Education News
Happy summer break! Our newsletters will slow down to a biweekly format during this break, but our Teacher Tech Project is available to you throughout this summer. Please reach out if you have any tech questions.
"And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer."
~ F.Scott Fitzgerald
Teacher Tech Project
Help Desk Questions of the Week

Do you have a question about your Learning Management System? Submit it here or in our Facebook group or to our Twitter accounts for a chance to be featured.

Canvas
 
Question: What is the best screencasting tool to use with Canvas?

Answer: A lot of people weighed in on this question and common suggestions include Screencastify, Screencast-O-Matic, or My Media in Canvas.

Google Classroom

Question: I am a specialist. Should I create my own Google Classroom or be a Co-teacher in another's class? AND I am a specialist added to all of my students' classrooms as a teacher. How do I manage all the emails?!?!

Answer: Tonia created this video to see how and why you might add teachers as co-teachers in a classroom AND how manage notification emails (even if you are the only teacher in the classroom).
Microsoft Teams
 
Question: True or False? Class Notebook is only for taking notes, not assessments or homework.

Answer: False! Check out this video on how to use Class Notebook for homework or assessments.
Schoology
 
Question: For those who used it during the shut down - how successful were your students when using it? What were your biggest challenges?

Answer: This is a really great question. I was supporting teachers using it and also seeing it at home from a parent perspective. Being able to find all the materials and assignments in one spot was a life-saver. Teachers were able to use it as a starting place, and when entire grade levels or schools used it, that was even better. Something I think is really important is to use due dates - even if you change them later. Due dates put things on the calendar. Another important thing is to use folders and be intentional about organization in the course.

Seesaw

Question: Is there a way to quickly find each assignment for giving feedback? I have 53 students in 21 classrooms and going in to each class and sifting through takes more time than giving feedback. (Plus there is the stress of 10s of thousands of notifications that aren’t mine so I can’t get rid of the number😳)

Answer: We recommend using folders with your co-teaching arrangement. That would be one way to find items more easily. Check out this video on organizing student's posts with folders.
Asynchronous Instructional Modules for Online Learning
 
We are happy to announce the team of Washington educators who will work on developing asynchronous learning modules for online learning over the summer. The modules will be available to educators in August 2020.

Elementary School Level Team:
Tom White, Edmonds School District
Nicholas LeDoux, Medical Lake School District
Tina Criste, Yakima School District
Amanda Haan, Kennewick School District
Manya McFarlane, Marysville School District

Middle School Level Team:
Christina Carlson, Yakima School District
Brigham Williams, Vancouver Public Schools
Megan Anderson Reilly, Yakima School District
Shannon Cotton, Camas School District
Denisha Saucedo, Kent School District

High School Level Team:
Constantino Montes, Pasco School District
Patricia Randall, Goldendale School District
Heidi Griffin, Yakima School District
Kristina Lewin, Tacoma Public Schools
Gladys Suarez, Pasco School District

Special Education Consultant:
Melissa Charette, Olympia School District
Resources and News
Virtual Engagement Strategies for Adult Learners
 
Written by Washington educators, Katie Taylor, Lori Curtis, and Emily Bannon and published by WSASCD are virtual strategies to engage adult learners such as in PLCs and trainings. They adapted their list from Groups at Work and Visible Thinking, using both synchronous learning (learning conducted with everyone live) and asynchronous learning (learning conducted independently).

Video Series Featuring 2020 PSESD 121 Regional Teacher of the Year, Reid Sundblad
 
OSPI continued their video series with 2020 PSESD 121 Regional Teacher of the Year, Reid Sundblad. In this video, we meet Reid's students in an all-boys program, Los Siete!
$15,000 Grant Available To Support Professional Learning for Washington Educators
 
The Washington Professional Educators Standards Board is offering several grants up to $15,000 to support professional learning for Washington educators. The deadline to apply is August 19, 2020.

Lighter Side
Summer Social Distancing Soundtrack
New Jobs for School Reopening
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