Hemet Learns Together

The Hemet Learns Together Website has launched!

HemetLearnsTogehter.org

For the last two weeks, a large team of Hemet Unified School District staff members (myself included) have been working diligently behind the scenes to develop this hub of enrichment resources for TK-12 students, parents, and teachers to utilize during the COVID-19 school closures. 

The HUSD will be providing hard copies of weekly grade-level enrichment learning materials and suggested activity schedules for students and parents during lunch pick-ups (visit HemetUSD.org for pick-up locations, days, and times), but these resources are also available digitally on HemetLearnsTogether.org.  Teachers can share these optional enrichment materials with students via Google Classroom if they choose to do so.

HUSD Elementary Suggested Activity Chart

HUSD Secondary Suggested Daily Schedule

The new website, HemetLearnsTogether.org houses these materials and much more including answers to FAQs, Special Education resources, English Language Development resources, Social-Emotional (Academic) Learning resources, and fun Daily Challenges for students. 

Take a few minutes to explore and let us know what you think on the feedback form!

Feedback Form

Teach from Home by Google for Education

Teach from Home by Google for Education

This is why I LOVE 💖

Many teachers around the country are finding themselves in uncharted territory due to the COVID-19 mandated school closures.  Suddenly, virtual teaching and learning has become our reality, and many educators are not feeling equipped to provide this type of instruction to their students.

Well, the amazing folks at Google for Education recognize the anxiety, stress, and fear that this is causing teachers everywhere, so that is why they developed the Teach from Home website.  This website is a "temporary hub of information and tools to help teachers" with facilitating virtual learning.

Through short tutorials, teachers can learn how to teach remotely with or without using video calls, how to make lessons accessible to students, how to keep students engaged, and how to remain in contact with colleagues for collaboration.  It's a one-stop-shop for teachers to develop their virtual teaching skills!  Check it out!!!

Free Subscriptions to Educational Resources

This has already been shared on multiple platforms, but just in case you haven't seen it yet, this is a growing spreadsheet of educational companies that are offering free subscriptions to their programs during school closures.

http://www.amazingeducationalresources.com/

At the top of the spreadsheet, the curators of this list include how to contact them if you know of something that should be added to the list. They are continuously updating it, so bookmark it and check it back often!

This is a great opportunity to look into some of these platforms that you may have been scoping out, but that you didn't want to pay for! If you find that you are really loving a particular program after testing it out over the next couple of months, once all this Coronavirus stuff settles down, you may be able to make a case to your site/district as to why a particular program would be a valuable purchase for your district to make for its teachers.

Some of my favorites on the list are: CK-12, Class Hook, CommonLit, EdPuzzle, FlipGrid, Kahoot, Kami, Mentimeter, Nearpod, Newsela, Peardeck, Quizlet, Readworks, & Screencastify.

From those listed above, if I had to pick my top three that I know I would utilize in my ELA classroom, I would choose Peardeck, FlipGrid, & EdPuzzle. 🤓

🍐 PearDeck is awesome because I can make any of my Google Slides presentations interactive to nearly ensure 100% student engagement and participation, and it is a great formative assessment tool to inform instruction.

📹 I also love FlipGrid because of its ability to provide students a voice in the classroom on a fun digital platform that is similar to social media interactions.

🧩 And finally, I so appreciate how Edpuzzle gives students the ability to learn through video at their own pace while allowing me to digitally check-for-understanding. Edpuzzle videos are also great to utilize in a station rotation model at an "independent learning" station.

These three programs also easily integrate with Google Classroom which is another reason why I'm a fan! 👍🏼

For the ELA teachers out there, what are your favorite tools to facilitate learning in your classrooms? Comment below...👇🏼

Despite the COVID-19 Closures, Learning can still Happen at Home

All last week, I saw this coming like a tidal wave.  I knew it was a matter of time before we would be mandated to close our schools.  I'd been seeing all week long in the EdTech world on Twitter, in Facebook groups, and through my network of fellow EdTech professionals, people coming together to help each other prepare for what was about to come.  I came to two major realizations during this time period.

1) We (as in the majority of public educators) are completely underprepared to facilitate distance learning in "normal" circumstances, much less in the middle of the chaos of a global pandemic.  So, upon return, there is much work to be done on that front!

2) Although the facilitation of distance/remote learning is likely not to happen in many school districts during the mandated school closures, LEARNING can still happen at home despite most parents not being prepared to become homeschool teachers overnight.

I've seen lots of posts containing ideas of what families can do on their time off together to foster relationships with each other and combat boredom during quarantine (ie. playing board games, doing yard work, exercising, etc.). Sticking to schedules and limiting screen time is a must in times like these.

However, in this technological age, there are a multitude of digital platforms that students can utilize at home without a whole lot of "instruction" or "guidance" from an adult.  That doesn't give grown-ups a "free-pass" to neglect to monitor children on their devices; obviously, kids should still be monitored while online.

My EdTech team partner, Terri Patterson @pdtechgal and I, worked hard last week to curate some of these types of easy-to-use digital programs and resources to share with parents and students in our district.  I modified our original lists to exclude programs that are district/site-specific and curated a new one that literally any student from any district could use and learn something from if they have a device and Internet access.  There are three lists linked below categorized by elementary, middle, & high school.  Browse, explore, & share!

Click here

Click here

Click here

This is not a comprehensive list, but it's a good place to start to keep learning from home.

Also, check this awesome list of Virtual Field trips curated by Mrs. Fahrney.

Google Classroom Rubric Tutorial

ATtech EDU recently posted a short tutorial for how to use the new rubrics feature in Google Classroom!  Check it out below!

Subscribe to ATtech EDU's YouTube channel to view more videos like this!

Check out Google's Support page for detailed step-by-step written instructions for creating rubrics for your assignments in Google Classroom!

Breakout EDU's Free Digital Games

Because of the many school closures due to the Coronavirus, many EdTech companies are providing free access to tools, resources, and programs that students can utilize at home to continue their learning while off-campus.  One of those companies is Breakout EDU!  They've put together a collection of digital games that students can play at home and they've organized them by age group:  K-2, 3-5, 6-8, & 9-12.  Click the image below to access all of the free games!

Infographic: The 100 Most Spoken Languages in the World

Check this out!  Click the WordTips image below to see an infographic of the 100 most-spoken languages in the world (source).

On an EdTech note, having students create infographics to demonstrate their learning and practice graphic design is something that I see more and more teachers doing these days!  Some popular tools to create Infographics are Canva, Piktochart, and Easel.ly, but this can also be done in Google Slides or Google Drawings!  

Google Slides/Drawing Tip: Change the size of the infographic to whatever size infographic you need it to be! 👇🏼

Explore these tools to see how you might be able to inspire some amazing digital creations from your students!