SCS Tech Drop

December 2025

In This Edition...

🌱 The Power of Small Wins Before Winter Break
🤖 Spotlight Feature: Study Companion - A Magic School Custom Study Tool
📚Tool Spotlight: Transfer Questions From Edpuzzle to Screencastify with Magic School
📂 From the SCS Tech Drop Archives

🎨 Canva for Education – District Team Access

📊 Evolving GenAI Practice – New "Levels of AI Use in Class" Poster
💻 Who to Call for Help...Tech Department vs. Instructional Coaches
Transition from 📝GradeCam to 🍐Pear Assessment
🚀 Google Classroom + PowerSchool Integration Arrives!

💬 From the Help Desk

🔐 Allowed Programs & Student Data Privacy (Senate Bill 29)
🎯 Programs with a Purpose
👥 Student-Teacher Google Accounts

“Small wins are not small. They are the steady steps that build momentum, strengthen our instruction, and remind us why the work matters.”

As we move into December, a time filled with energy, anticipation, and well earned exhaustion, I want to highlight the importance of noticing and celebrating small wins. It is easy to focus on what is unfinished, but meaningful progress is happening in every building, every day. These moments are a direct reflection of your dedication, intentionality, and strong Tier 1 instruction.

Small Wins in Student Growth

Growth often shows up in quiet ways. A student engages in discussion for the first time. Someone demonstrates new confidence during an assessment. A routine finally clicks. These moments matter. Each one represents your planning, patience, and belief in every learner.

Small Wins in Technology Integration

Every time you use technology to clarify learning, differentiate, or increase student engagement, you help move our instruction forward. Whether you tried a new tool, used AI to simplify planning, or created a more interactive lesson, these steps add up. Small steps lead to big shifts.

Small Wins in Team Collaboration

Across the district, staff members are sharing ideas, troubleshooting together, co planning, and supporting one another. These everyday decisions build culture. Collaboration does not always look dramatic. Often it is a quiet choice to help one another move forward.

Why These Wins Matter

In the busy pace of December, it is tempting to push straight through to break. But noticing small wins keeps us connected to our purpose and to one another. Celebrating progress reinforces what is working and reminds us that growth is happening everywhere.

As We Head Into Break

Take a moment to look around your classroom, your team, your building, and even within yourself. Notice the progress. Share it. Celebrate it. These small wins are shaping our students, our culture, and our district.

Thank you for everything you continue to do for our community, not just this month but every day.

Rolling out December 4 at SHS during Alpha Homeroom But Available for All Staff and Students

We are excited to introduce the Study Companion, a custom Magic School tool designed specifically to help students study smarter, build confidence, and strengthen their academic habits. SHS Alpha Homeroom will officially roll this out on December 4, but we are also making the full set of materials available districtwide for anyone who wishes to explore or use it with students. You can join our shared Magic School room as a co-teacher or use the resources below to use the template to create your own.

Study Companion guides learners through a structured process that prompts deeper thinking, reinforces key concepts, and encourages productive struggle. It is a powerful tool for intervention, small groups, and independent study.

What the Study Companion Helps Students Do

Prepare quickly by naming class, topic, and time available
Engage with targeted questions instead of passive review
Strengthen reasoning through step by step feedback
Build independence and study habits that scale across courses

Replace “I don’t know” with actionable pathways forward

Who Can Use It?

Study Companion was designed to support students preparing for most assessments. Any teacher in the district is welcome to begin using it right away. The tool is flexible, easy to implement, and fully aligned with our district goals for strengthening study skills, metacognition, and student ownership of learning. Students can use as is or teachers can use the template and add their notes and more to personalize Study Companion for their students.

Need Ideas or Support?

If you would like help introducing the Study Companion, want practical examples for your subject area, or want assistance to build your own version for your class, please reach out to Dave Binkley. He would be happy to help teachers get started.

Click HERE to access the Study Companion Materials. They include a Student Companion Guide Sheet, a Teacher Study Companion Guide Sheet, a "Study Smarter (Not Longer) with Study Companion" presentation and introduction video to share with students, and a Teacher Quick Intro Video on Study Companion.

Streamlined copy and paste workflow using screenshots and timestamps

Teachers often want to reuse their Edpuzzle questions in Screencastify, but the two platforms do not support exporting or importing quiz content. While there is no direct transfer method, there is a reliable workflow that uses Magic School to help extract question text and answer choices from screenshots and prepare them for quick entry into Screencastify.

By combining Magic School’s image-to-text capabilities with simple copy and paste steps, teachers can efficiently recreate their Edpuzzle questions, organize them by timestamp, and build a Screencastify quiz with accuracy and clarity. This approach works for any Edpuzzle video and helps teachers maintain the content they’ve already created without rebuilding everything from scratch.

Step-by-step instructions are included available HERE and video showing the process is available HERE.

🎨 Canva for Education – District Team Access

Join our District Canva team! You’ll have access to :

✅ Full premium access to Canva for Education
✅ The ability to share templates and designs district-wide

How to join our SCS District Canva Team:

Click HERE to verify your scsmustangs.org account as an Educator account.
Click HERE to join out team.
The Technology Department will approve your request.

📊 Evolving GenAI Practice – New "Levels of AI Use in Class" Poster

Check out Version 2 of our Levels of AI Use in Class poster! This updated framework helps educators reflect on their current AI integration and plan next steps to elevate instruction, support student agency, and use Magic School AI ethically and purposefully. Visit our Generative AI resource page to learn more!

💻 Who to Call for Help...Tech Department vs. Instructional Coaches

As we continue integrating technology across classrooms, it is important to know where to go for help so your questions reach the right team quickly.

🔧 Tech Department (SchoolDude)

Submit a SchoolDude ticket when something is broken or not functioning
Examples: Chromebook, projector, printer issues • Wi Fi or network problems • Login or password issues • Device repairs or installations

💡 Instructional Coaches

Contact your Instructional Coach when you need help using technology for teaching and learning
Examples: Integrating tools like Pear Deck or Magic School • Designing digital assessments • Improving Google Classroom workflows • Exploring new tools for engagement or differentiation

In short:
If it is not working, submit a SchoolDude ticket.
If you want to make it work better for learning, contact your Instructional Coach.

📊 Assessment Update: Transition from GradeCam to Pear Assessment

To streamline resources and strengthen our instructional tools, GradeCam will be phased out at the end of this school year. Beginning next year, Pear Assessment will become Strongsville City Schools’ primary assessment platform.

Pear Assessment provides:

State-aligned question types that mirror OST formats
Comprehensive reporting on growth, subgroups, and standards
Built-in accessibility tools
Secure testing through kiosk mode
Flexible digital and paper options

This transition will reduce redundancies and ensure a consistent experience for both students and staff.

Thank you for your flexibility as we move toward a unified, more powerful assessment system.

🚀 Google Classroom + PowerSchool Integration Arrives!

Google Classroom now supports integration with PowerSchool SIS, making your workflow smoother than ever. Starting now, you can export grades from Classroom directly into PowerTeacher Pro, and import student rosters, co-teacher access, and grading categories from PowerSchool into Classroom.

Click HERE to learn more!

No Tech Ticket = We Can't Help You

As we kick off the school year, the Technology Department is focused on building readiness, device rollouts, and classroom setup. To help us respond quickly, please submit a tech ticket for any issues you encounter. The sooner we know, the faster we can assist.

You can now easily access the Tech Ticket and Maintenance Request forms from the SCS Bookmarks folder in your Chrome browser.

If you have questions about how to submit a ticket, reach out to your building tech or check out the following resources:

Allowed Programs / Student Data Privacy

Senate Bill 29 requires all school districts to ensure that student data is protected when using online tools. At SCS, we take this responsibility seriously. Our Approved Programs List includes only tools that meet privacy and security standards. Before using a new app or website with students, please check the list or reach out to the Tech Department.

If you don’t see your program listed, please complete this survey to submit it for review.

🎯 Programs with a Purpose

Our instructional programs are designed to support strong, Tier 1 instruction across all grade levels.

Need a refresher or quick start guide? Visit Mustang University for these resources or explore our Generative AI resources at Magic School at SCS to enhance your lessons.

Student-Teacher Google Accounts

With our Learning Ecosystem being heavily dependant on Google WorkSpace, student-teachers can request a SCSMUSTANGS Google account by completing this FORM. These accounts do not have access to PowerSchool or other purchased programs. All communications to students/families needs to continue to come from the cooperating teacher, not the student-teacher.

In This Edition...

🌱 The Power of Small Wins Before Winter Break 🌱 The Power of Small Wins Before Winter Break

🤖 Spotlight Feature: Study Companion - A Magic School Custom Study Tool 🤖 Spotlight Feature: Study Companion - A Magic School Custom Study Tool

📚Tool Spotlight:Transfer Questions From Edpuzzle to Screencastify w/MagicSchool 📚Tool Spotlight:Transfer Questions From Edpuzzle to Screencastify w/MagicSchool

📂 From the SCS Tech Drop Archives 📂 From the SCS Tech Drop Archives