Live Tweetup Recap and Joining a PLN

Thank you to all who attended and/or participated in our Digital Learning Party and Live Tweetup!  Missed it? That's OK, you can still participate in the next steps.

What's Next?

This year, our Digital Learning Team is facilitating the creation of mini PLNs (personal learning networks) throughout our district. From January to April of this year, you'll be able to learn with your PLN through a variety of modalities. Your PLN might choose to do a book study, participate in a Twitter chat, meet in person or virtually. The sky is the limit, whatever will help you meet your digital learning goals. Interested?  Visit this form to join a professional learning network by Friday, December 15th. You will receive an email from your PLN facilitator the week of Jan 3rd with next steps on beginning your PLN journey.

What is a PLN?  

Take a look at this quick video! 

Want to relive the Live Tweetup experience?

Check out this highlight video.

Missed the chat?

Check out the chat questions here and leave a comment below with how would you respond.

Live Tweet Up and Hour of Code!

Live Tweet Up PL Launch Party

    

Last week was spent with gobble, gobble, gobble. This week it’s time for tweet, tweet, tweet. Sign up for the PLN Live Tweet Up Launch Party in Eduphoria. 

• What is a live tweet up?
  
• A face to face chat about a given topic that is also being documented on Twitter using a specific hashtag, #CISDchat.

• What if I don’t have a Twitter account?
  
• Please see this document to setup a Twitter account before the party.  There will also be a Genius Bar to help you setup your account. If needed, you can arrive at 4:30 pm to get setup help and have any of your Twitter questions answered.
  

• What if I can’t attend?
  
• You can still participate in our live tweetup from any location by following #CISDchat on Twitter from 5-6 pm.
  

• Can I get FLEX credit?
  
• Yes. If you attend the event, you can earn up to 1 hour of FLEX credit.
  

• What is the QR code on the invite?
  
• I’m glad you asked! Please view the video of our learners’ voices as they describe what learning means to them.

Hour of Code

This year, our DLC team has built some awesome resources to support our educators and learners as we celebrate Hour of Code. We especially love the Learner Choice Board Padlet! All educators Pre-K - 12 are invited to sign up and participate with their classes.

How do your classes participate in Hour of Code? Comment below.

Assessment and Learning PL Week Wrap Up

A huge thank you from your DLCs to everyone who participated in last week’s Assessment and Learning PL opportunities.

For those of you who were not able to participate this week or would like to revisit some of the resources, we have Storified the Twitter discussions (linked below) and are leaving the smackdown Flipgrid link live. When viewing the smackdown Flipgrid, we would love for you to contribute your own tools or strategies. You can also reply to those that have already posted with your questions or by sharing other ways you use the same tool or strategy with your learners.

Twitter Chat Day 1

Twitter Chat Day 2

Twitter Chat Day 3

Twitter Chat Day 4

Let's keep the discussion going!

iOS 11 Game Changers

Written by Kelly Skillingberg and Monica Champagne

What we love about Apple is that they always seem to take the best pieces of different apps and make them a standard part of the device, like the camera’s new build in QR Code reader, for example. With the iOS 11 update, users may also no longer need their old QR Coder readers, screen recorders or preferred note taking apps. Take two minutes to see a quick highlight of some of our favorite features. 

As digital learning coaches, we are passionate about adding digital elements to your lesson design. If you would like to work with us to learn more about how you can use the new iOS 11 features with your learners or any other tool, here are some ways we can help.

iOS 11 Update Information

By Kelly Skillingberg and Monica Champagne

Important

**Please read BEFORE updating your Apple device to iOS 11**

Apple has released iOS 11 and this upgrade is now available. To prepare your device for the iOS 11 update, it is good practice to backup to iCloud. However, a backup is not mandatory for the update.

**Please note, if you have an iPad 4, the iOS 11 update will not be available for that device**

Due to internet connections and wifi traffic, we strongly recommend that you complete your backup and update from home. Be sure to plug in your device so it will have enough power to complete either task.

• How to backup your device to iCloud

After updating, be sure to check out all the amazing new features that iOS 11 has to offer.

• New features of iOS 11
  

Keep an eye out for future posts where we will share how some of the features can be used to support your lesson design.

If you have any technical difficulties with your iPad, please try the tips and tricks located on this iPad troubleshooting guide. You can always submit a help desk ticket if you continue to run into any issues. You can submit a ticket by navigating to coppellisdhelp.zendesk.com and signing in using your full email address and district password.

Already using new iOS 11 features in cool ways with your learners? Please share, below.

No Good Ever Comes From Clicking Reply All

One of the challenges of my new position has been juggling email overload. For anyone who understands this struggle, I have composed a list of some super simple practices that have helped me. 

• Take time to unsubscribe to marketing emails you are no longer interested in receiving.

• Know what is better communicated face-to-face or through a phone call.
  

• Create organized folders by topic to save emails you may want to refer to later. Take time to carefully plan your folder structure. Schedule time daily to practice using it and give yourself a celebratory fist bump when you have cleared your inbox.
  

• Give yourself a break from your email by setting aside periods of time throughout your work day to check and resist the urge to peek all day long.
  

• Use your “out of office” feature to decrease email overload when you are away.
  

• If you can respond quickly, do so immediately. If not, use the “flag” feature and try to respond within 24 hours.
  

• And most of all, use Reply All sparingly.
  

Our district email defaults to a “Reply All” setting.  To learn how to fix this, take less than ONE minute and watch this video. It will show you how to change your default settings to “Reply.”

Let's learn from each other. Share below you own email management tips.

Classroom Screen

Written by Kelly Skillingberg and Monica Champagne

Our first favorite tool of this school year explores ClassroomScreen, a classroom management website that takes the most commonly used classroom widgets and organizes them onto one screen for you and your class. 

Need to display a

Timer?

Random Name Generator?

Calculator?

Simple Text Box?

QR Code Maker?

Drawing?

Clock?

Traffic light?

Take TWO minutes and see how this tool can simplify your classroom management by providing all of these things on ONE screen. You will be glad you did!

Have two more minutes?  Watch this video to see how ClassroomScreen can help you manage groups.



Which widget would be the most useful in your classroom and why? Comment below.

A New Digital Learning Coach's Vision

232 staff members, 72 new to our school educators, and 3,124 students, these are the people I serve as a first-year digital learning coach. I do not take the term serve lightly. As I navigate this enormous campus and slowly began to build relationships with one amazing educator after another, I feel humbled to be called a “coach”. Listening to these educators share their “why” and verbalize their passions for our learners’ successes makes me feel so lucky to be in this position.

As coaches we are often referred to as leaders, but I see my role as more of a servant. I am not the reason for the mission or vision of these educators, they are and I am here to support them in their goals. Instructional leaders that have had the most influence on my career have given me the power of choice. They valued my professional judgment regarding not only what my learners needed, but also regarding what I knew I needed for my own growth. They actively supported my own goals by planting seeds through freely sharing strategies and knowledge, but allowed me to adapt and apply those strategies only when I was ready. They allowed me to feel safe enough to respectfully disagree with their viewpoints and listened without judgment exercising empathy.

This is the type of Digital Learning Coach I hope to become this year. I look forward to the many new relationships that I will have the opportunity to foster and am excited to learn from each other. #reciprocity

Love Letter to West

There once was a teacher who lost her direction 

So, she turned her car West in random selection 

Little did she know her life would be blessed 

By all of the people this new school possessed

Though she was the teacher, she learned as much as she taught

From the admin, teachers, and students her broken path sought

Cheri and Lesa taught me grace under pressure

Just keeping a smile is truly a treasure

From Laila I learned to say yes more than no

While current admin provided new ways to grow

Poullard taught me to make learning fun

Allison and Franci did this like no one

Vern gave me recognition, which of course I repeated

Our nurses stayed calm when my blood pressure was heated

Catherine and Cary glammed my world and my hall

Shari, Brandi, and Pam taught divine call

Nolte showed me how set the bar high

And Polly said always be sure of your "why"

Trisha and Angie encouraged and coached

Laura held me together with true friendship and jokes

Carson and Howell truly loved all the learners

Marci's service and sacrifice was like no other's

A true partner and coach Victoria became

She gave me courage to lead and helped keep me sane

These lessons sound small but a big impact you've made

Because of your love my new path is laid

Over a decade has brought so many so dear

but I'll end with my kids to my heart your most near

Perseverance, forgiveness, patience, and heart

I've learn the most from you, that I just couldn't part

You see, this isn't good-bye, but I'm following you now

I'm off CHS after this one final bow

Thank you all friends for showing me the West way

Please stay in touch Westies I'm not far away. 

WESTV 2016-17 Final Episode

To the parents of my learners:

Thank you so much for sharing your amazing, talented, compassionate, and funny children with me this year. As promised, here is the link to our final show. Enjoy your summer!

Please comment below and let us know which Multimedia project or WESTV show you enjoyed the most this year.

IMPACT CBL Project Wrap Up

By: Media B Learners

Three thousand dollars. That’s the amount of money raised from the UNICEF dance. The turnout was very successful. Many students from all grades came and had a lot of fun. There was a professional DJ hosting fun games in the gym, raffle tickets to pie teachers, food in the cafeteria, and simulations. A Snapchat filter was even created for the event, showing on anybody’s Snapchat app during that time.

This CBL project has come to a close. With the dance being the final solution for the sixth graders, they have accomplished their challenge. Coppell Middle School West has made an IMPACT on UNICEF and children around the world. Media B enjoyed documenting the process. Below you can view our finished documentary.

If you were a part of this project in any way, tell us how it IMPACTED you.

Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes-Google Keep

Welcome to my new obsession, Google Keep! My list making talent has always been a joke in my family. There are so many ideas going on in my head, not to mention being a working mom of four. Writing down my "to-dos" is the only way I can rest. Do you ever have trouble sleeping because of all the things you need to remember to do the next day? Or, do you ever have some late night great idea pop into your head that you don't want to forget? When that happens to me, I now grab my phone and get it out of my head and on to a Google Keep list. I can sleep knowing the information will be easily accessible on all of my devices whenever I need it again.

Google Keep allows users to create unlimited lists, color code them, label them, move and organize, and share them with other collaborators. You can add photos, create drawings, and set reminders. You have a variety of note types you can take including, text, audio, or checklist. But, my favorite part is how it works with other applications. Searching online and find something note worthy? Just launch the Google Keep extension and take your notes. Oh but wait, you want to start a Google doc with these notes.  Just, go to "Tools", "Keep Notepad", and drag your content over.

Are you thinking about how useful this could be for students? Besides the obvious time management, to-do lists, and daily habits, they could create bookmarks with the Keep Extension, organize research for projects, create vocabulary or spelling lists, take class notes, organize reading logs, and collaborate with team members.

Below is a quick overview of Google Keep from my Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes video series.

I am looking forward to starting my learners off next year with this organizational tool, so that they too can learn to love the satisfying feeling of ticking off a task. Are you already using Keep with your learners?  I would love for you to  leave a comment below and share with others.

Video Challenge Finalist and Results

What do you do when your learners' work is too amazing to keep locked away on your classroom computers? You host a film festival, of course. This was my sixth year to host a district-wide video competition for middle school multimedia learners. It is always an exciting time for us, as we share our video challenge finalist with other schools in the district and a panel of guest and celebrity judges.

Without further ado, congratulations to our first place winners:

Music Video: North (Video 3) Marina Serdyuk's "Come Back to Me" by Tyler W.
Public Service Announcement: North (Video 1) "Teen Stress"
Silent Film West (Video 2) "Getting Closer" by Ernest L., Sameer I., and Aaron B.
Short Film West (Video 1) "A Different Corner" by Natalie A.
Stop Motion Animation West (Video 3) "Monster Under the Bed" by Carly D.

Enjoy all of the finalist videos below:

Thank you so much to everyone who participated and made this event possible. Yes, competition is fun, but we get so much more out of this event than just fun. Thanks to all of you, we get to experience

• Professional feedback
• An authentic audience
• Increased learner engagement
• Evaluation and reflection of course lesson design
• Opportunity to share our work and tell stories outside the walls of our classroom
• Recognition of our work and unique program from others outside of our own schools

To see even more great submissions that didn't make it to the finals, keep an eye out for a blog post later in the month. 

Which Challenge finalist was your favorite? Comment below.

Room 319 Happenings Feb.-April 2017

If you could turn your teacher into an alien without getting into trouble, would you? Well, that is exactly what we did in Multimedia this marking period through the magic of photo editing. Taking a short break from video, learners used the editing software tool Adobe Photoshop to edit images.  They learned about selection tools, quick-masking, compositing, and photo retouching. This lesson is always a favorite as learners easily see connections and how these skills can be apply to their own personal photography.

Another leaner experience this marking period was the creation of informational podcasts. I am always surprised at the number of learners who do not know what a podcast is or take advantage of this resource on their iPads.  Learners were given time to explore the wealth of audio blogging material available to them and a chance to create their own episode using the Opinion App. They covered a huge variety of topics including; history, self-improvement, sports, video games, movies, and art. Listen to Emily and Sadie's here.

Want to use the Opinion App for audio blogging in your class? Check out these tutorials: Quick 15 sec. video overview       Detailed tutorial

Every good videographer knows that understanding his equipment is important to the success of his project. Learners researched the operating procedures, functions, and features of our equipment. They then created product review/tutorial videos to share their learning with others. Check out Kiara and Raquel's tutorial here.

Even with all of this going on, we continued to produce our entertaining and informative WESTV broadcasts.  Enjoy show 4 and 5 below:

Now it is time to put all of the skills we have learned this year to the test through a district-wide video competition. Middle school learners from the entire district are gearing up to create some creative and entertaining entries for this year’s submissions. The categories will be music video, silent film, public service announcement, short film, and stop motion animation.  Subscribe to this blog, so you don’t miss the showcase video.

Can you guess this educator? Comment below.

Comment with your guess below.

Call for Film Festival Judges

We are looking for volunteer film industry professionals to judge our district wide video challenge. Learners from all Coppell Middle Schools are gearing up to create some creative and entertaining entries for this year’s submissions. The categories will be music video, silent film, public service announcement, short film, and stop motion animation.

Our showcase will be April 27th. The one hour long video showings will take place promptly at 7:40 am, 8:35 am, 9:35 pm, 12:30 pm, and 1:30 pm.  The judging is simple – you just have to select the video you think is the best for each category. Plus, we will provide popcorn! Interested film industry professionals that would like to judge for us and enjoy some fabulously entertaining videos, will only need to attend ONE of the five sessions listed above.

Film industry professionals interested in supporting future film makers and providing authentic feedback for their learning should email Mrs. Champagne at mchampagne@coppellisd.com.

Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes: Google Expeditions

Want to move your lesson to the redefinition level of the SAMR model? Try taking your learners on field trips to places that once seemed impossible.  I took my class to Lebanon this week thanks to the Google Expeditions app.  In virtual reality, we explored the home, school, and work environments of Syrian refugee children now living and working in Lebanon. The "Out of Syria, Back into School" expedition served as a perfect guiding activity for our current CBL project that is focusing on child labor and the Syrian refugee crisis.  I knew this expedition would help my learners connect to children living much different lives than them, but what surprised me was how much we learned about each other on the tour. The app provides the educator a script to lead participants through the journey with discussion questions that help connect learners to what they are seeing. We learned that we have first generation Americans in our class and students shared personal stories of friends and family members that can not go to school because they have to work.

The app has a robust library of expeditions. You can find something for every content area.  I'm really looking forward to leading my iExplore learners through the Career Expedition series.

To see a short (under two minutes) tutorial on how to use the Google Expeditions app, check out my video below.

See entire lesson plan here.

What is your favorite Google Expedition? Leave a comment below.

A Brief CBL Update

by Kaitlin T. and Carly D.

As many of you know, the sixth graders are hosting a movie and dance night to raise funds for UNICEF. The movies that will be shown are Sing, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, and Home Alone. There will be a raffle and simulations relating to the kids in Syria. The sixth graders are putting a lot of work into this event. Come support them and join the fun on March 31st.

Meanwhile, learners have been reflecting on why they believe the CBL: Impact project is important. After watching a Ted Talk video concerning Syrian refugees, students were challenged with explaining how they are connecting to the project. Sixth graders created an Impact wall to share their thoughts.

While Media learners created video reflections. See below.

Leave a comment to tell us how this project has IMPACTED you.

Teacher Tech Tools in Under Two Minutes #4-Classlink

Have you heard about Classlink yet? This is a “single sign-on” app that allows you to use one username and password to access everything you need. We have a wealth of technology tools available to us in this district. Using classlink can make navigating those tools simpler for  educators, learners, and parents. Watch this short video to learn more.

A Closer Look at CBL

Written by Kaitlin Tan

In our last blog post we introduced the learning design model, Challenged Based Learning. For those of you who need a basic introduction to CBL, it is a structured project that lets the learners decide what they want to learn. First, a big idea is proposed. Then, learners create a challenge and guiding questions to help them complete that challenge. After using guiding activities to answer those questions, they then suggest solutions.

Our Media B class is documenting the CBL project our Math classes are currently tackling. Their big idea is “Impact”. They have challenged themselves to make a global impact by bringing awareness and aid to the Syrian refugee crisis and child labor. On March 31st, the entire sixth grade, is hosting a dance. There will be a movie shown for all learners right after school, followed by a dance from 5:30-7:30. All proceeds will go to Unicef.

This impact CBL will take place throughout the rest of the school year. An ongoing documentary about the process is being made by Media B students. Keep a lookout for more news on this impactful CBL.

Room 319 Happenings Jan. - Feb. 2017

Going the Extra Mile

Written by Kaitlin T.

It’s been a busy six weeks, as we’ve been learning new things and helping the whole school. Both Media A and B have been going the extra mile with their work.

In January, Media B was introduced to the Texas Public Schools Rock Contest. Students were challenged with creating a video to enter for the entire school. Using the prompt, “What makes your school special?,” We collaborated to come up with a creative idea. Thanvi, Kaitlin, Jessica, and Carly took the lead on this project.

For the month of January, Show 3 was successfully produced. The show had a big idea of “self-control”, as that was our character trait of the month. Some of our main highlights included, Post Christmas Depression, Flipped Fridays, Unorthodox Addictions, and the Texas Public Schools contest video. Watch the 3rd installment of WESTV here.

Media A started a new unit on Stop Motion animation. After two weeks spent understanding the animation process, all of the students experimented with creating their own. View some of their creations in the Padlet below.

Currently, Media B is tackling a challenging project as well. They started their big Challenge-Based Learning project for the year with the big idea of “Inform”. Our challenge is to inform all stakeholders of our school's CBL initiative. Watch this trailer to learn more.

It’s been a great six weeks in all, learning new things and polishing old skills. Stay tuned to what else these multimedia classes will accomplish and more about our Math department's "Impact" CBL project.