Screenleap

Screenleap is a free web site that enables you to share what’s happening on your computer screen with anyone with a web browser, instantly. Viewers can see your screen from any device, including tablets and smartphones. There are no downloads, installs, fees, or sign ups required.

Just visit the Screenleap home page to start a session, then share the link or PIN code with your students or colleagues, and viewers can begin seeing your computer screen instantly.

Screenleap is most useful for ad-hoc collaboration, but people use Screenleap for other purposes: remote computer support, virtual meetings, remote training, sharing photos, team projects, and as a free alternative to Webex and GoToMeeting.

We have a student with Dyslexia that has difficulty copying information from the Promethean board. ScreenLeap helps him see the same information as his peers, but on the iPad in a way that he can process. I cannot wait to see other ways that this site can be utilized in the classroom!

Class Dojo

ClassDojo is a classroom tool that can help teachers improve behavior in their classrooms quickly and easily. It also captures and generates data on behavior that teachers can share with parents and administrators.

Easily award feedback points for behavior in class in real-time, with just one click of your smartphone or laptop. The data syncs across all devices! 

ClassDojo gives you behavior-tracking analytics and reports that can be shared with parents and administrators, all with just one click. No data entry needed, ever.

It's free, easy for teachers to use, and has a fun, engaging interface for the kids! This behavior management program is being used in elementary classrooms and is even being used in classrooms as high as middle school!

Hunt County Technology Camp

Wednesday, August 8th and Thursday, August 9th, Commerce ISD is hosting the Hunt County Technology Camp on the campus of AC Williams Elementary. One of the most exciting aspects of the camp is our iPlayground! Check it out here:

Just "Google" it!

Quite often, I hear the comment, "I would do/make/teach _______, but I don't know how to do that."

Well, neither do I. I have to admit that Google search is my greatest resource when dealing with technology. (Well...Google and Pinterest but that is a different post.) For example, today I was working on updating some gadgets on my personal classroom blog and I wanted to add a Facebook gadget where readers could "like" my class Facebook page directly from the blog. There is a default gadget in Blogger for this, but I wanted one of those fancy ones that I have seen on other blogs that I follow. What did I do? I Googled it! 

You may have to sort through a few results before you find the information that you need but I assure you that there will be a website, blogger or YouTube video that can teach you anything you need to know.

Go ahead, conquer your greatest technological hurdle with the help of Google. You may not know how, but someone out there has created a tutorial just for you!

Keeping it Techy,
Heather Kilgore

Socrative

Apple trainer, Kevin Shepperd, introduced us to Socrative during a workshop on Challenge Based Learning. Socrative is a FREE student response system that enables teachers to engage their classrooms through a series of educational exercises and games. The best part is that this is not just an app for iOS, Socrative can be accessed through smartphones, laptops, and tablets.

How it works:
Teachers login through their device and select an activity which controls the flow of questions and games. Students simply login with their device and interact real time with the content.

Student responses are visually represented for multiple choice, true/false and Short Answer questions. For pre-planned activities a teacher can view reports online as a Google spreadsheet or as an emailed Excel file.

ThreeRing digital portfolios

If you want to keep files of student work for your classes (which we all should) but don't have the room or time to file it all, the developers of ThreeRing have the solution to this problem. ThreeRing allows teachers to quickly and easily create digital portfolios of student work. Just snap a picture with your smartphone or iPad, and the app will sort the work by student, tag its content, and upload it to an online interface accessible by teachers, students, and parents. The work can go home with the student and you can have the documentation that you need for parent/teacher conferences. Best part? It's FREE for teachers!

Wireless Mirroring from iPad to PC

While researching for an upcoming presentation on iPads, I stumbled upon a blog post by Tony Vincent at learninginhand.com. You can read the full article here. Since most of the teachers in Commerce ISD have signed up to purchase their own iPads through the district, installing the AirServer software will allow the iPad image to be wirelessly projected onto the PC screen which can then be projected onto the Promethean boards. The AirServer software does come with a small price tag. The software can be installed from here by students/teachers for $5.99.

As a Kindergarten teacher, one of the best added features of this software is realtime monitoring of what students are doing on their devices. AirSever allows multiple iPads to mirror all at once to one computer. This would be beneficial to monitor those one or two students who have a hard time staying on task or on a certain app. 

Keeping it Techy,
Heather Kilgore

Blurring an Image

We have a lot of teachers in the district utilizing their webpages or blogs to share pictures of their students. However, unless you have a signed release form, you cannot post pictures of your students. Good news! You can still post that class group picture. Click on the picture below to learn how to blur out the faces or names of students from pictures. Now, you can post all of your class photos!

CScope Resources

Region 12 has compiled a list of the verbs used in the CScope curriculum and linked websites that you can use to fulfill the lesson requirements. For example, if your lesson requires the student to make a prediction, click on the verb "predict" and the following list of sites appears from the hyperlink:

 Thanks to our good friend, Janet Corder with J2 Training, for sharing the site with us!