Teacher Spotlight - Standley Lake High School Summer Reading Program with Tanya Jensen, Digital Teacher Librarian

First year Digital Teacher Librarian, Tanya Jensen, has been collaborating with the Jefferson County Public Library (JCPL) and her English teachers to develop a website that supports summer reading at Standley Lake High School. The website functions like GoodReads, but has been created specifically for students; high schoolers can write reviews and search for titles based on genre and recommendations. In addition, the staff will participate and add their reviews to the website. The school's vision is to grow the site so that it is an easy way for students to locate books of interest, based on peer reviews. Students can also submit suggestions for books they want the library to purchase in the future.

The summer reading program has changed from giving students a list of books they have to choose from, to allowing students the freedom to select any book they want. Students that don’t know which book to choose will now have this peer-generated list of recommended books to guide them. In their English class next fall, with the support of the Digital Teacher Librarian, students will write book summaries and reviews for the website.

The kick off for the summer reading program at SLHS is during during Literacy Week, which falls from April 24th-28th. The JCPL team and Tanya are working together to introduce the students to as many books as possible in a short amount of time through a book speed dating activity. There will be tables based on genre, and the students will peruse the books for five minutes at each table to determine where their interests lie. Students will be provided with bookmarks to jot down interesting books they discovered. If students find a title they want to check out, they will be able to do so through JCPL. On Friday, April 28th, Barnes and Noble will visit the school for a mini book fair, where students will be able to purchase books that match their interests.

The staff is excited about this exciting new website, and they feel this will be a better fit for students to find books that match their interests. The JCPL summer reading program entices teens to read through the summer by awarding an Eliche's 1-day pass to the first 5,000 readers, achieving 8 hours or more. The Jefferson County high school with the most readers will receive an $800 prize.

Link to SLHS Summer Reading Website

Speed Dating with Jefferson County Public Library

TED-Ed Ignites a DTL's Journey to Bring Coding to Girls

It is a definition that tells the story of our teacher spotlight this week. Tobye Ertelt, Digital Teacher Librarian at Oberon Middle School embodies the definition of flexible: "characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirements".   It is the combination of adaptation, innovation and flexible exploration that led Tobye to be the spotlight of today’s blog post. Over the past year, Tobye was motivated to explore innovation after meeting retired lawyer Reshma Saujani, who took a chance to pursue a passion and as a result, inspired thousands of young ladies around the world. Additionally, Tobye found herself moved by the story of Logan Smalley, a TED Fellow, who is the brains behind TED-Ed (TED's youth and education initiative). These two inspiring stories incited a passion for exploration and innovation leading to new opportunities for Oberon students today.

In the spring of 2016, after a visit to a TED-Ed conference, Tobye filled out a feedback form and applied to become a TED-Ed Innovator. The questions posed in that feedback form opened a door to share a topic that has been core to Ms. Ertelt's heart,  "What is ethical behavior in the 21st century?" She inherently believes that we, as educators and adults, have done a great disservice to our students separating digital behavior from everyday behavior. And so it is with this essential question that a new door opened for Tobye, leading her to become 1 of 30 educators from 11 different countries selected for the honor of joining the third cohort of TED-Ed Innovative Educators. Our own Tobye Ertelt is one out of an initial group of over 1100 educators who took a chance to challenge each other to collaboratively find solutions to questions and issues facing today's students.

Tobye's TED-Ed adventure has included a wide array of experiences. The process has evolved from the initial stages of video conferencing with an array of outstanding educators to defining, refining, and brainstorming solutions.  This led to the culmination of presenting those completed projects on the TED stage in New York City.  As Tobye expressed, it has been humbling and energizing work. Collaborating with such an extraordinarily diverse group of educators with a passion for innovation has allowed differing perspectives and ideas to grow one another's initial concepts.  This synergistic energy led to the creation of Oberon's  TED-Ed Club for students.  It is a weekly opportunity for students to creatively explore ideas and interests of their own, following that same model of collaborative problem solving that inspired the club's creation.

At the TED-Ed  Conference, Tobye attended a session on coding that captivated her - Girls Who Code. She met with the founder Reshma Saujani and after hearing her passionate story and desire to even the playing field in technology for girls. Tobye was immediately inspired to begin a Girls Who Code club at Oberon.  Knowing her middle school audience, Tobye was well aware that the boys would want to have the same opportunity.  She modified her original pursuit of a Girls Who Code club to create Oberon's own Guys & Girls Coding club (G2 Coding Club). Students meet once a week with Ms. Ertelt & fellow teacher Mr. Waalkes during their lunch period to engage in various levels of coding: creating apps, games, programs, and exploring with robotics.

Leading by example, Ms. Ertelt has not only modeled the struggle and discomfort that comes from challenging oneself and trying new things, she carries that passion forward to inspire students to take on that process themselves.  Tobye shared with the TED-Ed community her reason for teaching, "I was born to be an educator. I love watching people find value and inspiration in learning, and I love being a part of that experience. I think it is very satisfying when you are a part of the productive struggle to create a new learning, experience or product.” Not only is Tobye a positive component of that intellectual struggle for students, but she has fostered supportive pathways for each to engage and grow themselves.

Albert Schweitzer said it best when he said, “Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”  Great job Tobye, setting that example and providing opportunites for students to engage in the thinking and learning.

Collaboration with JCPL is the Name of the Game...

As Digital Teacher Librarians (DTLs) it comes as second nature to find the collaboration opportunities in all that we do. Multiply that times two and the energy becomes an unstoppable force, something akin to the thing superheroes are made of (Did you know Batgirl was a Librarian during her “off” hours?).

When we combine the energies of our Jeffco DTLs and the Jefferson County Public Library (JCPL) resources amazing things happen for our staff and students. Just as Gru’s Minions each have unique talents, when they work together they are able to accomplish extraordinary tasks.

At this point, you might be asking, how does the work of JCPL combine with our Jeffco DTLs to create this superpower for our students and staff? To begin, each a month JCPL representatives including Arra Katona, Cindy Mathews, Kim Barnes and Ian Livingston meet with Jeffco’s DTL Coordinators (Tara McJunkin & Heidi Floyd) to collaborate and align the work of both groups. As a result of these meetings we have developed a variety of resources that directly align and connect the work of both organizations. One of the newest and most beneficial resources for Jeffco DTLs, staff and students is the JCPL DTL News. This resource has been built specifically to align to Jeffco’s curriculum with JCPL’s resources. It is a collection of differentiated publications - one each for Elementary, Middle School, & High School DTLs. This timely newsletter links Jeffco schools with JCPL resources that teachers and students can be accessing at that time or in the near future to support their learning.

Likely the strongest collaboration between JCPL and Jeffco DTLs is JCPL’s summer reading program. The summer program engages Jeffco students with reading over summer in a variety of ways – the annual reading challenge (tracking minutes read & awarding prizes), offering literacy related programs to students and their families from preschool all the way through high school (and beyond). JCPL has worked with school liaisons to connect with families and community, offering summer reading programs at schools and outside of 9-5 business hours.

JCPL has also coordinated with Jeffco DTLs to offer in-school support – including visiting schools to teach students about the wide variety of free research databases the library offers. These free databases typically require a JCPL library card, which is another area where the teams work together to help students and families receive their public library cards. Not only do library cards grant students access to millions of books and hundreds of databases, but they also connect families with opportunities to learn technology skills and free access to variety of museums in the metro area through a Culture Pass.

At the start of the 2016 school year, JCPL purchased several collections of ebooks that aligned directly with the Jeffco curriculum. In fact, 24 ebooks on Native Americans and 14 ebooks on Colorado were purchased that allowed for unlimited users at once. These texts supported a variety of learning styles, by each including the ability to read the text to students, an interactive timeline and an interactive map.

Engaging students and community with new technologies is another advantage of this pairing. JCPL recently offered Breakout Edu or Escape Room challenges at their local libraries but then also brought these engaging opportunities to several Jeffco schools. A recent Harry Potter Escape Room was offered at schools in alignment with the release of the Fantastic Beasts movie, based off J.K. Rowling’s book.

So, you might be wondering what is in currently the works for these collaborators.

We can tell you plans are already rolling for the 2017 Summer Reading program, along with several summer coding camps. We continue to discuss resource alignment – matching JCPLs resources and potential resources with Jeffco’s curriculum and the needs of our Jeffco schools. As a partnership, we look forward to our next steps and finding the best ways to collaborate for our students, staff, and community.

'Keep' your To-Do Lists Organized with Google Keep

Are your work and personal spaces cluttered with sticky notes reminding you what you need to get done? Do you ever wish you could easily collaborate on your to-do lists or keep them all in one handy place? If so, Google Keep might just be the tool you didn't know you needed.

Check out these benefits of Google Keep:

• Add audio, drawings, photos, lists and checklists to your "stickies."
• Keep is available on your computer and other mobile devices (smart phone and iPad).
• Set time and location reminders so you don't miss a thing! 
• Collaborate on a individual "stickies" by adding another person's email address. When another person is added, you can see their changes in real time! 
• Change the color of your "stickies" to highlight important lists. 
• Filter your notes by different attributes to find things quickly.
• Archive old "stickies" so you can refer to them again, without having them take up space on your screen. 
• Copy your note to a Google Doc for even more options! 

Watch this quick tutorial to learn how to get started with Keep! Finally, don't "Keep" this great tool to yourself, show it to your students so they can collaborate and stay organized, too! 

Using Google Slides for collaborative (and online) Classroom Newsletters

Isn’t it time you started creating e-newsletters? Watch this video and, you will learn how to use Google Slides to create striking and informative newsletters that can be displayed on your classroom website (using Google Sites) or shared via a link using email. Be prepared to learn techniques that will:

• Quickly communicate what is happening in your classroom.
• Inform parents of upcoming events.
• Share moments captured electronically.
• Allow you to design a flexible newsletter format.
• Allow you to maintain an online newsletter archive.
• Allow you to work collaboratively with your teammates.

Link to video: How to Create Classroom Newsletters using Google Slides

New: Google Slides Q and A

Do you use Google Slides with your learners? Do you want to be able to honor your participants questions, without stopping the flow of the presentation? Do you want your participants to be able to communicate with each other and with the presenter to discuss the learning and to answer each others questions? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the new Google Slides Q and A feature might be just what you are looking for!

Google Slides Q and A is available on all slide decks when the user is ready to begin presenting their slides to an audience. When this feature is enabled, a separate browser window will open, in which participants can pose questions or leave comments to both the presenter and other participants. They may do this using their name or in anonymous mode. Additionally, participants may escalate or deescalate a comment or question, raising it to the top of the list, so that it's not missed by the presenter.

View the presentation below to learn how to set up Google Slides Q and A in your next Google Slides presentation and give your learners a new avenue to communicate!

Tips for Organizing Your Google Drive

Utilization of Google Apps for Education has changed the way we collaborate and communicate with students and colleagues. Another great benefit of using your Google Drive is unlimited free cloud storage. While this fuels collaboration power, it can be a hindrance when it comes to organization. Below are some simple time saving tips to help you organize your Google Drive and use it more efficiently.

Tips and Tricks

1. Color Code your Folders

For many people, simply color coding folders, makes items easier to find. To change the color of your folder, right click on it and select a new color.

2. Star Important Items

You can also add stars to highlight important items. Again, right click on the file or folder and select "Add Star". When you are working in "My Drive" select "Starred" and only your starred items will appear. Consider adding stars to items that you are currently working on. This will make them easily accessible.

3. Utilize the Search Feature

Items in your shared drive are organized in order by the date they were received. This can make it tricky to find older items that were shared with you. The search feature is a great option for finding what you need quickly. Use the drop down filter to narrow your results further.

4. Cleaning up your Shared Drive

When you become an active collaborator in your Google Drive, your shared drive can become very crowded and overwhelming. If you have items shared with you that you no longer need or use, consider removing them. Only the owner has the ability to permanently delete a file, therefore, removing it from your shared drive will have no impact on the original file. The only exception would be if the creator of the file gave you ownership rights. In which case, you will receive a warning message to alert you before you delete the file.

For more information, watch the screen cast below to guide you through the organization process.

Need tech support? Contact the Jeffco Ed Tech Team

Navigating the "New Google Forms"

If you have recently created a Google form, you may have noticed a new purple bar in the header. As Google continues to update their products and meet the ever changing needs of their users, a new version of Forms is in the works. To check out this new format, click on the purple bar to enter the new Google Forms. This update features a cleaner, more user friendly and streamlined look. Simplified floating tool bars have been added to follow you through the creation process and text heavy menu bars have been removed. While most of the features remain the same, there are a few additions that were not available in the past and a few missing features that still need to be integrated.

Fun new features

Consistent with the old version, users still have the option to use design templates to make their forms more interesting. The new version contains updated options, fun animations and artistic elements, as well as the ability to use a logo or school image for instant customization.





Real time response

The new Google Forms provides an additional way to view your responses. The option for populating responses in a spreadsheet is still available, additionally, you can now view responses on demand without leaving your form. Consider using this option to perform a quick formative assessment in your classroom anonymously. As you can see in the image below, formative data can be easily collected and displayed to assess student learning.

Limitations

As of today, there are still a few common features of Google Forms that are not available. The data validation feature is currently limited and add-on’s are not enabled. These features are in the development process and will hopefully be integrated soon. If data validation and add on’s are critical to the functionality of your Google Form, don’t fret. You can easily toggle back to the old version of Google Forms by activating the running man icon in the bottom left hand corner of your screen.

Moving Forward

As with most things Google, there is no clear date set for when the new Google Forms will be fully functional and the old version obsolete. Take some time to explore the new version now while the old version is still available to fall back on. Have fun with the new Google Forms and as always let us know if you need assistance.

Need Ed Tech Support? Follow this link to contact us!