CONNECTING EDUCATORS

Don't be fooled by this Phishing Attempt!

It’s clear as we look at different phishing awareness email templates, that cybercriminals often target our emotions to make us act from an emotional state instead of a logical state. So it’s not a surprise they don’t have a problem with trying to make us panic a little, too. They might say an account of ours will be closed soon, or someone has logged into an account of ours, or as this phishing simulation example shows, you’re missing a planned Zoom meeting that’s just started.

Panic is like having a problem to solve, we want the reason we’re panicking to not be there any longer. So to remove the panic of missing the start of a meeting, we have to log in and join it as soon as we can!

- For more information, visit the Wizer blog

Curious and new to Canva? Join us starting April 17, 2023. Each weekday at 8 am (no need to be online) we will send an email to a mini-session for you to complete during your own time. Each mini-session will be introducing the basics of Canva! In this virtual course, you will learn several topics that you can utilize in your classroom: creating a free teacher account, using templates, presentations, worksheets, email signatures, and more! Earn 5 SCECHs upon course completion.

Virtual Course - Complete on your own time! DOES NOT MEET between 8-9am as stated in the registration.

Registration: https://www.solutionwhere.com/WW/Aspx/Public/Search/ShowCourse.aspx?courseNum=1237&cId=89&pCId=0

June 20-22, 2023: Grab a few students and join us for a two-and-a-half-day video creation and editing event. Educators will bring a team of up to three students to participate in project-based learning centered around video creation using iPads, iMovie, green screens, YouTube, and collaborating skills. Student teams will showcase their videos in a Kids' Choice Awards, TeamJXN style, on day 3 of this event.

Registration: https://www.solutionwhere.com/ww/Aspx/Public/Search/ShowCourse.aspx?courseNum=1232&cId=89&pCId=0

All 20 subscription boxes were scooped up quickly and local teachers and students have been completing maker challenges to accompany a literature book from our collection. This past month's title was just in time for Women's History Month - "The World is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid" by Jeanette Winter. Students learned about architecture, perseverance, and thinking outside the box in designing new structures.

Google is rolling out improvements to the formatting and customization options for tables of contents in Google Docs. You now have the options to:

• Toggle between three default styles
• Toggle page numbers
• Toggle tab leader styling (adds lines between a heading and the page number)
• Include and indent headings based on levels

Improvements to content organization in Google Docs

Google is introducing search chips in Drive that enable you to filter by criteria like file type, owner, and last modified date. Filtering by these criteria helps you narrow down and find relevant files faster in any view throughout Drive.

Find files quicker with search chips in Google Drive

With in-line replies for comments, teachers and students will be able to easily stay up to date and respond to communication within Classroom. You can now easily respond to comments within the email itself. This will enable teachers to quickly reply to their students without having to switch back and forth between their email and Classroom.

In-line replies for email notifications

In Google Slides, Docs, Sheets and Drawings, you can now select colors in the color palette tool by using RGBA values. In addition, you can also customize colors by using an eyedropper tool and selecting any color on your screen within the color palette.

Expanding color options

This day was developed by leading faculty and educators from MIT RAISE (Responsible AI for Social Empowerment and Education) Each curriculum is FREE and features four hours on average of hands-on activities that engage kids as they learn the fundamentals of AI, investigate its societal impacts, and bring grade-relevant applications of artificial intelligence to life. By registering for the event, you are given access to grade-level lessons about AI. This does not need to be done on May 18!

FAQ - https://www.dayofai.org/faq

https://www.dayofai.org/curriculum - this needs a passcode. If you register here - https://www.dayofai.org/register, it will send you the passcode.

Resources from MIT- https://raise.mit.edu/resources.html

If you open this, it will give you the option to dive deeper into the topics. You can even choose your grade level.

Open to all educators and the application process opens on the first of each month and concludes on the 20th. Recipients may use their grant award on any of the hundreds of STEM, MakerEd, and computing technologies available in the Eduporium store. Please check if the Tech Consortium approves the item(s) you want.

https://www.eduporium.com/eduporium-tech-grant

Girls Who Code offers two FREE programs in the summer: the virtual Summer Immersion Program and the Self-Paced Program. Applicants can apply for BOTH programs, if eligible, using this application. However, students can only participate in one summer program.

https://girlswhocodesm.smapply.io/

Attention all educators! Don't miss out on the opportunity to network and learn with other passionate educators at EdCampGR. Register now to attend this free, participant-driven professional development event! https://bit.ly/edcampgr23-reg

Check out May 2023 courses here:

• Assessment Tools for the Classroom
• Designing Learning Opportunities with Google Tools
• Empower Student Agency While Building Global Professional Skills
• Empowering Students through Personalized Learning
• Integrating Technology into the Middle School Classroom
• Media Literacy: Fake or Real?
• OER to support Michigan’s Literacy Essentials
• PBL for Growing Student Voice
• Power Up: Learning Environment
• Using SeeSaw to Inspire Learning

Register by Thursday, May 4th. You will receive a welcome email with the course information prior to the course start date. If you have questions or need further assistance with your course registration, please click here.

Applications are open for Code.org’s Professional Learning Program! For CS Fundamentals teachers looking to expand into new Code.org curriculum for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Workshops will prepare you to confidently bring CS to your students as well as connect with an online and in-person community of peers. Scholarship funding is available for most workshops! Learn more about professional learning in your state.

Course Dates: June 21 - August 2, 2023

Course Format: completely online, no scheduled lectures

Course Cost: $125 + tax, need-based financial aid available

Prerequisites:

+ students must be 13 years or older

+ No prior coding experience is required!

+ Have taken high school algebra

+ Have a desire to learn

+ Are able to commit 4 - 6 hours a week and chip away at the material daily

Students will:
+ Have weekly asynchronous coding lectures/assignments using an interactive textbook
+ Learn to code at their own pace with support from Michigan ECE faculty and students
+ Have our commitment to help you get unstuck when learning to code - everyone gets stuck somewhere, at some point!
+ Receive a certificate of accomplishment to bolster their college applications

For priority consideration, please submit an application by April 30 - website.

Monday - Friday: July 24th - 28th, 2023

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Perks: SCECHs, Stipend, Resource Pack

The goal of this training is to help high school computer science (CS) teachers implement culturally responsive computing to center students' interests, passions, communities, and heritages in the CS classroom. In addition, teachers will learn how physical computing can be used to engage students in CS learning experiences.

The workshop will be aligned with the AP Computer Science Principles curriculum, but could provide value to any teachers of courses that involve coding.

Limited spots available! To Sign Up:
Email idraw@udmercy.edu for application

It's getting to be the perfect time of year to start getting outside more now that our days are getting longer and the weather is warming up. Teachers of 4th grade students can set up free passes for their students this summer. Check out the Activity Guides and generate passes for your students here: https://everykidoutdoors.gov/index.htm

Adding STEM lessons using literature is easy! Check out our various books that come with lesson plans and STEM activities for all grades. You can even check out various supplies to help complete your activities.

https://sites.google.com/jcisd.org/edtech/makersteam-education/promoting-stem-through-literature

https://sites.google.com/wcresa.k12.mi.us/literatureandstem/home

Need some ideas to keep students engaged? Don't forget about our MAKER/STEAM checkout items. Your EdTech will deliver checkout items to your classroom and help you find ways to implement the technology into your classroom lessons. Looking to implement literature and STEAM for Reading Month? We also have several different books with lesson plans featuring items from our checkout.

https://sites.google.com/jcisd.org/edtech/makersteam-education/makersteam-checkout?authuser=0

REMC SAVE can beat many online prices and you are supporting Michigan educators while buying! Visit www.remcsave.org to find catalog discounts and competitively bid school supplies, paper, software, furniture, and MORE! We’ve done the bidding work so you don’t have to!

Need help? Did your printer stop working? Can't login? The Internet broke? 😉 Contact the tech department by putting in a ticket here: Tech Support!

Want to try something you see here or have questions? Please feel free to connect with our team anytime!

Email: edtechteamjxn@gmail.com
Website: edtech.jcisd.org
Location: 6700 Browns Lake Road, Jackson, MI, United States
Facebook: facebook.com/teamjxn1
Twitter: @edtechjxn