Quality Professional Development, 10-1-14

I loved the fact that we have staff members so willing to share.  First, I want to thank eighth grade math teacher Marie Betten for showing the staff how to upload PowerPoints to Google drive and convert them to Google Slides while maintaining all of their style and functionality.  Eighth grade ELA teacher Dawn Medendorp's excitement was very evident in an email to me earlier this year.  This little "upload & convert" trick was first shared to her by our Director of Technology Lane White.  In a world of complicated and complex problems, it's amazing how one check box can make the world of difference between possible frustration and overwhelming excitement.  My second thanks goes out to sixth grade math teacher Stephanie Shaffer for her willingness to share how she has used Kahoot! in her class.  Kahoot! is a web based formative assessment tool that she used with Chromebooks in her classroom, but can also be used with student devices.  Once your account is created, not only can you create your own Kahoots, but there is a library of over 3,000 that have already been created by other teachers that you can favorite and use, or add them to your library to modify or edit.

• Teacher site to create account: https://getkahoot.com/
• Teacher site to login after creating an account: https://create.kahoot.it/
• Student site to play and enter game pin: kahoot.it

I'm looking forward to seeing how teachers in our building and others around the world are using Kahoot! in their classrooms.  Comment below or message me on Twitter or Google+ if you have used this tool in your classroom or have other great TechKnowledge that you would like to share.

Quality Professional Development, 9-10-14

What a great morning blending technology into a little QPD.  After a little research and some help from a few communities on Google+ I was able to find a great new tool called BrainRush from a fellow educator, Maria Kilgore, in Elgin, IL.  One of the coolest interactive learning tools I have seen in some time.  If you are looking for an interactive web tool that allows for flashcards, placing items into categories, sequential order, or creating hotspots on an image, this is the tool for you.  As always, best part is that it is FREE and are able to log in with your Google account.  No extra usernames or passwords to keep track of.  Great for educators who are GAFE.  Lots of games that are already created, broken down into content area and Common Core. We used the Bucket Tool to place information into a few of the dimensions for the new 5D+ Teacher Evaluation Rubric.  I'm looking forward to seeing how teachers in our building and others around the world are using BrainRush in their classrooms.  Comment below or message me on Google+ if you have used this tool in your classroom or have other great TechKnowledge that you would like to share.