Technoflash

Bellevue Public Schools, Bellevue NE

December 5, 2014 Volume 8

A Growth Mindset

Amazing Learning Opportunity

Coming to our office January 10th!

Kent Steen from University of Lincoln will be providing six hours of training on a coding curriculum that you will receive during our time together. If you are interested at all in bringing basic coding skills to your students come and spend a few hours with Kent and the trainers. Sign up for the FREE session here.

Online Classes for Second Semester

Register for online classes here. Classes begin January 12th. Remember we need 10 people to make a class a go so ask a friend or colleague to join you to make it more fun!

Hour of Code Starts Monday!!! Join the Fun!!

Coding is becoming an essential skill for the future of our students. Remember, the hour doesn't have to be done all in one sitting. Just have students record a total of one hour of experimenting and learning with coding. Here are several ways to involve your students in coding.

Go to www.code.org to register your class.
Choose from these tutorials at www.code.org/learn.
Tweet and/or watch #hourofcode on Twitter.com to see what other classes and teachers are doing.
Print certificates for your students accomplishments at www.code.org/certificates. You can print up to 30 certificates at a time.
There are also live chats happening each day from Tuesday through Friday. One of the hosts of the chats is Ashton Kutcher!
Find a coding mentor for your students who are really interested in coding. They can find a code mentor here.

For a simple way to investigate coding in the classroom check out this resources.

If you are interested, but would like some support with this activity, contact your Building Technology Coordinator for more information.

Twelve Days of Twitter

It's not too late to jump into the 12 Days of Twitter Challenge! It began December 1st and anyone can participate. The goal is to find a fun and engaging way to increase our use of Twitter for sharing and learning. Check out the 12 Day Challenge here!

This is an amazing way to crowdsource, build connections, and learn from others. For a snapshot of what people have shared so far on Twitter check out the 12 Days of Twitter Pinterest board.

Join the Global Read Aloud

The Global Read Aloud is a great way to connect your students to the world through literature. Pernille Ripp, a 7th grade teacher teaching in Oregon, Wisconsin started this project in the summer of 2010 because she wanted to expand her global collaboration. Since then more than 10,000 facilitators and 500,000 students have chosen to dedicate time to the project making it bigger and better every year.

Blogs Worth Reading

Five Ways to Grow Your Mind as a Teacher Leader

Overcoming Barriers to Creativity and Innovation

What is Student Engagement and How Can We Promote it?

Featured Applications - Creating Images for Publication

These apps are great for creating images for online publications like newsletters, websites, Facebook posts, and Twitter posts.

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Canva

Canta lets you create beautiful posters, fliers, banners, and images for free. You can download your creations and use them as you like. Canva can be found online or you can download it from the app store here.

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Skitch

Skitch lets you bring in images that you can label and write on top of with a variety of colors. Skitch can be used on your Mac or you can download it from the app store here.

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Color Effects

Color Effects iPad app lets you take an image and transform it using amazingly high quality colors. Take a black and white image and doctor it up with one splash of color or take a color image and change it completely. You can download it from the app store here.