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.
It’s not too late to connect your classroom with the world. Global Collaboration Week is still going on today and tomorrow. This event provides a one stop shop of opportunities for educators and learners looking to make connections around the globe. Participants from all over can collaborate on projects, make plans for future projects, or simply connect with one another to share information and resources. For links to events happening in Central Daylight Time Zone, click here.
On this planet we are all interdependent and ultimately already connected. Why not parallel that reality in your classrooms. Check out his video from the UN that really sums this up from the learner’s perspective.
Why Global Collaboration:
Authentic & Experiential Learning
Preparing our learners to contribute in an ever increasing globally connected society
Connect with Industry Experts
Newly Possible Virtual Experiences
Cultural Awareness & Empathy
Celebrate differences
Provide different perspectives
Collaboration
Real-world communication skills
Communicating and creating products despite time and space
Connecting
Building your PLN
Share Learning and resources
Find like-minded thought partners
Who's Connected?
Connecting learners with educators
Michael Yakubovsky’s learners are currently working on a project where they interview educators from other campuses to discover needs. Learners are designing solutions through 3-D printing inventions. Keep following to hear more about this as it develops.
Connecting learners across schools and grade levels
Pillar Castro-Zena’s learners connected with Kindergarteners through Flipgrid to get feedback on the toys they created during their design thinking unit. Read more about it here.
Connecting current learners with former learners
Ian Vanderschee hosted a Skype session with over 40 of his learners that have already graduated. He included a Q/A session for his current learners to hear what graduates said about college and preparing for college.
Connecting with other districts
Sr. Mares challenged his learners to create Earth Day children's books with a target audience of Spanish speaking fourth graders in mind. Sr. Mares connected with a fourth grade dual language educator in another city. Her learners read the books, and then met with his learners through Google Hangouts. The high schoolers were able to practice authentic conversations in Spanish and received feedback on their books from the fourth graders. Read more about it here.
Connecting with parents
Suzanne Paylor uses Flipgrid to bring parents into the conversations happening in her classroom.
Connecting through social media
Tracy Henson’s learners kept blogs related to causes that are dear to their hearts. The public blog tracks the learners’ journeys through research to fund raising. Example
We know so many more of you are making global connections, too! Inspire others. Tell you story below.
Hello Differentiation. Meet the individually assign feature in Schoology. At times, learners or groups of learners may need alternate assignments or individualized content. Or, maybe the educator just needs to differentiate learning experiences to accommodate varied learning styles. Did you know that in Schoology, your Discussion Boards, Assignments, Quizzes, and Assessments can be individually assigned to learners or groups of learners? Check out this 1 minute video on how to individually assign.
Besides individually assigning, this feature has the ability to turn your Schoology course into a platform for group collaboration. Want to see how Schoology can help deliver materials to groups of learners? Visit this link for step-by-step instructions.
Interested in exploring this feature more? Contact Monica Champagne and Kelly Skillingberg.
“Grading Groups and Individually Assign.” DoDEA ELearning Portal, Department of Defense Education Agency, 22 Jan. 2015, learn.dodea.edu/.
As educators, we understand the importance of upholding expectations for classroom management. Through the reflection of particularly rough days, we strategize and calculate the changes we will make to ensure things will go better “next time”. Recently, we have been exploring how this process is just as important to the digital aspects of your classroom as it is the analog and wanted to share three of our favorite resources with you.
Last night, we had the privilege of hearing from our district’s secondary teacher of the year, Mel Mollick. Mel, shared some of her tried and true classroom management strategies, specifically focusing on those related to a 1:1 learner to device environment. Click hereto access Mel's slide deck.
Have your grade level teams or campuses struggled to find the perfect testing calendar? I have witnessed many versions of this challenge play out, as educators make it a priority to relieve stress from overloaded learners. In our district, we are fortunate to use Schoology as our Learning Management System. Schoology has a built in tool to support educators in this balancing act. The Workload Planning tool can give educators an idea of their learners’ overall workload. Here are a few tips for using the Workload Planning tool effectively.
Locating Workload Planning tool
(Web version only. Not available on the Schoology App)
↑
Navigating the Workload Planning Tool
Workload Planning Tool Best Practices
Create an assignment in Schoology for all labs, major projects, test, or quizzes that you would like to show up in the Planner, even if they are not going to be submitted through Schoology. You can turn off submissions. This way the assignment will still show up on your learners’ calendar and Workload Planner, but not show up as past due for your learners when nothing has been submitted online. It is a great place to include assignment details and submission instructions where learners will not lose them.
Use your best judgment on what to do with Workload Planner data. It could be helpful in making more informed decision about deadline dates for exams, projects, or papers. You might even allow your learners choice when scheduling deadlines. Choice can be a stress reducer and show learners that we are collaborating and advocating for their best interest. Reducing learner stress can mean higher scores on your assignments.
If several learners have a large number of assignments due on a specific day, click into the assignments to see how demanding those assignments may be and possibly contact other educators for more details.
Consider designing a consistent, campus-wide system for assignment titles. This could include subject, project, type, and weight.
Not ready to go all in? Consider starting small. Perhaps start by incorporating Workload Planner with learners that need extended time as a modification. Meeting with those learners individually could help give them ownership in their learning by deciding an extended due date for assessments that fall on a busy workflow day. Educator Advice
“I think the biggest thing for me is that you have to investigate a little when you use this feature. Sometimes it will look like they have 5-6 things going on at once, but it is all in one class. Or you click on it and it says something like Exit Ticket or In-Class Discussion or something like that where there isn’t really a whole lot of time or out of class effort required. So, if you just look at the numbers it can be deceiving. Secondly, it only works if teachers are using Schoology as a place to indicate assignment deadlines.” - Tracey Henson, high school English teacher
Are you using Workload Planner with your campus/grade level team? Please share below helpful tips that are working for you.
It's official! The 2018-2019 school year is underway. Educators have welcomed learners not only into their physical classrooms, but also their digital ones. During this process, I have had some reoccurring questions from educators and thought others could benefit from the answers.
Summer is a time to unwind and recharge, but it can also be a great opportunity to learn and grow in a more relaxed setting. During the school year, we have many opportunities for PL, but they often fall at busy or inconvenient times or cause educators to leave their learners with a sub, making summer the perfect time to dive into some deeper professional learning. I asked some of our educators to share how they will incorporate Professional Learning into their summer break.
Did you know that your DLCs are offering over24 hoursof flex opportunities this summer?
In addition to the face-to-face conference we are hosting on June 5th, you can also register for any of our three virtual courses. Be sure to register in Eduphoria.
