Innovative Learning February 2018 Newsletter

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Innovative Learning

Dr. Daryl Diamond, Director

Site Visit From Pea Ridge Public Schools in Arkansas

On January 25th and 26th Broward County Public Schools hosted sixteen (16) district staff from Pea Ridge Public Schools in Arkansas. They were interested in hearing about and seeing in person the innovative programs that we are implementing to promote personalized learning throughout the school district.

As a district we define personalized learning as "an education model that seeks to accelerate student learning by tailoring the instructional environment - what, when, how, and where students learn - to address the individual needs, skills, and interests of each student. Students take ownership over their own learning while also developing deep, personal connections with each other, their teachers, and other adults."

After an initial meet and greet held at the KCW Building with staff from the Office of Academics, OSPA, and Information & Technology, we took our guest to visit five schools. We are so proud of the work aimed at promoting personalized learning being conducted at these schools, as well as the variety of options that students are given to pursue their interests while applying what is learned from their core curriculum. Below details the schools and the programs that were visited. We appreciate the hospitality that was given to our visitors and the opportunity to showcase the great work that we do here in Broward.

Sheridan Technical High School → Culinary Arts, Emerging Technology, Debate

Culinary program director with master class serving the lunch they prepared.

Technology Lab

Parkway Middle School → Drama, Dance, Vocal, CITY Enrichment Clusters, and Student Led Conferences Utilizing Portfolios

CITY Enrichment Cluster

CITY Enrichment Cluster

CITY Enrichment class

South Plantation High School → Big Picture Program, Environmental Magnet, and Guitar Class

Environmental Magnet

Environmental Magnet

Environmental Magnet

Virginia Shuman Young Elementary School → Montessori Lessons and Independent Work Plans

Technology & Instruction

LoriAyn Stickler, Project Manager, Technology and Instruction

#BCPSInnovates Technology Trendsetter of the Month

Exhibit and encourage a growth mindset in their classroom and school environment.
Differentiate instruction for all learners through blended and personalized learning.
Inspire students’ use of technology tools to create, collaborate, and reflect on learning.

Are you or someone you know pioneering new learning strategies and educational technology tools in your classroom? If so, nominate this person for the #BCPSInnovates Technology Trendsetter of the Month!

Broward Tech Meetup

Innovative Learning will host the third Broward County Tech Meetup on March 1st at Lauderdale Lakes Middle School. Teachers will collaborate with vendors and colleagues to learn new EdTech teaching strategies. During this vendor-sponsored event, teachers will hone their skills of infusing digital applications such as Canvas, Discovery Education, Learning.com, Newsela, Everfi, and Nearpod into everyday teaching and learning.

Teachers, vendors, and administrators attending this Broward Tech Meetup will enjoy delicious food catered for the event.

March Tech Meet Up Flyer.pdf

Learning.com Keyboarding Contest

Students in grades 2-5 are invited to participate the Learning.com Keyboarding Contest.

Keyboarding is an essential skill needed for success in school and today’s workplace. Learning.com is sponsoring a keyboarding contest to help prepare students for the FSA and increase District-wide student participation in their keyboarding curriculum. Each student has access to this contest via the Learning.com icon on their BCPS Launchpad.

Learning.com keyboarding curriculum is available without the need of teacher intervention. All that students need to do in order to participate is log onto Learning.com via their BCPS Launchpad, click the Learning.com icon, select the Adaptive Keyboarding lesson and practice their keyboarding skills as much as they can within the contest window.

The contest will run from February 5- April 1, 2018

Participation in this contest is strictly voluntary. No work is required on the school and/or teachers for student participation.

Contest winners will be determined by student learning gains and number of content launches per class. The contest prizes will include:

Top 4 students with highest Word Per Minute (WPM) gains will win a pizza part for their class. (2 students in February, two students in March).
Top 4 teachers in the District with the most Adaptive Keyboarding Content launches will win $100 worth of Learning.com Prizes for their class. (2 students in February, two students in March).
The top 30 students with the most WPM gains will be receive a framed Learning.com certificate and be recognized in a Regular School Board Meeting. (15 students in February, 15 in March).
The school with the most Adaptive Keyboarding Content launches will be presented with a Super Campus Trophy (Most Engaged) at a Regular School Board Meeting, (both months combined).

Innovative Learning Canvasador Trainer Program

BCPS Instructional Staff Members were invited to apply to the Innovative Learning Canvasador Trainer Program during the month of October. All applications were reviewed by a committee and scored on a rubric. Please join us in congratulating the eighteen applicants who qualified to participate in the 2017-18 Innovative Learning Canvasador Trainer Program!

Name	School	Job Title
Liliana Aguiar	Pioneer Middle	Assistant Principal
Stefanie Ardizzone-Johnson	Park Trails ES	Teacher
Phylis Blau	Embassy Creek ES	Teacher
Michele Dulcio	Coral Springs HS	Teacher
Marie Feeney-Dirito	Secondary Learning	Instructional Specialist
Audrey Green	Silver Trail MS	Teacher
Celia Jimenez	Secondary Learning	Instructional Specialist
Yvette Katz	Driftwood MS	Media Specialist
Karen Kaya	Gulfstream Academy	Media Specialist
Heather Landberg	Pioneer MS	Teacher
Michelle Lee	Elementary Learning	Instructional Specialist
Elizabeth Mirabel	Plantation HS	Teacher
Sarah Myhre	Quiet Waters ES	Teacher
Laura Penafiel	Secondary Learning	Instructional Specialist
Ryan Reidy	Forest Glen MS	Teacher
Valerie Santana	Pioneer MS	Literacy Coach
Kimberly Schell	Discovery ES	Teacher
Wendy Vasquez	Elementary Learning	Instructional Specialist

Library/Media

Lynne Oakvik, Curriculum Supervisor Library Media
Neena Grosvenor, Staff Developer Library Media
Desiree Berger, Data Entry Operator II

West Glades Middle Celebrates Opening of Renovated Media Center

On January 22, Superintendent Runcie; School Board Member Abby Freedman; West Glades Middle School staff, students, and parents were on hand for the official “Re-Opening and Ribbon Cutting” for the newly renovated Media Center, “The Den.” For the past year, the school's PTA has been working with Media Specialist, Jennifer Stratos, to transform the media center into an interactive and engaging learning environment that supports literacy and digital teaching and learning. Principal Matt Bianchi sees the new space serving as hub for student collaboration, exploration, and communication, which are all skills for 21st Century Learners.

The PTA played an instrumental role in raising funds for the library makeover including the purchase of new furniture to support collaboration and engage teens. The school replaced older furniture with more flexible tables and seating that can be easily moved and reconfigured for instruction, small groups, or meetings. Colorful, mobile library shelves promote books and provide additional flexibility to the space. A favorite of students, the collaboration stations, allow small groups to work together using digital devices and resources. The ribbon cutting kicked off Celebrate Literacy Week 2018! and culminated with District staff and community leaders visiting classrooms and reading to students.

Gifted & Talented

Zuzel Rodriguez, Curriculum Supervisor
Jacalyn Schulman, Gifted Coordinator
Jacob Aronin, Gifted Coordinator
Cathy Keeler, CITY Gifted Coordinator

Gifted Endorsement Courses

Gifted Endorsement courses starting in February and March are open for registration in My Learning Plan. All five courses are now available for registration. The courses are 60 inservice points each and anyone on an out-of-field waiver is required to take two courses each year until all five have been completed. The five required courses are:

Nature and Needs of the Gifted
Guidance and Counseling of the Gifted
Theory and Development of Creativity for the Gifted
Special Populations of the Gifted
Curriculum Development for the Gifted (it’s recommended that this course be taken last)

To register for these courses, log on to My Learning Plan, click on BVU & Public Activities and type “Gifted” in the search box. The courses will pop up. All courses have a $55 registration fee which will be refunded when the course is successfully completed. The courses are all available online through Broward Virtual University.

Pompano Beach High School Summer Gifted Camp

Pompano Beach High School will be hosting a two-week camp this summer for 240 gifted and intellectually talented children. Gifted students who are entering grades 3 through 8 for the 2018 - 2019 school year are eligible to apply. The cost of the camp will be $300.00 for the two weeks. Full and partial scholarships will be available based upon free/reduced lunch criteria and availability of funds. Payment will be due at time of selection.

Pompano Beach High School’s
Summer Camp for the Gifted
July 16th – July 26th
Monday – Thursday (No Camp on Fridays) 8:30AM – 3:30PM

Grades 3-5 will be exposed to each of the following:

Creative Writing
Logic Puzzle
Marine Biology
Robotics
S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)

Each camper (in Grades 3-8) will also select a Humanities course. A list of these courses can be found within the application packet.

Grades 6-8 will select two of the following courses:

Coding
Journalism
Debate
Mechanical & Electrical Engineering
Marine Biology
DNA /Genetics
Robotics
Sports Literature
Physics & Rockets
Statistics

For those parents not able to pick their camper up at 3:30 pm, the summer camp will be offering a sports enrichment program each camp day from 3:30 – 5:30 PM for an additional fee of $100.00. (Excluding the last day of camp, July 26th). Pompano Beach High School’s Summer Camp for the Gifted will provide a learning environment that values and enhances the gifted student’s ability, creativity, and passion for learning. Transportation and meals will not be provided.

Interested parents should send their completed application to Pompano Beach High School.
The deadline for applications is March 1, 2018.

Once all applications are processed a committee will select up to forty students at each grade level to attend the camp. Decision notifications will be sent by March 31, 2018. Children not selected will be placed on a waiting list. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Mr. Strachan at william.strachan@browardschools.com.

C.I.T.Y.—Center for Intellectually Talented Youth
at Parkway Middle School, Grades 3 through 8

CITY @ Parkway is currently the only gifted cluster in Broward County. CITY offers gifted-only, self-contained classrooms which enable students to attend courses with their intellectual peers not always possible in traditional schools. CITY is a model school for differentiation and provides acceleration in reading and math courses based on individual student abilities.

CITY is housed at Parkway Middle School and the CITY students are able to participate in their STEM and Performing Arts Magnet courses as well. Students participate in weekly enrichment clusters based on

areas of interests and specially designed electives for elementary school students are offered. Students also have the opportunity to participate in debate, chess club and SECME for all levels. District-wide transportation is available to all students who live more than two miles from the school. All students who are currently in graders 2 through 7 are welcome to apply to attend by going to the following link: http://tinyurl.com/CITY-Academy-Application

Magnet/Innovative and Reassignment Window

The window to apply for a Magnet Program, Innovative Program, or a Reassignment is now open and closes on February 7th. Gifted students are eligible to apply for these programs as well and gifted services will be provided at each of these sites. To look at the available choices and to fill out an application, you can go to Browardschools.com and click on School Choice. There you will see the list of available programs and schools with open seats for reassignments. For any questions on School Choice please call Innovative Programs at 754-321-2070.

NAGC 2018 Leadership & Advocacy Conference

NAGC works diligently to teach everyone about educational environments that provide the right kind of support that gifted students need in order to reach their personal best. Gifted children depend on adults who advocate for program that meet their unique academic and social/emotional needs. NAGC invites anyone interesting in advocating for gifted children to attend their annual Leadership and Advocacy Conference at Washington DC, March 18-20, 2018. At the conference you will:

Sharpen your advocacy skills.
Get insider information on the status of policies coming out of the U.S. Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court regarding the education of gifted children.
Meet with your elected member of Congress and Senators with clear requests for policies and programs that support gifted children in schools.

To register for the conference, click on this link. For questions you can call 202-785-4268.

Instructional Materials

Dominic Church, Instructional Facilitator

Dual Enrollment Purchases, Pickups, and Returns

The pickup and return windows for Dual Enrollment textbooks for Broward College have been set for the year. Please note that students are encouraged to order their textbooks online (available when registering) before they pick them up from Barnes & Noble. Textbooks are to be returned to home high schools (not Barnes & Noble) during the return window. Barnes & Noble will retrieve the textbooks from schools the week after they are due to be returned.

Term	Purchase Window	First Day of Classes	Extra Session Pickups (Session 3 or 4)	End of Term	Student Return Deadline (To Schools)	Buyback Pickups from Schools
Spring 2018	January 2-6	January 8	March 12-21	May 6	May 11	May 14-18
Summer 2018	May 7-12	May 14	June 25-30	August 7	August 9	August 13-17

Please remember that Dual Enrollment Textbooks are the property of Broward County Public Schools and must be returned to schools at the end of each semester. Students who fail to return Dual Enrollment textbooks will have obligations placed on their accounts and may be unable to participate in extracurricular activities or graduation.

2017-2018 K-12 Science Adoption

You can provide valuable feedback on elementary, middle and high school science instructional materials being considered for adoption for the 2018/19 school year. To share your input, visit: http://innovativelearning.browardschools.com/instructional-materials/2017-18-science-adoption/community-review-instructional-materials/

If you have any questions about inventories, materials ordering & delivery, or Dual Enrollment textbooks, feel free to contact me at (754) 321-2620 or via email: dominic.church@browardschools.com

Technology Integration Matrix

What is the Technology Integration Matrix?

The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) is a checklist illustrating ways teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students. The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal-directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003).

The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments. These levels of technology integration together with the characteristics of meaningful learning environments create a matrix of 25 points of evidence, each showing the depth and integration of the learning and technology used in particular lessons.

What is the Technology Integration Matrix Observation (TIM-O) Training?

The TIM-O is a flexible tool for classroom walk-throughs (CWTs) that can be used for formative feedback, peer coaching, grant evaluation, or professional development planning. The TIM-O is a web-based system that works on any device and requires no software installation. It’s designed to guide principals, teachers, and others through the process of evaluating the level of technology integration within a particular classroom. When completed, the tool produces a profile for the observed lesson in terms of the Technology Integration Matrix.

Broward County Public School is offering training opportunities for administrators, teachers, magnet coordinators, media specialists, and district support staff on how to effectively use the TIM-O tool when observing classrooms using technology. Participants in this training will learn how to identify the various technology integration levels and the different learning environments. Collection of this data is extremely valuable as it is a requirement to the state in order to receive our annual Digital Classrooms allocation which helps us to purchase technology and to deliver ongoing professional development.

What do you have to do to become a TIM-O Observer/Coach?

Complete a 1-day TIM-O face-to-face training (Technology Integration Matrix Observer). Four PD trainings were scheduled at our new training facility at Lauderhill Paul Turner Elementary for the 2017-18 school year. Two have already taken place; the next two will occur on 2/15/18 and 4/19/18. You can register for these in My Learning Plan.
Complete a 20-hour online training course (TIM for Instructional Design & Coaching) through Canvas. These trainings are scheduled to run monthly and can be found in My Learning Plan.
Complete the application below and obtain principal’s signature indicating approval of your training participation and ability to conduct observations during the year.
There is a $500 stipend for completing both trainings and conducting five (5) TIM-O observation/coaching cycles (Pre-Conference –> TIM Observation –> Coaching Session –> Follow-Up Observation). These observations can be done at your home school or any school in Broward County.
In order to receive the $500 stipend you must complete the online course after work hours. The face-to-face training can be completed through a TDA signed by your principal.

Navigate to
the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) Observer Application
on the department website.

Global Scholars

Camille Edwards, Coordinator

Global Scholars School Gardens — Sprouting & Growing

Global Scholars are learning about food and nutrition and many schools have opted to initiate school gardens during the planting season. In South Florida, you can plant vegetables before March so there is time for fruits and vegetables to mature before the summer heat and before the end of the school year. Below are examples of gardens in some of Broward’s schools.

Westglades MS

Westglades MS is improving their garden as part of their Global Scholars experience. The garden was initiated as an elective class a few years after the school opened in 2003. Students hope to continue growing quality, organic produce to take home and share with their families or sell back to the community. They got their supplies from a grant from Johnny's Selected Seeds and money the school allotted for the Environmental Science elective class.

They also make a small portion of the money back by selling the produce. They plan to grow tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, basil, cucumbers, peppers, carrots and various flowers and herbs. By creating a school garden, they hope to have a sustained source of produce as well as continue to provide a learning environment that encourages students to grow their own healthy food and develop an appreciation of the rigors of food production.

Lyons Creek MS

Lyons Creek Global Scholars started their hands-on gardening project in December 2017. The students want to cultivate a school garden focusing on all the phases of growing tomatoes, peppers and collard greens. The process started in the classroom with 2-liter bottles, soil, seeds, socks and water. The challenge was to keep the seeds watered while away on Winter Break.

Using the activity shared in the PLC, their teacher instructed the students to cut the liter bottles in half, placed small holes in the top half, inserted tube socks, and flipped it over on the bottom half. By filling the bottom half with water, it dispersed slowing over the two-week break. Their goal is to educate the school weekly through the morning announcements on the feeding our minds and bodies with healthy meal choices.

Attucks MS

Attucks MS has students in Ms. Brownlee’s class planting individual gardens made of donated, recycled cd-cases. They opted to use recycled materials instead of having them end up in a landfill. Ms. Brownlee is purchasing the potting soil and seeds. Students will self-select their seeds to grown in their self-made containers. They hope to get some planting ideas during the field trip to the Patch a local Urban Garden.

They are particularly looking forward to the demonstration on how to create seed banks. They will also be using the Liter Bottle seed starter activity shared in the PLC. By learning how to grow healthy foods and not to waste food, Ms. Brownlee’s long-term plan is for her students to appreciate the effort it takes to cultivate food and the responsibility we share in using it wisely for a healthy life.

Westpine MS

Westpine’s Global Scholars are creating an edible, organic, garden MEADOWS OF WESTPINE (MOW). It is named to honor their retiring principal, Paula Meadows, for her many years of dedication and contribution to student growth.

Well beyond the program’s requirement, it has evolved into a community effort anchored by Lowes Store 1113,

community leaders from the City of Sunrise, Lauderhill and Lauderdale Lakes, and the promise of countless other contributions for its sustainability. The efforts of these entrepreneurial students and their visionary teacher has resulted in a combination of cash, products and services with an estimated value $800.

Apollo MS

Apollo MS finds Ms. Martin’s regular and afterschool students working on designing and constructing a vertical garden using tinkercad.com to design this unconventional, urban-style garden.

Plantation MS

Plantation Middle students are truly enjoying Global Scholars this year. We have learned so much about healthy eating, the environment, and even farming. From Skyping with a Vegan Chef to planting our own garden, our students are sure to contribute greatly to our world in the future.

We have hit some bumps, we’ve been completely grossed out, and we’ve even gotten really frustrated about some things. The good thing is that we have continued to LEARN. We are enjoying this journey!

Silver Trail MS

Silver Trail will soon get to gardening. They have zeroed in on a location for Ms. Green, Ms. Louis and Ms. Wilson’s Global Scholars. The students are just learning about Urban Farming and will begin to grow the seeds next week.

Their first step will be to map out and prepare the area. They also want to get closer to GROWING SEASON/RAINY SEASON before putting plants in the ground. Silver Trails isn’t new to gardening as their work on creating a butterfly garden in 2017 is shown below.

Bair MS

Bair Middle is creating a school garden to show students how they can grow fresh food that is free of pesticides to put on their plates. This process will hopefully help students make better food choices as well as influence their family and friends to plant their own urban gardens.

They got their supplies from a grant from Johnny's Selected Seeds and from their teacher, Mrs. Schaeffer's home garden supply. They plan to grow radishes, pumpkins, basil, mint, and oregano. By creating a school garden they hope to plant the seed for a garden that is one day big enough to supply the school cafeteria with veggies and spices.

Nova MS

Nova Middle students in Ms. Arenas and Ms. Mair’s Global Scholars classes are gardening. In Unit 3 of their Global Scholars curriculum, they are learning about sustainable food systems as an important skill for modern global citizens.

They got their gardening supplies from several sources including Dr. Dierdre S. Wilson and Ms. Ascellia and a donation from The Smile Group. Ms. Arenas says, “We plan to grow a vegetable garden with several types of herbs and more.” By creating a school garden students and their teachers hope to increase Nova families who enjoy plant-based diets and encourage them to develop an interest in horticulture/agriculture.

Microsoft Updates

Microsoft Certified MIE badge Dana Rubenstein, Instructional Specialist
Microsoft Innovative Educator Program

The Microsoft Innovative Educator (MIE) programs are designed to help educators move along a pathway from those who are just beginning to integrate Microsoft tools into the classroom to becoming leaders of innovation in education. Microsoft has developed these programs to recognize global educator visionaries who are using technology to pave the way for their peers for better learning and student outcomes. This is the first step on a journey of joining a professional learning network of enthusiastic educators who come together to learn, share, and grow.

If you would like to become a Microsoft Innovative Educator, registration will be available soon in My Learning Plan for the Microsoft Academy 2-day course in April 2018.

To learn more about the Microsoft Innovative Educator programs, please click on the following link:

https://education.microsoft.com/GetTrained/MIEPrograms

Microsoft Schools

Microsoft offers two whole school programs, one geared for those getting started with digital transformation (The Microsoft Schools Program) and one for those with a mature whole-school end-to-end approach with demonstrated outcomes (The Showcase Schools Program). Each program intentionally focuses on the school leadership team responsible for driving change.

To learn more about the critical components of school transformation, please click on the following link:

https://education.microsoft.com/school-leaders-toolkit/programs

Broward County Public Schools is proud is have eleven (11) Microsoft Schools and District departments where the transformation of teaching and learning is taking place:

Lauderdale Lakes Middle
Maplewood Elementary
Margate Elementary
Pasadena Lakes Elementary
Pembroke Lakes Elementary
Professional Development Standards & Support Department

Pembroke Pines Elementary
Plantation Middle
Quiet Waters Elementary
Sheridan Technical High
Innovative Learning Department

App of the Month

Microsoft App of the Month: Office Lens

Office Lens App turns your Apple iPhone or Android phone into a powerful specialty scanner using sophisticated AI (artificial intelligence).

Office Lens is effectively a portable scanner in your pocket, allowing you to capture pictures of whiteboards, documents, and receipts to save and edit them digitally. The images can also be uploaded to OneDrive, OneNote, Word, or PowerPoint right from your phone.

Office Lens will covert images into Word and PowerPoint files, and even PDF documents. If you take a picture of a document, Word will preserve the layout of the paper document and use optical character recognition (OCR) to convert the image into text. You can also do the same with business cards to generate contacts on a phone. If you’ve taken a photo of a whiteboard then there’s some truly powerful things Office Lens will do. Images can be automatically cropped and rotated, and PowerPoint will even convert hand-drawn whiteboard images into objects that can be moved, resized, colored, and edited fully.

Here's what you'll see in the following video:

Source material viewed from an angle; shiny surface might create digial artifacts making photo hard to read. Photo taken just like this.

MS Office Lens straightens, unskews, and crops the photo creating a scan-like image.

Office Lens pours the resulting image into a Powerpoint document, but could have placed the image into Microsoft Word, and will automatically perform optical character recognition converting the image into text.

View the video:

If you’re taking pictures of papers, receipts, business cards, menus, whiteboards, or even sticky notes then Office Lens will automatically crop, enhance, and clean up the image and export it to OneNote or OneDrive as a JPEG image, or Word, PowerPoint, and PDF document.

Warren, Tom, Microsoft’s Office Lens App Turns Your iPhone or Android Phone into a Powerful Scanner, The Verge, 2 Apr. 2015, www.theverge.com/2015/4/2/8329713/microsoft-office-lens-app-iphone-android.

District News about Microsoft Delve

In the coming weeks, Delve will be made available to all school-based personnel. Recent conversations on the ability of staff to view the title of others' documents, even without being able to access the document, have caused concerns. If you would like to turn-off that feature please do the following:

Using a web browser log into Office 365.
Go to Delve via the “waffle” (the square of squares) on the upper left.
Once on Delve look for the settings icon (aka the “wheel”) (aka the “gear”) on the upper right.
After clicking on settings then click on “Feature Settings” and under the “Documents” area you will find the ability to turn document viewing off. This WILL NOT impact your ability to share documents. Changing this setting will only change the ability to view, or have your documents viewed by others.
Click OK to save the changes.

At this time it is not possible to have BCPS change this setting for all BCPS employees. This setting is coded as on by Microsoft in Office 365. It is your decision on whether to have your document titles by viewed on Delve.

Hoonuit

Hoonuit’s Atomic Learning
News and Updates

January '18 New Modules	February '18 New Modules
Communications between Latino and Majority Communities: Cultural Perspectives for Increased Success (PD/ST) Nutrition, Movement, and Emotional Wellbeing (ST) Preparing for Life at all Ages (ST) MacOS High Sierra (PD) Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2018 — Basics and Advanced (PD) Health and Wellness of Educators (PD)	Depth of Knowledge (PD) Copyright, Copyleft & Fair Use (PD/ST) Adobe Certified Associate Exam Preparation: Print and Digital Media Publication Using Adobe InDesign CC (PD) Updated version of ISTE Educator (PD) Updated version of ISTE Educator (ST)
Legend PD: for teachers · ST: for students

Hoonuit’s Atomic Learning is your resource for more than just tech integration tutorials. You will find great resources on a variety of subjects for both you and your students!

Students, Teachers, and Staff: Atomic Learning can be easily accessed from the Single Sign-On Launchpad, https://broward.identitynow.com/.

The link to Atomic Learning in the BEEP Portal has been removed and you will no longer be able to use your credentials directly at the Atomic Learning website.

Parents can still access Atomic Learning directly at https://www.atomiclearning.com/ using the following credentials:

username: bps + 4-digit school location number + 2 character grade level
(for example: bps1234kg or bps432108)

password: broward

Digital Tools

UPDATE

The Online Assessment Preparation sequences available with EasyTech ensure your students have the skills they need for online assessments. Online Assessment Preparation Sequences provide:

Personalized instruction – following a pre-test, students are prescribed lessons they need to focus on based on pre-test results.
Time savers for teachers – lessons are automatically prescribed to the student.

What is it?

Learning.com provides solutions to help students, teachers, and schools excel in a digital world. Their digital literacy solutions help ensure that students are prepared for success in school, college, and the workplace. Learning.com supports Broward’s move to digital content with tools to build and share district-created digital curriculum. Students will develop critical digital literacy skills including hardware/software fundamentals, keyboarding, word processing, media and information literacy.

Kudos

Congratulations to the following top 5 schools for having the most curriculum launches in Learning.com for the month of January.

⭑ Lyons Creek Middle⭑

⭑ Heron Heights Elementary⭑

⭑ Everglades Elementary ⭑

⭑ Charles Drew Elementary ⭑

⭑ Silver Ridge Elementary ⭑

Who has it?

All students and teachers in 2^nd – 5^th grades, 6^th and 7^th grade digital classrooms, Digital DLA classrooms, and Global Scholar classrooms have access to Learning.com from Broward’s Single Sign-On (SSO) portal.

How can I get trained?

Building K-12 Digital Literacy (Learning.com) (Fully Online Course)

Training will be available to sign up for in My Learning Plan.

Flyer to print and post.

UPDATE

Jumpstart student progress by assigning the updated Reading Skill Checks. You’ll now find two sets of Reading Skill Checks for every grade from 2 to 12, with six grade-level articles and 48 targeted reading skill questions.

Do you LOVE Newsela?

Do you want to take your Newsela learning to the next level?

Are you interested in becoming a Newsela Certified Educator?

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, then sign up to attend the Newsela Certified Educator training on February 24th. You can sign up in My Learning Plan today. Newsela Certified Educator is a training program designed to recognize leaders in the Newsela community. The training program will review the basics of Newsela features, PRO tips, and classroom applications.

What is it?

Newsela is an innovative way to build reading comprehension with nonfiction that’s always relevant daily news. Newsela makes it easy for an entire class to read the same content, but at a level that is just right for each student. Each article is available in five different Lexile levels and contains a standards-aligned quiz for students to complete. Launched in 2013, more than 37 million Newsela articles have been read by students, making Newsela the number one online news source for students.

Kudos

Congratulations to the following top 5 schools for having the most articles viewed in Newsela for the month of January.

⭑ Miramar High ⭑

⭑ Manatee Bay Elementary ⭑

⭑ Everglades Elementary ⭑

⭑ Margate Middle ⭑

⭑ New River Middle ⭑

Congratulations to the following teachers for becoming Newsela Certified Educators in January.

⭑ Lisa Paguaga⭑

Who has it?

All students and teachers in Kindergarten‑12^th grades have access to it from their Broward’s Single Sign-On Portal.

How can I get trained?

Using Newsela in the Content Areas

February 7^th & 15^th

February 20^th

February 21^st& 28^th

February 24^th (Newsela Certified Educator)

February 27^th

March 5^th (Fully Online)

April 2^nd (Fully Online)

Sign up for training now in My Learning Plan.

Flyer to print and post.

What’s New

This new feature in Vocabulary.com allows students to compete with other students in their classroom real time in order to see which team has the better knowledge of different vocabulary terms. You can start a Vocabulary Jam with your classroom, friends, or a whole auditorium.

Learn how easy it is to use Vocabulary Jam in your classroom:

Creating and Hosting a Vocabulary Jam:

Participating in a Vocabulary Jam:

Kudos

Congratulations to the following top 5 schools for having the most number of questions answered correctly for the month of January.

⭑ Margate Middle School ⭑

⭑ Hollywood Hills HS ⭑

⭑ Miramar HS ⭑

⭑ Nova HS ⭑

⭑ Flanagan HS ⭑

Who has it?

All students and teachers in 5^th–12^th grades have access to it from their Broward’s Single Sign-On Portal.

How can I get trained?

Using Vocab.com in the Content Areas (Online Course)

February 12^th

March 5^th

Register for training sessions in My Learning Plan soon.

Flyer to print and post.

SINGLE SIGN ON - HOW IT WORKS

Canvas

Happy New Year Broward Canvas Teachers!

Teachers may need to make a few setting changes in order to see your Semester 2 (or Q3) courses in Canvas for the start of the new semester.

If your dashboard is only showing semester 1 (or Q2) courses, it is due to the fact that you have "favorited" those courses by clicking on the stars under "All Courses." In order to show semester 2 (or Q3) courses on your Dashboard, click "Courses" in the global navigation bar (blue bar.) Then click "All Courses." You might need to scroll to the bottom of your course list to find this link. Uncheck the semester 1 (or Q1, Q2) stars by clicking on them, and check the semester 2 (or Q3) stars by clicking on those. Yay! Now your dashboard will be updated!
If you have content that you want to move over from Semester 1 (or Q2) courses you can easily copy this content to your new courses. You may not want the entire course so be sure to chose "Select Content" rather than "Entire Course". Instructions for copying course content can be found on the Canvas Community at https://community.canvaslms.com/docs/DOC-2685Links to an external site. . You would not want to copy over Semester 1 assignments, discussions or quizzes since students have already completed those activities.

Canvas Tips & Tricks of the Month

How-To Download Broward Approved Content From the Canvas Commons

Canvas Commons is a learning object repository that enables educators to find and download course content to use in their courses.

Broward County District departments have published course content for teachers to easily access.

Click here for a printable PDF version.

Tip of the Month

Happy New Year! In the United States, many of us enjoy the arrival of the January cold because we know we will no longer be bombarded with holiday music being played everywhere, the holiday decorations are able to be packed away, and holiday shopping is once again hundreds of days away.

canvamas

However, I wanted to share with a holiday "12 days of Canvamas" blog post which is packed full of Canvas gifts for the new year. Between December 25th, 2017 and January 5th, 2018, there was a new blog post for Canvas Community members to enjoy. If you haven't started using the Canvas Community, now is the time! Community Managers and Coaches did their best to find items and topics they are sure you will find useful in the new year! Enjoy.

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