So Much Happening in Education!

There are a number of movements in education that strive to help educators create a more student centered learning environment. You might like to consider Global School Play Day, No Worksheet Week, or Global Day of Design in your planning over the next few months.

The third Global School Play Day (GSPD) is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1st. Inspired by Dr. Peter Gray’s TEDx Talk, the founders of GSPD believe, “Unstructured play is a vital part of proper child development!” and advocate that we give the “gift of play” to students one day each year. It’s easy to participate. Just tell your students to bring anything they wish to play with to school on Wednesday, February 1st. The only restriction is they must only bring toys and games that  DO NOT require batteries or electricity. Then, on February 1st, allow your students to spread toys out around the room or take the kids outside and just PLAY!

Also in its third year, No Worksheet Week, scheduled for February 27th to March 3rd, began with a blog post. Believing that students learn more through creating, communicating, critical thinking and collaborating, this movement’s goal is to get students to discover answers and share ideas. A week is a huge commitment. Beginning by trying a day of no worksheets might be easier than you might have imagined. Ideas range from student led edcamp-style discussions, to Mystery Google Hangout, or giving students passion-project/Genius hour time. Still need a nudge? This video shows you why encouraging students’ creative thinking is important.

Global Day of Design, planned for May 2nd, focuses on the design thinking process. The website has Maker Projects and Design Challenges,many from Stanford's D.School, to help you and your students prepare for the day’s special 24 hour challenge. Want to learn more about how the design thinking process works? Watch this video by John Spencer, to see how he thinks about using the design thinking process with students.

Upcoming PD

We are so fortunate to live in an area with so much going on in education. Here are a few upcoming local (many free) events you might like to know about.

Date	Event
Sat., Jan. 21, 2017	Mindfulness and the Power of Play
Sat., Jan 21, 2017	Distinguished Speakers Series - Dave Burgess: Teach Like a Pirate followed by Edcamp Contra Costa
Sat., Jan 21, 2017	Raspberry Pi Basics with TechShop San Jose
Sat., Jan. 28, 2017	Monterey Bay CUE Digital Rodeo
Sat., Feb. 11, 2017	EdCamp Silicon Valley
Sat., Feb 25, 2017	Arduino Part 1
Sat., Feb 25, 2017 (tentative)	CUESF Bridge 2 Tech
Sat., Feb 25, 2017	MDUSD & EastBayCUE STEM & EdTech Symposium
Sat., March 4, 2017 (held at UMS)	SVCUE Teach Through Technology Event
Sat., April 22, 2017 (held at UMS)	EdCamp San Jose
Sat., April 29, 2017	STEAM Fest 2.0

Self-Paced Google Skills Training/C-SPAN Classroom/YouTube Privacy Settings/More PD Opportunities

After the Future Ready Learning Summit, you may be ready to venture further into Google Tools. One way to hone your skills is by using the Synergyse Training modules available for the following tools:

• Calendar
  
• Classroom
• Drive
• Docs
• Sheets
• Slides
• Forms
• Gmail
• Google Plus
• Sites

The Synergize Training for Google Apps is available to students too! From any of the tools listed above, all you and your students need to do it click on the Training icon, and accept their Permission to view your @unionsd.org email address since this is a paid app available through USD.  While the training icon should be found on each of the apps, however, if it is missing, more information on launching the app can be found here.

Once Synergyse Training is launched, it can be used as a complete tutorial, following each lesson in order, which takes you deeper into the app as you go through the lessons, or you can scan the topics and get information on a feature you are interested in.  As we all know, Google pushes out updates without warning. Synergyse is committed to keeping their content current, updating their tutorials within 14 days of any Google revisions.

The lessons are short and focused. They include audio, so provide your students with headphones/earbuds if they are going to do a lesson, and guide you to click around the screen. One down side if you are using it with students, there are no review questions at the end, but if you get to the end of a module and need review, you can always go back and repeat a session.

Building confidence and expertise in your classroom has only up sides, so we encourage you to use Synergyse in your classroom. Have a "power user" student who is looking for the next thing to do? Make him/her the tool expert. Have them go through the module, and then share a tip or trick to their classmates. 

C-SPAN Classroom

Created as a primary source resource for Middle and High School Social Studies teachers, C-SPAN Classroom provides a wealth of resources on historical as well as current issues. Each topic includes a brief summary, an introduction to key vocabulary, and a video. There are questions that can be used to begin class discussions on a topic. The Bell Ringers are designed to be used at the start of the day, or as as fill-ins.


Classroom Deliberations has video clips and newspaper articles that will help engage your students in debates about current issues.

While some information, including "On This Day in History," is available to members only, the website is free. Endorsed by the National Council for the Social Studies, the site is actively maintained by teachers in the field, making this a great website for both Social Studies and Language Arts teachers (think opinion writing) to check out.

Privacy Settings on YouTube

With the end of the school year and Open House on the horizon, you may be thinking of creating and sharing video with parents. An easy way to share video is through YouTube. Video you upload to YouTube has a default share setting of Public, and making a video Unlisted or Private is easy. An Unlisted video can be viewed by anyone with the URL, while you will need to invite (using an e-mail address) specific viewers to a Private video. Viewers are then required to sign in to view. Here is a video that show you how to do it:

EduWin

I think we can all agree that this week's EduWin should go to Andrew, Ingrid, the IT Crew, and UDEA for planning the wonderful staff development day on Friday, April 3rd. The speakers were amazing, the internet worked, and the food and end-of-day give-aways were an added treat. Let's keep the #learnusd Twitter hashtag going. Please use it when tweeting some awesome thing you and your students are doing.

There are  two PD events planned for UMS. The first one is the EdCamp on April 25th. There are nearly 250 participants signed up for this free event. You can still register here. The second event is planned for August 14th. This event is being offered in conjunction with SCCOE and educators from around the county will be in attendance. Keep your eye open for registration, since there will be a limited number of spots open to USD teachers.

If you or one of your colleagues is doing something in your class that uses edtech tools, please let me know. I'd love to share it with other teachers.