TaraBytes

Can you believe this is the last week in September??? Time is really moving along, as you well know. In this post I will be highlighting some tools that can help you to "capture the moments" in your classroom! We visited some of these tools briefly during our summer trade days. Flippity Flippity allows you to use a Google Sheet to create digital flashcards, quiz shows, name pickers, memory games, word searches, crossword puzzles, bingo games, hangman games, madlibs, and more. For more information, please read the document or watch the video: Flippity Walkthrough  (document - printable)  In the two walkthroughs, I only showed a sample of what you can use Flippity for. Please look through the www.flippity.net website and familiarize yourself with all it offers! ***Note*** There is also an add-on for Google Sheets from Flippity. I have experimented both with the add-on and the website, and I prefer the website. This is a personal preference*** FlipGri

Let's Get Down to Basics First of all, congratulations on surviving the first few weeks of school! I know how difficult/rewarding/frustrating/exciting the beginning of a year can be. No other profession can quite compare to what all of you do! For me, it is rewarding to walk down the hallways of our campuses and see our students engaged in their learning, regardless of whether that lesson includes technology or not! PRC has the best teachers in the state and our students are top-notch. Let me take this opportunity to give you some information that may save you the time of submitting a technology request. This TaraByte will be slightly longer than usual because we have so much NEW in our district. Just remember you can comment (please comment) at the bottom of this page and you can revisit these tips anytime and anywhere. Chromebook Cart Information Our Chromebook Carts are designed to "rotate" throughout the charging process. This is a wonderful thing, beca

As the school year draws to a close, you may be looking at some creative ways to engage your students in meaningful discourse. The three activities on this page are guaranteed to invoke creative thinking, passionate debate, and engagement for all students.  Hyperdoc Activity (Debate) Fidget spinners--the bane of many teachers across the country. Nearly everyone has an opinion on this new toy that has swept the nation by storm!  Nicole Beardsley created an excellent hyperdoc that allows your students to research, analyze, and debate fidget spinners and their value in the classroom. This is a topic many of your students are very interested in and this great hyperdoc is sure to spark some great conversations in your classroom. Assign it in Google Classroom to allow students to work on it online (with Chromebooks or computers) or use it as a class activity on your SMARTboard. The directions you need to get started are listed on the hyperdoc itself, and you can get a copy of

Yesterday, we were caught up in what is referred to as a "phishing" attack. Suddenly a ton of emails came through our district accounts with the same subject line: _________ has shared a document on Google Docs with you. It seemed so legitimate, right?  Phishing  is a form of fraud in which the attacker tries to learn information such as login credentials or account information by masquerading as a reputable entity or person in email, IM or other communication channels . You've probably seen notices by your bank warning against phishing attacks--but phishing can happen in ANY type of online account. In the phishing attack yesterday, people all around the world received that same innocuous email.  Just like the fish swimming in a pond, many were unable to resist the lure of the bait so cunningly placed before us. The good news is that w ithin one hour of the report of the first phishing email, Google had resolved the issue and shut it down.  So, the question has to b

Conspiracy theories are everywhere today, aren't they?  From false news reports on Facebook to actual news reports on the television, you can find a new conspiracy theory every minute! Very few people I have come in contact with seem to be immune to the allure of a good conspiracy theory. I recently read an interview on the vox.com website with a social and organizational psychologist from Amsterdam by the name of Jan-Willem van Prooijen on the subject of why we are susceptible to conspiracy theories. One of the reasons he cited that people fall for conspiracy theories is also linked to  why   someone creates a conspiracy theory: we can't always know or understand everything that happens to us--we try to make sense of something we do not know about and assume the worst (Resnick, 2017). In other words, ignorance of a subject leads to the spread of more ignorance. Which leads me to an interesting conspiracy theory I recently heard about Google Forms. For those of you who may

Arguably, one of the most useful tools in the GSuite for Education package is Google Sites. Yet, as I am writing this, only a handful of our teachers are actively using it. That tells me that maybe the value of Google Sites has not been adequately addressed, and I apologize for that! For those of you who have not been introduced to it, Google Sites is a free  website creation tool hosted by Google. You can create unlimited sites/pages, and each of your students can create unlimited sites/pages. Now, I will be the first to admit that t he early version of Sites (used until this school year) was a complicated monster that wasn't friendly for the everyday user. However, an upgrade to Google Sites occurred this year that makes creating  and updating a snazzy site quicker and easier than ever before.  Many of you are probably groaning already, saying something along the lines of, "Why does this crazy woman think I have the time to build a website? Doesn't she know I am a

Regardless of the role we fill in the school system, each of us has a common goal; we want our students to experience academic success in the classroom and life. Realistically speaking, however, not all students will reach their unique potential and will be classified as at-risk. This month's technology professional development offering was Utilizing Resources to Reach At-Risk Students. In this session, I introduced attendees to several tools available for helping all students achieve. For those of you who were not able to attend these professional development courses, I am sharing the information in this forum so that your students can also benefit from these tools. Or, use these tools with your child at home--there are many tools in this list that are classified for use with those who have been identified as having dyslexia. Each of these can be found in the Chrome Web Store and are currently free-to-use for teachers. I have provided the links to each of these apps/extensions

I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to find great technology content that fits the lesson you are planning. Many times the frustration isn't from not being able to find content--it's narrowing down the options! At PRC, you have access to a lot of software tools you may not even know about. Over the next few weeks, I am going to share at least one software tool with you to test out in the classroom. Let's get started! Did you know? All teachers at PRC have full access to Discovery Education? Veteran teachers may know this product by its old name "United Streaming." More than just the name has changed on this dynamic software. Discovery Education offers videos, lesson plans, digital textbooks , professional development, STEMformation, and much more. And the videos on this website are not dependent on YouTube or Vimeo! Who Is this For? This account is for everyone in the PRC district. Middle School  Social Studies  teachers, this is even for you

The time has come, The time is now. All PRC Employees, Change your passwords now! Ugh, I know. I feel your pain. I, too, have to change my password and struggle with muscle memory (also known as the way the password feels when I type it in). I also have to store my passwords in strange places that I may or may not remember how to find when I need them. The good news is, we are not alone! When you are feeling stressed out about the password you created five minutes ago that now no longer works, peruse one of the videos linked here. You'll feel better (or maybe not) about your own password struggles when you realize just how many people out there are in the same boat. Just a few quick reminders: 1. We have to change our Windows login passwords. You will be prompted to do so. 2. We have to change our Gmail passwords. You will be prompted to do so. 3. We have to change our SAM Spectra passwords. You will be prompted. . . AND as an extra special, SUPER-DUPER bonu