning. Take a look at this gallery of photos from a recent filming.
Take some time to watch an interview with South San ISD Technology Director, Scott Laleman. Lola does a fantastic job! Go to Five Palms Action News YouTube Channel to watch more.
Would you like to learn more about having morning announcements at your school? Let's talk!
Excerpted from Tara Martin's "About" page: Tara Martin is an enthusiastic educator, national speaker, and author who thrives on change and refuses to settle for the status quo. She has served as a classroom teacher, an instructional coach for several years, and most recently, a district administrator. | Well-known for her booksnaps (digital text annotations), Ms. Martin maintains a resource site for teachers, coaches and campus/district leaders that includes her blog, how-to videos and much more. Definitely take some time to review her resources. Follow Ms. Martin on Twitter @TaraMartinEDU. |
My passion is to help provide South San ISD students with the best educational experience possible. One of the ways I can do that is to provide teachers with resources that will help them with instruction. Please help me understand how to best help you by completing this feedback form. Note: the form is anonymous. |
Thinglink: Annotate Images
Thinglink is an incredible resource that will let users upload an image and then place "tags" on the image that will give visitors new information about the image. Tags can take visitors to other websites or YouTube videos, take a tour of other Thinglink images, or simply display text that can supply viewers with an added layer of information. Have a look at this tool and see what you think. You may even want to look at these examples of how users have used Thinglink in the past.
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Book Snaps: A Great Way to Connect with Text
Book Snaps offer students a method for interacting more with text. Created by Tara M. Martin in response to the Snap Chat craze, Book Snaps offer students a wonderful opportunity to express themselves using methods they are very familiar with. And this strategy shouldn't be limited to text alone. Math Snaps can exist alongside book snaps as well, giving students a way to use language while doing their math work. Take a look at these how-to videos to jump into booksnapping with your students.
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What's Going On in the Library?
Maker Space continues to be a big theme in the South San ISD Libraries. From creating structures with straws or cardboard to coding and programming robots, South San students are being challenged to create. Watch the two videos below to learn more.
Take a look at the video below to learn about all kinds of maker activities happening around the district.
Eric Curts is an expert in the digital age learning community that you need to know about. He maintains a site called Control Alt Achieve that offers so many wonderful ideas that will help you integrate technology into your existing curriculum. Mr. Curts also maintains an active present on Twitter and YouTube. Be sure to check out all he has to offer!
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Hour of Code is Coming!
During the week of December 9-15, educators and students across the globe will celebrate what is known as the Hour of Code, or HOC for short. The Hour of Code presents us with the opportunity to introduce students to the amazing world of programming. There are so many resources at our disposal now, that it's easy to just jump in to the HOC. I've assembled some of my favorite resources here. I hope you will find them useful. Although we officially observe the HOC during one week in December, realize that coding can happen in any classroom on any day of the year. Another thing to keep in mind is that you and your students can delve into computer science concepts WITHOUT computers. While this may sound strange, there are such things as unplugged activities that will help you do just that.
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My passion is to help provide South San ISD students with the best educational experience possible. One of the ways I can do that is to provide teachers with resources that will help them with instruction. Please help me understand how to best help you by completing this feedback form. Note: the form is anonymous.
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The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
PD in Your Porsche (or maybe Prius)
One great way to take in professional development is via podcasts. A podcast is simply an audio recording. This form of recording has been around for quite a while now, with varying degrees of popularity, but is seemingly making a resurgence at this time. Depending upon whether you own an iPhone or an Android, there are a variety of apps for listening to podcasts while you commute. Here's a site that provides a listing that you can choose from.
Now, let's get to the educational podcasts that are out there that you really don't want to miss! Here are just a few of my favorites:
- The Cult of Pedagogy
- Google Teacher Tribe
- 10 Minute Teacher
- EdTech Bites
- Educational Duct Tape
- Creative Classroom
- Inside Innovation
- Stuff You Should Know - This one's not produced by educators, but I feel it's a must listen. These guys have been making podcasts for over 10 years, so they're pretty good at it! Your brain will thank you!
Here's a Challenge for You
You might be interested in beginning a podcast of your own. I BRIEFLY (back in 2009 or so) had my students creating a podcast in my 6th grade science class. One of the students could play the harmonica, so we had him create the intro and outro music and the other students took turns recording themselves discussing the concepts we were learning at the time. If you're interested in doing something like this, let me know. I'd love to help out!
Larry Ferlazzo is a must-follow expert in the field of education. Best known for his "best of" series, Larry provides extensive resources for a variety of educational topics. Be sure to have a look at his blog and follow him on Twitter. |
The Noun Project
The Noun Project is simply amazing! It's a site that provides "Over 2 Million curated icons, created by a global community." Whether you need icons to spice up a lesson, or if your students simply need icons for a research presentation, The Noun Project is for you. | Just hop on over to The Noun Project, create an account, and start downloading. One little warning...you'll get sucked in really quickly, and you may spend a lot more time searching for icons than you ever thought you would. It's a great site to help with so many things in the classroom. There's even an add-on for Google Docs and Slides to make it easier to access The Noun Project. Enjoy! |
Edpuzzle
| Imagine having the ability to turn any video into a quiz that can then be delivered to your students. Imagine also having the ability to automatically get a grade from your students' attempt at the quiz. Well, you've just imagined something that actually exists! It's called Edpuzzle, and it's pretty darn amazing. Watch the following tutorial to learn more about this great resource. |
Lucidpress - Web-Based Desktop Publishing
I cannot say enough about this amazing resource! Lucidpress offers the variety (and then some) of Microsoft Publisher (flyers, brochures, magazines, postcards, newsletters, etc.) and the versatility and collaboration of Google Docs. You and your students need to investigate this for sure. It's definitely a one-stop-shop for classroom projects! Take a look at this tutorial to learn more about it. | |
Online Virtual Manipulatives
Have a look at these digital manipulatives. You and your students will be amazed at the crazy math you can do online. Here's an abbreviated list of what's available at Toy Theater.
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What's Happening in the Library?
PD Opportunity
For great information in the area of digital age learning, look no further than the TCEA Tech Notes blog. Whether you're looking for big picture ideas for your classroom, cool gadgets for educational settings or a quick lesson, TCEA Tech Notes has you covered. Be sure to bookmark this site for summer reading! |
My passion is to help provide South San ISD students with the best educational experience possible. One of the ways I can do that is to provide teachers with resources that will help them with instruction. Please help me understand how to best help you by completing this feedback form. Note: the form is anonymous. |
New Platform
I have changed the blogging platform from Blogger to Weebly based on user-friendliness. Feel free to access the previous archives at this location.
Author
Brad Cloud is the Director of Instructional Technology and Library Services at South San Antonio ISD.
Author
Erika White is the Instructional Technology Specialist for South San Antonio ISD.
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