Tech-able Moments

💬📲 The theme for September is 📢 Communication. Keep reading to see how technology can enhance communication in and out of the classroom.

In each month's newsletter, your ETI team will share activities to try, timely tech tips, think piece articles, upcoming events and professional learning, spotlight edtech around the division, and more! Readers will have a chance to win a small raffle prize by playing the Quizizz at the end of the newsletter, just click the button to enter!

Your Ed Tech Integrators are here to help you enhance your lessons using technology. Check out this quick video that explains ways we can help:

Have you heard?! 👀

The Educational Technology Integrators are excited to offer virtual professional learning across the division. Join the ETI team for optional sessions as they fit into your day. Topics this month include DnA by Renaissance, Aspen, Adobe Express, Remind and GoGuardian. Learn how to leverage these high-value tools to enhance instruction! Find a session that works for you and sign up in KickUp.

As educators, we recognize that establishing strong relationships with families can make a huge difference for students, ensuring they feel confident and enjoy learning. This is especially true for students who struggle with the academic and/or social aspects of school. When families and teachers maintain regular two-way communication about a child and what’s happening in the classroom, it supports the learning process from all sides, setting up students for success.

Here in RPS, we have several tech resources that support school-to-home communication, including Remind, Google Classroom and Syncroz. Read on to learn more about how teachers can use these tools to maintain clear channels of communication with parents and caregivers.

💬 Remind for Family Engagement

📝Google Classroom: Set up guardian email summaries

☎Synchroz for equitable communication

For support using any of these tools, please reach out to your school ETI!

How do you use technology to support students and families?
I use technology platforms like Whatsapp, Remind, and Class Dojo to connect with and support student families. These applications are user friendly, only require a one-time signup, and translate into the family's preferred home language. There are also options for voice memos for families who prefer that! Whatsapp is used across the world, so many families already use and are familiar with this platform! (Also, it doesn't require a phone line to stay connected!)

Why is it important to you?
Making sure my families are connected and have a way to communicate with teachers / the school is vital because they have a right to a voice in their students' education. This can be something as simple as knowing whether the school has a two-hour delay / day off or an event after school. These families deserve the chance to be an active part of their students' educational experiences, and a right to understand how school works - and it is the schools' obligation to make sure that it is delivering this information in an equitable manner to all families, no matter the language spoken at home! Multilingualism is the future y ser multilingüe es bello!

What is your best tip for other teachers?
My tip for teachers is: Don't feel like you have to change everything to reach everyone! Add one tiny piece of technology a year. Print out your Remind codes & have families sign up in front of you at teacher conferences. Use Syncros (the Language Line) for help calling families. Reach out to your multilingual faculty for tips/help. Ask students to help you learn a couple new words in their language.

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, has been one of the buzzwords of the year in and out of education. Did you know that AI can help with building strong foundations for communication in and out of your classroom? Here are a couple of tech tools to try this month:

Note: When it comes to AI, consider these AI outputs to be a “rough draft” or even an outline. Materials created with these tools still need human proofreading to check that they are accurate and make sense.

Khanmigo is a free AI assistant from the folks at Khan Academy. Khanmigo has several educator-centered tools such as adjusting informational text levels and generating rubrics, but also has tools built in that can help facilitate communication from teachers to students, families, and coworkers.

• Class Newsletter - Create a custom digital newsletter to inform guardians
• Clear Directions - Describe an assignment and grade level to generate leveled directions that meet learners where they are

Goblin Tools is a lesser-known free tool that is great for communication. With its Formalizer and Judge tools, it can check the tone of written communications, as well as convert text to be more professional or accessible. With more text-based communication tools at your disposal (Remind, anyone?), try out Goblin Tools before you send your next class-wide message or email to check the clarity of the intended message.

• Tip: In the Formalizer, click the chili pepper icon to change the “spice” level of your text.

Teaching students how to write professional emails? Quizizz has a great pre-made formative assessment on How to Email your Teacher. With new upgrades to Quizizz AI over the summer, you can create your own engaging gamified quizzes from documents such as a syllabus or worksheet to send to students, use for open house nights, or include in family engagement materials.

MagicSchool - This is another AI assistant built for educator use. MagicSchool has a built-in chatbot, Raina, that is able to create and edit based on your prompts. For communication, there are several tools within MagicSchool to try as you build relationships with families and customize student learning:

• Report Card Comments

• Customized Email Responder

• Family Contact Email Generator

• Syllabus Generator

• Assignment Scaffolder

• Text Rewriter and Proofreader

• Text Translator

• Thank You Note Generator

Applied Digital Skills is Google’s free of charge, online digital skills curriculum. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, use these lessons to help your students learn about and celebrate the contributions of the Latinx community throughout history. Visit the Celebrate Latinx History Collection.

Google Arts and Culture also has numerous collections that showcase hispanic and latino contributions to art and culture.

Check out the Smithsonian Institution’s Hispanic Heritage teacher resources. Also take a look at music, videos, and images from the Institution’s vast collection.

Virginia.gov honors the contributions of Virginians of Hispanic heritage during national Hispanic Heritage month, September 15 - October 15.

Explore the National Museum of the American Latino to learn more about the communities around which this museum is being developed.

Ed Tech Microcredentials: Click on the following links to see what kind of microcredentials are offered from the tools you know and love. Be sure to share your badges with your ETI so we can celebrate you!

Google For Education

Clever Academy

Adobe Certified Educator

Kami Academy

Nearpod Certified Educator
Flocabulary Certified
Diffit Certified Educator
Magic School Certified Educator
Quizizz Game Changers

Adobe Express- check out their monthly educator newsletter for what's new this school year!

Your Ed Technology Integrators

Website: https://sites.google.com/rvaschools.net/richmondpublicschools-rti/educational-technology-integration/meet-the-etis?authuser=0
Twitter: @RVAETIteam