Oakland Schools Digital Learning
November 2023 Newsletter
The collection of Native American videos on the Described and Captioned Media Program website can help your students learn about the many contributions, rich histories and unique stories of Native Americans. The collection features five video series, broken into the categories of A History of Native American Achievement, Native American Culture, Native American Folklore, Native American History, and Celebrate Native American Educators. The videos have captions and audio description, and many have ASL interpretation. Each video includes suggested grade level use and links to content standards. Most videos are available as a preview, register for your free account to view videos in full.
Interactive Map of Indigenous Lands
On the Interactive Map of Indigenous Lands, students can type their city, state or ZIP code into a search bar to see which Indigenous communities resided there. The tool includes an option to apply “settler labels” to see how the map corresponds with today’s state borders. As students click on the names of Indigenous nations, they’ll find links to related readings. In addition to the map, the platform also includes resources like a teachers’ guide and a guide to territory acknowledgements.
Grandpa's Drum: Molly of Denali (Grades K-2)
Explore Alaska Native history and culture using the 11-minute story "Grandpa's Drum" from the PBS KIDS series MOLLY OF DENALI™. There are support materials for teachers as well as handouts to use with students.
Video synopsis: An old photograph sends Molly and friend Tooey on a mission to find out why Grandpa Nat no longer sings or plays his drum. As they uncover Grandpa's past, using visual clues and the internet, they understand more about their own heritage and the importance of cultural identity. As students explore the importance of diverse cultures and honoring traditions, as well as Alaska Native lives then and now, they also learn about finding and using informational texts.
Investigating the First Thanksgiving
In this interactive, online game. "You are the Historian, Investigating the First Thanksgiving," students need to successfully complete four challenges to collect information for a school newspaper article. As they work to complete the challenges they will discover the people, places, artifacts, ideas and events that led up the 1621 harvest celebration known today as “the First Thanksgiving.” Each activity takes approximately 10-20 minutes to complete. The whole game takes 40-60 minutes to complete. Learn more about how to use the game with your students by visiting the Game Guide webpage.
Everyday Learning Videos for PreK-K
The "Everyday Learning" video collection from PBS Learning Media uses original animation and engaging, visual images to introduce basic concepts of math, science, social studies, art, and health to PreK-K learners.
The topics found in this collection are: Everyday Math for Preschoolers, Everyday Science for Preschoolers, All around Me, Art to Heart and Healthy Me. Support materials for the videos include learning activities and discussion guides.
Cabinet of Curiosities
Cabinet of Curiosities is a site created by Philippe Cousteau Jr., the grandson of famed oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, to introduce STEM careers to students. Links in the cabinet take you to eight different categories which include short video explanations by professionals within the field. The "communication & policy" section covers non-research-scientist jobs that "influence policy, laws and regulations," such as program directors, policy directors and research coordinators.
Dates that Matter
TeachersFirst’s Dates That Matter provides a new perspective on history by placing each day-in-history event in broader context and explaining its long-term impact. The site has an older look and feel, but once you "Click to learn more..." it will look like a very plain slideshow. A single sentence will appear on the screen and reveal something about the date. Viewers can then click the question mark to see a sequence of thought-provoking questions as they try to guess the actual event. When the historical event finally shows on screen, a further explanation, "Why does it matter?," fills in the remaining context and offers reviewed links for viewers to learn more.
You can see an annotated view of the day's event to prepare to use the prompt. You can also review a list of upcoming clues and events for the week ahead. Warning - This page shows the answers!
Ideas for use include
- Begin your social studies class (grades 6-12) once or twice a week by projecting a Date That Matters on a screen or interactive whiteboard to foster broader understanding of the connections that form world history.
- Put a link to Dates That Matter on your teacher web page for students and families to access and discuss together.
- Use the links from Dates That Matter as extra credit or enrichment opportunities
Copyright & Creativity for Ethical Digital Citizens
The instructional materials on Copyright & Creativity for Ethical Digital Citizens provide accessible and practical information about copyright – its protections, its limitations, and its role in encouraging creativity. Rather than just emphasizing what copyright prohibits, a major goal of these lessons is to give students useful and positive information about what copyright allows and how they can successfully navigate and rely on copyright in their own roles as creators. Each lesson includes a guide for the teacher, slides, and videos. Be sure to also explore the Supplemental Materials listed at the bottom of the lesson pages.
Thank you Kim Forster for sharing this resource. If you know about resources that we should include in upcoming newsletters, please send them our way.
Mighty Owl
Mighty Owl from the creator of BrainPOP provides free videos, quizzes, and worksheets developed by teachers to support grades K-7 in ELA, math, and science. Lessons address Common Core State and Next Generation Science Standards.
A free teacher account is required to access the videos.
Microsoft Learn Educator Center: AI for Education
In the AI for Education section of the Microsoft Learn Educator Center you can explore resources and courses on how to use artificial intelligence (AI) for educational purposes with Microsoft. You can choose from self-paced training, toolkits, blog posts and more. One training is titled, "Enhance teaching and learning with Bing Chat." This would be a great place to start. There are many other starting points you could also choose.
Take and Annotate Screenshots with Preview
You and your students can use Preview to take a picture of all or part of your screens and then add annotations to the screenshots by following the steps below.
Open the Preview app on your Mac.
Have the webpage or document where you want to capture the screenshot open and visible on your screen
Click on File and select Take Screenshot..
Part of the screen: Choose From Selection... then move the pointer to a corner of the area you want to capture, drag across the area, then release.
Entire screen: Choose From Entire Screen.
Single window: Choose From Window... then click the window you want to capture.
The screenshot image will open in Preview and be named “Untitled.” You can annotate it by opening the Tools menu, selecting Annotate and then the tool you want to use.
The U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Technology’s policy report, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning: Insights and Recommendations, addresses the clear need for sharing knowledge, engaging educators, and refining technology plans and policies for artificial intelligence (AI) use in education. The report describes AI as a rapidly-advancing set of technologies for recognizing patterns in data and automating actions, and guides educators in understanding what these emerging technologies can do to advance educational goals—while evaluating and limiting key risks. The Core Messages document is a short, four pages that gives you an overview of the thinking in the longer document.
Let's Stick Together
Take a break from your daily routine and help us complete this VIrtual Stick Together Puzzle. Each person has a limit of 100 tiles per session. Have fun trying to figure out what the finished product is, and don't forget to come back to see the completed picture. No log-in required.
Make a free account at Stick Together to create your own virtual Stick Together Puzzle to use with your students. Free accounts can create an unlimited number of virtual posters, but can have only one active poster at a time.
Weaving Projects
The Weaving Projects webpage, a part of the Happy Hooligans-Art, Craft, Play website links to directions for eight different kinds of weaving. These include traditional cardboard loom weaving, circle weaving, weaving on unusual items like sticks and drinking straws, and more. Try them out with your students and please remember to share pictures of their creations with us. 😀
Note: Discovery Streaming subscription and login required to access the resources in this section. If you do not know if your school has a subscription please email laura.cummings@oakland.k12.mi.us.
Veterans Day Channel
The Veterans Day Channel includes videos, songs, reading passages and more to help you teach your students about Veterans Day and why we pay tribute to those who have served in the United States armed forces. The resources are organized by grade band levels.
X/Twitter
Oakland Schools Digital Learning Twitter posts can be found at os_edtech.
When you are posting to X/Twitter about things related to digital learning and educational technology, don't forget to use the hashtag #oakedtech.
Using the hashtag will help Oakland County educators, who are interested in the effective use of digital learning, to connect and better collaborate with each other.