Tech Bytes Newsletter - May 2015

MAY 2015

INNOVATIVE EDUCATOR CONSULTING’S

TEC HNOLOGY BY TES Naomi Harm, CEO ◆ PO Box 188, Brownsville, MN 55919 ◆ (608) 386-2018 ◆ naomi@naomiharm.org ◆ http://naomiharm.org

Greetings and Happy May! We have been out enjoying the wonderful spring weather that has finally made its way to the midwest! We hope you have been able to enjoy it as well.

We would like to begin this PO Box 188 Brownsville, MN 55919 Phone: (608) 386-2018 Email: naomi@naomiharm.org www.naomiharm.org

S TAY C O N N E C T E D ! #naomiharm

month by sharing our appreciation for everything you do each and every day! Your tireless efforts do not go unnoticed and we simply want to say we appreciate everything you go through to support and better your students! A day or

"Like" Us on Facebook https://play.google.com/store/ apps/details? id=com.appbuilder.u217926p14

week just isn’t enough to tell you how valued you are to our world, but we want to be sure to acknowledge your time and passion and say THANK YOU! As May starts to pass we know you are in full gear for the end of the year and preparing to send your current group of students to the next level. Be sure to check out our “Schools Out for Summer” section for some resources

https://itunes.apple.com/us/ https://itunes.apple.com/us/ app/innovative-educatorapp/innovative-educatorconsulting/id955196570?mt=8 consulting/id737480444?mt=8

to share with your students to support their learning even outside of school.

We hope to provide you with some new resources and ideas to spice up May and highlight ways to enjoy end of the year learning with your students.

The IEC Team

INSIDE THIS ISSUE IEC’s Inspiring PD Workshop Opportunities.............................................. 2

School’s Out for Summer .................................................................................. 4

Resource Roundup ............................................................................................... 3

Show Me the Money: Contests & Grants ....................................................4

Where is Innovative Educator Consulting....................................................3

Intel Engage Live Webinars .............................................................................. 5

Googly About Google..............................................................................................3

The Digital Buzz Radio Show: Assessment Apps and Resources ................................................................ 5

Global Collaboration ............................................................................................ 4 Education Outdoors .............................................................................................. 4

Chats with Deb: Organization Tips ................................................................. 5

I NSPIRING P ROFESSIONAL D EVELOPMENT W ORKSHOP O PPORTUNITIES Keep watching our website for more details as they become available. www.naomiharm.org/upcomingworkshops

June 11

July 21 - 22

Summer Tech Splash Host Site: Wisconsin Rapids School District

The K-12 Learning Space Symposium Host Site: Arrowhead School District

Early Bird Registration Deadline: May 29 Join us for a day that allows participants to pick and choose their own learning adventure, peer-to-peer learning opportunities, and time to collaborate and create through each session. Explore topics including Google, iPads, Makerspaces, assessments, and much much more!

June 16 - 17 Summer Tech Splash Host Site: Iowa-Grant School District

Early Bird Registration Deadline: June 1 This innovative technology event will offer dynamic learning opportunities to focus on building a collaborative culture to learn and lead in the digital age. The technology infused sessions will inspire team collaboration, sharing of digital resources, and investigating and tinkering with new ideas.

July 7 - 8 Get Your Google On Technology Academy Host Site: Madison School District

Early Bird Registration Deadline: June 20 Join us for a two day event that allows participants to explore the wide variety of Google tools available. Attendees will be able to select topics that meet their needs and designed to support them at their level. All Google topics are on the docket to allow you to collaborate and deliver classroom learning opportunities in an all new way.

SIGN UP EARLY AND SAVE! As an added benefit this year, Innovative Educator Consulting is offering a very special Early Bird pricing discount. Click on the event title and be sure to register early to take advantage of the special pricing options.

Early Bird Registration Deadline: June 15 This exciting event will enable participants and school teams to explore the design of 21st Century learning spaces and how they support a variety of teaching and learning strategies, including personalized and brain-based learning.

Participants will have the opportunity to vision and plan spaces through a design challenge that will be supported by a lineup of thought-provoking sessions facilitated by five widely recognized speakers and industry partners.

July 28 - 29 Get Your Google On Technology Academy Host Site: Medford School District

Early Bird Registration Deadline: July 10 Join us as we cover a broad topic of all things Google.

Multiple sessions will run to allow attendees choice in their own learning and cover topics for all levels of users. A few of the topics will include, but are not limited to Google Apps for Education (GAFE), Flipped Teaching using Chrome Apps and YouTube Video Assignments, Visual Literacy Trips using Google Lit Trips and Google Maps, as well as student multimedia creation projects using Chrome Apps.

August 4 - 5 Summer Tech Splash Host Site: Medford School District

Early Bird Registration Deadline: July 15 This two day tech splash event will cover a variety of topics to change your classroom instruction, engage student learning, and bring the fun back into classroom teaching and learning. Multiple sessions will run to allow attendees choice in their own learning and cover topics for all levels of users. A few of the topics will include, but are not limited to makerspaces, programming and robotics in the classroom, iPad creation sessions, personalizing student learning, and Global Collaboration Projects.

August 11 - 12 Summer Tech Splash Host Site: Portage School District

Early Bird Registration Deadline: July 24 This innovative technology event will offer dynamic learning opportunities to focus on building a collaborative culture to learn and lead in the digital age. The technology infused sessions will inspire team collaboration, sharing of digital resources, page and investigating and tinkering with new ideas.

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R ESOURCE R OUNDUP

W HERE

IS ...

INNOVATIVE EDUCATOR CONSULTING? We have a wonderful line up of summer events to meet your professional development learning timeframes.

Check out all the upcoming events here.

M INNESOTA S UMMIT F EATURING G OOGLE F OR E DUCATION

May 9

DoSomething.org is a global organization for young people to make social change as members tackle campaigns that impact every cause, from poverty to violence to the environment to literally everything else. Any cause, anytime, anywhere.

Naomi will be presenting in Edina, MN for this event focusing on Google Apps for Education. Highly engaging sessions Naomi will facilitate Chrome Smashing, Moonshot Thinking and Gizmos and Gadgets with Chromebooks to Enhance Learning.

ISTE A NNUAL C ONFERENCE June 26 July 2

Tim will be attending the ISTE Annual Conference in Philadelphia, PA to network with approximately 18,000 educators from all over the globe. ISTE stands for the International Society for Technology in Education and is a time to gain knowledge of the global perspectives and see the current trends in education all over the world.

Great Websites for Kids- Site of the Week

Soundcloud Makes it Easier to Publish a Podcast

New Screen Recording & Markers with Comments come to WeVideo

National Gallery of Art- Art Making Tools

24/7 Science- Activity Collections for Kids

Map Maker from Big Huge Labs

G OOGLY A BOUT

Join us for Google’s Education On Air event this Friday and Saturday, May 8th and 9th. Check out the 2 day Agenda and sign up or register for the event. Select and join in during times that are convenient and of interest to you! Find strands that are geared toward Educators, Administrators, IT, or just anyone.

Multiple Teachers Can Now Collaborate in Classroom 60 Ways to Use Classroom Limit the Number of Responses to a Google Form Animation Improvements to Google Slides

Inspired Picture Writing: PicLits

Logic and Reasoning Games

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Protect Your Google Account with Password Alerts The Google Lens: Google Search Visualizations Have you maximized Google Add-Ons? Add-Ons help support your work inside many of the google tools. If you don’t know a lot about them or how they can help with your daily workflow check out Getting Started with Google Add-Ons. 15 Google Add-Ons

G LOBAL C OLLABORATION

The Global Read Aloud just announced next falls book selections. Be sure to check out these titles and see how you can incorporate them in next years read aloud. Book titles range from a lower level author study with picture books, and other multi-level titles to meet the needs of your students. The project will begin in early October, so check out the website for registration or sign-up to receive more updates! If you have never been a part of this experience, you simply cannot pass it up!

Projects by Jen has announced next years project lineup.

Check out the projects coming our way for the 2015-16 school year. Explore your options now so you can work them into your curriculum next year.

Take some time to explore how you could incorporate Skype in the classroom. See how involving your students in Mystery Skype, guest author visits, or featured literacy activities can boost your classroom engagement and connect your students to important world experiences.

S HOW M E T HE M ONEY : G RANTS AND C ONTESTS Funding Opportunities

Teachers Count Grants

Grant Alerts

Teacher Development Grants

Grants For Teachers Grants To Educators Innovative Teacher and Teacher Team Grants Small Grants For Teachers

Thank America Teachers The Big List of Educational Grants and Resources The Journal Grant Listing

E DUCATION O UTDOORS Here are several ideas to occupy your children this summer and encourage them to get out of the house now that we have warm, sunny, and long summer days. Encourage them to create games, use the materials they have, and be creative. Many parents look for ways to battle the indoor screentime, as well as avoid the statement “I’m Bored!” Check out some of these sites for fun and engaging ideas!

Kidspot Activity Corner Outdoor Activities for Kids Ages 6-10 50 Outdoor Summer Activities for kids Outdoor Play (Pinterest) PBS Kids- Zoom Games Outdoor Learning for kids (Pinterest) Projects Learning Tree Geocaching with Kids Family Treasure Hunts

S CHOOL ’ S O UT FOR S UMMER !

We know summer is an important time for kids to renew and revitalize. However, as a teacher we are always looking for ways to actively engage and support the learning process going into the summer. Here are some fun and supportive sites to pass along to families for active summer engagement and to keep their minds fresh!

KidsCamps- Find a Camp near you Scholastic’s Summer Reading Challenge Matific- Math Lessons K-6 TogetheREAD Times Table Practice Story Starters for Elementary Writing Igniter- for Middle/High School 100 Best Books K-12 Arcademics- Arcade meets Academics

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INTEL ENGAGE LIVE WEBINARS Intel Engage offers monthly webinars that are FREE. Tap into these inspiring and insightful webinars created by and led by K-16 teachers. Many free tech prizes are also given away during these webinars for attendees collaborating on the trivia challenges related to the content of the webinar being presented.

Click here to view and register for all upcoming webinars.

THE MAKER MOVEMENT: A GLOBAL REVOLUTION GOES TO SCHOOL Tuesday, May 19, 2015 7:00:00 PM CST - 8:00:00 PM CST The Maker Movement is a revolutionary global collaboration of people learning to solve problems with modern tools and technology. Adults and children are combining new technologies and timeless craft traditions to create exciting projects and control their world.

The implications are profound for schools and districts concerned with engaging students, maintaining relevance, and preparing children to solve problems unanticipated by the curriculum.

LIVING AND LEARNING IN 2025 Wednesday, May 20, 2015 4:00:00 PM CDT - 5:00:00 PM CDT As technology races forward what do we need to do today to prepare for tomorrow? The future is Brian David Johnson's business. As a futurist he develops an actionable 10 -15 year vision for the future of technology and what it will feel like to live in the future. His work is called "futurecasting"—using ethnographic field studies, technology research, trend data, and even science fiction to provide a pragmatic vision of consumers and computing. Johnson works with governments, militaries, trade organizations, start-ups and multinational corporations to help them envision their future. He was appointed first futurist ever at the Intel Corporation in 2009.

THE DANGERS OF APP OVERLOAD Tuesday, May 26, 2015 6:00:00 PM CST - 7:00:00 PM CST Intel Teach Live welcomes Brian Yearling, from Waukesha, WI school district, as he explores the notion of " App Overload." We have all been there. A new device arrives and our immediate tendency is to start downloading apps. App overload is real and it plagues our classrooms and steals precious instructional time. We will explore how we can limit app selection to just a few powerful, creation or collaboration focused apps (or software), and then deepen our thinking around how these apps can be creatively leveraged to do more and to give our students unique ways to demonstrate what they know. page

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As we round out the school year many of you will be making your final round of assessments to document student growth in your classroom- and why not make this process fun and enjoyable for everyone? This month The Intel Engage Digital Buzz radio show will be sharing creative assessment apps and resources that capture student growth through game infused learning. You know deep down inside that each of us truly would like to be a game show host in our classroom for at least a portion of our day- so what better way than through creative app assessments to check this task off your list and make learning fun and active for all.

Click here to listen to this radio show broadcast and tap into the resources shared within this month’s broadcast.

C HATS WITH D EB “Mrs. Norton’s Neighborhood” This month Deb shares several tips to helping everyone stay a bit more organized. Spring is a time we often get busy and just need things to be a bit more organized. She also presented some resources for teaching Global Citizenship and making connections to National Library Week. Check these resources out here: Click here to review Deb’s tips and tricks for staying organized!

Click here to view Deb’s focus on Global Citizenship!

Please tap into the many insightful posts that Deb has to share through Deb’s Blog: Sharing Technology

We hope May provides for you a wealth of opportunities of inspiration, happiness and gratitude! #TogetherWeAreBetter from the Innovative Educator Consulting Team!