#EMSISDITS Tech Talk

Techy Talk for Teachers

Follow us on emsisdits.blogspot.com to see bi-weekly news, tutorials, & more! We will email out news every other week offering you the latest trending tech topics! :)

The EMS Instructional Technology Team is excited to work with students, teachers, and administrators this year to support and enhance the great things going on in our district this year!

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Check out Wakelet

Wakelet is a powerful tool that enables teachers and students to easily collect articles, videos, images, tweets and more to privately save and edit later. Teachers can create beautiful collections by adding images and text to custom ordered artifacts. Collections can be kept private, or they can be shared with the world. They can also be embedded in a website.

Wakelet is awesome for student portfolios, current affairs, research source collection, or presentations. The possibilities for using Wakelet in the classroom are virtually unlimited. Teachers can create hand-picked sources for student use when doing research, or students can curate their own sources. Students can also create stunning digital portfolios to house and display work. Wakelet is also great for digital storytelling and class newsletters. If you would like to learn more about Wakelet and how you can use it in your classroom, contact your friendly IT today.

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We need YOUR input!

#EMSISDITs will be hosting a monthly Twitter Chat during the 2019-2020 school year. We want to hear from YOU about which format, time, day, and even topics you prefer.

Please click here to share your preferences.
(Come on ... it's only a few questions!)

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Summer PD Opportunities

We are excited to be hosting a few Professional Learning opportunities this summer for our EMS ISD educators. Register in Eduphoria today to save your spot!

TEAM Up for Success with Microsoft Teams | June 5, 8:30-11:30 am

TEAM up for success with Microsoft Teams, an authentic online collaborative communication environment. See how to use Microsoft Teams with your students or in your PLCs. Participants are encouraged to bring their district-provided laptops or Windows 10 devices.

AUDIENCE: Teachers or Administrators LOCATION: HCTC C101

OneNote: A Modern-Day Trapper Keeper and So Much More! | June 5, 1:30-4:30 pm

OneNote is a 21st century, online, digital Trapper-Keeper that is sure to be your favorite organizational tool. It doesn’t stop there … learn how you can share digital resources and content, provide a safe digital collaborative space and help them stay more organized. Participants are encouraged to bring their district-provided laptops or Windows 10 devices. AUDIENCE: Teachers and Administrators LOCATION: HCTC C101

Digital Breakouts! | June 6 AND August 1, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm

Challenge your students to communicate, collaborate, think critically, and be creative by using Digital Breakouts in your classroom! During this session, educators will participate in a Digital Breakout, explore various digital tools that can be used for clues and locks, and build their own Breakout lesson. Participants are encouraged to bring the district-provided laptop or Windows 10 devices. NOTE: We are hosting two session with the same content, but participants may opt to attend both if they want additional support or time to work with others.
AUDIENCE: Teachers and Administrators LOCATION: CTHS Library

EXCEL-lent Day of Learning! | June 11, 8:30-11:30 am and 1:30-4:30 pm

This hands-on day of learning is designed for Central Office Personnel. The morning session will focus on Excel Basics. The afternoon will provide opportunities to try more advanced features in Excel. We will be meeting in a computer lab, but participants are encouraged to bring their own laptops or Windows 10 devices, if available.

AUDIENCE: Central Office Personnel LOCATION: HCTC B125 Computer Lab

Save the date for our BOLD Learning Sneak Peek! | Tentatively scheduled for July 30 @ CTHS
More information coming soon!

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Become a Microsoft Innovative Educator

Would you like to become a Microsoft Innovative Educator but don't know how? Display your MIE badge proudly after completing these simple steps.

Register at the Microsoft Educator Community with your Office 365 account.
Select online courses or attend training sessions to earn at least 1000 points.
That's it! Easy-Peasy!

Once you are a certified MIE, stick around and learn how you can earn other MIE badges to add to your collection.

Mute Assignments

By default, Canvas allows students to see assignment grades as soon as you have graded the assignment. In some cases, however, you may wish to hold student grades until all assignments have been graded, and then release grades to all students at the same time. To hide student grades temporarily:

Open SpeedGrader
Click on the Mute icon

Confirm mute assignment

That's it. In student view, the mute icon will appear next to the title of the muted assignment on the grades page.

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Pin your people

You can now pin your closest contacts to your task bar the same way you would your most-used apps. Just tap on the people icon, and at the bottom of the pop-up box will be an option to find and pin contacts to your taskbar. Don't see any contacts? Click the Apps tab at the top of the box to connect your Mail app, Skype, or other apps and import your contacts to set up the equivalent of speed dial icons right on your Windows 10 task bar.

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College Terms Breakout

AVID students at CMS enjoy working together as they race to escape the OneNote digital breakout about college terms. There were many high fives and celebration dances as the Colts escaped!

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STAAR Review Digital Breakout

WMS students in Mrs. Dodd and Mrs. Lara's class are reviewing for the STAAR test by completing a digital breakout. Collaboration, a little competition, and total engagement! Who says STAAR review has to be boring?

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Reading Synthesis with SES and RPES

Stars and Panthers collaborate to complete a reading synthesis activity using TEAMS and Flipgrid. We are breaking down walls in EMSISD!

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Teachers at BES Using Google Earth to the Max!

BES teacher, Ms. Moreno, is using Quizziz and Quizlet along with Google Earth to make geography come alive for her students. Great job!

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Tech Tuesday at LPES

It is always a pleasure to learn with the Owls of LPES. This session consisted of Flipgrid Fliphunts and Novel-Effect. We can't wait to see how the awesome LPES teachers use these great tools for learning.

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Cross Campus STAAR Review using TEAMS and Flipgrid

We've got Stars, Gators and Cougars working together to prepare for the 5th grade Science STAAR. Students are using Flipgrid to record science content strategies and then working together across the district to make those strategies more effective. Awesome!

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Check us out ... Seriously, you can CHECK US OUT.

Did you know that the Instructional Technology department has a wide variety of technology tools available for check out for student/classroom use? We have everything from iPads to Merge Cubes to Augmented Reality goggles. See our current list of available items here.

When your submission is submitted, the IT team will verify that the devices are available at that time for checkout and will schedule delivery/pickup. You will receive an email with this information within 48 hours. If you don't hear anything after that time period, please email ITs@ems-isd.net to check the status of your request.

We would love to plan with you about how you will be using these devices, or even assist you in the the classroom with your students. How cool is that?!?!?

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EMS Single Sign-On

Sign in to sso.ems-isd.net with your district username and password on any computer or mobile device to have quick and easy access to many of our district digital resources.

Reserve an #EMSTechspert

We want to help you successfully infuse technology into your classroom. We would love to train you on how to create tech infused lessons, co-teach the lessons, or even share our favorite tech tools with you!

Email your IT today to set up an appointment! (Find contact info here.)