Schoology Training: Monday August 7th-Friday August 12th

Folks I'll be hosting Schoology training sessions the week before the new school year begins. Each session will be 90 minutes long and you can attend as many as you need. You get to choose the day and time that works for you. The information will be personalized so if you're interested in learning more about Schoology (no matter what your level is) please sign up using the Form below.

Tech PD Deadline Looms!! - April 7th!!

Folks, all year it has been a pleasure to host Professional Development sessions to help you stretch the rubber band as John Eick would say. I daresay I've had the pleasure of seeing most of you over these past number of months. But I have not seen everyone. This I know. Some of you have already met your obligations a while ago. Some of you may be reading this and are worried that this is the first you are hearing about it.

If this is the first you are hearing about this....I'd like to say....Hi! How are ya? My name is Daniel and I'm here to help.



Here are the nuts and bolts:

• You need to have obtained 6 hours of Tech Professional Development by Friday April 7 (before going on Spring Break)
• You will need the Hours Log turned into your site administrator
• You will need to have obtained those hours via an approved source

For those that still need hours to meet these criteria I offer you a few options (you can use a combo of these options btw...doesn't just have to be one or the other):

1. Attend a PD Session with me between now and the end of the month
2. Work one of the online options - For more information, contact Bob Lyons
1. Google Training
2. Common Sense Media
3. Public School Works 
4. Webinars on Digital Citizenship
3. Attend PD from the County Office of Ed

If you're having trouble getting those hours in, let me know and I will assist as best I can. 

Collaboration and Professional Growth: Create or Build Your #PLN

Collaboration has changed in education as the mechanisms to allow this process to occur have opened up. Sure, you, as an Educator, have always had the ability to walk down the hall to tap the shoulder of a colleague and work on common assessments or co-plan a series of lessons. But with the roll out of some truly fascinating technology and a shifting school model that institutionalizes the practice, this is the golden age of working together to give students a rich and relevant educational experience.

And this greater connection with other professionals isn't limited to those that you see in the staff lounge at lunch or talk with on the way out to the parking lot after a long day. The availability of thousands of excellent, risk-taking, eager, supportive, and collaborative educators is as easy to find as turning on your phone. Not only are there swaths of teachers around the world willing to work with others, but they can also problem solve issues rather quickly.

Case in point. Not long ago I was asked by a colleague to help them access resources and programs specific to their subject matter. Their subject matter is in an area I am sorely limited in so one of the first things I did was "reach out" to a PLN of local TOSAs and Instructional Coaches I am apart of. We communicate with one another through a "walkie-talkie" service called Voxer. I opened up my phone, pulled up the app, and left a voice message for the group of about 20 educators from the Sacramento region describing my problem and asking them for help and guidance. Within the hour, I had a number of responses as many had been in a similar position once or twice in their time. Already I had many avenues to explore and I had barely begun my research on my own. To have answers so readily available and quickly was invaluable. To lean on others' expertise saved me time and energy.

We are all experts in our worlds. But there are limitations in that expertise as there are a number of areas we all can improve on. Maybe you're the Science teacher that can wax poetic on numerous topics, but you're having trouble unlocking a passion in your students for your subject. Maybe you're the History teacher that has been trying new things here and there but have pretty much been doing the same thing for the past 10 years because of the challenges of wholesale changes. The colleague who approached me for help is brilliant but understands their limitations and wants to grow professionally. I have a lot of respect for that.

We don't need to come up with everything on our own. We shouldn't shy away from risk-taking because of the unknown. We shouldn't use our expertise in our subject matter as some excuse not to grow and adapt to a changing learning environment.

As we brave this long winter of ours, the comfortable thing to do is to retreat to warm and cozy climes. Let's do the opposite in our professional lives. Below are some easy ways for you to get connected with other like-minded educators.

💁🏽‍♂️ Great Resource for learning how to set up a PLN

📰 Feedly - Great RSS tool to have all your blogs in one place. A lot of amazing educators you could contact to establish and develop your PLN use blogging as a means to communicate what they do in the classroom and discuss experiences

🎤 Voxer - start a local group with your peers so when you are not able to all get together you can still access their expertise. Supports text, images, gifs, but it's main function is to allow you to leave audio messages to the group for them to access on demand

☕️ Meetup - local groups meet up at a designated time to collaborate on projects and issues important to the group

🗯 Twitter - I've blogged about the virtues of Twitter. I'm a fan and using it to connect with like-minded professionals has been a game-changer. Search hashtags based on your subject matter or check out and participate in a Twitter chat

🙂📘Facebook - as if I needed to provide the link to this site. There a large number of educator groups on Facebook and with hashtag searches they're easily identifiable.

There are other platforms and resources out there that can get you connected to others. And the connection is key this day and age. Whatever your platform it will benefit your craft, it will expose you to new ideas, and it will help you grow as a professional. Ultimately, it will benefit your students. And that's what matters most.

Saturday Cafe? Do You Want PD on Saturdays?

Folks, if you would please let me know if there's any interest out there for holding PDs on Saturday. This would be a multi-time slot situation where you can come and go when it's best for you, but I need to know if there's any interest before I pull the trigger.

Cheers,

D

ELL EdTech PD Resources

After school yesterday at NU I ran a PD session on resources to help with teaching ELL populations. It was a good group of educators from different departments all looking to increasing their toolkit. As I will do with all of my PD sessions I passed along and previewed some tools and resources you can use in the classroom. Below are my materials from the session. I'll be offering the session again in the future as well as others in different areas. For now, poke around the Slidedeck and see if there is anything of interest to you.  If you have any questions, about the technology or want some help in incorporating it into your curriculum, feel free to contact me.

Don't forget to sign up for future PD sessions with me!! Google for Beginners and Formative Assessments this month at both NU & BR! Check out the calendar under the "EdTech Professional Development" tab above. 

Upcoming PD Offerings Through November!

You can always check the EdTech Professional Development Calendar on this site by clicking the tab up top. I update it weekly (these days)

Upcoming EdTech Playgrounds!!
Come join us for what some people are calling "the most amazing experience of my adult life..." Ok, I may have paid some to say that, but it's a Playground people!! Time to play!!

Wednesday 10/26 @NU 4pm Library Conference Room - Sign Up Here

Wednesday 11/2​ @ BR 4pm Career Center - Sign Up Here

ELL EdTech Resources
This will be a traditional PD Session where I will present EdTech resources to assist you in differentiating instruction for ELL populations. The resources I cover is also beneficial for other populations outside of just ELLs. There will be time embedded in the session for you to explore some or all of the products discussed. All are welcome to attend whether you have ELLs or not.

Wednesday 11/9 @ NU 4pm Venue TBD - Sign Up Here

Google For Beginners
This will be a traditional PD Session where I will present tips and tricks on a number of G Suite Apps (Docs, Slides, Forms, Drawing). There will be time in the sessions for you to develop products and explore the features covered. All skill levels welcomed.

Monday 11/14 @ NU 4pm Venue TBD - Sign Up Here

Wednesday 11/16 @ BR 4pm Venue TBD - Sign Up Here

Formative Assessments
This will be a traditional PD Session where I will present EDTech answers to assessing your students. Shoot some life into your assessments so you can get an authentic understanding where your students are in their development! There will be time in the session for you to build your own assessment to administer the next day if need be! All skill levels are welcome.

Monday 11/21 @ NU 4pm Venue TBD - Sign Up Here

Wednesday 11/30 @ BR 4pm Venue TBD - Sign Up Here

Shameless Self Promotion: BR Playin' @ the Playground!

Another successful EdTech Playground took place at BR yesterday as a small group of professionals got around a table and worked diligently on building their EdTech skill set! There were inspirational travel quotes recited by Jeff Carrow, the BR Math Department were working together on Desmos, and the great Duane Zauner even walked out of there with some new arrows in the Tech quiver.

Check out the pics below and also their feedback on the embedded Padlet - a great EdTech tool I've used for Formative Assessments, project turn-ins, back-channel chats, and soooo many other uses.

~Don't forget to sign up for the next EdTech Playground!~

~All sites, all abilities/skill levels are welcome and encouraged to attend!!~

Wednesday Oct 26th @ NU - EdTech Playground - all are welcome - Sign up Here

Wednesday Nov 2nd @ BR - EdTech Playground - all are welcome - Sign Up Here

Shameless Self-Promotion: EdTech Playground #1 in the Books!

The first gathering of educators at NU for the EdTech Playground is complete and .... it was successful!! A small (but a motivated and tenacious!) group got together from various sites and curriculum areas and got to work! We worked individually, we collaborated, we talked about life outside of school...we solved world problems!! And...there were cupcakes!! *cupcakes are not guaranteed at future EdTech Playground PDs

In all seriousness, it was an excellent 90 minutes of professionals doing what professionals do: working to solve problems, pushing their skill set to another level, and opening up lines of communication with peers to deal with common problems. Each individual worked diligently on whatever interested them in order to integrate more technology in their curriculum.

I could go on and on...but I'll let your colleagues say it all for me...

"Very helpful to be able to navigate Google Drive so I can teach my students"

"Working with other people was nice! Ready to take things to the next level"

"Learned how to make a test in Schoology and I'm ecstatic! This session was very helpful for me." 

"This session was exactly what I needed for technology and Professional Development....it gave me a chance to work on things I haven't had the time to work on."

"I was able to open up my Chromebook for the first time...and set up classes in Pearson"

"I appreciated the time!"

"This session was tremendously helpful!! I worked on figuring out why my Schoology grades weren't syncing with eSchools."

Don't miss the next one Monday 10/10 @BR - Sign Up Here

Digital Citizenship PD: Presented By Jason Bohrer

#whatsinthebeard?

Ever wonder what is hiding in that beard? I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it but every once in a while....

Anywho, the man smiling to the left is a Bear River CTE (Computer Science) & English Teacher as well as a NCSOS Instructional Coach with a wealth of experience in the world of EdTech. He is offering a 4 session workshop on Digital Citizenship, something he is extremely passionate about, and something we all should be teaching in our classes. The sessions are all free to Nevada County educators and it would be a great opportunity for you to see what you can do with your students (and children!!! - I have two small boys of my own who can benefit from this info). Check the flyer below and follow the instructions to sign up!

Go for the excellent (FREE!!!) opportunity to develop your understanding of Digital Citizenship and how to teach it.....stay to ask him "What are you hiding in that beard?" #whatsinthebeard??



Link to the above file

NJUHSD EdTech Playground #1 Sign Up

Sign up on the Form below for the District's 1st Monthly EdTech Playground where you and your colleagues sit around and play!! I mean work...but its fun!!

Sign ups close on Tuesday September 27th at 9am