Instructional Tech Weekly

Newsela articles are now embedded in Nearpod lessons. There are over 100 lessons that are searchable by grade level and topic. These lessons address science and social studies topics, while integrating English Language Arts skills throughout. Lessons range from Ancient Civilization in social studies to Sustainability in science. These lessons have similar formats and include learning objectives for both the content areas and ELA. Lessons are also broken down into the 5E format: Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate. They include other content such as videos and also address new vocabulary. Nearpod’s digital lessons allow teachers to share Newsela content with students quickly and in a way students will find engaging. Just search for Newsela in Nearpod and teachers will find a variety of lessons.

Check out the integration between these two engaging platforms and see what they have to offer your students. CSDNR has a paid subscription to both applications so do not forget to take a look at other articles on Newsela and the pre-made lessons on Nearpod.

There are many fun and innovative ways to celebrate Pi Day in your classroom. They can be used as a springboard for teaching a variety of other mathematical lessons. If you're in need of some resources to re-energize your Pi Day traditions, NCTM has resources for teachers. In the article, there is a collection of pi-related activities to meet your grade level needs. Try them with your students throughout the month of March. It does not have to be only March 14th.

Edweb.net offers free webinars for educators. Check out their site. There is something for everyone. Topics include SEL, science and literacy, civic engagement and executive functioning to name a few. If you register and cannot make the time, they will send you the recording.

Smart Learning Suite is the online platform of Smart Notebook. You can upload Notebook, PowerPoint and pdf files into a new online lesson. Lessons in the Smart Learning Suite can be created as interactive learning sessions. When building a lesson, there are many activities to add to enhance student engagement. Last week Shannon Mulqueen, ITF at Jefferson and SMART Certified, offered an interactive workshop. Here is the video from that workshop and here is the Google Slide Deck from the workshop.

If you have received a new Smartboard in your classroom, but need some help understanding how to use it, here is a short video created by Shannon Mulqueen to get you started. Smart also offers their own Skills Toolkit that provides a variety of resources to get teachers started with using their SmartBoard as well as some of the new features included with the Smart Learning Suite Online. The Toolkit includes 125 short videos to assist teachers in learning new features.

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) offers free resources on Digital Citizenship. The topics of these resources includes subject matter such as; informational literacy, finding digital balances, tips for parents, copyright and digital wellness. Google also offers Digital Citizenship resources for teachers. Included in their trainings are resources for internet safety as well. Google trainings are comprised of five units: Teach Students about Internet Safety and Privacy, Online Safety on the Go, Savvy Searching, Stay Safe from Phishing and Scams and Manage Your Online Reputation. Each unit takes about 23 minutes to complete.

Part of Digital Literacy is understanding how to evaluate online sources. We know there is misleading information on the internet and students need to have tools in order to differentiate between authentic sources of information from other sources that may include advertisements, inaccuracies or biased opinions. Take a look at this website from Benedictine University. This site provides a checklist to assess a site's authenticity by evaluating five areas: Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose. It's known as the CRAAP Test. This site has resources to use with students. Here is a checklist for evaluating a website.

The listing of District applications can be found at this link and includes signed Parent Bill of Rights by vendors as well as other information about the application.

We have also created a guide for current applications that address their uses and similarities to other software titles. Here is Google Slide Deck that provides details on the various CSDNR Applications. In this document, you will get information on how to login, the kind of subscription we have, similar software and resources on how to use the application.

If you are looking to procure new software, you need to fill out the Software Approval Form. This revised form requires you to find the Privacy Quality Score from EducationFramework.com to determine its compliance with Ed Law 2-D. There are instructions on how to use the Education Framework website. Every District member can login to the site with their Google credentials to check on privacy scores for any software title. If the title is not in their database, you will need to add the website link and privacy policy link to a new menu. Education Framework will send you an email when they have vetted the software's privacy policy.

If you want to know more about data privacy and security in CSDNR, check out our new website. This site contains information about Ed Law 2-D, Parents rights, District Policies and other relevant information.

There are also ways that teachers can protect student data during virtual and classroom settings.

They include:

• Make sure during screen shares that student data is not shown
• Do not use software applications that require student logins that have not been vetted by the district
• Do not share student login information, especially if their username includes student IDs
• Take a look at this short video on protecting student data