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Overview of Blake's Digital Citizenry Pilot

With our Middle School going entirely 1:1 iPad this past year, a big focus was to pair it with a strong implementation of a Digital Citizenship curriculum. Last summer, the planning process began by building a core lead DigCit Team of a grade level representative from 6th grade (Marjorie Heim), 7th grade (Sara Donovan), 8th grade (Seth Hellerstein), our principal (Nat Vaughn), Library Media Specialist (Jon Haycock) and myself, the Technology Integration Specialist with the task to begin developing a model/implementation structure and DigCit curriculum from the Common Sense Media organization. 

Our structure took advantage of the Cluster Model using Advisory times during a selected week to deliver a direct lesson facilitated by the GL representative, an extension activity and a student discussion panel by cluster. Our two main topics involved lessons: Cyberbully-Be UPstanding and Understanding your Digital Footprint- The Trillion Dollar Footprint.

However, beyond the lessons, students learned best when they heard directly from their peers. The Common Sense Media curriculum promotes the Student Discussion Panel venue to give students this opportunity. At the conclusion of the Digit Cit week, each cluster would select 4-5 students to be on a panel, also joined by a teacher and the principal to answer questions and to further discuss the topic. The power in listening & sharing their own experiences, thoughts, and giving advice to each other was quite evident. We plan to continue and expand this with real-time topics.

Digital Footprint - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

And then below, you'll find the Google Slideshow which was presented at a Parent Workshop last week to provide an overview of the who, how, and what content was covered throughout the year as well as plans to push towards a fuller integration into the classrooms and opportunities for parents and the community to learn too.

   

Parents should bookmark the CommonSense Media website as a tremendous resource with parent tips sheets that are paired with each lesson, app reviews, a Connecting Families Program and much more.

Overall, we leave this school year on a good DigCit note and a good direction and vision for where we would like to be as a school next year! Please feel free to give Nat or any members of the DigCit Team feedback.

How to's: Options for taking your Google Acct with you!

It's that time of year when several students and staff are transitioning to life beyond Medfield.. Whether it's going onto a new school, college, moving, retirement, new job, etc. The common question is how can I take all of my files and work from my school Google Account with me?

Thanks to the Tech Sherpa's from Nokomis Regional High in Central Maine for sharing a couple of options. I'll briefly go through each one demonstrated in the video below to help you choose the best one.

1. Migrationapp.com
Transfer from One Google Account to another Google Account (with different domains).
With our GAFE accounts, the administrator must enabled or approve this site to have access to your account to make the transfer.  At the present moment, this option is not available to Medfield students and staff.

2. Google TakeOut
Google added a separate site called Google Takeout specifically for data liberation and downloading your data and files from your choice of Google products (gmail, contacts, blogger, photos, etc.). You are also able to select the format (Word, PDF, png, etc.) to download as.. just know, it will no longer be in a Google format (doc, slides,...). It will also download as one huge compressed file (.zip) that can either be saved to a flash drive, uploaded to a cloud storage account or emailed to yourself. *This option is best for those who do not have a different google account.

3. GAPPSTIPS.COM
This third party website may be the easiest option for those with another personal google account. You'll start by creating one folder with everything you want to transfer and share it with your other google account. Next, log into your other google account and add the folder to MY DRIVE. Next, go to tools.gappstips.com/drive/copy-folder to make a copy of it in order to become the "owner". All your docs, slides, etc. will have the prefix "copy of" in front of it..well, there's a tool to edit those file names too! Go to gappstips.com/drive/filenames-edit to remove the prefix in one step!  Watch the videos for a fantastic demonstration by this Tech Sherpa student!

Please do not hestitate to ask for assistance from Ellen, Wendy or myself.

Friday Digital Notes: Viral Texts, Google Photos, Charity Miles & More

Here we are on the last Friday of May with the latest tech news!

Apple News: Effective Power Text.

This viral text message is definitely making its rounds at Blake. Still waiting on Apple to come up with a fix which would require students to update their iPad's OS software. Until then, tell students to turn off iMessages to avoid this problem.

Settings >Messages> slide or disable iMessage. 

And/OR turn off notifications either by using Do Not Disturb or disable iMessage Notifications.

*In actuality, these are probably good practices to have during the school day anyways.

If their iMessage app is crashing, here are a list of solutions from MacRumors.com:

"Apple is aware of an iMessage issue caused by a specific series of unicode characters and we will make a fix available in a software update. Until the update is available, you can use these steps to re-open the Messages app. 

1. Ask Siri to "read unread messages." 

2. Use Siri to reply to the malicious message. After you reply, you'll be able to open Messages again 

3. In Messages, swipe left to delete the entire thread. Or tap and hold the malicious message, tap More, and delete the message from the thread."

Google News

In Google Drive, have you noticed Google Photos appearing in the lefthand menu? It’s on your iPad and on the web. This is Google’s efforts to make storing and backing up photos easier for you, which is perfect timing now that you can add images from the iPad camera roll into Google Docs and Slides. Read more: How does Google Photos work with Drive

There is also a new, separate Google Photos app that holds those same photos with editing, cropping and filters.

Wounded Warrior Project (video)

With next week’s student efforts to raise money for the Wounded Warriors Project, think about using the Charity Miles app too. It combines fitness (walk,run or bike) with raising money for a number of charities with the Wounded Warrior Project included!  For every mile walked or ran, you can easily raise 25 cents (x the # of miles) for the Wound Warriors Project. Free. Fitness. and Good Cause! It’s a win-win!

Blake's Digital Citizenship Team

Thanks to the parents who attended Blake's Overview of 2014-15 Digital Citizenship Pilot as we discussed the topics covered this year (cyberbullying & digital footprints), the structure of directed lessons, extensions and the student discussion panel as well as goals/expansion for next year. You can view the resources and presentation slides here.

Fun Adobe PhotoMix App

…brought to you by our creative Art Teacher, Christina Delaney.  Adobe has probably 20 free apps that all do some pretty neat things. Christina’s artists made use of the Photomix App’s ability to cutout an image and layer an image on top of a background image-along with applying the typical edit and filter tools. It’s a simple, clear cut app that is worth a look. Check out what they did with their sculptures!

#advise4yourdevice: I forgot my passcode..SOS!

With our Bring Your Own iPad program at Blake MS, understanding how to manage your personal iPad has been another layer of learning for students and teachers. Of course, it is based on perspective as to whether that is a positive or not. Either way.. everyone benefits from understanding how to set up their devices to take advantage of some its built-in features.

One situation that occurs far too common is the ummm... I forgot my passcode. Typically, you will end up with the DISABLED screen if attempted too many times.  Basically, you are forced to restore your iPad, which could possibly mean losing some of your school work from the Explain Everything and Notability apps if you have not backed up your work to Google Drive.

This is where the Find My Phone app and an iCloud account can be a life-saver! It does the obvious by locating a missing device on a map. But, by putting your device in Lost Mode using a computer or another the Find My Phone app on another iOS device, it will lock your screen w/ new four-digit passcode that you set and lets you display a custom message, etc. 

1. Set up a free iCloud account using your Apple ID.
    Tap on Settings
2. Install the Find My Phone app.
3. Sign into the Find My iPhone app with your iCloud App.

Now you are set up! How does this work if I forget my iPad or misplace it?You should put it into Lost Mode immediately using Find My iPhone.

• Access the Find MY iPhone app on another iOS device and sign into your iCloud/Apple ID Account.
• OR you can go to the website: icloud.com/find to sign into iCloud/Account.
• Turn on Lost Mode and set your passcode.
• Go to your locked iPad and try the new passcode you set.
• Viola.. you should be back in business!
• The only glitch is that your iPad must be online (connected to the Internet) for this to work.

More information..tap here

Digital Notes on a Friday! DC Trip, Google Hangouts, App Updates & more.

Happy Friday--Here are a few tech updates to keep you in the loop!

Borrowing Devices

In the past couple of weeks, many poor iPad screens have been shattered. Luckily, extra iPads are available for students to borrow until they get a replacement, if available. I ask that students do use a passcode or install apps under their own Apple ID. All apps are installed that are needed or please see me.  Also, try to return the device as soon as possible and don't forget the charger too! Thanks!

Washington DC trip.

Generally, parents and well, anyone can follow along Blake's 8th Grade Washington DC field trip on Twitter using the #blakeindc hashtag. This year.. we're also going to try to have them 

Google Hangout into Blake each day to talk about their trip-in-progress and for the students at Blake to be able to ask questions. I will try to record this so it's available to watch at a later time too. Stay tuned!✌

Also, we can’t let the 8th Grade have all the fun! The LMC will be offering a few Makerspace challenges throughout the week to introduce and let students explore the Makey Makey kit, Osmo Masterpiece and Dash and Dot Robot and--Teachers, feel free to take on the challenges too!

Google Updates:

Make sure you update your Google Docs and Slides apps.. you are now able to add images to both! In Slides, users can add shapes and create/edit tables!.

Read More

Paper Fifty Three App Update:

This drawing app has an update called Think Kit. Visual Learners will love the ability to draw using all the tools for free, to create diagrams, and the new fill and cut & rearrange feature.

Watch the Video

That’s all for now- Happy Weekend!

Diane

Digital Notes: Teacher Appreciation Week Edition

This Friday’s Digital Notes topic is all about you— Teachers! As Teacher Appreciation Week flew by.., you could follow or go check out two twitter hashtags, #thankateacher and #teacherappreciationweek  for lots of positive messages!

Google is also thanking teachers with new features in Google Classroom app.

Teachers can now:

• Create, edit and delete assignments on the go using the Google Classroom app for iOS
• View, grade and return students’ completed assignments
• Exchange comments privately with students about their work to provide constructive criticism and other helpful feedback.
• Read More 

For some free Professional Development, Google Education on Air is hosting an online event that is actually happening as we speak -live all today and tomorrow. Check it out if you get a chance.
Teachers can also earn PDPs for watching- Here's how!

Apple has a list of apps that are discounted by 50%. So, Blake is going to #thankateacher by taking advantage of the sale and purchase the Book Creator App for all teachers and students! You’ll be able to create your own digital books on the iPad. Stay tuned for more info. *If you already have the app, please reply to this email.

Nearpod is also celebrating teachers by offering 10 lessons free for downloading. 

Making Connections: It’s a First!

This coming Monday, a few of our 6th grade students are participating in a Google Hangout discussion with 6th graders from Wellesley Middle School. They’ll talk and share their thoughts about learning with the iPad in the first year! We’re going to try to broadcast it as a live event which also enables us to record it to watch later. Blake teachers, you'll probably receive an email on Monday with a link to watch it.  Scheduled for Monday, May 11 @11:45-12:06 (during 6th grade advisory)- tune in if you have a chance!

Technovation Team Update

Last Friday, our two Technovation Teams, Appily Ever After and Totally Apptastic competed in the final Pitch Night at the Microsoft NERD Center. Each team had to presubmit a Pitch video, Demo video, Business Plan, Logo, and screenshots and code of their app Prototype. Six teams were selected by judges to pitch and two more teams were voted in by the audience.  As they announced the teams… both of ours were thrilled to be the two voted in— meaning they had to give their business pitch in front of 200+ people. While they did not win the event itself, our teams placed in the top 9 of 40 MS/HS Teams! We left feeling truly proud of the teamwork, determination and enthusiasm that went into the app development over a course of 3 months! Thanks to those who followed and cheered us on! And…every girl on the team asked if we can do it again next year.

** Breaking News:  Yesterday Technovation announced its Semi- Finalist! OpportuniTEENS was selected in the Middle School US/Canada Division! I believe they move to the Finalist round to select the team who will compete in San Francisco on the Global Stage! This means there is another round of judging to select 6 HS teams and 4 MS teams to head to San Francisco for the World Pitch Event where 1 HS and 1 MS team will win $10k!

Last Friday's Digital Notes- May 1

Right before vacation, I intended to email the Digital Notes out, (but figured it was vacation week), so instead you can find it as the previous post or click here to read about some iPad updates, free online Google PD event happening soon, and the beginning of our Shout Out Showcase!

#OfthePeople

On Thursday, Discovery Education held a live online event to discuss the ConnectEd initiative launched by President Obama in June 2013 to ensure all students have access to the best technology in schools & libraries and learning experiences that prepare them for college and career. A 6th grader from Bennett Middle School in Maryland did a fabulous job hosting the event with President Obama!  Watch the recording here (it begins about 22 minutes in)- there were technical difficulties initially. Or check out the tweets.

* Looks like they hold other events.. for STEM/NASA and such so check their website/ hashtag #ofthepeople often (discoveryeducation.com/ofthepeople).

QR codes bring Poetry to the Hallways!

To be or not to Be! Elise Malone’s 6th graders are bringing poetry to the hallways of Blake! Each student chose one of their very own penned poems to record and publish to their classroom’s YouTube Channel. They used that link to the video of their poem to create a QR poster  to share! The poster was made first by creating the QR code and then, importing the image into Notability. Please encourage your students to check them out! (You’ll need a QR Reader app).

Professional Development = Coding + Modern Learner

In our final Advanced iPad workshop, EdTechTeacher Greg Kulowiec’s main thread throughout was to think about the ‘modern learner’ and to have us as teachers revisit or experience what new learning feels like- you know, to get us out of our comfort zone and to focus on problem-solving and collaboration (insert coding)! Our task was to first create or find a representative image of the modern learner, bring that into Scratch Jr. (a very basic, free coding app for k-3 students) and code the characters to present our ideas. 

Check out your colleagues' interpretation of the Modern Learner coded on Scratch Jr.
via this YouTube Playlist.

* Greg introduced the ‘thinking’ around coding with an unplugged-Stack the Cups activity. 
Our Teachers needed many redos until their "robot" completed the code correctly.

Helpful Tips for Some Commonly Asked Questions:

How to Download Music and Video Files to the iPad with Riddle

Can Excellent Lesson on How Students Can Use Scratch Jr. for Digital StoryTelling

Setting the Default Apps with Google on the iPad

Hope you enjoyed this past week's notes!
Diane

Digital Notes on Friday, April 17th (delayed)

Here's a semi-weekly technology update from Blake MS featuring the latest app updates, new professional development events, google and iPad tips, Coming Attractions and a new Shout Out Showcase to share what's happening in your classrooms!

Updates to your iPad

iOS 8.3

• Adds a lot of image faces with better organization, skin tone modifiers, and a bunch of flag, phone, computer, and watch Emoji. 
• Siri has gained some new languages, plus the ability to make phone calls using the speakerphone.
• Passbook now separates Apple Pay credit cards from other Passes. 
• iMessage has the option that will allow you to separate messages from friends from messages from strangers. 
• And one of my favorite new features removes the annoying requirement to enter your Apple ID password when you are downloading free apps!

Google Docs- this update brings editing to TABLES!

Explain Everything-the update includes new features of flipping objects and auto-group option in Draw, Shape and Text Tools pop-out menu.

*if students are not able to update due to lack of storage, please visit the Spring Cleaning Tips.

Professional Development Opp

Education on Air is a two- day online event, May 8th and 9th by Google for Educators with keynote speakers and topics such as, empowering student learning, digital storytelling, collaboration, digital citizenship and much more. Sign up today!

Wanted: Notability is seeking Beta-Testers!We are looking for beta testers that are willing to consistently test our new features and give constructive feedback as often as possible. Click Here

Shout Out Showcase #1

Introducing a new feature to give you a peek into the classrooms for grades 6th - 8th.

The first thing you'll notice is many of our student creations incorporated the use of a green screen (green table cloths) and two apps: TouchCast or DoINK.  

Mr. Heim's 8th Grade Science class found it worked perfectly to bring in actual footage, graphs, maps and facts into their Plate Tectonics research. Mrs. Alland's 6th Social Socials class were put to the task of creating an Infomercial on a specific cause/issue. Students were able to change the background image to reflect their message as they were presented as a team! And lastly, Mr. Gavaghan's 7th English students created a story trailer to show the changes the main character goes throughout the novel.

 Mme. Buckman's and Mme. Wellings' French classes also loved two apps: VoiceThread and Explain Everything that capture audio recordings of students speaking french! Listen into conversations about their favorite breakfast foods and watch their animated presentations to demonstrate a culmination of their learning this year!

Try-Outs

SMORE- is a website where you can create digital flyers. When Mrs. Gumas' 7th Math class began their unit on percentages, she was looking for a tool that would let her create her own weekly advertisement or flyer to help students apply those skills to real-life situations. Smore.com did the trick! She included her own videos, images and linked directly to their google spreadsheet for recording and submitting answers. **The free version limits you to five. But, that just may be enough! Check out her the Now and Then Flyer!

Emaze- calls itself the next generations' online presentation tool! Accessible via the web on any device, users can select from several professional templates to create slideshows, video presentations and 3D presentations.Give it a try and let me know your feedback! Click Here!

Coming Attractions

With our discussions about Student Digital Portfolios as a school, I held two workshops on how to setup and use Youtube with students and how to develop their digital portfolio using Google Sites. I know some teachers were not able to attend and asked for tutorials and resources. Stay tuned, as those are in progress and will be shared shortly!

Be sure to visit next Friday for more digital notes!

Spring Cleaning Tips for your iPad! Sweep up those Photos!

Spring is the perfect time to clean things up including your iPad. As a BYOiPad school, students often have a big learning curve when it comes to managing their own device and its storage space.

 We learned that lesson with the last big update iOS 8.0. Students were constantly stopping by to 
get help with updating their iPads due to running into this very problem..

So to get ahead of the game before iOS 8.3 arrives (which plans to be another big one) by cleaning up storage space now. The best place to begin is by doing a clean sweep of your old photos and videos.  See the tips below. 

**Not sure how to perform that step?  The images contain hotspots for added support!

Be sure to click on the play buttons for How-To screencasts! 

This should get you off to a good start until the

 next installment of Spring Cleaning iPad Tips when we tackle your 

closet full of APPS!

Let's Get AMPed Up Blakers!

Energy Efficiency can have a direct, positive impact on the world we live in.. even if only ONE person does ONE small thing .  And, technology and innovation can help us develop newer simpler, and cleaner ways for people to be more energy efficient in their daily lives ! 

This past week, Blake MS concluded its Energy Inventor’s Contest—by announcing the winners at EVERSOURCE Light Bulb Fundraiser Assembly on Wednesday. While we only had a few entries, our Blake students: Nicolina, Sophie, Nolan, Patrick and Christian brought forward some innovative thoughts and energy-saving ideas.

You can read more about the contest and view the student video's at: 

tinyurl.com/blakeenergy

8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom (@gcouros)

This helps remind me of where I want to go! #nt2t pic.twitter.com/ivqT8Hk5aC
— Rosey Soto (@RoseySoto) March 28, 2015

These ideas are brought to you by a very insightful, education leader George Couros. Tweets by @gcouros

Thanks to all AND .. Free Apps to Try! (can't beat that!)

Medfield's Digital Learning Day Conference is now over.. and it would not surprise me if some of you are still trying to upload /download your experience!:) Whew!

We wanted to take this time to express a huge THANK YOU to our many Medfield Educators and our guests for your willingness to share your work and knowledge by leading a workshop/presentation! To our Technology Dept, Cafeteria Staff and Student Helpers who volunteered on a day off to make everything run smoothly.

Also, we can not forget all of the participants for making it a tremendously fun and successful day of learning & sharing across and beyond our district!  Hope you feel the same! Please feel free to follow up with Neal, Debby and myself with any questions or comments or ideas.

Today I noticed a couple of free apps that fit with +Greg Kulowiec's Keynote and etc. that you might be interested in:

Paper 53 is now completely free.  Basically, a drawing/sketching app that is the perfect tool for those who attended Greg’s Follow-Up Keynote Session and are interested in giving Sketch-Visual Notetaking a try!  http://www.fiftythree.com/

App: Paper 54 in iTunes Store

Like this: Doodle Revolution

Watch: TedTalk by Sunni Brown 

Toontastic- was announced as free on Feb. 4th. Looks like it still is! While it’s geared towards elementary.. anyone might find some use or fun in creating animated cartoons.

App: Toontastic in the iTunes Store

Graphite Review: Read

Workflow Apps: Greg has also discovered a more effective workflow connecting three tools: Evernote + Sunrise+ ToDoist that syncs both on his iPad and Mac. Read his post about it: 

http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/2015/01/ios-productivity-workflow.html (I’m giving it a go!)  * His post has direct links to the apps.

*The Sunrise Calendar app integrates a number of other apps and multiple google accounts, worth a look!

#ETTGoogle for Education Jamboree: Pick Me!

 Happy 2015! A new year always brings new visions and ambitions and opportunities! So when I learned about EdTechTeacher & Google's free Google Jamboree Workshop, it was something that I didn't want to miss out on. Of course, only 200 people can attend which added another layer to the application process. All applications had to answer the question:

HOW WILL I MAKE 2015 THE BEST YEAR FOR MY STUDENTS?
I thought I'd also share my entry, or at least my vision or hopes as a Technology Integration Specialist for Blake Middle Schoolers this year with all of you too! My project was created using the combination of Stick Around App- think, interactive puzzle and Canva for self-designed images. It does require the Stick Around app to view/play.  Feel free to give it a try: The Best 2015 for My Students (Or see the images below)

 Hold onto your seats.. we're stepping on the gas! 

And to #ETTGOOGLE- Pick Me! Pick Me!