Back to school in so many ways... Help your students Research like a Boss! Research projects can be extremely frustrating!  Students have difficulties finding reliable sources and teachers often have a difficult time teaching students proper research skills.  Use this Slide Presentation to assist your students in effectively utilizing multiple Google Search Tools, including Explore, Scholar, YouTube filters, images, citations and more! Something Googly for Everyone! Google for Education has started a short series of 30 minutes Google Tips and Tricks.  These sessions are usually held during school hours so they are not available to most teachers to view live.  The sessions are super helpful!   I'm including the page that holds the Recordings so you can view on your own time if you would like.  Some really great tools on display in these sessions . Here are just a few of the topics so far: Google Classroom Glowup Chrome Sweet Chrome - What's New? Get St...

 Saying goodbye 2020-2021  and hello to opportunity! As we make our way to the finish line for this school year, your Digital Education Coordinators are prepping another Tech Fest opportunity to begin the next school year. We are in a different place than we were at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year: everyone has acquired stronger technology skills and knows the world of Zoom, Google Classroom, Seesaw and Clever to name a few. Now it's time to fine-tune what we have learned to elevate our teaching. Tech Fest August 2021 will be two days of trainings to gear up for the new school year.  Tuesday, August 3rd will be platform and pedagogy. We start off with an amazing keynote speaker, George Barcenas. Then prepare to reset your mindset and reacquaint yourself with the basic digital platforms. Sessions from Seesaw Ambassadors will get TK-2 grade teachers ready. Eric Curts will dazzle us with Google Classroom tips and tricks. Wednesday, August 4th , be prepared to cr...

 The Home Stretch Google Gal One of the most powerful, yet often under utilized, features of Google is the ability for students to collaborate with each other on projects.  This is also one of the Communication & Collaboration Technology Standards for the State of California.   However, before we release our students to collaborate with others, we need to lay down the ground work for success.  Here are a couple of resources for you to use with your students before the start of a collaborative project.  You will be forced to make your own copy and then you can edit and adjust to suit your needs. Elementary Level Collaboration Slide Deck Secondary Level Collaboration Slide Deck And here is a great collection of Collaborative Projects to get you started! Amazing Aaron GoGuardian has beefed up its connection to Google Classroom. Basically, you can now directly open any and all of the students in a GoGuardian session to any specific assignment posted in one...

  Hybrid Learning: A Balancing Act Dawn's Digital Diary This is probably one of the best Hybrid Teaching resources I've come across.  This page by John Spencer gives very specific examples of how to implement each model with a sample lesson outline for each Model. He also has a Virtual Resources Page with  Recorded Webinars & accompanying Slide Decks. 5 Models For Making the Most Out Of Hybrid Learning Carter's Corner In our last month's Blog we featured our go-to EdTech resources for tips and tricks. I featured Kasey Bell at ShakeUpLearning, who is a knowledgeable and dynamic EdTech presenter. With the move to hybrid learning, Kasey has three Podcasts that feature the ins and outs of hybrid or blended learning. Blended Learning with Google (Part 1: Do This, Not That!)    In part one, Kasey explores how Google tools can help create dynamic blended learning experiences for students. Blended Learning with Google (Part 2: Storytelling)     Part two t...

Blogging About Bloggers Debugging Digital w/ Dawn I have followed Eric Curts for years now.  His blog, Control Alt Achieve , is full of top notch information and resources every month. Eric is a Google Certified Trainer and Innovator.  He is always a high demand presenter at ISTE and CUE.  His blog has an extensive archive of past resources and has everything labeled for easy searching. Follow him on Twitter as well @ericcurts Because I am such a fan of his work, I reached out to Eric and asked if he would be willing to present at our March Virtual Training event.  Lucky for us, he made the time!  One of the silver linings to our Virtual world is that getting top notch presenters like Eric has now become more accessible.  I hope you will all join us March 15th for Eric's presentation on using Google Tools for Struggling Students.  This presentation is full of resources and is applicable for all students.       Andrew's Analog Anthol...

 February Tech Tips Dawn's Digital Diary:  This digital scavenger hunt is good for grades 3-12 and is actually a lesson on Creating Google Slides.  The idea is to use this as a front loading and independent discovery lesson.  Pass out the lesson and see how much the students are able to figure out on their own. Then, provide the answer slide deck to help them learn the areas they were unsure of.  This is a great way to have students do some self exploration and often they find other nuggets of learning along the way. Google Slide Scavenger Hunt Google Slide Scavenger Hunt Answer Deck Cheryl's Creative Corner: Have you heard of Breakout EDU challenges? In a spin on the popular  escape room  challenge, a  digital  version combines: a virtual “ room ” (often a Google site or Google Form) filled with clues that must be figured out. A  digital  lock made from an online form (usually a Google form) that students try to unlock. These Digi...

Happiest of New Year to you all! We hope that this blog finds you well rested and ready for great things to come. The New Year brings the opportunity to continue to grow your education technology skills. We have it on good authority that more Tech Fest opportunities are coming our way. Stay tuned for more details to come! We will continue to provide technology integration support to you and your students. As your Digital Education Coordinators, we will be offering class lessons, beginning in January, as well as continued opportunities for tech coaching during our virtual office hours. We are here to support and guide your technology use in the classroom.  Dynamite Dawn Marsh Google Slides is such an amazing tool for teaching and learning.  I'd like to share a couple tips to make Google Slides even more useful for you.  Have you ever just wanted to share a clip of a video with your students, but thought the process of getting just a clip is too much work?  Google Slid...