We Are Thankful for Our USD Community

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to thank all of you for your hard work and dedication to the students and families in our community. I feel very blessed to be working in the Union School District for many reasons, but mostly because of everyone's kindness and generosity. Today I thought I'd share a video titled World Without Teachers. It comes from the Jubilee Project YouTube channel, a channel I happened to stumble upon recently. I definitely don't think that we need to wait until May to thank teachers for all that they do. Enjoy your Thanksgiving break!

HyperDocs to Create Simple Thanksgiving and Digital Citizenship Digital Stories

A Thanksgiving Story

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, why not have your students create a Thanksgiving inspired story? To get students started thinking about things to be thankful for, here's Kid President's 25 Reasons to be Thankful! Find more Thanksgiving related videos in my YouTube Thanksgiving playlist. 

Once students have been thinking about all the things that they are thankful for, here's a HyperDoc to help them create a thanksgiving digital story of their own. If you need it, I've created a screencast that explains my thinking behind the Hyperdoc. All you have to do is have them go to bit.ly/wevideotg. From there, students can explore, learn, help each other and create!

Digital Citizenship Contest Deadline Extended!

Since our Digital Citizenship Media Contest ended up being launched later than intended, we have extended the contest until Wednesday, December 14th.

This year we will be judging entries based on 3 categories: digital graphics, digital stories, and digital recordings. To get students writing scripts and creating videos in WeVideo, try having students take the Digital Citizenship Video Challenge by going to the HyperDoc at: bit.ly/wevideodc. In WeVideo, storyboard mode is the simplest way to drag in pictures and create a basic digital story.

Here's a video to help inform your students about the contest and get them started creating. If you need help teaching digital citizenship lessons, or would like support or advice with creating videos in the classroom, please don't hesitate to contact any of the EdTech ToSAs.

Thanksgiving Themed Activities Inspired by Video

Do you use video in your classroom to inspire thinking? 

Last month I attended Fall CUE up in the Napa Valley and ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Lisa Highfill's session titled YouTube Lessons That Will Leave You Thinking.

I was truly inspired, and after searching through the Highfill Crew YouTube playlists, I came across the video WWII vet forms unlikely friendship with toddler. That video sparked an idea about creating a Google Sites HyperDoc that could be used across grade levels. I decided that this was a great video about friendship, which seemed to tie in nicely with Thanksgiving. This led me to create a website with tabs for different Thanksgiving themes that teachers can explore with their classes, or have students explore on their own.

USD Learns: Thanksgiving HyperDoc

I invite you to check out the USD Learns Thanksgiving Hyperdoc to see if there is anything that might inspire you and students the week before Thanksgiving. There are some interactive pieces where students can share their thoughts or turn in links to their work.

Please be aware that any Padlet on this Thanksgiving site is a shared learning space where students can freely post their thoughts. Before trying it with your students, please have a conversation about digital citizenship and ask them only to post ideas and content that they want other students and teachers to see.

Want your students to be a part of our USD is Thankful Video?

What if we could capture video clips about what USD students are thankful for? Kid President's 20 Things We Should Say More Often reminds us that we shouldn't just say thank you on Thanksgiving, but we do have to start somewhere. This idea was inspired by the video Kid History Shorts: "Thanksgiving" (The Roberts).  If this video is too silly for your class, check out this school who captured clips about what they are thankful for: Happy Thanksgiving from Kingsway College School. This is a closer example of the vision that we have for our USD is Thankful video.

If you would like to participate, you can find more information about how to create class videos on the Gratitude page.

I am thankful to be working in such an amazing school district with such creative and innovative teachers. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your students, friends, and families!