Student and Professional PortfoliosWhen we consider how we've all been thrust into the digital age by force in the past year, it goes without saying that digital portfolios for students (and for ourselves!) now have a greater significance. Since the bulk of what our students are producing is digital, it's logical that we ought to be setting aside artifacts to document learning and showcase achievements. Here are some ideas that might help you as you move in this direction. The Complete Guide to Student Digital Portfolios by Campus Press is probably all you need to get started. This comprehensive resource will walk you through the ins and outs of digital portfolio creation. From why a portfolio is necessary to what should be included and on to possible tools for building a portfolio ... it's all there. Make sure you check it out! I will never forget how much of an emphasis a former supervisor placed upon educators creating their own portfolios. He was often pushing us to create our own as a way of promoting ourselves and preparing ourselves to "move up in the world." I encourage you to do the same. I know things are crazy busy, but you won't regret taking a little time to create your own portfolio. Check out these resources from Lisa Johnson on the topic of creating a professional portfolio. Now, for those of you who are super-excited about portfolios, and so excited you'd like some skin in the game (such as skin made of money), you might want to enroll in this course by George Couros. You can watch a video on this page in which Couros tells why portfolios are so important. Finally, what would a post in this newsletter be without mentioning one of my favorite resources, Richard Byrne? Richard offers some great portfolio creation ideas in this post on his website. I really hope you consider implementing portfolios in your classroom and that you begin to create one for yourself. Enjoy! Have You Heard the News?In response to the pandemic, South San ISD has opted to transition to the use of Schoology as it's main learning management system, or LMS. Essentially, Schoology serves the same purpose as Google Classroom, but it does so on a much higher level. One of the main things that Schoology provides is a direct connection to Skyward. This allows for a smooth transfer of grades. Our goal for district-wide usage is centered on Fall of 2021. We are currently rolling out Schoology to the first cohort of teachers, and will move to another group after gathering usage feedback. One thing to note is that if you teach PreK - 2, we'd like you to feel free to continue using Seesaw if you so choose. Another very important detail is that Schoology connects seamlessly with G Suite products, so you'll not have to reinvent the wheel if you've spent this school year immersing yourself in Google Drive (Slides, Docs, etc).
Be on the lookout for training opportunities between now and the summer so you can get yourself prepared to use this great resource for next school year. If you'd like to learn more, check out this YouTube Playlist. If you have other questions about Schoology, please direct them to Brad Cloud. Library Things
We're Buying Some Books!
National School Library WeekIn my humble opinion, every week is LIBRARY WEEK! However, the nation recognizes the week of April 4-10 as National Library Week. So make sure you visit your school and/or public library during the week. Specifically, please make a point to thank your librarian on April 6 of that week, which is National Library Workers Day. Google FormsAlthough I've mentioned Google Forms before, I feel like it's one of those things that needs to be brought to the forefront often. It's so valuable and versatile, every teacher should be familiar with it. Google Forms is perfect for formative assessment, as a feedback tool or even as a quick auto-graded quiz. I have recently created an updated playlist of several videos that will walk you through almost every aspect of form creation and usage. You can check out the playlist here. Do You Know About Formative?
Great PD OpportunitiesIf you happen to have a free spot in your schedule on Saturday, May 1, be sure to enroll for the Digital Learning Summit. The Summit is a virtual PD experience hosted by Region 20. Check out the description here. This opportunity is free to South San, since we're members of the Educational Resources Cooperative.
Region 20 is also offering some individual upcoming trainings aside from the Summit. You can check out all of the offerings here.
Be sure to visit the
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We see them a lot! They're called infographics and they're a great way to convey ideas, data and statistics in a succinct way. The question is this. Do your students feel comfortable gathering information from them? What better way to teach them than to have them make their own? To help you get started have a look at the following resources: Also see:
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The G Suite Swiss Army Knife - Google Slides
I cannot emphasize enough how versatile Google Slides is to the classroom experience. Many people think Slides' functionality extends only to its use as a presentation tool, but it's so much more than that! Whether you'd like your students to make Choose Your Own Ending stories, interactive notebooks, clickable images or even draggable answers, Google Slides can handle it all. If you're just getting started with Google Slides, you probably will want to take a look at Edublogger's A Beginner's Guide to Google Slides in the Classroom. It is full of excellent information. Maybe you'd like to use Google Slides as a platform for having students create interactive notebooks. Matt Miller over at Ditch That Textbook has you covered here. | One of my favorites is what Richard Byrne talks about in his post about interactive images. It's really a cool idea! Make you sure you give Google Slides a good long look. I think you'll find it to be a really helpful addition to your teacher toolkit. |
YouTube Audio Library
If you ever ask your students to create multimedia projects, then you need this resource! YouTube Audio Library is a place where you can download royalty-free music. Depending on the track you choose, you might be asked to give attribution credit to the artist, but that's it! It's a pretty good deal. You can read about the terms here. Definitely take a look. You might also like this resource that South San Library Services created for multimedia projects. If you want to see YouTube Audio Library in action, check out this video. |
Library Things
Google Meet Breakout Rooms
Watch this video to learn the basics of Meet breakout rooms.
Document Camera Essentials
By the time this post is published, most of the classrooms in South San will have a document camera. Although there may be several different types of doc cams out there on campuses, the majority of you have either the AverVision U50 or the Elmo OX-1. With this in mind, I've created some resources that may prove to be helpful for you as you begin to use your document camera in class. The following presentations include "need to know" things as well as tutorial videos. |
Meet Your Librarian
As Media Services Coordinator, I will from time to time introduce you to a district librarian. I hope to use these introductions as a vehicle to shed light on the role of the campus librarian as well as to give accolades to these great people in our district. It is my honor to introduce to you Dr. Marcella Villegas-Garcia. | |
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. |
Engaging Students with Flipgrid
We've never found the need to engage students to be more relevant than now. It's good we're in this COVID predicament at this moment in time, because there are loads of tools out there that help keep kids engaged. One of these is Flipgrid. In a nutshell, Flipgrid allows teachers to create prompts in which students may respond by creating a video of themselves. It's really easy to use and lots of fun too. Watch the basics video here to learn how to quickly jump in to the Flipgrid world and check out this playlist to learn even more. | |
Using Your Phone (or tablet) as a Document Camera
Back in the spring at the beginning of the pandemic, I suggested ways that you could get creative if you didn't possess a traditional document camera (see the video here). This idea came again to my mind while reading through Richard Byrne's email newsletter. In the newsletter, he reviews some ways to use your phone in this way. Take a look at the following videos to learn all about this great idea.
Watch this video if you're using an iPhone or an iPad.
Watch this video if you're using an Android device.
Just a Little Side Note:
If you do not already subscribe to Richard's weekly newsletter, I recommend that you do that now. I have learned so much from him, and I know you will too. Here's the link to sign up.
If you do not already subscribe to Richard's weekly newsletter, I recommend that you do that now. I have learned so much from him, and I know you will too. Here's the link to sign up.
A Little Bit of Library Info
We in the South San Library (Media Services) group are excited about lots of things, but I'd like to share two of them with you. We're excited about SORA from Overdrive (gives students the ability to check out public library books without a library card) and Maker Space in South San Libraries. Check out the videos below to learn all about these things!
Here's a Great Resource You Should Check Out
TCEA offers lots of wonderful resources. One of them is their TechNotes blog. It doesn't disappoint. One of their latest posts caught my eye this week. It's called "Our 2020 Google Resource Roundup." and it's loaded with plenty of Google resources (as you can imagine). You should check it out!
Some Chromebook Tips
In case you're unaware, Chromebooks are quite the thing in education these days :) That's obvious, but something that may not be that obvious is some functionality that a Chromebook offers. I'd like to share some information with you regarding text to speech and speech to text capabilities that you have while using a Chromebook. Check out the resources below:
Text to Speech
The ability to have text read aloud to you is pretty fantastic! The Chromebook can do that. Watch these videos to learn how to enable it and then make it happen.
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Speech to Text
Speech to text offers the user the ability to have their speech dictated or converted to text. It's an especially helpful ability for those students who struggle to type quickly or really dislike typing in general. Watch this video to learn how to make this kind of thing happen.
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. |
Google Sites - Your One-Stop-Shop
Google Sites is one very nice option for delivering information to students and parents. It provides a professional and easy-to-use format for creating great websites. I have used many different programs for building websites and this is by far one of the easiest tools to learn. Take some time to explore Google Sites with this YouTube playlist.
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Become a Screencasting Pro
If you haven't jumped into the world of screencasting, now's the time! In short, screencasting is when you record your screen and perhaps yourself to make tutorial videos that can greatly assist your students and their parents as they're learning remotely. Even when COVID is all over, I highly recommend that you make these types of videos. Read all about the basics of screencasting here. There are lots of ways to record your screen, but I recommend three tools. They are Loom, Screencast-O-Matic and Screencastify. You can learn how to use these awesome tools by watching the playlist.
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Need a Little Engagement?
With many of our students working remotely, it's important to engage them as much as possible. There are lots of options out there, but I'd like to show you one that has caught my attention. It's called Mentimeter, and it can help you do a lot for your students. I would say that your primary focus with Mentimeter would be using it for formative assessment, but there are lots of directions it could take you besides this option. Have a look at the YouTube playlist below to learn about several of the functions that Mentimeter will help you with.
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Graphic Design Fun with Canva
I've shared Canva with you before, but it came to my attention that they've added a pretty cool element, so I decided to share it. Richard Byrne mentioned in his email newsletter that Canva now offers comic strip templates. There's a lot you can do with comic strips in the classroom, and your students are sure to enjoy these types of creations as they're learning about a new concept or perhaps showing what they know about a topic. Be sure to look at the Christmas/Winter themes and also don't forget to check out Richard's video to learn more.
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Happy Holidays from South San Media Services
Drones at Dwight
In case you're not aware of it, South San Media Services has been building up their Maker Space program over the past couple of years. One of most recent additions is drones. Dwight Middle School librarian, Lisa Buford, chose to invest her budgeted money and help students take to the skies! Check out this video.
Check Out This Stuff!
In case you've missed it, I have a few things that you might find useful.
- Webinar archives from spring 2020 trainings
- Hour of Code resource site
- Virtual Instruction resource site
- My YouTube Channel
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. |
I'm sure you've seen a Chromebook, but are you comfortable using one in the classroom? Maybe you'd like some suggestions on how to use these devices to their fullest potential. I came across a site that posts Chromebook lesson ideas. It's aptly named "Chromebook Lessons," and it's located at https://www.chrmbook.com/. When you visit the site, make sure you filter by subject area and grade level to drill down exactly where you need to be for your particular students. And...maybe you'd also like to learn more about the particulars of using a Chromebook in general. If so, take a look at The Art of Using a Chromebook. One last very impressive resource is one known as the Chromebook App Hub. Like "Chromebook Lessons," it also offers some wonderful suggestions for integrating Chromebooks into your curriculum. Take a look at these great sites!
What's Happening in the Library?
Do you rely on Google Maps as much as I do? For most of us, maps and GPS have become a routine part of our days. Your students are no different. They use (and they need to learn how to use) maps just like we do. So why not bring this conversation into the classroom? I would like to introduce you to Tour Builder. It allows users to do exactly what it sounds like - build a tour of the Earth. Take a look at this tour of South San Antonio ISD! Pretty cool, right? And it's very easy to use! Before everyone other than Social Studies teachers tunes this out, wait just a second. There are plenty of ways for other content areas to join in on the fun. Here is a list of possibilities:
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A speaker, podcaster and author of multiple books about innovation and design thinking, A.J. Juliani will challenge how you think about educating students. Visit his site today and follow him on Twitter. |
Poster My Wall is one of those sites everyone ought to know about. Here's how Poster My Wall promotes their site: Create amazing Posters, Videos & Graphics For Your Business Thousands of templates, free downloads and easy tools! If you or your students have need for a quick design for an assignment, look no further. Poster My Wall's got you covered. |
Your students will love you for this! When they tell you they've finished all of their work, then tell them to go to one of the sites mentioned in this article by Ditch that Textbook. In the list your students will find opportunities to make a difference, vocabulary building, a place to satisfy their curiosity about the world around them, the world of foreign languages, Google Quick Draw and much more. Take a look at these sites today! |
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. |
Padlet - A Useful Digital Wall
I certainly hope you know about Padlet, but in case you don't, it's my pleasure to introduce you to it. This great tool provides you and your students with a customizable digital wall in which content can be uploaded and then shared. I've used it a ton as a place where students can post something they've created online such as a Google Slideshow. Padlet is extremely easy to use, and can be accessed from a variety of devices. Don't overlook this tool as a quick way to gather formative assessment as well! |
Mystery Hangouts
A mystery hangout is a video chat between two classrooms that can be anywhere in the world. This video conference between students can be set up in a variety of ways, but it's often organized as a game of 20 Questions in which students try to determine where the students on the other end are located. It's a really cool way to embed curricular concepts like weather studies, language studies, geography, history, and so much more. One little note...you may use any platform you choose, such as Skype, but it's commonly called a "Mystery Hangout." If you're interested in learning more, take a look at this Smore that highlights the basics, visit the #mysteryhangouts hashtag on Twitter, or watch the following YouTube video intro. It's full of great ideas! Also take a look at the Google Hangouts Guide for Teachers. If you'd like to try this out, let me know. I'd love to be a part of the fun.
Author of multiple books, thought leader, former principal and science teacher, Eric Sheninger is someone who will challenge your thinking. Make sure you follow him on Twitter and visit his website to learn all about the ideas Eric is sharing regarding pushing the envelope in the educational setting. | Eric Sheninger |
What's Happening in the Library?
Create a Custom Worksheet
A friend recently shared this site with me. Wizer.me will allow you to create a customized digital worksheet for free! You simply get a free account, choose a decorative background and slap on a title. Then, you'll be presented with the options regarding content. See the pic below. Once you've completed the worksheet, you will be allowed to assign it to students using Google Classroom, Edmodo, by using a link or through Wizer.me's own assignment system. I think you'll enjoy this site immensely! Here's the Wizer.Me support center and here's a video that will help you get started. |
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. |
Have You Seen Learn 360?
Learn 360 is a huge collection of multimedia resources for the classroom including videos, music clips, interactives, games and activities and even lessons! If you've not yet logged in to take a look at what's available, please do. You can speak with your campus librarian to get the login credentials for you and your students. Watch the video below to learn more.
Learn About All Things Google
Richard Byrne, facilitator of Practical Ed Tech and Free Tech 4 Teachers, has an extremely valuable YouTube Playlist named Google Tutorials. In this playlist are 361 (as of November 2019) videos that address some aspect of using various Google products in education. "How to Insert Audio into Google Slides...," "How to Use Rubrics in Google Classroom," "Ten Handy Features of Google Keep," and "How to Add Footnotes to Google Docs," are just a few of the things you can learn about at this playlist. Check it out! |
Canva - A Graphic Design Treasure
Canva is a graphic design tool that everyone should be aware of. It allows you to design virtually anything, and it's really easy to use. I've used it to make presentations, posters, flyers, postcards and even resumes. Go to canva.com and get started designing today. Take a look at the following tutorial video to learn more. | |
Jerry Blumengarten, or the Cybrary Man, is a curator of hundreds (if not thousands) of resources for students parents and teachers. You may take a look at his resources at cybraryman.com or follow him on Twitter @cybraryman1. Fair warning: you will need hours to fully explore Jerry's website.
What's Happening in the Library?
Adobe Spark Page
Have you ever wanted to create a quick web page that you can use to deliver instruction or just pass on information to parents or students? Or maybe you've wanted a fresher way to have students present their learning. Well, look no further. Adobe Spark Page is exactly what you need. This resource is part of the Adobe Spark family that includes Spark Video and Spark Post. All three are tremendously easy to use, and in my opinion, they are indispensable to the educator. Watch the tutorial video to learn how to use this amazing resource. | |
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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Seesaw - A Fantastic Digital Portfolio
Seesaw is exactly how the title of this section describes - it's fantastic! The Seesaw website describes its product this way - "Student driven digital portfolios and simple parent communication." There's a lot packaged into Seesaw, so there's a little bit of a learning curve, but it's just because of the volume of capabilities you'll have when you opt to use Seesaw. If you're interested in learning more about this great tool, have a look at my YouTube playlist here. As always, if you'd like to start using this in your classroom but you'd like assistance, let me know. I'd love to work with you on that! Also remember to follow @seesaw on Twitter to learn about some great implementation ideas. |
Graphic Organizers - A Valuable Classroom Tool
All learners can profit from the use of a graphic organizer. These awesome tools can help provide a scaffold for struggling learners, a framework for a writing assignment, a "hook" for the visual learner, a path to reading comprehension, a way to help students to stay in focus during a lecture, and so much more. Read The Great and Powerful Graphic Organizer to learn more about the topic. |
I'm sure you have graphic organizers in paper form all through your teacher guides, file cabinets, etc., but do you have access to digital versions of a KWL, Venn, and all of the other favorites? If so, that's great! If not, take a look at these resources:
- Holt Interactive Graphic Organizers - This site offers a plethora of GOs! You simply have to take a look. Students can download these as PDFs and then immediately start typing on them. Once the assignment is complete, they can turn it in digitally or print it out.
- Ditch That Textbook's 25 Free Google Drawings Graphic Organizers - You probably know by now that Ditch That Textbook is a resource I access often. There's a good reason for that. It's amazing! Matt Miller has created graphic organizers using Google Drawings. Students just need to login to their district Google account, click on one of Matt's links and then make a copy. From there they just start typing on the Google Drawing graphic organizer.
- Here's one more thought on using graphic organizers in the classroom. What if you want to create your own graphic organizer or you find one that can't be typed on? No worries. Kami is here to help. Kami is a Chrome extension that allows for PDF and document annotation, and it's really easy to use.
The Snipping Tool - A Must HaveHave you ever wanted to take a snippet of something on your screen? Well, you can. Use the snipping tool. Just click on the Windows button at the bottom left of your screen and type "snip" in the search box. Watch this video to learn how to use this indispensable resource. |
An excellent resource you need to know about is Shake Up Learning, which is created and maintained by Kasey Bell. The site offers so much: a blog, podcasts, online courses, and a whole lot more. Make sure you take a look at it. You might also want to follow Kasey on Twitter to receive fresh tips about integrating technology in your classroom. |
What's Goin' On in the Library?
September was a busy month for the South San libraries. Not only did we experience back to school busyness, we also re-opened the Athens and Kazen libraries and kicked off our new makerspace programs. If you haven't heard about the maker movement, be sure to pop in to a campus library to learn more (you can also read about maker space here). We'd be glad to talk to you about it! Watch the slideshow to review the month of September from the vantage point of the libraries. |
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. |
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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