Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Tech & Innovation Welcomes Robert Jensen & Eric Delgado!

Please join the Department of Technology and Innovation in welcoming our two newest members to the team, Robert Jensen and Eric Delgado.

Prior to joining the Team as a Technology Support Associate, Bob Jensen was a Campus Activity Attendant at BHS. He also spent four years as a Mainframe Storage Admin for IBM and fifteen years as a Programmer at Experian before that. He also served in the U.S. Coast Guard at a Search and Rescue Station located on St. Simons Island, Georgia.

Bob enjoys reading mysteries and science fiction, watching black and white movies, especially Abbott and Costello, and has been married 29 years with a son and daughter.

Bob says, “I enjoy working with technology because it is very black and white. IT is very binary, 1 or 0, on/off, it works/it doesn’t work. There is logic to good technology that makes sense to me.”

Eric Delgado joins the team as a Technology Support Associate as well and comes to us from District U-46 in Elgin where he spent six years. He was drawn to technology after being introduced to coding/programing during his high school years and likes to learn new things and work with new tech.

Eric enjoys drawing, writing, and hiking, as well as cooking and eating!

Eric says, “I attended Larkin High School in District U-46. During after-school hours, I was part of the school broadcasting club where I helped produce the Larkin High School website. My instructor made the final touches, but the majority of the website layout was my doing.”

Crushing it through Creativity: Three Keys to Better Student Projects, Part 2 of 5

Overview

Apple recently published a series of three books on the topic of Educational Leadership. Written in partnership with SRI Education's Center for Technology in Learning and with contributions from Apple Distinguished Educators, this series highlights the latest research and knowledge about great teaching and learning. In fact, the book Elements of Leadership even features the Barrington 220 District Technology Committee as an example of shared leadership in instructional technology (page 21).

This bsd220tech series focuses on the book Elements of Learning which discusses powerful instructional strategies that engage learners and empower them to believe that their work matters.  This month, we'll explore how some important tweaks to traditional student projects can take them to the next level. Check out last month's entry for thoughts on collaborative teamwork.


Elements of Learning—Part 2 of 5: Communication and Creation

Teachers are challenged with the task of trying to evaluate what their students know. Sometimes, simply asking students to recall information they have learned is a quick and effective way to collect data on student learning. This can take the form of teacher questioning, student discussions, quizzes, and traditional tests. However, trying to develop a sophisticated assessment that challenges students to communicate their understanding in complex ways isn't so simple. Developing learning activities that ask students to create a product to demonstrate what they know is a powerful way to assess student learning. Often, these products ask students to analyze or synthesize information for the purpose of explaining or persuading others. This type of activity is magnified when students have the opportunity to "flex their creative muscles." Asking students to create an original product as a means to communicate their understanding is a good start, but paying attention to these three elements when planning can greatly enhance the learning outcomes.  

Ask students to consider audience

Often, students create products for an audience of one, the teacher. Widening the audience to a larger, more authentic group has the potential to raise a student product to the next level. Students tend to take a project more seriously and have more fun if they know that what they are making will be seen by a larger group of people than just the teacher who is evaluating them. The more authentic the audience, the better. Some creative thought about community members, local businesses, or other grade levels in the district who would benefit from seeing the product can raise a student project to the next level. Asking students to consider a specific audience for their message adds a layer of rigor and can tell you more about their thinking.  

Give students flexibility in selecting their means of expression

There is no rule that states that students must all use the same medium or create the same product to demonstrate their learning. Allowing flexibility in deciding how to demonstrate knowledge can give students extra motivation and may produce higher quality results. For example, rather than asking all students to produce a traditional essay, widening the options to include video, photography, audio, and music allows students to add an element of creativity that can take their project to the next level.  

Expect students to follow a set of design principles 

Setting and communicating clear expectations is an important aspect of developing a learning experience. Adding an element of design principles to these expectations should be considered during this process. Do you need students to develop a persuasive argument? Why not develop a newspaper editorial, newscast or follow a debate format? Asking student to select a format that follows a set of design principles acts as insurance against unpredictable and possible low-quality finished products.  In addition, it creates an expectation for professionalism that encourages students to raise their game.  

Using digital formats such as digital portfolios, movies, or presentations for creating these products can add a level of professionalism. This becomes important as you challenge students to create authentic products for real world audiences.  


Want to Learn More?

The book is available right now, including examples from multiple grade levels and content areas. Download the multitouch book, Elements of Learning, in the Apple Book Store:
  1. Open the Apple Books app already on your device in the Applications folder of your MacBook Air or from the App Store (or Self Service) on iPad.
  2. Search for Elements of Learning.
  3. Click or tap Get.
  4. Enter your Apple ID and password when prompted.
  5. Start reading!



Great Twitter Follows for December 2018


Are you new to Twitter? Are you looking to get more out of it? Twitter is a great tool for staying connected with what is happening in Barrington 220. Many Barrington educators, clubs, groups, and teams have Twitter accounts.

Twitter can also be used to develop a customized, up-to-date stream of rich professional development resources. By following great accounts on Twitter, you can stay informed, challenge your thinking, and get the latest research on what works in education.

Here are some great Twitter follows to consider this month:


Alfie Kohn@alfiekohn

Profile:
"author and lecturer on topics in education, parenting, and human behavior" (Adapted from @alfiekohn.)

Number of Followers:
72K

Why you should follow:
Alfie Kohn is a longtime favorite of educators. He Writes original articles on the topics of human motivation, educational policy, and related topics. He tends to also comment on current events and politics and is not shy about his political leanings.

Some recent posts:
College Campuses are far from radical
High stakes testing is a flawed measure of students
Rewards are still bad news (25 years later)



Daniel Pink@DanielPink

Profile:
Author of 6 books. Father of 3 kids. Husband of 1 wife.(Adapted from @DanielPink)

Number of Followers:
414K

Why you should follow:
Daniel Pink is an expert on human motivation. Although he doesn't always write directly about education, his posts relate well to understand why students do what they do. Topical and fascinating articles about people. You may even learn something about yourself.

Some recent posts:
The strongest predictor of mens' wellbeing isn't family or health
The act of drawing something has a massive benefit to memory
The school cafeteria manager has gone bananas. The kids love it.

Tools to Provide Access to Reading Materials

Kelly Key's Top Picks Using Text to Speech & Additional Tools to Provide Access to Reading Materials

Did you know you can have any reading material on the iPad or MacBook Air read out loud regardless of what format it is in? Yes, even if it is a locked PDF or a picture of a text!

This month I will feature reading tools available on the iPad. Next month I will share tools for MacBook Air laptop reading supports.

Text-to-Speech in Settings

If you have not seen this feature in action, you MUST check out this video demonstration! Click here

This is a terrific tool for reading text on the iPad out loud. You can select text to be read out loud (i.e., reading a digital book, website, editing a writing draft, etc.), press Speak and it will read it to you.

There is also an option to hear what you are writing as you type (each letter or word) by adjusting the typing feedback.

To turn this on, go to Settings > General > Accessibility > Speech > Speak selection - On, to have it highlight text as it reads, go to Highlight Content - On and choose words, sentences, or both. You can also choose the type of highlight, (underline or background) as well. Click here to see a video on how to set this up.

I highly recommend choosing Alex as the voice! He takes a deep breathe when there is punctuation and he sounds very natural. 

Claro PDF Pro App
If you only have a paper copy of a document or if it is digital in the form of a locked PDF, you can use Claro PDF Pro to make it accessible!

This app will convert (OCR, optical character recognition) a picture/scan of text to text and will read the document out loud. It also has an annotate feature to type, write, draw, or highlight on the document and share it back to the teacher. Click here for step by step directions on how to use the app.

To obtain this app, it must be noted in accommodations on the student’s 504 or IEP that they benefit from text read out loud. Then, the special services app request form must be completed for each student. The app request form can be found here: bit.ly/220ATapps

Learning Ally App & Site
Your student must qualify for this resource: they must have an IEP or 504 plan and qualify for a print disability, i.e., reading disability/ goals, physical disability, vision impairment or written in their plan as a reading accommodation. Once they qualify, I will register the student to have access to audio and digital books through Learning Ally. The majority of the books have the text, as well as a natural voice, that reads the text out loud. Once the student has an account, they can download the app from self-service and sign in.

Did you know you can change the look of a website? 

The iPad has a feature built in that allows a student to "de-clutter" a website, change the background color, and even change the font size and type!

Clean Up/De-clutter a Website
When on the site, press on the 4-line icon left of the search bar, and it will clean it up for easier reading! NOTE: there must be text (vs just links) on the site for the lines to appear).

Change background color and font on a Website
When on a site, press on the 4-line icon left of the search bar (as described above to put it in reader mode). Then press the AA tool. This will allow you to change the background color, font, and font size.


Please contact me with any questions or if you would like to learn more about these or additional features to support your students! I am happy to train staff and students on these amazing tools. kkey@barrington220.org

Ride 360 Parent Transportation App

Knowing when the bus will arrive is especially important as inclement weather arrives. District parents are using the Ride 360 app connected with Barrington 220 bus routes and downloaded from the App Store to view estimated arrival time of the bus. Estimated arrival times are based upon current bus location and driving conditions. The Ride 360 app shows the estimated arrival time for the ride to and from school.



Ride 360 uses the planned district's bus routes and GPS technology to know where the bus is when in route to pickup or drop off at school or home. Ride 360 takes advantage of the bus GPS device to estimate bus arrival at the student's bus stop, taking into consideration driving conditions, accidents, trains and unexpected delays.

The estimated arrival time is updated every 20–60 seconds, and shares updated arrival times through the app with students and parents.

Want to know more? Click here for more detailed information shared with district parents.


Wednesday, December 5, 2018

Staff Emergency Calls

Inclement weather has arrived early this year! After a year of no emergency messages being sent, this would be a good time for all staff members to review personal contact information in Infinite Campus.

Click here for instructions on how to review personal information and contact my office if you need assistance. 

June Nilles
Director of Student Information
847-842-3503
jnilles@barrington220.org

Karen Jasonowicz
kjasonowicz@barrington220.org
847-842-3512
Central Registrar

Obtener ayuda en espaƱol:
Yazmin Aceves
District Translator
847-842-3534
yaceves@barrington220.org

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