Washington Tech Tidbits

The NICE MiniCon will take place on Saturday, January 27 from 8:30am-1pm at Evanston Township High School. This fantastic conference offers over 50 sessions and costs only $5! Click here to register! (I'll be there!)

In the fall, I took my first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on coaching digital learning. MOOCs through the Friday Institute are self-paced, online, and completely free. If you are interested in learning professionally in a collaborative environment, check out the spring 2018 offerings. Registration is now open. All courses begin on February 5th.

Remember, as a District 64 employee, you can get Professional Growth credit for pre-approved activities, so make sure to get your submissions into Skyward by January 23rd.

Each year, Google has a contest where students can draw a Google logo to be published and shared with people around the world. The theme for this year's contest is "What Inspires Me?" The contest is open to K-12 students in the United States. Like all Google Doodles, submissions must incorporate the letters G-o-o-g-l-e. The winner will receive a $30,000 college scholarship, a $50,000 technology package for his or her school, and a behind-the-scenes experience with the Doodle team. Entries must be received by March 2, 2018. The complete contest rules can be found on the Doodle 4 Google contest page.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is Monday, January 15. Head over to BrainPop for various resources, quizzes, games, and activities about this important historical figure and the civil rights movement.

Newsela has also adapted Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech to meet the varying lexile scores and reading abilities of our students. (Free account required.)

Check out this activity that encourages students in grades 3-12 to evaluate the credibility of online resources. It is so important that our students learn that not everything they read online is true!