Summer Learning

This Week’s Topic in Focus:

This will be our final post of the 2016-17 school year.  We want to thank all of you who have tuned in each week and hope that you have been able to implement some of the suggestions or strategies in your classroom. If you have missed posts, please feel free to look back at any of our earlier entries. All of our prior posts are organized by the four categories we covered each month: Cool Tools, G-Suite for Education, Global Connections/PLN, and Schoology. For easy navigation to posts of interest, simply click on the keyword located in the banner above.

We all have our to do list of things we hope to achieve, revisit to refresh and get ready for the next school year.  In today’s blog we will feature a few items per each category that we suggest should make it onto your reading/exploration list for the summer.

Melanie and Kyle’s Tips for Summer Awesomeness

• Schoology - Schoology has new features on the docket for the 2017-18 school year. We believe that these new features are going to make the Schoology experience more robust for both you and your students.
• Google Integration - Google and Schoology will be more seamless than ever before.  Google Docs and other drive apps will now be embedded and shared with students in a simple interface that lives completely within Schoology. Check out the Schoology- Google Integration Announcement video to learn more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0IVWfQrGiw
• New Assessment Features - Schoology is launching a brand new set of Next Generation Assessment tools that will knock your socks off!  Review the full list of question types on Schoology’s support page.  
• G-Suite for Education
• Level 1 Google Certified Educator - Consider becoming a Google Certified Educator.  You can use the self paced training modules to attack this on your own. Going through these modules will help you take a deep dive into the G-Suite for Education apps and you will learn impactful features that you are probably not aware even exist. Please contact Kyle if you are interested in working with a group during first quarter next school year.
• Google Classroom - Schoology is and will continue to be our Learning Management Platform but we also highly recommend supplementing with Google Classroom for workflow management and integration to third party apps. Read this blog post by Alice Keeler if you are ready to get started with the basics of Google Classroom. If you have already dabbled in  Classroom and are ready to go further, her post about next steps will be worth a read.
• Cool Tools
• EdPuzzle - We posted on this topic a back in January, Read the post if you missed it.  This tool alone has been a huge asset to anyone who has started their blended learning journey.  
• Extensions in Chrome Browser - When it comes to choosing a browser Google Chrome blows the competition out of the water because of its unique library of extensions and apps. Our personal favorites are Screencastify, Grammarly and Diigo.  Learn more by visiting this extensions and apps database from Shake Up Learning. The database can be filtered by category, grade level and subject so that you can find the right extension or app for you!
• Global Connections/PLN
• Top Eleven Follows - We’ve shared several PLN follows in prior months.  Here is a list of our top ten for you to explore:
• http://catlintucker.com/
• http://www.controlaltachieve.com/
• http://alicekeeler.com/
• http://www.controlaltachieve.com/
• http://googleteachertribe.com/
• http://ditchthattextbook.com/
• https://www.edutopia.org/
• http://www.edudemic.com/
• https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/
• http://www.teachthought.com/
• http://www.coolcatteacher.com/
• http://fhsdinnovate.blogspot.com/  :) #selfpromotion
• Feedly - As shared a couple of weeks ago, Feedly helps you keep track of all of your favorite blog and resource follows in one location.  Learn more by revisiting our prior post.

Cheryl’s Summer Surfing Tips

Okay, whew!!! You made it.  Now kick back,  relax and explore some of these great sessions that were at the Gafe Summit in November.  If you missed the Gafe Summit or were there it’s always great to go back and revisit.  There are 2 ways that you can tackle this.  We asked each person that attended to add #onenewthing to a Google Slide Presentation, that was the biggest take away from the Gafe Summit.  If you click on the school icons you will be able to see slides from individuals at each school with their biggest take aways.  The other more comprehensive way is to click on the session time.  Each session that was offered during that time period will be listed with a link to all the materials, presentations and contact information that were shared.  Sit back browse and pick presentations that interest you to explore.

Gafe Summit Resources

Want to get your “Google Game On” this summer?  Check out this Walsh University course taught by Cheryl Kemper.  Google Tools in Education

Contributed by Cheryl Kemper @CherylLKemper @ Kyle Mack @ProfKyleMack   Melanie Zolnier @libary_techer