Region 10 Video Storytellers Contest

Learners are capturing their own stories daily thanks to easily accessible technology. Take advantage of this opportunity to motivate learners to tell the stories of your content.

 We would love to see their submissions, too. Post links in the comments below.

Computer Science Education Week

Computer Science Education Week and #HourOfCode are right around the corner. This year we will be celebrating the week of December 3rd. If you would like your learners to join in this district-wide coding challenge, you will find all of the resources you need for a stress-free Hour of Code on this CISD Hour of Code website that our Digital Learning Coach team has worked to create.

Your learners can complete a self-directed Hour of Code with Learner Choice Menus. On the choice menus, learners may select any of the four topics. Each topic has a learn, do, and reflect portion to complete.

The reflection piece will be done district-wide through Flipgrid! Learners may dive deep into one topic, or explore all four.

Once your learners have participated in the Hour of Code, we encourage you to celebrate and award them their Hour of Code Certificate of Completion. A digital version of this certificate is available through the Flipgrid reflection topics. These could be easily added as a celebration to Bulb. We also want to encourage you to participate and reflect in the Hour of Code along with your learners!

Please use #HourOfCode #CISDCode2Learn & #CISDOurStory in your Tweets!

Want to extend your learning during Computer Science Education Week? Join our Twitter Chat, Critical Thinking for 21st Century Learners! See the invitation below for more details.

Let us know if you would like help designing or implementing Hour of Code activities.

Redefining Digital Portfolios

So, we all set up our Bulb digital portfolios. Now what? How can this tool benefit the learners in your class? I challenge you to think about digital portfolios as more than just a place for learners to showcase their best work to a broader audience, but also as a place to document the history of the student’s learning journey by accompany those artifacts with reflection, self-assessment, and future goal setting.

Coppell Digital Learning Coaches, Alli, Brad, Kelly, and Kasey recently hosted a webinar that explored critical thinking through Bulb.



What I loved about the webinar was how the discussions focused on teaching learners to think critically about their own learning process. If you missed it, click on the host’s Bitmoji image above to access all of their curated resources.

Blog Trick or Treating

This week we would like to share a few Digital Learning Coaches Blog treats. Weekly, we share our learning with you and provide helpful resources through our blog. Today we are playing “Blog Trick or Treating”, so that you can also learn from other members of our team just like we do everyday. Check out a few “treats” highlighted below:

Alli Pryor

Learn about Innerput and how digital tools can support learner internalization of information. Thinking Outside of the Box Blog Post

Trisha Goins

Learn about the benefits of the speak selection iPad accessibility feature. The Power of Voice

Sam Neal

Read about recent changes to Flipgrid.  Flipgrid for the Win

Megan Kozar

Find out how Schoology's Completion Rules can support student self-paced learning.  Fostering Independent Learning with Schoology

DianaLyn Perkins

Read more about iPad accessibility features and drawing in Notes  Accessibility Features and Drawing in Notes

Kasey Kemp

Blog post sharing more Schoology features you may have missed.  Schoology Tips and Tricks

Redefining Success through Digital Portfolios

How is success defined in your classroom? How much of your assessment is done to learners instead of with learners? Digital portfolios can be a way to celebrate learning and growth for all.

Some of the Reasons We Love Digital Portfolios:

• An opportunity to capture the process of learning, not just the end result.
• Provides a picture of the whole child as a unique individual and personality beyond a test score.
• Serves as a reflection space for learners and an opportunity to justify their own grades and develop their academic voice.
• Improves the home-school connection by giving parents a broader window into the learning process.
• Teaches digital citizenship skills in a world where learners are already developing online reputations.

Getting Started

Our district has adopted Bulb as our digital portfolio platform with easy to copy templates for learners and educators. If you are ready to get started, here are some instructions to get you on your way.

Learner Set Up Instructions 

Educator Set Up Instructions

Need more support?

Comment below or send us an email for one-on-one or whole team support.

Code Your Escape

Should our kids learn to code, or should they code to learn?  When coding, learners are developing transferable, life skills. Coding and computational thinking enhance problem solving skills that transfer to all content areas. The Turning Point educators at Victory Place @Coppell embrace this understanding and are using coding to inspire unlimited creative freedom, promote teamwork, elevate computational thinking skills, and develop leaders.

THE PLAYD8

High school learners at Victory Place learners were first exposed to the coding toys available to them through a “coding playd8”. We set up several different coding toys around the room and gave them free exploration “play” time with each toy.

THE ESCAPE ROOM PROJECT

Using the coding toys they experimented with in the PlayD8, the high schoolers designed and implemented escape rooms for the Denton Creek 4th grade learners. Each “room” had its own theme and several puzzles to solve. At least one of each room’s puzzles required a coding challenge for participants. Denton Creek 4th graders collaborated in teams to solve all puzzles in order to collect the clues needed to “escape” from the room.

Scooby-Doo Themed Code-A-Pillar Disco and Ozobot Maze Challenges

Lauren Billingsley - Victory Place Math Educator

EDUCATOR REFLECTION

What surprised you most about this project? 

How quickly they can pull their escape room designs together. Particularly, because the learners at first are a little unsure about how others will take their ideas and are very protective of their feelings. Once they start to weigh the options of having their idea shot down verses not being ready, they start to realize they need to communicate with each other. Ideas start coming and things get pulled together very quickly.

What did you notice most when you observed the high school learners interacting with the fourth graders? 

I think what I observed the most is that they severely underestimate the curiosity, tenacity, and intelligence of the fourth graders. We told them that “these are some smart fourth graders and we need to make this hard”. Getting our learners to challenge them in a real way is probably the most difficult part. I think that speaks to their character a little bit. They want to be nice and be helpful and then they realize it takes a little bit of coaching. It is ok for them to struggle. It is ok for them to fail.

What are the biggest take-away you see for your learners?

The elevation of computational thinking skills. It is severely underestimated how much of your day-to-day life encompasses computational thinking. To be able to take a problem, decompose into its smallest parts, look for patterns in both digital and life problems, and see where it is going haywire. Where can I make a change? What is a change that I can make that will affect several things? Computational thinking is not only good for their academic brain, but it is also good for their social emotional brain.

Designing the Escape Room

DESIGN YOUR OWN PLAYD8 

Interested in incorporating coding lessons into your curriculum? Want to set up a Coding PlayD8 with your PLC team or the learners in your class? Comment below or drop us an email. We would be happy to design an experience with you.

Changing Your Outlook of Outlook

Many of us keep track of our to-dos and events with Outlook’s calendar reminders feature. Did you know that you can customize when and how often you receive those reminders and how the organizer receives your response? 

Customize Calendar Categories and Reminders

Edit reminders to events created by someone else...

Simply open the event in your calendar and edit the reminder time.

Use the Outlook app on your mobile devices and customize invite responses

Learn More

Revisit one of our previous, most popular posts featuring email overload tips and changing your Reply All settings here.

For everything you ever wanted to know about Outlook, visit the Outlook for Windows Training page.