Tech Integration Idea of the Month: March is Reading Month

Come visit me over at my blog to check out ways technology can be used to support March is Reading Month!

Play YouTube Videos without Advertisements

Have you heard of quietube.com? Quitetube.com is a website that allows you to stream YouTube videos without advertisements at the beginning of the video, or as many distractions on the rest of the page. This could be great for the elementary classroom if you don't want those not so educational advertisements to distract your students.

To begin using it simply go to quietube.com and drag the quiettube icon into your bookmarks toolbar as shown below.

Now you are ready to find your videos. Go to youtube.com and find the video you wish to show in class. Once you have selected your video click the quietube button in your bookmarks toolbar. 

This will bring you and your video to quietube.com to play advertisement free!

Accelerated Reader App for iPads & Automatic Downloads

Many teachers at Godfrey Elementary are using the iPads in their classrooms for AR quizzes and progress updates.  Before the Apple ID's were created, some teachers utilized Safari to access Accelerated Reader. If you would like to use the app simply go to the App Store on one iPad and search AR, then download the AR app.

In order to make sure that all iPads that are attached to your classroom Apple ID download all apps automatically you'll need to turn on Automatic Downloads for apps and updates. To do this go to Settings>iTunes & App Store>Then turn on both apps and updates under the heading automatic downloads. This setting will make it so you only have to download the app on one iPad and it will automatically push it out to the other iPads that are attached to your classroom Apple ID.

Rebel U 2014 Call for Presenters

It is that time of year again!  Time for Rebel U planning for the fall!  There is a lot of planning that goes into this event, which is why we have to do our call for presenters well in advance of the actual date.  Please contact us if you have any questions about our professional learning day or presenting for Rebel U. Our call for presenters is open now until this Friday, February 28. 

Account Management Best Practices for Student Devices

With the addition of technology devices in the district this year, teachers and students have had a number of new things to learn. In our district devices are not issued to one single student. Almost all of our devices are shared among a number of different users. This can cause problems when students fail to logout of the different accounts they use daily.  Another problem happens when web browsers ask students to save or remember passwords.  Students who are not logging out or are clicking yes when asked to save or remember passwords are vulnerable to having other students log in as them, modify their work, and send emails as them. Please take some time to advise your students to always logout of all of their accounts and the computer when they are finished. This will help reduce the chances of students deleting the work of others.

RebelNet Logout

Google Apps Logout 

Integrated Technology Instruction at Godfrey-Lee

About a month ago, we sent out a survey to our teachers asking them to share three ways they use technology as an instructional or student learning tool.  Our purpose in putting this survey out to teachers was to gather ideas of best practices for ways that technology is being used within our district.  We opened the survey to teachers for a few weeks and collected many great ideas!  Some data about the teachers in our district that voluntarily participated in our integrated technology instruction survey is show in the charts below.
The chart below provides a snapshot of the ideas collected from teachers.  To see a further breakdown of the chart below, please click here to view a full spreadsheet.  To see a full list of the ideas provided by teachers, please click here.

Deployed Devices

Throughout the years, our Tech & Media Team have deployed many different devices in the buildings in our district.  In many ways, these devices are our "students" that we are responsible for, much like teachers have their own students they are responsible for every day.  We strive to the most amount of up time for our devices and provide the best possible customer service to our staff and students.  As we often encourage our teachers to share cool things that are going in their classrooms or with their students, we thought we would share some of the cool things about our "students"!

Currently, the chart provided below shows the percentage of our total devices as they are distributed among the buildings in our district.
As the amount of devices has significant increased over the past 5 years, we thought we would take a moment to share a little breakdown of the kinds of devices found throughout our district as well as how they are spread among buildings.

Below is a chart that shows the types of devices deployed in each building.
Below is a similar chart that shows the type of device and how it is distributed throughout the district.
Further building breakdowns can be found via the links below.

• Early Childhood Center (ECC)
• Godfrey Elementary (GEL)
• Lee Middle School (LMS)
• Lee High School (LHS)
• East Lee Campus (ELC)
• Administration
• School Board
• District Overview

New Addition

Mohamoud Nur

The Godfrey-Lee Technology and Media Team is proud to announce the addition of a new Network Technician. Mr. Mohamoud Nur was approved by the Godfrey-Lee Board of Education and has started his tenure here in the district.

Mohamoud attends Davenport University and currently possesses an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Computer Networking and is seeking a double Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Networking and Network Security. Mr. Nur has also obtained certifications in relevant fields.

With the continuation of our 1:1 Technology Initiative and the addition of many more mobile devices throughout the district, the need for this position has never been more necessary. Mohamoud will begin assisting in the deployment of our mobile devices, then he will be working alongside our Network Administrator to ensure our network is secure and capable of supporting State testing initiatives as well as future device roll-outs.

Please welcome Mohamoud to the family and be sure to let him or any other member of the team know how we can help you.

~Townsend