Technoflash

Bellevue Public Schools, Bellevue, NE Volume 33

September 20, 2016

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In the News: The Bond Passes!

The Bellevue Public School District's first bond issue since 1974 has passed. Read about it here:

KETV News Bond Issue Passes by 173 Votes

BPS Bond Issue Passes

New Teachers & iPad Academy Enter the Superhero Training Zone

Three groups of BPS teachers have entered the Tech Trio’s Superhero Training Zone this year. First up, were two great days of new teacher training. Both elementary and secondary teachers went through Apple Foundations Training led by Ann Feldmann, focusing on What is Great Learning. Teachers learned instructional strategies and a number of tech tools to take right into their classrooms! Bellevue Public Schools is lucky to have such an amazing group of new teachers!

The third group to enter the training zone was our iPad Academy teachers. It was a full house at the Success Center as our iPad Academy is now up to 60 teachers! Teachers were welcomed by the Tech Trio showing their appreciation by making pancakes for everyone. The day was full of collaboration and curriculum development. Teachers had the opportunity to learn more about Seesaw, using Pearson E-Text, Schoology and creating videos using a green screen. The Tech Trio had a SUPER time!

The members of the Tech Trio weren't the only Superheroes in the house that day. Members of our tech department also stopped by to for part of the morning. Our SUPER BPS techs have been an integral part in helping grow the iPad Academy.

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Techie Tuesday

The first Techie Tuesday of the 2016-2017 school year is quickly approaching. It will be held on Tuesday, October 4 and will offer three topics including Video Creation in the Classroom, Teaching and Learning with an iPad Garden and Secondary BYOD Training. Check out this flyer for details.

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Apple News

Apple Teacher: Apple just unveiled a new program where teachers can become an Apple Teacher. The program allows teachers to continue building their Apple skills and learn new ways to integrate technology into the classroom. To sign up simply go to the website and log in with your Apple ID. Once in, teachers can access learning resources that train them on all the powerful Apple tools. Teachers have access to lesson ideas, strategies, and real life examples from classrooms throughout the world. The program also allows teachers to earn badges showing the progression in their learning.

WWDC 16: Check out all the new things that apple unveiled at the world wide developer’s conference this month by clicking HERE.

TT4T News-Episode 1

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Pearson eText for Schools

Did you know that students can access the reading textbook via the Pearson eText app for schools? This gives students the ability to hear the story, highlight, add notes, and bookmarks.

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Swift Playgrounds

Swift is a programming language created by Apple. It is used by many professionals to build today's apps. Swift Playgrounds is a new app for the iPad that makes learning Swift interactive and fun. To master the basics of the language students start by solving puzzles and then take on a series of challenges and step up to more advanced creations. No coding knowledge is necessary to get started and it's unique way of learning takes full advantage of the iPad. What a great way for students to learn to code.

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Padlet

Now you can experience everything you love about Padlet on an iPad/iPhone. Padlet, a digital canvas, can be used for a variety of things including collaborative note-taking to timelines. You can pop in a video/picture, share a link, record an interview, or write your own text. Share it with colleagues or students and begin the creative process. You can also customize the theme and background.

Blogs to Read

Looking for a great blog to follow? Check out Teach 100 for the daily ranking of the top educational blogs. Here are a few articles from some of the top educational blogs in the last week.

MindShift: Five Ways to Ensure Real Learning Happens in Maker-Enhanced Projects

TeachThought: The Characteristics of a Highly Effective Learning Environment

EmergingEdTech: 8 Ways That Blogging Enhances the Brand of the Educator

Tweet Time--Tweets From Those You Know

Use Twitter to be connected! If you are a tweeter, remember to tag your tweets with #bpsne so more teachers can see what is happening in your classroom. Sharing is the name of the game! Remember there are lots of great chats to explore to connect with others in your content area. Just pull up the hashtag and enjoy the conversation.

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Hashtags Telling Our Story

One of the most powerful parts of Twitter is the hashtag! It connects people, ideas, and creates communities within Twitter. It is a unique way for our teachers and administrators to share the amazing things happening in our schools, classrooms, clubs, teams and organizations. Our district hashtag, #bpsne, continues to grow and is becoming a powerful tool that we can leverage as a district to connect all of our teachers, students, parents, and community members. We encourage you to continue sharing the great things happening in your classrooms. Let's create the 2016-2017 Bellevue Public Schools story together!