Updates: We are looking forward to a great day of learning on Jan. 19th. New teachers will continue their learning from August at the New Teacher Academy at the Middle School where it will be a fairly structured day. You will have your own Eventzee Scavenger Hunt to participate in, so download the app and scan the QR code! Employees assigned to the HS will have an exciting day of traditional and non-traditional learning. This is not a normal district day, so if you don't know where to go, please view this video! If you don't know what to do, please view the video. If you are unsure of the Learning Cafe and Swap Shop, please view the video. You will have a separate Eventzee Scavenger Hunt, so download the app and scan the correct QR code to enter! We have some really awesome door prizes that will be given out throughout the day for various reasons, including the Eventzee Scavenger Hunt. A little hint- you may want to join Twitter and have the hashtag #HP4PL ready to tweet! You never know when that can win you a door prize! QR Code for New Employees (Middle School): QR Code for Everyone Else (High School): Instructional Tidbits: We just finished a relaxing Winter break, and Spring break feels like decades away. Teachers often have the mindset that this is the time for kids to "buckle down" and "get to work". I wonder, though, if we are doing the right work. We can fall in the trap of getting carried away with the large amount of content we have to cover, and the looming testing we know our kids will face. Many of these things are out of our hands. We'll never gain more time in a day, we probably won't change standards to move from "a mile wide and an inch deep", and testing is probably going to stay with us for a while. We can, however, change our mindset. Last summer I had the opportunity to hear George Couros speak as a keynote for the North Texas Visioning Consortium Conference. Later, I came across one of his articles based on Carol Dweck's Mindset. Many of you know the "power of yet", and establish this with your students, but Couros pushes you, as a teacher, to change your own mindset. Taking a very Oprah-ish stance, he says to be innovative, you have to look at yourself as an innovator first. Read the article here, and decide what your Innovator's Mindset will be for this long and busy semester. What can you do NOW, rather than put on the list for "next year"? How can you foster innovation in yourself and your students? Maybe, with a little innovation, this long semester will be a breeze, and you just might change your mindset! So, for the Spring semester I challenge you and your students to be innovators. Then share with the school innovative things you are doing using @armstronghp and/or @brooksteacher. Retrieved 1-12-16 from http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/5135_
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Updates:
Remember to sign up for your Jan. 19th courses. Tomorrow is the deadline. See details: https://www.smore.com/kfac1-educator-for-the-future-pd-day?ref=email-content#w-0229423278 Join us for a district-wide Hangout on Air tonight at 8:00 pm! Link to Hangout: https://goo.gl/2yJHa7 --Make sure you are logged in with your HPISD account or you won’t be able to join the hangout. There won’t be anything to really “see” until around 7:50ish when the broadcast goes live. https://todaysmeet.com/hp4pl -- If you have any problems getting to the Hangout, need help, or to ask questions during the broadcast, use this link. Also, this is one of the ways you will “prove” your attendance. Instructional Tidbits: The Hour of Code is coming Dec. 7-13th! We have celebrated the Hour of Code for the last few years. I have signed our campus up again this year, and would love to see EVERY Armstrong class participate. I will provide you with all necessary information, but first, let's talk about why you want to do this. 1. The kids love coding. It's fun and engaging. 2. Coding provides the opportunity for kids to take risks and persist. They don't always get it right the first time, but they keep trying. 3. Coding promotes problem solving. Sometimes it is really hard, and that is a good thing. 4. Coding is useful in so many future careers. We could have the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg sitting in our class. 5. Why not try something new? How to get started: This is one of those areas where you may not know a lot about the topic, or anything at all. That's okay! The people at Code.org have set up many fun videos and games/puzzles that help students (and teachers) code. It's so fun, you may not even know you are doing it. As a teacher, I would click on one of these below and try it! You'll see how easy and fun it is very quickly. In fact, you may look up and find that one hour is already up! Tech Tuesday Prize: Tweet out your commitment to participate in the Hour of Code using @brooksteacher and using the hashtag #hourofcode! Teams with 100% participation will receive a prize! Tutorials: Course 1: Grades K-1 Course 2: Grades 2-5 Course 3: Grades 4-5 Course 4: Grades 4-8 Other options including Frozen, Star Wars, and Minecraft: https://code.org/learn iPad Apps to try: The Foos Coding Lightbot Hopscotch |
AuthorI am an elementary Campus Instructional Technologist in Highland Park ISD Archives
May 2017
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