December Instructional Tech Updates

 

It's DECEMBER already!  This year has flown by! As a rule we usually have four weeks between Thanksgiving and Winter Break, but this year there is only three.  One less week puts us all in a little faster pace to get things accomplished before break.  Finals are coming up for our High School students and Seniors are half way done with their final year of high school.  Having a senior this year makes this bitter sweet.  

Included in this months Instructional Tech Updates, is some more Infinite Campus updates, there is a video on posting grades.  There is also some very cool resources for teachers and students.  Podcasting has really started to take off and teachers are using it as a platform for their students to develop skills such as writing, collaborating, interacting with others and working to together on an episode which will be heard by many, not just the teacher.  Authentic learning!!   Enjoy your last issue of 2022!  

Podcasts in the Classroom

Podcasting is starting to take off across the district with teachers at Normal West, Chiddix, Parkside, and Evans having students create podcast shows! In addition, Normal West teachers, Tim Franz and Joe Burgess have created an official Normal West weekly Podcast called, “podCATS”.  The weekly show has special guests come in and talk with the teachers and student co-hosts about a variety of topics and events that are happening at the school. 

As teachers dive into podcasts a common question that comes up is: How to push the shows out once they are finished?  One option involves collaborating with technology coaches who design and create websites for the shows to be placed.  The websites are set up so that only Unit 5 students and staff are able to listen to the podcasts and are not open to the public.  

Students are taught how to create their own show logos using Canva and Google Draw.  These are incorporated into the websites and are linked to the shows.  Below are a few of the teacher websites that have the student’s shows:

• Mrs. Gallier’s Podcast Website

• Mr. Kerr’s Podcast Website

• Ms. Breuer’s Podcast Website

Those high school teachers who would like to make the podcasts available to the public should consider the free software program, Anchor. (https://anchor.fm/)  It allows teachers to take the recordings and push them out to Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, and Spotify!  A signed parent/guardian permission slip is needed before posting them to those public forums.

If you are interested in trying out podcasts in your classroom, contact technology coaches, Amber O’Day or Ed Hafermann and they will help get you started!

  Normal West Students recording their podcast in the Huddle Room

                       

5 Paragraph Essay's

Are you looking for some new resources to engage your students in writing a traditional five paragraph essay?  Here are several which have been shared over the last month in a professional group I belong to.  While some say education is moving away from the five paragraph essay and evaluators are more interested in quality, structure, figurative language, style, etc...  I say, isn't the five paragraph essay format  a great way to teach all of these things? If we want our students to write and write well, wouldn't we want them to learn the structure of this format? Take a look at these resources and feel free to share more @amberoday #5paragraphessay on Twitter.  I would love to see what you are using! 

1. Five Paragraph Essay Format - Created by Mrs. Mia L. Young-Adeyeba Instructional Coach
2. Blog - Content Area Essay's in Middle School - Blog by Jessica Rogers
• This one comes with a Bitmoji classroom Template you can download and make your own. 
3. Essay Handbook - by Stephanie Howell @mrshowell24 
• Here is a video where she goes through the notebook.
4. Here is one I created for my son.  
• As I worked with him on his writing I created this Organizational Writing Template to help his thought process.