Instructional Technology Links for October

Periodically, I share links for teachers to strengthen Digital Age instruction. These Instructional Technology Links, ITL, appear below with short explanations.

General Education
A Collection of Growth Mindset Videos
Curated by the great Larry Ferlazzo, this collection of Mindset videos are based on Carol Dweck's work. They're all great!

All of My All-Time Best Lists in One Place
Since I already mentioned Larry Ferlazzo, here is the link to his website page with all of his lists of the best Web 2.0 tools, apps, etc. for education. Be prepared to lose an hour or two once you fall into this rabbit hole.

Great Graduation Video
If you need a motivational video to get you back into the spirit of back-to-school...

School vs Learning
Eye-opening infographic from George Couros that will help you reframe your daily objectives.

Education Transformation
Great article from iNACOL on moving from traditional educational practices to technology-integrated, personalized learning, and blended learning models.

The Traditional Good Student isn't the same anymore!
Great infographic about past expectations of student behavior and achievement and how that has changed in 21st Century education.

The Kid Should See This
Website chock-full of really cool videos designed to spark wonder and questioning among students.

Wonderopolis
Wonderopolis introduces a new wonder to students each day and offers non-fiction readings to accompany student questions.

18 Education Twitter Chats Worth Your Time
New to Twitter? Ready to take the next step and join Twitter Chats? This article mentions 18 great Twitter chats that will be worth your time.

Standards-Based Grading: The Results from J.S. Morton High School District 201
Article about one school's experience with integrating standards-based grading.

Special Education
15 Assistive Technology Tools and Resources for Students with Disabilities
This article from TeachThought highlights some of the best apps and settings to help students with special needs. Many of these apps and settings are good for all learners—not just those with special needs.

Reading
Close Reading IS Strategic Reading
Great article from Heinemann on the parallels between close reading strategies and strategic reading. There are quotes from Stephanie Harvey's late-June release, Comprehension and Collaboration, Revised Edition.

Level It Books App
An iPad and iPhone app that scans book bar codes and retrieves title, author, dra, lexile, gle, and gr.

Math
Math Games
Common Core-based math games designed to gamify student learning and demonstration of learning. Students play so many games outside of school time, this site offers them the change to play them in school and learn while they do it.

Cue Think
Cue Think makes math practice interactive and draws metacognition from the minds of students.

Science
Periodic Table of Elements from TED
Organized into the Periodic Table and made by TED, these 2-10 minute videos feature explanations about the atomic structure, reactive properties, and prevalence of each element. I found it quite addicting to click on the next element to learn more!

Google Street View Now Takes You Underwater
Google Street View is available for terrestrial Earth, Mars, the Moon, and now underwater on Earth!

Social Studies
Mission US
Interactive game designed to engage students in learning about U.S. History.

Discovery Education Student Sets
Free, downloadable iBooks from Discovery Education. Great resources for non-fiction books for specific events in history.

Instructional Technology Integration
14 Trends We Should Be Thinking About
This blog post from Will Richardson points out some jarring statistics regarding technology use by school-aged children. The information about the amount of time spent online and how students consume information online more and more through live-streaming video piqued my interest.

21st Century Skills and Attributes Checklist
Great list of 21st Century Skills from Gareth Butcher for teachers to consider planning for in their lessons.

Discovering Educational Content
This iPad iBook is designed to help teach teachers how to find educational content for integrating technology in the classroom, in the iPad App Store.

Digital Compass
Discovery Learning online game designed to teach students how to behave responsibly online.  Great tool for teaching digital citizenship.

STEM
Lego Worlds
Lego World Released
Two articles about Lego's announcement of their Lego Worlds program, a first-person builder program with online connectivity like Minecraft.

Girls Into STEM
UK-based site with great ideas, lessons, links about integrating STEM practices into the general classroom, especially for girls.

Google
Very Good Google Forms Tools for Teachers
This blog post from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning features three great Add-ons for Google Forms that benefit teachers. My favorite, AutoCrat, creates a Google Doc with completed Google Form information into a Google Form template as a PDF file.

Multiple Google Forms into One Google Sheet
A great technique shared by Alice Keeler about how to collate the information gleaned from multiple Google Forms into one Google Sheet.

Google Sheets: Splitting Numbers from Text
Another great Alice Keeler explanation on how to extract numbers in a Google Sheet from a cell that also contains text.

Gamify Searching Google Drive
Yet another Alice Keeler find. This one offers a way to make a game out of teaching students to search Google Drive.

iPads
App Guide for Parents and Teachers
This link offers SafeSearch's take on popular iPad apps and their relative safety rating. The ratings also include the proper age restrictions which are particularly helpful for parents and teachers of middle school-aged students.

30 Essential iPad Apps for the Paperless Classroom
An awesome post from ICTEvangelist. These 30 apps can help transform your classroom.  Although our goal in BSD220 isn't necessarily to become paperless, these ideas help to strengthen instructional practices, bring students to deeper curriculum resources, and reach all learners.

How to Visually Record Ideas Using iPad
Great article from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning on capturing student metacognition and using it to drive instruction and personalized learning.

Feel free to share your experiences with these links, or share some of your own in the comments section below!

Project Horsepower 3.0

Two years ago, Barrington 220, with the support of the Barrington Area Development Council, entered into a partnership with Comcast to bring wireless Internet service into the homes of eligible Barrington 220 families. After two earlier iterations of the application process, we have launched Project Horsepower 3.0. 

The program continues to serve families eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and who do not currently have full-priced Comcast Internet service at home (current Comcast Internet Essentials customers are welcome to apply). Families who have Internet service through another provider (such as AT&T) are also welcome to apply, regardless of the level of service they currently have. Families that are unsure of the level of Internet service status at home can still apply and Comcast will help to evaluate the applications and will advise applicants of findings.

Applications returned to Joann Fullman at BHS will be processed according to the following timetable:

Application Time Table	Family to Receive Status of Application
Received on or before October 12	by October 30
Received on or before November 13	by December 4
Received on or before January 11	by January 30
Received on or before February 12	by February 29
Received on or before March 14	by April 8
Received on or before May 13	by May 30

Applicants and more information about the program can be found at barrington220.org/onetoworld or contact your building library staff. 

Verify Your Staff Data in Infinite Campus

Trees are  bursting with bright colors and leaves are falling to the ground reminding us that inclement weather may be coming in the not-so-distant future. Infinite Campus (IC) is the district’s Student Information System, but it’s that time year when it’s equally important for staff data to be complete and accurate in Infinite Campus. Phone calls regarding school closings are initiated through Infinite Campus. All staff should have a phone number on file, and the check mark should be checked under Emergency and Priority (illustrated in attached document).

Please reveiew your IC personal information before October 20, 2015.

• Every Barrington 220 employee should have an Infinite Campus login.
• Infinite Campus can be accessed from the Staff page of the district website.
• User Name for Infinite Campus is the same as a user’s network login.
• User Password is the same as the user’s network password.
• Log into IC (navigate to Campus Tools, if necessary).
• Expand the menu selection Census.
• Click on My Data.
• Review existing data.
• Submit a "request" to update data.
• Make data changes.
• Save the record.
• Wait 72 hours to confirm requested data changes have been processed.
• "My Data" in Infinite Campus is always open to receive your updated information.
• The Primary Email address is used for district email and should always be your Barrington 220 email account.

QUESTION:  Where do I go for help?
ANSWER:  Create a tech ticket for Infinite Campus in Group Link or call the IC Help Desk at 847-842-3580.

 Step-by-Step Instructions

PK-8 LaunchPad Application Process 4-23-15 to 5-8-15

As part of our One to World initiative, Barrington 220 is seeking a cadre of teachers committed to redesigning classroom instructional practices using iPads and other Digital Age learning resources. We are calling our first-year iPad launch "LaunchPad." The group will use iPads and other technology resources to engage Pre-Kindergarten–Grade 5 students in self-directed learning, increase personalized learning opportunities, foster creativity, and stimulate innovation.

The Barrington 220 One to World Initiative:

• Allows students to participate as global citizens.
• Provides unlimited opportunities for real-world learning.
• Fosters creativity, collaboration, communication, and critical thinking.
• Facilitates personalized learning through ownership, choice, and reflection.
• Allows for immediate and strategic feedback.

Interested teachers in Pre-Kindergarten–Grade 5 are invited to apply to the LaunchPad initiative as Building Grade Levels. Building Grade Level classroom teachers who apply are encouraged to include the Specials (art, music, PE) teachers, Librarians, and Special Education teachers with whom they regularly work on the application.

Professional development is essential to the LaunchPad program and will include a blend of in-person workshops, online learning, collaborative discussions with other LaunchPad teachers, and work with Instructional Digital Age Learning Coaches. Professional development activities will begin before Fall 2015 and continue throughout the school year. LaunchPad classrooms should expect teachers and administrators to visit and observe throughout the year.

Equipment

Students in LaunchPad classrooms will use an iPad Air during the 2015–16 school year.  Teachers will receive both a 13-inch MacBook Air laptop and an iPad Air in Summer 2015 to begin training and professional development. Classroom iPads will be provided in the following configurations:

• Grades PK–K: 10 iPads per classroom
• Grades 1–2: 1:2 ratio (one iPad per two students)
• Grades 3–5: 1:1 ratio (one iPad per student)

Teacher Applicants

• Teachers of students in Pre-Kindergarten–Grade 5 are asked to apply in Building Grade Level groups (all teachers in a grade level at a school).
• Grade level teachers are encouraged to include the Specials teachers, Librarians, Special Education teachers, and other teachers with whom they work regularly in the application.
• All eight elementary schools and the ELC will be included in the LaunchPad initiative.
• Both before- and after-school professional development meetings will be a part of the LaunchPad initiative.
• Ongoing, job-embedded professional learning with your building’s Instructional Digital Age Learning Coaches will occur throughout the year.

Application Process 

The LaunchPad application process will be open April 23, 2015–May 8, 2015. Applicants will be notified of their application status before May 22, 2015. If selected, LaunchPad teachers will need to attend two summer professional development days:

• Thursday, June 11, 2015, 1:00–4:00 P.M. (location TBD). 
• A second date will be determined by the LaunchPad cohort.
• During the 2015–16 school year, the LaunchPad cohort will meet monthly for ongoing support and training. 

If your Building Grade Level is interested in applying for the LaunchPad initiative, please fill out the online application.

Selection Committee

The LaunchPad Selection Committee will include:

• Chief Technology Officer (Chairperson)
• Director of Elementary Curriculum
• Instructional Technology Coordinator
• Director of Media Services
• Representative Instructional Digital Age Learning Coaches, Principals, and other District Technology Committee members

Selection Process

The LaunchPad Selection Committee will review and select teachers and their classes for the LaunchPad program. Factors in evaluating applications will include:

• Prior professional practice related to technology integration.
• Benefits to students.
• Incorporation of iPads into classroom goals and objectives.
• Representation of all grade levels.
• Representation of all Barrington 220 PK–5 schools.

Further Information

If you have any questions about the LaunchPad program, expectations, and/or application process, please contact Matt Fuller, Chief Technology Officer; Joe Robinson, Instructional Technology Coordinator; Becky Gill, Director of Elementary Curriculum; or LeeAnn Taylor, Director of Media Services.

Apply for LaunchPad

#bsd220slowchat is THE place for BSD220 Twitter Professional Development

Twitter continues to grow as an impactful source for professional development and networking for teachers in Barrington 220. Teachers have added Twitter to their repertoire of tools to improve their instructional practices, resources, and ideas. Thanks to pioneering teachers in the district, teachers not on the original Twitter bandwagon have embraced its value to the point that we now have our very own Barrington 220 slow chat, #bsdslowchat.

In the past couple of weeks, teachers across Barrington 220, and a couple of out-of-district teachers, have accessed questions shared by the #bsdslowchat moderator, Mrs. Caroline Milne (@MrsMilneBiology) and shared their answers the past couple of weeks.

Once or twice a week, Caroline posts the questions of the week:

Anyone on Twitter can respond with their own answers using text, links, photos, or videos:

As Tim O'Connor (@toconnor851),

Janet Woods (@jancwoods),

Vanessa Fennig (@MrsFennig), and more did this just this past month. 

You too, can join in the fun. It doesn't make much time, it's easy to do, and it can be accessed anytime, anywhere from your smartphone, tablet, or computer.

How to access the #BSDslowchat