It is with sincere pleasure we invite the entire APS community to the 2017 Aurora Borealis Film Festival on Tuesday, April 11th 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!
Looking for Lesson Plans to Teach Google to Secondary Students?
CS-First from Google has the answer
CS-First from Googlehas recently published video-based lessons for teaching Google to grades 7-12 students. This course uses instructional videos and creative projects to teach students how to use G Suite applications. Students will develop digital literacy through creative projects.
You will be prompted to connect to your Google account (use your @aurorak12.org) and school.
Next you will create a class and be given a class code for students.
Benefits and Features:
Prepares students for future careers. Prepare them with practices like communication, collaboration, and research
Contains project-based curriculum that allows students to apply their new skills to real, relevant problems.
Teaches students to behave ethically online. Digital citizenship is embedded in the lessons and encourages student to use technology tools safely and responsibly.
Utilize the videos for a blended learning model in order to give individualized attention and foster student growth.
Personalizes learning for students by giving them the opportunity to explore their interests, use their strengths, and develop important skills and ideas.
Students gain computational thinking and programming skills along with creative problems solving.
Lessons are more than "how-to" use an application. Students express ideas, collaborate with others, analyze and solve problems, and create.
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!
As an ed tech coach, I am often asked questions about limiting internet access for students. “Can we block youtube?” “How do we block this game site?” “We need to block facebook.” APS has a progressive view on site availability: we recognize that there can be excellent academic and relationship building reasons to leave social media sites accessible by all and we also know that shutting off one game site just means another game site is discovered the next week.
BUT...I empathize with the questions. It's understandable that teachers and principals might want limits on availability. Students finding ways to spend their entire class time on youtube searching for music videos instead of researching the Civil War is frustrating - and the least scary thing about open access. Cyber-bullying, violent or sexually graphic images and videos, and child predators on internet sites aimed at children are infinitely more concerning. So what can we do about sites like youtube - which can have both excellent resources for students and teachers AND truly objectionable material?
Film/video is a passion for students of all ages. Through film production, students gain access to a wide variety of 21st century skills that prepare them for their futures. Along with those skills, students are able to explore their interests while voicing their opinions and views about the world in which they live. Student film is an opportunity for everyone to hear about the ways in which students interpret the world and solutions they possess to some of the world's problems. It can also be a great way to understand their thinking and allow us to tap into the things that drive their desires and dreams so that we can hopefully support their efforts and achievements.
On May 11, 2016 Aurora Public Schools will host its first annual student film festival the "Aurora Borealis". The film festival will provide an opportunity for APS students to showcase their film production talents. The festival is open to all students in APS who have a desire to write, capture, produce, and edit their own short films, videos, or commercials.
The festival will be an Academy Awards of sorts to recognize and highlight the work of students within the district this year. Anyone is welcome to attend the event and view the student work while engaging in the socializing that will be present at the event. Light refreshments will be served along with opportunities to connect with various students, parents, teachers, district personnel, and community partners.
View the official 2016 film festival teaser video below.
Literacy skills are necessary components of any content area. They are often becoming a focus for students of all ages and all classes in schools. Research has shown that students with strong reading and writing skills are able close achievement gaps and have accelerated learning experiences. One of the essential components to becoming a successful reader/writer is good feedback. When students receive timely, actionable feedback on their writing, they are able to improve dramatically.
Providing feedback for student writing can be overwhelming and time consuming, however, technology is quickly making it possible to provide students with almost instant feedback when it comes to the foundational skills necessary to become a great writer. JoeZoo Express is a great new tool that can save teachers large amounts of time in providing feedback to students and quickly get them moving forward. Take a look at this video to see an example of how it works.
The Chrome Extension called "Language Immersion for Google Chrome" is a free service that changes a certain number of words on a website, blog, etc to any one of 64 languages Google currently translates.
It's easy to install and has five settings (novice to fluent) to differentiate the difficulty for the learner.
At the novice level, a few phrases in each paragraph appear in the chosen second language. At the fluent level, entire paragraphs are translated. On top of that, the translated phrases are highlighted and toggle on click between English and the translated language. The extension works on any webpage that is not https - generally, any webpage that is not password protected or requires a log-in.
Being able to differentiate assignments in Google Classroom is an oft-requested feature. We know that differentiation done well is one path to creating an equitable learning environment for all of our students.
Currently, there are work-arounds such as attaching multiple versions of a google doc and directing students on which assignment to choose or using a google sheet add-on such as Doctopus to manage the differentiation. But like most work-arounds, those choices come with an added layer of complexity for the teacher and/or the student.
How about a solution that's quick, easy, and most importantly, instantly responsive to the student's needs in the moment?
Erich Ball, Social Studies teacher at Aurora Hills Middle School, came up with a method he has termed "Scaffold-Blasting."
Along with bookmarks, your app launcher in Chrome can save time and frustration by giving you quick links to oft-used apps and websites. However, the default app launcher however contains google apps that you might not use. Wouldn't it be cool if you could customize it? Enter "App Launcher Customizer."
Super simple to install, easy to configure, and wham-o-presto, you have a customized app launcher. Below is a link to a help sheet to walk you through it.
+Kevin Riebau is our blogger this week. He is sharing an opportunity with you to help leverage effective, innovative instructional methods and tools with APS students. Deadline to submit your proposal is September 30th.
Have you ever found yourself wanting to take part in some learning, but without having to commit to meeting the instructor or classmates at a particular time and place? You have until September 28th to register in a MOOC, a Massive Open Online Course, through the Friday Institute. Upon completion, the course could be used towards licensure renewal.
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.
Did you know that Google puts on a live conference that you can join or later access on your own time? This year's Education on Air conference was hosted in May over the course of two days. Take a look at what you can access at your fingertips today, tomorrow or whenever...
How would you like to take part in discussions and guide your own learning with colleagues and experts on your own time, wherever you are - a cruise ship, at the office, or on your patio? Though Twitter may not be new to most of you, using it to enhance your learning and build your professional network might be something to explore. Here are some ways you can get started:
Great teachers are experts at integrating real-world content or realistic experiences into their instruction. With a summer full of activities, travel, and fun experiences, teachers can easily use their mobile devices to capture artifacts and experiences that can be used for instructional purposes during the upcoming school year. Integrating real-life experiences into instruction provides sustainable and lasting impressions on students that create connections to solidify learning. Here are some suggestions on easy ways to collect great experiences and moments using Google mobile apps.
Have you ever found yourself wanting to take part in some learning, but without having to commit to meeting the instructor or classmates at a particular time and place? This summer and throughout the school year, you may want to take advantage of a MOOC, a Massive Open Online Course.
Mark your calendars for May 28, 2015! From 9 AM - 1:30 at Columbia MS, your APS Ed Tech team is hosting a district-wide unconference.
What's an unconference? Glad you asked :)
An unconference is a professional learning event where the agenda is created by the participants on the day of the event. Anyone who attends can be a presenter because the underlying assumption is that all teachers and administrators are professionals worthy of sharing their expertise in a collaborative setting.
After having just left a stimulating and productive meeting/professional development/conference, you come away with a list of ideas to implement, follow-up meetings with colleagues to schedule, situations to troubleshoot and not enough time in a day to get from point A to point B.
