WHS 1:1 Midyear Reflections

Student and Teachers at WHS have had an interesting year.  The introduction of 1:1 with the chromebooks has significantly changed the way we teach and learn.

Students have had to make adjustments to their learning and organizational styles.  Most teachers have embraced Google Classroom to help students stay on task with what is going on in their classes.  Offline mode has helped close the digital divide by allowing students to work on projects from home.  

Teachers have had to re-evaluate the way they present materials to students.  In several subjects new textbooks provided online resources and the ability for students to access textbooks on their chromebooks.  Students are using email and checking progress book much more frequently meaning the connection to teachers has increased.

All in all the introduction of 1:1 Chromebooks here at WHS has been quite successful.  While it has come with its share of challenges, the benefits have far outweighed any negatives.  We have many resources available for those who need support in any of these areas.

1:1 Resources:
Cane Tech Squad – The CTS Help Desk students are always willing to help students or teachers with any tech related issues.
Ext: 7236  Email: techsquad@wilmington.k12.oh.us twitter: @CaneTechSquad

Library Books – We have quite a few new books (yes, books) about chromebooks and EdTech.  Teachers should check out Classroom Management in the Digital Age for tips on keeping students on task while using the chromebooks.  Stop in the library to browse these titles.

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Watch CTS Jeopardy LIVE

Watch this replay of our CTS Jeopardy Live Twitter Game Show.  The purpose of this show was to help educate students on the use and care of their chromebooks. We are working on the restricted mode issue so for now students might have to watch from home or another account.

Congrats to Parker on winning our first CTS Jeopardy Game.

Make sure you follow us on Twitter @CaneTechSquad to join us LIVE next time.

Teachers – Would you like CTS members to host a Live Jeopardy event with your class?  Maybe you can challenge another class in your content area?  Let us know!

Get More Done with Action Items in Google

Sharing Google files with other students and teachers has made collaboration here at WHS the norm.  Now Google allows us to assign Action Items to collaborators in the comments section of Google files.  Give it a try and let us know if you find this tool useful.

1. Open a Google file.
2. Highlight the text, images, cells, or slides you want to comment on.
3. To add a comment, go to the format toolbar and click Comment .
4. Type your comment.
5. Somewhere in your comment, add the email address, with @ or + in front of it, of the person you want to assign it to.
6. Click the box next to “Assign to [name].”
7. Click Assign. The person you assigned the action item to will get an email.

Exploring Genres: Historical Fiction

Today in the Learning Commons we explored Historical Fiction with Ms. Moore’s Honors English 2 students.

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Historical Fiction includes any books set in the past.  Students seem drawn to this genre especially when it comes to stories that they can relate to in their own lives.  Students realize that some of the same issues, struggles, and even solutions they face today were also present in the past.

We also took some time to evaluate how to select a book based on reading and interest level.  Students evaluated books and rated them based on how interested they would be in reading the book.  They then had the opportunity to check out a book to use with an independent reading assignment for 2nd quarter.

To look for Historical Fiction books in our library use the following link (while at school): http://destiny

 

It’s MyStudyLife! And I can live it how I want to!

Aaron from our CTS Help Desk wrote this App Review of MyStudyLife.

The Cane Tech Squadian

MyStudyLife is a very useful app for those students that like to keep track of what they have going on, on what days and when. For organized students and for the teachers that like to keep their students informed this is a very useful and very easy to use app for your chromebook or even mobile phone. MyStudyLife has the ability to have entire schools join as well at teachers. The app will recognize the time that you spend in each class, which is nice. It has a feed page to tell you what assignments and tests you have coming up. For tasks there are also gauges for how far you are on the assignment percentage wise. However; this app is fairly reminiscent of google classroom, with classroom being able to sync with your google calendar that feature gives classroom an advantage. But all in all, if you like to…

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Student Research Tips for Chromebook

The 1:1 chromebook program here at WHS has created new tools and opportunities for students to do research.  Whether you are working on a research paper for English class or just curious about a topic you can put your chromebook to work for you to make sure you find the credible, reliable information you need.

Is the site credible?

It is more important than ever for students to be able to determine if a website they are on is giving credible, reliable information.  Check the following characteristics of a credible, reliable website:
– Check the URL extension.  Most urls can be purchased by individuals.
.com usually indicates a website that has a product in mind.
.org indicates a nonprofit organization.  These can be good sources of information                   but be aware of the organization’s agenda.
 .gov or .edu are reserved for government or education purposes and are almost                        always considered credible, reliable sources.
– Author, date, and sources.  Credible websites generally list the name of the author, the     date the research was conducted, and sources where the author obtained their
information.
– Poor site design, grammar, spelling.  Be aware of websites that don’t have a professionally designed site or one where grammar and spelling errors are evident.

Dive into the research.

One way to make sure you are always using credible websites is to use a starting point that is designed for doing research.  There are many databases and resources for this purpose.  Here are two we recommend:

Google Scholar:   Google Scholar works just like the Google search engine but instead of searching all websites it only searches scholarly articles, journals, books, periodicals, etc.  Scholar allows you to sort results by date so you can be sure you are receiving current information.  Another great feature is My Library which will allow you to store search results to access later.  Be sure to also check out the My Scholar button that can be installed to your chrome browser.

Infohio:  Infohio is a digital library full of free resources for Ohio public school students.  There are a lot of databases targeted directly towards doing research.  From the homepage click on the grades 9-12 high school link.  Look through the different databases and find one that suits your needs.  If you are not sure where to start we recommend Ebscohost.  It is one of the most comprehensive databases you can find anywhere.

Apps and Extensions for Research.

Chromebooks allow students to install apps and extensions to make research even more effective.  These apps can be found at the Chrome Web Store.

Docs Research Mode – One feature that is already in your drive is research mode.  When you have a doc opened click on tools -> research.  This will open a small google toolbar on the right hand side for you to do research without even leaving Google Docs.  You can even use it for Google Scholar.  Another great tip when using docs is to try out suggestion mode for doing peer reviews.

Diigo – “Bookmark, Archive, Screenshot & Markup – All-In-One Web Collector, must-have research tool”…  Diigo is a research organizer that will allow you to highlight, annotate, and store your work as you go along.

Evernote – Evernote is a popular note-taking and organization tool that be used across multiple devices.  This means you can take notes from your phone while riding the bus and then add to them from your chromebook at home.  You really just have to try out Evernote to decide if it is right for you.

Super Simple Highlighter  – What research experience would be complete without highlighters.  Keep it simple with this straight forward extension.

Finally a quick note about working offline.  There is app called Pocket that allows you to save websites and offline mode in Google Docs makes it so that you can work on your papers while not on wifi.  Learn more here.

Happy researching – give us feedback on what worked for you or other chromebook-friendly research tips you find.

CTS Basics: Progress Book

CTS Basics: Progress Book

It is important to be able to use ProgressBook to keep track of your grades and assignments here at WHS.

To Access Progress Book:

Visit www.wilmingtoncityschools.com and click on student -> Progressbook Student.  Then choose the Wilmington City Schools icon.  If you have set up an account in the past go to A below, otherwise go to B.

A. If you know you have an account but have forgotten your username or password click the forgot your username or password link.  This will email you your username or password.  If you can no longer access the email you used to setup progressbook email steven.reed@wilmington.k12.oh.us and in the subject line type ‘progressbook login help’.

B. If you have never had an account before, first check your email for a message from Don Sutton with the subject “Progress Book Student Reg Key”  

Next visit www.wilmingtoncityschools.com and click on student -> Progressbook Student.  Then choose the Wilmington City Schools icon.  From here you will choose sign up.

Fill in the account information on the Sign Up  screen, entering the  Student Registration Key  from the attachment in the email; your legal first and last name and date of birth.  Make sure you use your school email to register and 00+studentid for your password.

If you do not have an email from Don Sutton with the registration key, email steven.reed@wilmington.k12.oh.us and put ‘need PB key’ in subject line.  Again, this is only if you have never registered a Progress Book account.