Triton Tech

Thanks for checking out our first issue of Triton Tech. We'll try to put a newsletter out each quarter to let you know about technology resources that are available to you and your students. Feel free to contact us and arrange a time to meet one on one if you need help with anything technology related. We are also available after school on Fridays to provide your PLC with professional development regarding technology use both inside and outside of the classroom. We can come to your PLC (or go to the computer lab), or we can provide individual assistance. Welcome to all of the new staff members at ELM!

Your Blended Learning Specialists:

Camille Gonzalez: camille.gonzalez@sweetwaterschools.org

Kurt Ulle: kurt.ulle@sweetwaterschools.org

Before fall break, Jason Reisenfeld arranged for his period 6 students to participate in a face time with NBA player Austin Daye. The students had so much fun! Thank you for allowing me to be part of the experience Jason! Check out the video below.

New tutorials that explain how to create, save, and send projects in Explain Everything are up on the EastLake Middle Library website. Explain Everything is a good app to use if you would like your students to create slide presentations. Projects in Explain Everything can by saved as PDF or movie files, and projects are easy to save and share. There have been many login issues (and other bugs) with the Power Point app and One Drive - all students should have Explain Everything, so we recommend using it instead for slide presentations.

If a student logs into Jupiter Grades with the same password their parents set up, they will only be able to see the parent view of Jupiter Grades, which will exclude links like "Tests and Lessons." Every student needs a unique student password to view their student account. Students can reset their password by clicking on "forgot password." A special link will be emailed to their school email account so they can reset it.

The Ed. Tech office recently sent out information explaining how parents can log into Canvas as observers. There is a new page on the ELM Library website called Canvas for Parents with information about how parents can log in, as well as some parent guides.

Username: Parent email on file with the school (Parents who wish to change the email they have on file need to contact the registrar).

Password: parents2014 (same password for all parents)

Kurt has set up an ELM Staff iCalendar, so that staff members have one place where they can check school events. He invited everyone to the calendar using Sweetwater email addresses. If you use a different email address for your iCloud account, please forward that email to Kurt so he can add it.

I have invited all teachers to the EastLake Middle Staff Resources page on Canvas. The page has links to important documents and websites from Eastlake Middle and from the district office. You can also self-enroll by clicking here.

Every teacher has a district Google Drive account. If you haven't set yours up yet, here's how to sign in:

Go to: drive.google.com

Username: Outlook email address ending with .net instead of .org

Example: camille.gonzalez@sweetwaterschools.net

Password: teacher (you will be prompted to change this the first time you sign in)

There are Google Drive tutorials for students (that explain how to back up files, photos, and videos on the iPad) on the EastLake Middle Library website.

If you would like for your students to use Safari Montage through the app, setup instructions are available on the EastLake Middle Library website. Students will need the following IP address: 172.16.1.232

The login for Safari for students is their ID number (username) and 8 digit birthday (password).

Teachers can log into Safari with the same username and password you use to log in to your computer.

Help guides that explain how to upload videos to Safari Montage are available on the Triton Teachers Canvas page. (If you are not already enrolled, click here to self-enroll). Adding videos that you want your students to view on Safari is helpful because you can avoid the problem of blocked You Tube videos. It's also a way to store all of the videos you use in one place.

During our Professional Development training on 10/5, Mr. Ulle discussed the following resources. Please check them out.

· Knowmia.com – free sign-up, it has numerous videos and lessons for all subjects, created by teachers. They can be downloaded and posted into Safari Montage and Canvas to be used by your students. You can also create your own lesson and upload it to the website.

· Goorulearning.org – professional website with downloadable videos and lessons. You can use your sweetwaterschools, google log-in to sign in.

· Brainpop.com – username is David.Kennerly; password is “brainpop”

· Khanacademy.org – many videos on all subjects.

Mr. Ulle will be available after school on Friday, October 30 in the 311 computer lab to assist anyone with questions regarding setting up a paperless classroom, using Canvas, Notability, and Jupitergrades. Hope to see you there!

For the remainder of the semester we'll be providing informal, Friday cafes you can attend to learn specific skills. More information to come regarding topics and dates.

Our site has an e-book library with fiction and non-fiction titles. Students now have their own accounts and can download books on their iPads using the Follett Brytewave app (which should be available in the App Store under “Purchased.”) Student instructions for logging in can be accessed on the EastLake Middle Library website.

Most fiction titles are single user, but there are non-fiction, multi-user titles as well. This means all students can have the same book checked out at the same time. This year the library would like to add more non-fiction, multi-user titles you can use to supplement your curriculum. Please let Ms. Gonzalez know what specific topics you would be interested in adding to our e-book library.

Teachers also have accounts. The username is the same as what you use to log into your computer and the password is "Teacher." (Make sure the "T" is capitalized.)

I thought I'd include a song from the Sound Cloud, just for fun. The artist sampled audio clips from NASA's public archive.