Nashoba Innovates PD March 6th

I was delighted to see Dr. Tony Wagner present at our district professional development day on March 6th! Our Our district selected his book Creating Innovators and our department read the book.

This was not the first time I read his book!  Several years ago, I read the book the book and it informed my thinking as the booked discussed portfolios, Olin College and High Tech High in San Diego. After vising Olin College with member of my department, the trip inspired us to explore Project-Based Learning and Design Thinking.  So, I was pleased to re-read the book and discuss with member of my department.

We created a journal, read the book and watched the videos together over the last several months (we created a journal and a wakelet) to curated the information!  This year I created portfolios for all students in the high school as a learning goal!


Students presented their portfolios of work (POW) in the student showcase during PD. Dr. Wagner visited the showcase and met with students to discuss their projects!

Below is the link to the presentation and links to students portfolios!
http://bit.ly/nashobaportfolioshowcase










More information   - to be updated!



Other great sessions that I attended - Deeper Learning Through Authenticity and Real World Experience with http://tomdriscolledu.com/nashoba  Book: In Search of Deeper Learning
The Portrait of a Graduate https://nashobapd.weebly.com by Nipmuc admin was excellent!

Hour of Code

We are back working on Activities for the #HourofCode this week!
Lots for Resources https://comsen.se/347DEBN
Updated information on iRobot Google Lessons and more!

Link to the the presentation http://bit.ly/nashobahoc or here

Google Trainer - Re-certification and Resource

It's that time of year again to re-certify as a Google Trainer. This involves a multi-step process.
Quick Summary
- Submit Evidence of training's
- Re-certification test
- New this year (Create a Workbench Account)
- Submit a Resource (Google Keep update - http://bit.ly/usinggooglekeep )

More Google Specifics here.
There are 3 requirements that you will need to complete by January 31, 2020 to ensure your recertification. Please note that this year’s requirements slightly differ from previous years.

1. Report at least 12 training sessions from 2019 in Activity App (gweb-edu-activity-app.appspot.com)◦ There is now a “bulk upload” option to easily upload all your training sessions at once via Google Sheets (vs previously, you were only able to log them one by one)2. Pass the short recertification product update exam http://bit.ly/2RgH4zu (with at least a score of 70%)◦ All of the answers are in this study guide: What’s New from Google for Education (http://bit.ly/2Rfo0l1)3. Sign up for a Workbench account (edu.workbencheducation.com) using your Activity App email address◦ Our private Trainers resource database is now on this platform, which houses thousands of useful resources and lessons submitted by the community
*Your voices and opinions are very important to us, so based on the recent concerns on our recertification announcement, we decided to make this year’s recertification process easier on you by removing the requirement of having valid L1 and L2 certificates (of course it is still highly encouraged)!

Please visit the comprehensive FAQ doc (https://bit.ly/33K7jAH) for more details on each of the 3 requirements. If you still have further questions, please contact the recertification alias listed in the doc.

Google Updates with Audio in Google Slides

Google announced last spring we would have the ability to insert audio into a Google Slides presentation.  We are starting to the roll out this month.  Eric Curts provided a a great blog post last spring on adding audio - here

Populating Portfolios with content

Now that grade level portfolios are made, content teachers have been adding pages for Business, English, Social Studies and Science with images, text and slide decks to be used for labs!

So awesome to have teachers share!

Portfolios for high school - just do it!

I’ve been using a combination of the new google sites and classic.
I been waiting fir the new google sites to have the ability to created a template for high school students. It’s been a few years and the new google sites still doesn’t have this capability, like classic sites does. So I decide to work with my English teachers to create high school sites. Over the last or so week or I hit every freshman class to create a portfolio for all four years and moved into sophomore students this week. I am collect them all with a certain naming syntax, by year of graduation  along with English teachers name and class period. In addition, I am have student add other portfolio links from photography, video, multimedia and graphics.at the same time I am working with teachers to determine what a “Freshman - English 10 page might collect as an artifact.
I also want to provide freedom for students to add work they are proud of to their sire. I hope to have all of the portfolios created over the next few weeks and discussed at parent conference at the end of  October along with leadership, department chair, teacher and student buy in. Lots of work but long over due! Stay tune for updates.
Presentation http://bit.ly/portfoliosatnashoba and screencast
Example a student site https://sites.google.com/nrsd.net/portfolio2023msmith/home
more details coming on a Google Site https://sites.google.com/nrsd.net/portfolio2023jdoeexample/home

Fall - PLT form with EQ
Description:Student Portfolios & Web Tools:
 Are you looking for a way to showcase student work? This PLT will provide you with the framework to build robust, innovative, and collaborative portfolios unique to your subject. Join us in this session to explore portfolios and learn new web tools to enhance your teaching.
Lesson Plan and Applied Skills with Sites

Back to school

Post #pineapple charts
Rotation stations
Design thinking challenges