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News

Digital Conversion: Granite School District and 21st Century Learning

Last week Patrick Flanagan, Director of Educational Technology for Granite School District, reported to the Granite Board of Education on proposed plans and timelines for Digital Conversion, an initiative to place mobile computing devices in the hands of every student and classroom.  [Read more…] about Digital Conversion: Granite School District and 21st Century Learning

Granite Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter – January 2015

Granite Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter – January 2015

Our department’s monthly newsletter was recently sent out to all teachers in Granite School District, and you can also access it here.

This month’s highlights Include:

#GraniteTechChat Archive: Hour of Code (12/15/2014)

Granite EdTech sponsors a monthly twitter chat on teaching with technology called #GraniteTechChat. This chat is open to any interested parties, but is especially focused on the participation of school technology specialists and library media educational technology specialists in Granite School District.

#GraniteTechChat Archives

Follow the links below for archives of our most recent chats, saved and published via Storify.

#GraniteTechChat: Hour of Code – December 15, 2014

Below is an embedded selection from our archive of the most recent chat, in which we reflected on recent Hour of Code activities and began to look at how to expand upon student interest in coding by integrating it into everyday classroom activity, after school clubs, etc.

Granite Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter – December 2014

Granite Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter – December 2014

Our department’s monthly newsletter was recently sent out to all teachers in Granite School District, but you can also access it here.

This month’s highlights Include:

Let #GraniteEdTech Help You

(Video Creator: Patrick Flanagan)

6 Ways #GraniteEdTech Can Help You Right Now

Looking for information and resources? Have a question, need, or suggestion for us?  Here are five easy ways that we are reaching out to you and that you can reach out to us right now.

  1. Follow the #GraniteEdTech conversation on Twitter and see the resources being shared by teachers and technology specialists. You can also join the conversation by tweeting your ideas, resources, and experiences.
  2. Follow EdTechGSD on Pinterest, where we are compiling useful Ed. Tech. resources on timely topics such as Coding, Chromebooks, and Google Apps for Education.
  3. Follow our Blog.  We post new stories and resources here at least two times per week. (Sometimes more!)
  4. Read our EdTech Monthly Newsletter! This is how we share class registrations and other professional development opportunities for Granite teachers.
  5. Use our handy Request & Suggestion Form and we’ll get back to you soon with a response, and usually a great solution.
  6. As always, talk with your school technology specialist, library media educational technology specialist, and/or media assistant.  They are wonderful and have so many ways to support you and your students.

Introducing Granite EdTech’s Twitter Tag a Teacher Contest!

In an effort to use Twitter as a way to collaborate amongst members in our department, today we are kicking off the “Twitter Tag a Teacher” Contest. Below are the details of this contest.

Contest Goals

The goal is to share amazing ways in which teachers around the district are integrating technology into their everyday teaching practice and to encourage collaboration amongst Ed Tech staff through the use of Twitter.

Duration

December 2nd through December 17th, 2014

Rules

  1. Share awesome ways that teachers in your building are integrating technology into their daily practice through tweets.
  2. In each of your tweets be sure to tag or mention the teacher who is integrating technology in the classroom. If possible include a picture of the teacher in action. (Please get permission from the teacher before tweeting out their picture.)
  3. Include the hashtag #EdTechContest in each of your tweets.
  4. For each tweet you send out, tagging a teacher and spotlighting their innovative way of using technology, your name will be placed in the drawing. The more tweets you send out spotlighting teachers in your building the more your name is placed in the drawing and the better chance you will have at winning the prize box.
  5. Participation in this contest is not mandatory. (It will be so dang fun spotlighting the amazing teachers in our schools that it will be hard to resist participating in this contest.)

Prize

There will be two boxes of fun tech gadgets given away to two lucky Ed Tech Dept. members. The drawing for these boxes will be held on the morning of December 18th and winners will be notified via Twitter.

I look forward to seeing all of the amazing ways super star educators in our district are effectively using technology to engage students and increase student learning. Good luck to each one of you!

Patrick Flanagan
Director, Educational Technology

Hour of Code 2014

This December many teachers and school technology specialists in Granite School District will be leading Hour of Code activities with their students.  As part of Computer Science Education Week, the Hour of Code is a worldwide initiative designed to provide a one hour introduction to coding and computer science for students around the world, increasing access and exposure to this important field. In December 2013, over 15 million students participated in Hour of Code activities, and this year the organization’s goal is to reach over 100 million students during the week of December 8-14, 2014.

If you are a teacher who would like to do an hour of code activity with your students, you can start with this How to Teach One Hour of Code guide for ideas, resources, and tutorials for your students.  Code.org, the sponsor of the Hour of Code, provides a collection of coding tutorials and activities for students of all ages and experience levels – including “unplugged” coding activities for classrooms without devices. The Hour of Code is not limited to the K-12 classroom, however.  Interested students can also access these tutorials and participate in Hour of Code on their own, and parents can use these resources to do an Hour of Code activity with their children.  Adults interested in getting experience with coding are also invited and encouraged to participate.

We are curating more resources for teaching and learning how to code on our Hour of Code / Coding Resources Pinterest Board. Follow it or see the board below for these resources.

Follow Granite EdTech’s board Hour of Code / Coding Resources on Pinterest.

FIRST LEGO League in Granite School District

Granite School District’s Ed. Tech. department sponsors 30 FIRST LEGO League teams. In the FIRST LEGO League program children learn about coding, programming, and problem solving to prepare their robot for the robot games and to solve a real life issue or challenge.  In the course of creating a solution to this real-world issue and designing a robot, they also learn and apply the social skills of teamwork, collaboration, respect, and persistence.  Educational Technology is proud of our devoted coaches and our super awesome FIRST LEGO League kids.  This video shows the team from Stansbury Elementary hard at work with their teacher/coach, Karen Tinsley.  We would also like to invite you to drop into our Robot Games and Regional Qualifying event, January 17th, at Granger High School. Come see all the fun (and learning!)

Spotlight Author: Cherie Anderson, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist

Share Your Social Media Accounts

Attention Granite Educators:

  • Do you have a social media account for your classroom?
  • Do you have a personal/professional social media account that you use to connect with other educators?
  • Do you have a colleague with an awesome account that more people need to know about?

Please share with us so that we can add these accounts to our lists of connected classrooms and educators in Granite School District.