1. Extend: Virtual Museum Exhibits & More
2. Access & Inclusion Spotlight: ChromeVox & IR
3. Educator Spotlight: Chemistry Pears
4. PD Idea: Pineapple Charts
5. Tech Coach Overview

This tech piece Extends learning, providing greater Access for students:

• Did you know Milwaukee Public Museum offers 360 Virtual Exhibit Tours?
• Extend your class investigations with MPM exhibits without leaving your classroom!
• The MPM Curious Classroom has digital resources for a variety of topics from ancient civilizations to butterflies.

Plus teachers can always visit the museum for free! (With ID)

Looking for more ways to provide access to students with visual impairments?

Chromebook's built-in screen reader: ChromeVox: As simple as "Ctrl + Alt + z" (on/off toggle)

Need a Braille Display? No problem, click here to see how to enable it.

Immersive Readers: Change text layout, read aloud, translate and more! Helpful for students with visual impairment, ELL and struggling readers.

Read more about it here.

Students can add Immersive Reader Chrome extension here. Video walkthrough

Microsoft products like Edge, Outlook, Word have built in immersive readers. Learn More

And so do Pear Deck and Flipgrid!

GHS Chemistry teachers tried out Pear Deck in their opening units as a way to test the tech and teach entry level skills. Teachers were able to give specific and timely feedback to whole group and individual students with the teacher dashboard function. No need to walk the room looking over students' shoulders as they work. Plus students get an automatic copy of the content and their answers post session. What if they run out of time for the lesson or a student is absent? No problem with "student paced" mode. Pear Deck can speed up your formative assessments and reduce clerical work at the same time. Shout out to these teachers who tried something new so early in the year!

Check out these other science templates including digital lab reports
Anyone can use Pear Deck to scaffold lessons. Click here to read more.

What: A system where teachers voluntarily invite each other into their classrooms to informally observe and glean new information that could be utilized in another classroom. Try out it with your department or grade level or even the whole school.

The Chart:

• Physical: Whiteboard or poster in common space, perhaps department office to start
• Digital: Google Doc or Slides that the whole team or staff has access too
• Format using class periods and days of the week

The Invitation:

• Approximate Time
• Name
• Room #
• Very Brief Description of Lesson/Strategy

The Visit:

• Sit in an out-of-the-way spot, and watch. That’s it.
• No note-taking required
• No post-observation conference, no write-up. Just a visit.
• Grade papers or catch up on email if you want, paying closer attention when the moment calls for it, but getting work done in the meantime
• The key word here is informal
• Stay for five minutes or a whole class period.

Read more about Pineapple Charts here and here

Sample Digital Pineapple Chart

WHAT: A tech coach follows a challenge-based coaching cycle working one-on-one with teachers on personalized classroom challenges. With a coach’s support, teachers focus on implementing strategies that work for their students..We help teachers identify a challenge in their classrooms, investigate and implement a strategy, and reflect on its effectiveness. Sometimes tech is a strategy, sometimes removing a piece of tech is a better strategy, and sometimes the strategy doesn't involve tech at all.

HOW: Email, call, stop by the office, or set a meeting (virtual or in-person) to start a coaching cycle, explore edtech options, or just start a dialogue about your teaching and tech in the classroom. Coaching cycles, co-teaching, modeling tech in the classroom are all options.

WHY: Research has shown that the effectiveness of PD increases most when paired with follow-up support through ongoing personalized coaching. Coaching cycles can reduce the largest challenges affecting the most people in your classroom.

** I am working on becoming our district's first Google certified tech coach. Will you help? **

Do you have an innovative tech experience, app or other suggestion to share with colleagues? Click on the link below or send me an email and we'll connect to get it highlighted in an upcoming TECH PED edition.

Chris Wysocki
GSD Instruction Tech Lead

I am here to help. If I don't know, I will find out. Let me do that work. You have enough to handle in the classroom. Challenges arising in the classroom? Tech coaching sessions available

Email: cwysocki@greenfield.k12.wi.us
Website: https://www.greenfield.k12.wi.us/staff/instructional-technology.cfm
Location: 4800 S 60th St., Greenfield, WI, 53200
Phone: (414) 855-2409
Twitter: @teachwysocki