Edmodo Notifications and Privacy Settings

It’s awesome to see so many people in the district signing up for Edmodo, and into the SDD group! More people can lead to greater effectiveness, but also a lot more messages in your email inbox, and concerns about privacy. See the notes below from Edmdo’s Help section (with my comments in parenthesis) to address these issues.:

Login and click <Account <Settings:

 

1. Stop receiving notifications from one group: If you want to stop receiving messages from one group, select that group, select "Advanced Settings," then DEselect "Send Notifications." This will allow you to keep receiving emails from other groups.


2. Set notifications – [Or click on “Email & Text Updates”]. Click on the notifications [or “Notification Type”] drop-down menu to choose from email or text notifications. Email notifications will be sent to the email address associated with your Edmodo account. If you select text notifications, enter your 10-digit phone number and select your current mobile provider. You will need to verify your phone number in order to enable text alerts.


3. Notification Type – Select the type of notifications you’d like to receive by checking the box next to one or more of these choices: Alerts, Notes, Direct Messages, Replies or New Group Members. [I would suggest leaving at least “Direct Messages” and “Replies.”]


4. Privacy – Teachers may choose to block connection requests or only make their profile visible to their personal network by checking the appropriate box under privacy settings (located in the lower right-hand section of the Settings page. (Students have very high privacy settings defaulted).

If you have other questions, Edmodo's Help section is pretty comprehensive, check it out here. You can also attend one of my Edmodo sessions during Staff Development Day, to learn more about how to use this in your classroom and as a collaboration tool. In the G-1 classroom at 10:40, and the other starts at 12:40. 

New Engaging Election App on Edmodo for grades 6-12

The Study Sync Votes 2012 Blasts App on Edmodo allows you to explore the presidential campaign with your students, and allow them to be a part of a national conversation with thousands of their peers. There are several differentiated lessons, that inform students on important issues in the upcoming election. New topics are released weekly. A few of the topics are the economy, money and politics, Iran, and powering America.

Components of the lesson: neutral overview of topic and how it relates to campaign, research links across broad spectrum of sources, writing assessment 140 characters long, read and rate other students, poll of students across the country.

Haven't used app's before, or want a little help with this one? We got you covered, click here for a Quick Start Guide, or watch the tutorial below:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEgDMJKG9ko

Invitation to a Dialogue: A Student’s Call to Arms

LETTER
Invitation to a Dialogue: A Student’s Call to Arms
Published: October 9, 2012

When President George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law, few would have predicted that the next decade of education policy would unfold into a disaster of epic proportions. The law was based on a flawed concept of a “good education” — high scores on standardized tests.

As a result, the curriculum was narrowed, shaving instruction time in the arts, music, science and history. Schools were transformed into test-preparation factories with a stress on drill, kill, bubble-fill methods. And ruthless accountability measures were enacted, with bribes and threats at their core. It’s safe to say that the law has failed miserably.

Yet when President Obama came into office, he enacted Race to the Top, a $4.35 billion competition that dished out money to states that adopted the president’s policies. In effect, it was No Child Left Behind on steroids. The pressure to garner high test scores has gone haywire, the number of cheating scandals has mushroomed and the teaching profession has been dehumanized. Enough is enough.

In this election cycle, both Mitt Romney and President Obama have largely ducked the issue. Instead of proposing a bold, game-changing plan to transform schools for the 21st century, they remain stubbornly fixed on the status quo. We cannot afford to lose yet another decade of precious time and resources. Reforms are not enough; only a revolution will suffice.

As a student, I want to be taught how to think and create and explore. I’m not a number in a spreadsheet; I’m a creative and motivated human being. I want my teachers to be paid well, given autonomy and treated like professionals. I want my school to be adequately funded. Is that too much to ask?

If either candidate called for the repeal of No Child Left Behind and the abolition of Race to the Top, and pushed schools to allow students to become the captains of their learning, he would find millions of teachers, parents and young people at his side.

NIKHIL GOYAL
Syosset, N.Y., Oct. 8, 2012

The writer is a high school senior and the author of the book “One Size Does Not Fit All: A Student’s Assessment of School.”

Editors’ Note: We invite readers to respond by Thursday for the Sunday Dialogue. We plan to publish responses and Mr. Goyal’s rejoinder in the Sunday Review. E-mail: letters@nytimes.com

Aeries.net Teacher Portal Features in Progress

 

On Friday, September 29th, three of our tech team members participated in a focus group for Aeries.net, along with other technology-leading districts.  There they discussed enhancements with the Aeries Student Information System with the Aeries team.  Useful information was given about the teacher portal features that are in progress at this time.  Please click here to download the PDF to find out more.

 

 

AC Stelle School Wide Electoral College Webquest & Free Election Resources

On Monday, the ACS Math Department rolled out a school wide, cross-curricular Electoral College Webquest. Department Chair Lynda Asher took the lead by creating the webquest and reaching out to myself and her colleagues for feedback. The webquest is posted on the ACS Math Department webpage, making it easily accessible for students, parents, and those that may be interested in running a similar project, as it includes all the directions, resources, and rubric.

The webquest is differentiated for the different grades, and for differing levels of complexity, allowing for the engagement and challenge for all students.  My favorite challenge is figuring out the shortest road trip distance the candidate would need to take to receive 270 votes (assuming every state they visit will vote for him).

Students engage in writing, technology, and math skills, through writing prompts, the use of online resources and Excel spreadsheets.

The students were first introduced to the webquest in the classroom and they have approximately 2.5 weeks to complete it. Close to the due date the students work in the computer lab, and are expected to show up having most of their work organized on a USB drive, to facilitate a successful finish of the project.

Links to this webquest and other Election resources are listed below:

1. Electoral College Webquest: http://www.acstellemiddleschool.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=123&Itemid=288


2. Edmodo Election Resources (for all subjects/grade-levels), including a presidential debate bingo http://lvusd.edmodo.com/publisher/electioninsights?language=en click on “Collection” next to “Community”


3. Election based lesson plans and games: www.icivics.org

Fix Your Glitchy SMART Board

Has your SMART Board been acting glitch since you returned to your classroom. If so, you may need to update your software. NOTE: There are two places you need to check for an update.

For both steps you need to make sure your computer is plugged into the SMART Board.

 

First Update

-Open up your Notebook software. Select the “Help” at the top of the screen.

-Select “Check for Updates and Activation.”

-Update any of the products that need to be updated. Simply follow the directions after you select update. 

 

Second Update

-Open up your Applications folder

-Open the folder “SMART Technologies”

-Open the folder “SMART Tools”

-Double click “Firmware Updater” and follow the directions.

 

Hopefully this will solve all of your SMART Board issues = ]

Technology in OUR Classrooms!

 Welcome to our new monthly feature focusing on our very own LVUSD teachers!  Each month we will be highlighting a teacher by sharing one of their lessons that showcases the use of technology in the classroom.

This month’s teacher is Jeanne Sbardellati a first grade teacher at Bay Laurel!  The title of the lesson is Using QR codes in Digital Storytelling.  Enjoy and thanks for sharing!!

Using QR Codes in Digital Storytelling:



 

During the summer program at Bay Laurel, I had the opportunity to try out a project in digital storytelling, language arts, and art with students going into second grade in the fall.

 

Part 1 introduced students to Paul Gauguin and his relationship with Vincent Van Gogh in the 1880’s in France.  Paul Gauguin painted a piece called “Gauguin’s Chair”. I had a copy of the work for them to see.  The students were told they were going to create an art piece called “(Their name)’s Chair”.

Part 2 was part directed draw (the chair) and part creative on the part of the children.  Students were asked to surround their chair with things that were important to them as did Gauguin.  I also asked them to put two picture frames on the wall that “told something about themself”.

This part of the lesson was divided into two parts.  On Day 1, they put in the basic items they wanted in their picture.  On Day 2 I observed some pretty serious thinking by these great 7 year olds!  They had each grasped the idea of putting things in their pictures that told something about themselves.  They returned to their work throughout the day and added “something important”.

Part 3 involved writing about their pictures.  Using the Step Up to Writing model for first grade, as a class we generated the following topic sentence:

Topic:

Paul Gauguin painted a famous painting called “Gauguin’s Chair”.  I made a famous drawing, too, called ________________________________(Their name’s Chair).

First, in my drawing, ______________________________.

In the picture frames that I drew________________________________.

I also put many details in my drawing __________________________.

Write a Conclusion.

I met with each student to conference about their written work.

When the student was satisfied with their writing, to save time I typed up their work.

In Part 4  students read  and recorded their written work into GarageBand as an audio file/voice podcast.  Click on “New Project”  .  Voice  >  Create with Child’s name (I saved it on the Desktop) > Click on Male or Female voice and record. Note:  I used a Logi-Tech Headset with a built in Microphone because it reduces the ambient noises of the classroom in the background.  Be sure to go to System Preferences and click on Sound to be sure that the Input and Output are clicked on for the Headset.

Record student reading their written work.

Save As:  Student’s name.band.   IMPORTANT:  Look near the bottom and be sure to click on Compact Project (you need to do this for it to Save as an M4a file.  Otherwise it will save as an aiff  file and some people may not be able to hear it .



Part 5 – Scan student work and create .jpg file.  The pictures need a place to reside .  I found their easiest place to store these files was on my Moodle page. I gave each child/picture a place of their own by creating a Topic section for each picture.  I was then able to add their voice recording to match their pictures.

Part 6 – Creating a QR Code for each picture.  By putting each picture in their own Topic section of my Moodle page allowed me to have a unique web address for each picture.

Here is how to create a QR code:

  I inserted the URL of each m4a file into http://goo.gl

  Clicked on “Details” to get to the generated QR code

  Saved the QR codes as an image file



 

  

Now anyone with a QR scanner on their Smartphone, iTouch or iPad walking by the art work, can scan and listen to the student artist’s audio reflection!

 

Here is a copy of the lesson for you to download Using QR Codes in Digital Storytelling 

If you have a great lesson that you would like to share or know someone who should be please contact klagola@lvusd.org