Instructional Technology Special ists Dr. Brian Blanton Instructional Technology Coordinator

Ann Armstrong K-8 South Area

Sharita Leonard High Schools Impact Academy Academy of Advanced Studies

Brittany Ware K-8 North Area

Tracina Wyatt K-8 Central Area

this issue

DOK with Technology Tools P.1

PL—Tech Enabled Task Group P.2

PLN on Twitter P. 2

Infinite Campus—Parent Portal P.3

Teacher Spotlight P.3

EdCamp Recap P.4

2 n d E d i t i o n I S S U E

F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 5 H E N R Y C O U N T Y S C H O O L S

01 Click IT Learning & Leadership Services

Instructional Technology

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) provides a frame of reference of how students engage

with content. DOK looks into the kind of thinking and cognitive rigor required for students to complete a

given task. There are four major DOK levels:

DOK1: elicits recall and reproduction

DOK2: focuses on basic application of skills and concepts and simple reasoning

DOK3: expects strategic thinking and complex reasoning

DOK4: requires extended thinking

Depth of Knowledge is an essential component of 21st century skills. The pictogram below shows several

technology tools and apps that can be used to achieve the different DOK levels. Other resources are availa-

ble to assist with categorizing activities into DOK levels: DOK Wheel, Introduction to DOK, Increase Rigor

with DOK

Twitter can be used as a

Professional Learning Network

(PLN) to connect, share, and

network with other educators

across the globe. Check out this

awesome Twitter Guide for

Teachers and begin your own

PLN today!

Get Started by Following

These Departments in

Learning & Leadership

CTAE—

@CTAE_HCS

Henry County BOE—

@HenryCountyBOE

Instructional Technology—

@ITS_HCS

Language Arts—

@LA-HCS

Math Dept—

@Math_HCS

PE/Health Dept—

@PEHealth_HCS

Science Dept—

@Sci_HCS

Social Studies Dept—

@SocialStudies_HCS

World Languages—

@WorldLang_HCS

(In the next issue, find out if your

school is on the Twitter Roll Call!)

Join us Thursday

Nights at 8:00 pm for

the GAED

Twitter Chat!

#gaed

Don’t know how to participate in

a Twitter Chat? EduBlog has a

Handy Guide for Teachers

Personali e r ing Tech Enabled Task Group

So what is Technology Enabled Learning and how does this impact the role of the teacher? We’re hearing the term technology enabled learning quite often these days, so what do we really mean when we use the term and why is technology enabled learning an important part of our district’s 2020 Vision? Technology enabled learning is leveraging the tools of technology and digital content in a way that allows teachers to provide the learning opportunities they value most. Among the challenges of having 30 or more students in a class is addressing the learning needs of each student. When quality digital content and online instructional resources are used to provide learning opportunities for some students, this allows a teacher to give more targeted attention to individual students and smaller groups. In this way, technology enabled learning enhances the teacher’s role and enables them to spend more time directly working with students. Technology enabled activities can also allow students to acquire skills and concepts at a pace that best meets their learning needs and provides opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know in a variety of ways. The Technology Enabled Task Group has been conducting research, reading articles, watching videos, and is building a rubric of what one would see in a technology enabled learning classroom. According to School Keys, appropriate current technology is fully integrated throughout the school and is heavily used to facilitate communication, collaboration, research, design, creativity and problem-solving. This statement has really helped us to focus on building the rubric. We are also actively searching for experts, resources, websites, and model schools for this important area. Our next task is to focus on professional development in the area of blended learning. We want teachers to have a solid understanding of what blended learning could look like in your school and have a professional learning plan in place to support you throughout this process! We look forward to serving you! Check out the Technology Enabled Learning web page to learn more about this exciting tenant of Personalized Learning!

Standards Based Grading (Grades 1-4):

Traditional Grading:

When a grade is POSTED for the Term, the

grade appears in Green and the In-Progress

Grade (which updates as more grades are

entered) appears in Yellow. The yellow grade

should reflect the student's most current

average in the course.

The Click: Teacher Spotlight

Darcel Hogans, Walnut Creek Elementary

Ms. Hogans is a 4th Grade, Talented and

Gifted Teacher at Walnut Creek Elemen-

tary. She has been in the Education field

for over 20 years having served as a

teacher of all Grades K-8 (except 3rd &

7th), an Assistant Principal, an Assistant Director of

Day Care, as well as Director of Education for a Head

Start Program.

Ms. Hogans has been a teacher leader in her building

using technology to engage her students by encourag-

ing the use of their own technology and incorporating

apps such as Infuse Learning and Aurasma.

Ms. Hogans’ Teaching Motto is: “Everybody is a geni-

us. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it

will live its who life believing that it is stupid.” – Albert

Einstein

Q& A with Darcel Hogans:

What advice would you give to a new or struggling teacher? I would say don’t give up. Learn from other teach-ers. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Just because you are the teacher does not mean you have all the answers. If you could have one teacher superpower, what would it be? LOL…..my kids say it is the ability to hear. However, If I could have a superpower it would be knowing exactly what every child needs in order to grow. School should be a place where children want to be, if school is scary or hard the entire process is just a waste of time.

Provide an example of how are you a teacher leader: I am a teacher leader because I am always trying to find ways to help other teachers. I love technology and most teachers find it a little nerve racking. I do the research, sort through the terminology and bring it back in teacher terms. When I began teaching I like a lot of other teach-ers found it difficult to find my way. I wasn’t sure of what was my strength. I realized that I couldn’t teach on my own, I needed the help and guidance from other teachers. During my breaks, I started going from classroom to classroom of as many teachers as I could. From this interaction I built my own teaching style. I feel as teachers we should be willing to give back. We all should have our hands out to help pull up our fellow teacher.

If you could have any person (living, dead, or fictional) as a principal, who would it be: If I could have any person as a principal it would be Marva Collins. I have always admired her educational career. I have her books, and have watched her made for television movie more than once. She no longer teaches, however she now trains teachers on her education philosophy and methods. I would love to go to Chicago just to watch her in action.

on the portal. Any scores,

comments, flags entered for that

assignment are shown as well.

Parents can click on the Report

menu to print a hard-copy of the

report card and/or progress

report for the current term.

Parents can click on the Grades

menu to see a snapshot of the

current grades. This view varies

by grade-level.

This year the parent portal is

open for all Henry County

Schools. Parents, guardians,

and students can get up-to-date

information on student’s

academic progress by utilizing

Campus Portal. Progress

reports and report cards are also

available via the portal. Parents

can access the portal by creating

their own username and

password utilizing the activation

code sent home by the school.

If a parent doesn’t have that

activation code, they can obtain

it by going to

www.henry.k12.ga.us/

campusportal and click the link

for IC Parent Info. Parents will

need Student ID Number, Social

Security Number, and Date of

Birth.

What Do Parents/Students

See on the Portal?

As soon as you enter an

assignment, it is viewable

Information on using these tools and other

technology resources can be found in the

Technology Knowledge Base!

NOTE: Dr. Hogans accepted a promotion in another county after the writing of this spotlight. Congratulations!

Click IT 2nd Edition—Issue 01 February 2015

Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/EdCampSouth

Follow us on Twitter @EdCampSouth

The first EdCamp South was held on November 15 at Eagle’s Landing High School. About 50 people attended

this event from Henry, DeKalb, Clayton, Gwinnett, and even Hamilton County in Tennessee! Those in

attendance also served as session presenters at one of 30 sessions held throughout the day. Session topics

ranged from Learning Google Docs, to Personalized Learning in the Math Classroom, to Twitter Sessions (led by

students). Participants were able to keep track of the session titles and times by downloading the YAPP app for

EdCamp South. Participants were served breakfast donated by Waffle House and lunch was donated by

Olive Garden, Mellow Mushroom, Italian Oven, and Bliss cupcakes.

Visit the EdCamp South webpage for more information!