Ryan Denton

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a great break and feels refreshed for the final few weeks of 2021.

This week's tip is regarding an upcoming feature in Google Slides that I have been asked about on several occasions: full screen editing. It's also something that more teachers could find increasingly useful after they are up and running with their Promethean Board. Typically teachers want this feature so that either they or their students can manipulate items on a Slides presentation in full screen mode... effectively making it like a stripped-down Smart Notebook lesson. Previously, the ability to do this with slides only existed through glitchy third party chrome extensions that aren't always reliable. A couple things to know about this upcoming feature:

Google is slowly rolling it out (as they often do). Currently it is available on many private accounts, but most Google for Edu users are reporting that they don't have it yet (myself included). Keep your eyes peeled, it should be appearing sometime soon.

When the feature becomes available, you can navigate to view > Show Filmstrip and click to uncheck that feature, which will create that additional space in edit mode.

While removing the "film strip" doesn't create a true full screen mode, if you hide several other elements from the screen - including the ruler, speaker notes, and the main menu - you can get pretty close.

Happy Tuesday everyone! After speaking with a few classes recently on research and media literacy, I thought I would share a segment of that presentation that could be useful to just about everyone: how to more effectively utilize search engines, particularly Google.

Below, you'll find a quick list of some tips on how you and your students can be more effective when searching:

Special Interactive Features: Google also provides a slew of other functions and services through Search (the timer is my personal favorite). You can find a pretty comprehensive list here, but some of the more prominent ones are listed below:Use the Tabs... After searching, you can quickly narrow your results down to images, videos, news, etc. You can also use the "tools" tab to filter results by date/recency

Use Quotations... i.e. “Richland County Tigers” - Many are aware of this tip, which limits your search to results that have the exact words, spelling, and sequence of your search.

Use the "minus"/hyphen... i.e. Mustang -cars - In this example, the searcher would be looking for results on Mustang horses (most likely), and would like to weed out all the results that would have to do with the automobile

Use a colon to search a specific site... i.e. Tom Brady site:nfl.com - This search would return results on Tom Brady, but only ones that came from the NFL's official website

Search for a site that references another site or page... i.e. link:rccu1.com - with this addition, you would only get results that had referenced/linked to our district website.

Search for similar... i.e. related:amazon.com - when you're in need of another reference, or just looking for something similar/related to a favorite site

Search for multiple words or phrases at once... i.e. “Best ways to prepare for a job interview” OR “How to prepare for a job interview” - this will return results from both searches at the same time.

Keep it simple for starters, then go from there... First try: job interviews Second try: prepare for job interviews Third try: how to prepare for a job interview

Use words that a website would use... “I have a flat tire” could be replaced by “repair a flat tire.” “My head hurts” could be replaced by “headache relief.”

Let Google help you with the spelling... If you're not sure how to spell a word, just do it phonetically; Google will probably figure it out for you

Last but not least... Use CTRL+F! Once you've clicked on a result, CTRL+F will bring up a search within a page (or document) that will allow you to quickly search that page or document only for whatever you might be seeking.

Special Interactive Features: Google also provides a slew of other functions and services through Search (the timer is my personal favorite). You can find a pretty comprehensive list here, but some of the more prominent ones are listed below:

Timer

Calculator

Time zone, currency, and unit conversions

Word translations

Flight status

Local film showings

Weather forecasts

Population and unemployment rates

Package tracking

Word definitions

Metronome

Roll a die

Good morning and happy Tuesday everyone! This week's tip falls into the category of "oldie but goodie"... The Google Explore feature has long been one of my favorites, but it's come to my attention that some folks still aren't aware of it.

Essentially, the Google Explore button opens up Google Search, but directly within whatever you are working on at the moment (a doc, slides presentation, or spreadsheet). For both you and your students, there are several benefits to using the Explore button:

No matter what you are working on, it's always handy... right there at the bottom right of your screen

It limits distraction... when you don't have to leave what you are working on to find what you need, it can help you and your students stay focused and possibly cut down on the number of "rabbit holes" you sucked into.

It does things that a regular search won't do... things like allowing you to drag and drop picture results from the search panel directly into the document, searching your Google Drive for content that can be added to your current project, or help out with things like quickly arranging the content in a slide to look more "professional".

Teachers, next week is Digital Citizenship Week 2021.

As someone with a passion for both technology and civics, over the years I have come to believe that digital citizenship deserves to be promoted amongst our most important objectives in education. Digital citizenship and media literacy encompass some of the most vital skills a young person can attain in 2021, and the fact is that these things have grown to influence the lives of all Americans on a daily basis, regardless of whether or not they even engage online. We certainly have teachers that invest time on these areas in their classes, but this is something that can't be taught in one lesson, unit, or course.  This isn't an issue with a simple solution (the greatest minds in the tech world still haven't figured it out yet)... It doesn't just involve making students aware of the dangers that exist, showing them the skills that they need, or pointing them to resources that are available - it also involves teaching them to care enough about themselves and others to utilize all those things, which is no easy task.

Schools are obviously an extremely important place and time in young people's lives when it comes to creating impactful change in the realm of digital citizenship (just like in every other area of their lives).  To create that change, digital citizenship is something that has to be taught, encouraged, and modeled for students throughout their career as students. So I encourage you to not only consider utilizing one of the resources you see below at some point next week, but to look for one or two skills or expectations that you can easily weave into your curriculum, classroom management, or even just the example you set every day for your students. There are a whole slew of resources out there that you can utilize, but Google and Common Sense Media have some of the best.  In addition to those resources, I would also be happy to visit the classroom of anyone who is interested and speak with their students on the importance of Digital Citizenship. If that is something that interests you, please take a moment to fill out this form and I will get back with you ASAP! Google in particular has a great game called "Be Internet Awesome" and a curriculum that is built around it with slides, pdfs, etc. It plays particularly well with ages 7-12, but can definitely be enjoyable and useful for both younger and older ages.  It touches on each of the following fundamentals:

Being Internet Smart: Sharing with Care

Being Internet Alert: Not Falling for Fake

Being Internet Strong: Securing Your Secrets

Being Internet Kind

Being Internet Brave: When in Doubt, Talk w/ a Trusted Adult

Welcome back, everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. This week's tip revolves around some reminders for the end of 1st term and the beginning of 2nd. Obviously, our folks at the Elementary won't be heading into a new grading term for about a month, but there are still a few things that will be good for them to be aware of as well.

Below, you'll find the document I share at the start of each term, which includes all the relevant resources (written tutorials, videos, screenshots, etc.) I've created previously to help with finishing a grading period and transitioning to another. Many of these things aren't tough, but when you only do something a few times a year, it can be difficult to remember how to execute them. I've also got a couple points of emphasis directly below. If you have any questions at all that I haven't touched on, please let me know.

Pointers on transitioning to 2nd term:

Your future classes became visible last Friday, so that teachers who are starting up new courses next Monday will have a chance to work on them. Future courses will be hidden again starting next Monday. I sent out an email last week to help folks organize things when all their classes are showing.

First term classes will continue to be visible and available in Schoology to account for any incomplete work, exams, etc. through next Sunday (10/24). Please make sure students are aware of that window. If you have any questions or concerns about that time frame, please let me know.

Friendly reminder: if you've been utilizing Schoology Grade Sync to push grades over to Skyward, make sure to check that your gradebooks are matching up. If things are as they should be, student grades should all be matching within .01 of a point. If they aren't matching up, you can find some troubleshooting tips here, and I'm always happy to stop by and take a look!

If you utilize Schoology for Final Exams and want your gradebooks to match, remember you'll need to set those up differently than a normal assignment, and you'll also have to manually copy the exam scores over to Skyward.

For those planning to link new courses and utilize grade sync in new courses next term, remember that it's always better to do those things before you start assigning/grading work in a new class.

Don't forget to save your current course to resources! We can always go back and do this even after a course has been archived, but it's good practice to get that out of the way so you can quickly find it when you need it again.

Good morning and Happy Homecoming Week! As always, I hope your week has started off right.

This week, I wanted to highlight another video-based tool that is in your arsenal: Screencastify. Many of you likely have some familiarity with Screencastify, as it was one of the platforms that was widely used by teachers to survive remote learning over the last 18 months.  But as we drift back closer to whatever version of "normal" we are headed for, I wanted to emphasize that a tool like Screencastify has a lot of potential beyond the pandemic, and can be utilized in some game-changing ways for both teachers and students, for almost any content area or age group.

Quickly for our new teachers and those who just aren't familiar.. Screencastify is a Chrome extension that allows you to quickly and easily record your screen, yourself, or a combination of the two, and narrate throughout the recording. It also allows you to trim, edit, and make annotations on your video. All of this is done from your chrome browser, it's all saved to your Google Drive (including any edits you make in the future), and it makes sharing extremely easy when you're ready.

So, now that our teachers are back face to face with the majority of students on a day-to-day basis, what role does Screencastify have to play?  Teachers can look at this tool as something that can make their lives easier and help them support their students. But it can also be a powerful tool for student creation:

Recording lessons and lectures is still a beneficial practice... Once you've recorded them they can often be re-used (at least for a while). These recordings can be utilized for students who are absent, if a teacher decides to "flip" a lesson or a unit, or in a variety of different scenarios when a teacher needs to make up some time (snow days, teacher illness, etc.).

Teachers can also utilize recordings to support their students... directions via a narrated video are oftentimes easier on both the student and the teacher than written directions, and can be less time consuming than going back and forth trying to explain something through email.  It's especially helpful in walking kids through how you want them to complete an online activity, create an account, on a platform outside Schoology, etc. This comes in handy when a student is out, but it might be even more handy when the teacher isn't present.

One of the biggest benefits of this tool being so simple and accessible is that it's really easy to get students up and running with it so that they can create their own content. There are certainly other tools out there with similar functionality to Screencastify (and if you're already comfortable with one, that's great!), but if you're looking for something to use with your students, you're not likely to find anything that's more headache free when it comes to setting your students up and teaching them how to use it.  And the fact that we have a district license means you and your students have less hoops to jump through and no worries about whether you have any limits on functionality.

Good morning RCCU1! As always, I hope your week has gotten off to a great start. This week's tip involves a new feature from a tool that many of you have already been utilizing over the last year: EdPuzzle Live.

If you aren't familiar with EdPuzzle, it's a great tool for making the video resources you utilize in class more engaging. You can pull videos from online sources like YouTube, or upload your own, and then embed questions directly into the video. And similar to platforms like Quizlet Study Sets, you can grab pretty much any EdPuzzle assignment that has been created by other teachers and either assign it or make your own copy so you can alter it. Thanks to us having a district license for EdPuzzle, there are no limits to how many videos you can save or upload to your content.

EdPuzzle will grade all objective questions for you, but you can also add open-ended ones as well. You can also require students to watch a video to completion (without being able to skip ahead) before the assignment will grade their work, and EdPuzzle has a pretty robust integration with Schoology... students can complete their EdPuzzle assignments in Schoology and their EdPuzzle grades will sync to your Schoology gradebook automatically. (FYI, for anyone who had frustrations with EdP earlier in the year, after some tedious work it appears Ryan R. has eliminated most of the issues you may have been experiencing - thanks to Ryan for that!)

So what is EdPuzzle Live? In a nutshell, it allows you to take your class through an EdPuzzle as a group, and be in control of the activity rather than only being able to assign the video to students to view individually. Any EdPuzzle assignment can be used either in Classic Mode or Live mode, or in a combination of the two. So if you take your class through a Live EdPuzzle, but only watch half of it, you can have students complete the other half independently to finish the assignment. This is also a great option for students that miss class.

Happy Tuesday, RCCU1! This week's tip revolves around a pretty great tool I stumbled upon last week while working with a teacher: Scrnli.

First of all, if taking screenshots isn't currently part of your digital toolbelt, I highly recommend making it a part of your skillset. They come in handy for all kinds of things. You can use them to:

grab a picture that you can quickly add to a presentation, Schoology, social media, an email, or just about anything else

demonstrate to students or parents how to navigate to or access something

document something that's important

save something for later that you don't have time to take notes on right now

show myself, our IT folks, or someone in customer support exactly what kind of error you're getting

And this list isn't all inclusive by any means! If you are familiar with screenshots, you may already know of several tools and methods to take one. Most operating systems (Mac, Windows, ChromeOS) have screenshot capability built in. But another great option is to install a chrome extension. Once installed on your Chrome browser, it's always handy and easy to find, no matter what device you are working from. And in the case of Scrnli, you're also given some pretty great tools both as you're taking the shot and afterwards. It actually feels an awful lot like Screencastify for screen stills, and you'll probably pick up on it very quickly.  Scrnli makes it easy to:

Capture in several different ways (what's on screen, an entire page, a selected area, etc.)

Further edit the screenshot after you take it with highlights, drawing tools, etc.

Share the final product (save, copy, shareable link, etc.)

Hello Everyone! I hope your week is off to a great start!

This week's tip revolves around a tool that has been very useful for me personally: Priority & Workspaces in Google Drive.  No matter how hard you try, keeping all the things that fly around in Drive can be pretty overwhelming. Even if you do a great job organizing your own files (which can feel like a losing battle at times), what about the important stuff that is being shared with you constantly? And how do you manage all this stuff in a way that allows you to work with all of it in an efficient manner? With Priority and Workspaces, Google addressed this issue in a way that works better than anything else they've done previously.

Priority is a tool that requires nothing from you... Google's algorithm recognizes what files are currently important and displays them at the top of your priority page for quicker access. It's not perfect, but I find that it does a pretty great job of keeping things on hand that I've been working on recently.

Workspaces are where you can customize things to make Drive work better for you, and you can do it with almost no setup.  Just click "create workspace" to get started. You can create spaces for projects you're working on, different courses that you teach, important documents from building administrators, or anything else you can think of. Once those spaces are created, you can either open a space and quickly search for documents to add, or right click on any document and add it to your chosen space (whether it's shared with you or created by you). This is probably my favorite aspect of Workspaces: finally there's a great way to organize those shared documents and keep them alongside each other and any personal documents that might be relevant. Workspaces are also a great way to keep things that are important or that you are working on currently front and center.

One last tip on Priority & Workspaces... they're definitely more handy tools when you point your Google Drive bookmark toward the Priority section... for a while I didn't even realize Priority was there because my bookmark was still linked to "My Documents". If you're someone who works in Drive quite a bit, you might even consider making "Priority" your homepage.

Happy Tuesday! I hope your holiday weekend was a good one!  This week's tip involves my availability in each of your buildings.  I want to stress that the times you see below are not the only times that I will be able to help you. This is just an attempt on my part to structure built-in time to be present in each of the buildings, and hopefully be more helpful to everyone.

The Idea

I am calling these scheduled blocks of time "Hangouts", and the goal is to be in the building for the prep period of every teacher in the district at least once a week. I believe the schedule below meets that goal, but it did get a little complicated lining things up with the schedules of all 3 buildings, so if I've missed something please let me know!

Location

If you are wondering where you'll be able to find me during these times, at this point I don't intend to have a designated location.  Often times, folks are so busy and it doesn't hit them that they have a question for me until I run into them. So you are likely to see me bouncing around to high traffic areas like commons areas, libraries, pods, etc. If you know ahead of time that you are going to need me to drop by and see you, just make an appointment and I will be there!

Creating an Appointment

Lastly, you'll notice that clicking the "create a meeting with me" link now takes you to a page with 4 different meeting types: one for teachers in each of the buildings, and one for folks that aren't in a traditional classroom teacher role. Please make sure to choose your building when creating an appointment. This is the definitely the best way to set up a time with me, but let me know if you don't see something that works for you, and we'll take care of it the old-fashioned way (FYI, if you click the "create a meeting w/ me" link in an older email that I have sent out, it will likely give you an error now - email me if you have any problems).

Teachers, hope Week 3 is off to a good start for you and your students! For those of you that utilize Schoology to send grades to Skyward, now is a good time for a reminder on making sure that your grades are syncing over properly and that your percentages are matching between the two platforms.

I would also like to give a strong recommendation to make spot-checking your Skyward grades once a week (or at least every couple weeks) a part of your routine.  If you locate a discrepancy, it's a lot easier to locate the needle if the haystack is smaller... in other words, waiting until midterm or beyond to check things out can cause you a lot more stress in the long run. Not having to copy grades from one platform to another definitely saves you time... I would just make sure to invest a little bit of that back into checking things out every so often.

So what if your grades don't match up or aren't syncing properly?  I've attached a doc below that walks you through the troubleshooting process for when (not if) that happens, but I'm always happy to take a look or stop by! Whether it's a glitch or user error (both are bound to happen at some point), I'll make sure we get you back on track!  Have a great week!

Teachers, welcome back! As we get up and running, I just wanted to send out a quick reminder on how impactful Lightspeed can be for your classroom... with little to no time investment or setup from you.

Lightspeed is basically an extension of our filtering system that you have control over during your class time. You can monitor students' screens in real time, control what they have access to in a number of ways, and if need be keep a record of what they are doing while in your class.

You can login to Lightspeed with your district Google account, and it already knows your courses (thanks to its ability to sync with Skyward).

As impactful as Lightspeed can be, it only takes a few minutes to get a handle on what it can do and how to use it. If you haven't used it previously, just schedule a meeting with me, and I can have you up and running in 10-15 minutes.

The only setup required from you as the teacher is selecting the days of the week (Monday through Friday) and the time of day that each class meets.

Teachers, I hope you've had a great first week!  I just wanted to remind you of something that may come in handy here at the start of the year when schedules often get changed around quite a bit...

When a student's schedule is changed, or if they are a brand new student that has just arrived, the sync between Schoology and Skyward typically doesn't take place until midnight. So if nothing is done manually, that student will not have access to any new classes until the next day, however....

Teachers, as many of you are going through the process of linking classes together or just adding other teachers to your classes for Inclusion, etc., a quick reminder...

Some of our teachers have created separate accounts for the purpose of parent access.  The best way to tell a teacher account apart from a parent account is that teacher accounts typically have the name listed in ALL CAPS.

I will be at all 3 buildings on Monday at some point during the day (HS in the morning, MS & Elementary in the afternoon), but if you have any questions or issues at all between now and then with linking courses, syncing grades to Skyward, recovering resources from last year, or anything else, please let me know! I've also attached those resources that I think will be helpful for you at the start of the year one more time. Have a great weekend!