ESC 18 - Taco Tech Tuesday

Anytime is the perfect time to introduce Knowt to your students but even more with end-of-year assessments and STAAR on the horizon. Knowt is a fantastic way to gamify the notes taken during class or provided by the teacher. You can type your notes directly into the platform on the webpage or in the app on your phone, or you can download documents from google docs, google drive, a file on your computer, or even bring in text from a website URL. Knowt will do the rest. It will compile multiple choice questions, matching, fill in the blanks, true or false, all from the preferences you select when you click the Quiz button. You can also click on the Study Panel button to create flashcards generated from the source document and then edit to begin studying. It's a great way to transform your thinking, studying, and ways to gamify a process like studying class notes. To learn more or to get your study on click here.

If you are like me being creative and generating word walls or word clouds is a chore. Instead of just giving students a list of words or displaying student responses randomly, wordclouds.com can take a list and create a beautiful word cloud in all sorts of shapes and fonts. The word cloud is completely customizable and it can even grab words from files you import, pdf documents, or even a URL. There are tons of shapes and graphics to choose from or upload your own. Now you can add some spark to your lesson on Spring with your vocabulary list in the shape of a flower, tree, or shamrock. To learn more or to start using wordclouds.com click here.

Finding free clipart and images can sometimes be difficult, especially when just using Google to search the entire web. Flaticon is a great free resource for png images and is completely free to use. Downloading images as vectors or editable images will cost but to just find a picture of a shamrock, you will have tons of free images to choose from worry-free. To search the database and see if flaticon is for you click here.

This year, ISTELive 22 will be a hybrid event featuring powerful voices and offering a treasure trove of content and resources for attendees in New Orleans and those attending virtually around the world. It’s where educators and education leaders gather to engage in hands-on learning, share best practices and hear from the brightest minds from the world of education and beyond. Learn more about the conference or register here.

Blended Learning is a hot topic, and most districts claim to be utilizing it since COVID, but did you know actual Blended Learning processes rarely get utilized in the COVID virtual or in-person classrooms!?! Learn what Blended Learning actually looks like in the classroom and how to utilize it in your school/district. Blended Learning Made Easy sessions are given throughout the year, please see our PD calendar for info or see our more intensive Blended Learning Package below. Please contact me if you are interested or want to learn more! cenriquez@esc18.net

Google Educator Certification Training or Google Suite training is available. Google Certification ensures teachers are well based and take full advantage of the wide-spread capabilities that the Google Suite offers to make teaching and learning more tech-friendly, accessible, and efficient.

We also offer training in Google Suite applications like Gmail, Drive, Slides, Calendar, and others to increase your staff/campus productivity. Feel free to contact me to learn more. cenriquez@esc18.net

Remember to submit a Technology Help Desk ticket for any technology needs or services. Email Technology at help@edlink18.net or call the Help Desk at (432)-561-4321.

Director of Instructional Technology and Analytics

Email: cenriquez@esc18.net
Location: 2811 La Force Blvd, Midland, TX 79706, USA
Phone: (432)- 567-3249

Chief Technology Officer

Email: critchie@esc18.net
Location: 2811 La Force Boulevard, Midland, TX, USA
Phone: (432)-567-3250

Click on the image below to learn more about becoming certified as a Google Educator Certification Level 1 and Level 2.