The 2017 Aurora Borealis Student Film Festival

It is with sincere pleasure we invite the entire APS community to the 2017 Aurora Borealis Film Festival on Tuesday, April 11^th at 5pm.  The festival will showcase the best student films from middle and high school students across the district.  All are welcome to attend and there is no cost for admission.  All student submissions accepted this year will be screened at the event followed by an awards ceremony and photos.  All students with accepted submissions will have their photos taken on the red carpet in celebration following the screening and awards ceremony.  This is a FORMAL EVENT so please plan you wear your best and look sharp, it will be a great celebration.  We are very happy to announce the location of this year’s Aurora Borealis Film Festival will be the Sie Film Center on East Colfax.  The Sie Film Center has been host to the Denver Film Festival for 40 years and has hosted a large number of famous stars.  We are very excited about providing students the opportunity to engage with the center as well as show their films in an authentic theater where great films have been screened throughout the years.

You are more than welcome to share this information or pass along to anyone you think might be interested. If you would like more information you can visit the Aurora Borealis Film Festival Website at http://bit.ly/apsfilm2017 or contact the film festival team at apsfilmfestival@gmail.com.  We look forward to seeing you there!

CLICK HERE FOR A MAP & DIRECTIONS TO THE SIE FILM CENTER

Last Call for Film Submissions to the 2nd Annual Aurora Borealis Film Festival

Today at 11:59pm MDT marks the deadline for all student film submissions to the 2017 Aurora Borealis Film Festival.  The festival is open to any APS student in middle or high school grades. Students do not have to be enrolled or taking a film class to be eligible and they can submit films they've created on their own.  The maximum time limit for all films is 5 minutes, they can be as short as 30 seconds if a students wants to send a quick message.

For more information, the Aurora Borealis Website has all the details and it can be easily accessed at: http://bit.lyapsfilm2017 from any device with an internet connection. There are a few rules and restrictions to take note of as well as opportunities to view the accepted submissions from 2016. Any submissions for the 2017 festival can be entered through the website until 11:59pm MDT today.

The 2017 Aurora Borealis Film Festival will take place on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 with a start time at 5pm MDT.  The location for the 2017 festival will be the Sie Film Center at 2510 East Colfax Avenue in Denver, CO. which is home to the Denver Film Society.  The festival is open to anyone and is free of charge so feel free to come join us if you are interested in seeing the student films.

If you have questions or need information not contained on the website, you can email the film festival team at apsfilmfestival@gmail.com. We hope to see you there!

Have a Hoot with Learning & Assessment!

I was recently able to use the online tool Kahoot when facilitating some professional learning. I had heard about the tool over a year ago but never tool the chance of using it when leading a session. The feedback I received from the use of the tool was extremely positive. Users were incredibly engaged with the experience and had tons of fun while going through a simple quiz game I had created.  There was laughter and excitement which made the learning fun and interesting.  I found it incredibly easy to use the tool and engage my audience which provided an atmosphere of genuine learning.

Kahoot is a simple and easy to use tool in any learning environment. You can sign up for free and create assessments quickly and easily which is a crucial component to any learning environment. Kahoot works on any device with internet access including all mobile devices. One of my favorite features is the ease of use for participants. There is no need for them to create accounts to participate. Each "game" or activity that you create has a special pin and the only thing your participants need to get started is to enter the game pin and their name.  Another great feature is the ability to override or "veto" any inappropriate or misused names. If any participants enter names that aren't correct or are inappropriate, you can immediate reject them and they are dismissed from the game.

It's incredibly easy to get started with Kahoot. This VIDEO allows you to get started using Kahoot in under 3 minutes so there's no need to worry about spending hours learning a new tool. You'll need to visit getkahoot.com to sign up and create your first game/assessment as well as facilitate it.  Your participants will go to kahoot.com to play and enter the game pin. I created my first interactive experience with Kahoot in about 15 minutes and we were off and running. Participants earn points for correct responses but it doesn't end there.  Points are also awarded for how fast they respond which means the element of competition is very clearly present at all points of the game. The person who responds first gets the most points awarded and so on. I loved watching the looks on participant faces as they worked to respond as quickly as possible with the correct answer.  After each question a summary of the leader board is displayed allowing the competition to grow even stronger. Life involves competition and participants love fun, friendly competition so let's incorporate more opportunities in our learning environments.

Kahoot will provide instant feedback to the participants in terms of right or wrong answers.  It also will provide you a summary of participant responses to each question so you can easily collect great data to reflect on at a later time or when the game is finished. The data can be downloaded as an excel spreadsheet for easy analysis or you can also save it directly to Google Drive if you prefer to utilize your Googliciousness.  Either way, you can have access to instant data and make real-time instructional decisions to support your learners. You can even replay any of your previous Kahoot's at anytime so learners can challenge themselves to beat their previous score(s).

The next time you're thinking about assessing learners or want to have a conversation with them that involves data collection, check out Kahoot and watch the engagement soar.  Learning can be fun and Kahoot is one simple tool to bring the fun and engagement into your learning environment.  If you have questions or would like support with additional strategies for utilizing Kahoot in your instructional practice, contact your APS EdTech Coach.  It will certainly be a hoot!

Engage Students in Digital Learning with NHL Hockey

In partnership with the Colorado Avalanche, Everfi has released a powerful new tool to engage students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning.  This new tool is entirely free and web-based so it can be used on any device.  It involves incredible interactions with the game of hockey from the engineering of skates to the area of the ice to finding angles of puck passes.  It's also perfect for second language learners as it has great audio directions to accompany the text.  If you are interested in using the great new tool to enhance student learning, check out the additional information below.

Untether Yourself From Your Whiteboard!

If you routinely project work/lessons/interactive websites for students (whether on a Promethean board or just a screen), you know the frustration of having to be tethered to the board or to your keyboard. With an iPad and an app called doceri, that frustration is gone forever!

Doceri installs on both your iPad and the computer attached to the projector. Once that is done, the two devices connect, and your computer screen is then mirrored on the iPad, giving you control of your computer from anywhere in the room.

APS Launches Teacher Leadership Academy: Apply Today for the 2015-16 Pilot Cohort

+Jessica Cuthbertson is our guest blogger this week.  She is creating and facilitating teacher leadership pathways in order to recruit, support, develop, and retain effective educators.

This school year APS is piloting a Teacher Leadership Academy in order to recruit, support and retain effective educators and develop a teacher leadership pipeline across the district. Twenty P-12 emerging teacher leaders will be selected to participate in this experience, which includes job-embedded coaching support and blended professional learning opportunities. All participants will develop a learning lab classroom by the end of the school year and gain confidence and expertise hosting colleagues and reflecting on their practice through videotaping and supportive protocols. Participants will also select one of three pathways within the Academy: National Board Certification support, graduate coursework and completion of the Teacher Leadership certificate through CSU-Global, or re-licensure credit.

Questions? Contact Jessica Cuthbertson, Teacher Leadership TOSA. 

Click here to apply today! Applications are due 8/21/15.

The World's Largest Lesson

What kind of learning are your students engaging in during the week of September 27th?  The countdown to connect with colleagues across the world who have created lesson plans across disciplines in order to help student develop big ideas around human rights, poverty and environmental issues begins today...

Professional Development on your Schedule!

Promethean Board...check
Computer...check
Student Devices...check
Now...How do I use it all????

Your Ed Tech Coach is ready to help you with using these tools and more.

Did you know that you can have an Ed Tech coach come to your school and teach a group technology class?

There are many topics to choose from. Your coach can design a class to meet the specific needs of your group. Whether you want to improve your skills with Google or start using an online environment to blend your instruction, Ed Tech is ready to help you meet your professional development goals.

Nearpod or Pear Deck?

If you are getting comfortable with your classroom set of  Chromebooks or iPads and are ready for the next step, Nearpod and Peardeck are waiting for you. No longer do you need to present a lesson on your whiteboard and then have students complete the related assignments on their devices. Nearpod and Peardeck allow you to connect with your students in innovative ways. These powerful, web-based tools allow teachers to present information to the whole group or individuals. Then students show their understanding through quizzes, drawings or responses that are sent back to the teacher during the lesson.

Padlet for Instruction

Want to increase creative and innovative practices in your instruction?  Check out this great free tool called Padlet.  Padlet is an incredibly easy, web-based tool that teachers can use for free in any instructional environment.  Padlet offers a platform where teachers and students can post information, ideas, or create projects.  The basic structure of Padlet is a digital "wall" where anyone who has the URL for that "wall" can post based on the settings.  If you're looking to enhance creativity and innovative practices in your instruction, consider using Padlet as an instructional tool. Click HERE to check it out now or watch this quick video that showcases some of Padlet's features for instruction.

iPads as a Teacher Tool

So, you’ve got a brand new iPad...or maybe it’s not brand new, but you’re not sure how you could use it in your classroom. Your iPad can be a transformative tool in your classroom: it can free you from your whiteboard, free you from your laptop during lessons, take pictures of student work and project them instantly and then allow you or a student to annotate the work from anywhere in the room.

iPads a great mobile devices for monitoring notes - not only can you create handwritten notes, but you can add pictures, annotate on the pictures, and quickly send the file to cloud storage such as Evernote, Dropbox, or an email account. The recording features allow you to capture video or audio in your classroom directly, or even create a tutorial video to share with students who are absent. Your iPad combined with a video you’ve created is a great tool to put in front of a group of students that might need to hear a lesson again for reinforcement.

"Got Clickers?"

"Got Clickers?"

We all know formative assessment is important: checking for understanding, on-the-fly adjustments in class, and planning for differentiated and relevant lessons is part and parcel what teachers do day-in and day-out. A few years ago, "clickers" came on the scene and transformed the classrooms lucky enough to have a set. However, having enough money to purchase clickers for every classroom is a huge challenge.

Enter "Plickers." This free tool is an amazing alternative to expensive multiple-choice clickers.  All a teacher needs is an iPhone/iPad or Android device, the cards from the Plickers website, and a few minutes to create the questions.

Finding Possibilities in New Standards

Recently, a small group of APS school leaders met to read and discuss the new standards which require students to use digital texts and tools. Using some documents that highlight these standards, the group discussed which of the standards seemed most important to them and how these standards connect to the work that happens in classrooms at their schools.

I got to listen.

Using Primary Sources in a Digital Classroom

Blending the Old and the New

Technology moves us into the future at a breakneck speed.  In our rush to move forward, we may forget where we have been.  Use technology to show your students history and interact with it in ways that were not possible just a generation ago.

How can you bring valuable and sometimes rare objects into the eyes and minds of your students? Look no further than your fingertips. Browsing through the Library of Congress can make history real. It is one thing to read a speech given by past orators, such as Martin Luther King Jr. but wouldn’t it be better to invite his voice into the room?

A primary source is a document or physical object which was written or created during the time under study.  Sources present during an experience offer an inside view of an event.

Go to  www.log.gov to begin your search.

In a few short clicks you can read Dr. King's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, listen to him as he spoke in Oslo, and then see the telegram sent by Senator Edward Kennedy congratulating him on his award.  Share these documents with your class for a writing assignment, discussion, or to build background knowledge.  With the Internet, these amazing artifacts of history are literally at your fingertips.

Follow this link to see for yourself:

From the Library of Congress homepage, follow the education links (www.log.gov/teachers/) for full lesson plans that align with the CCSS and thematic unites.  They even have free e-books for iPad classrooms here.

If you just don't know where to begin, start following the Library of Congress on twitter @teach with LC.  They have quick facts, documents or links to spark your class discussions.

As As we head into the fast-paced future, the Library of Congress lets us keep our past in the rear-view mirror.

Purify Your Videos in 2015

Tired of videos filled with ads and related links? Want to use YouTube videos in your instruction but concerned that students will get distracted by all the related video options or be exposed to inappropriate content?  Purify your videos in seconds to use them in your instruction on a daily basis.