(CMS/GMS) Update for Week of 12/8/14

Hello Everyone,

Google Classroom

Google has been developing a learning management system that allows teachers to create, distribute, and grade student assignments within Google Drive called Google Classroom.  Like most Google products, it is constantly being improved upon and updated as users (like us!) provide feedback.

This feature is not yet turned on for our WWPRSD domain. This week, the technology resource team tried out Google Classroom. After exploring it, we thought it is at a point where it is ready to be used by teachers and students; it has many features similar to Hapara's Teacher Dashboard and some other ones as well. We would like to see a few teachers try it out with their students so that we can get some more feedback.

We are looking for a small number of volunteers who are interested in piloting the use of Google Classroom, in grades 6, 7, and 8 (team or off team).

Please let us know if you are interested before the winter break as we are hoping to begin piloting Google Classroom when we come back in January. We will, of course, provide you with support and training in using this system as well as help you however you might need in implementing it in your classroom.

Here's a link with more information about Classroom: https://www.google.com/edu/products/productivity-tools/classroom/

Lunch and Learns
After winter break, we will be offering group training sessions (discussions, demo lessons, or share outs) on a variety of technology related topics during lunch periods. These sessions will be open to all teachers, so keep an eye out for the dates and topics which will be posted soon. 

We will continue to be available for team and/or department meetings as well as one-to-one sessions.  Don't hesitate to reach out to us with any of your ideas. 

General Survey
Thank you to everyone who filled out the general survey.  If you haven't filled out the survey yet, please do. This information will help shape future district, building, and department level professional development:


Have a great weekend!

~Allan and Melissa