Welcome to RCE Summer On-line training. This year we will hit a few new things and
revisit some old ones. There is no
connection between the different assignments and they really do not build on
each other until you have finished them all and they will be connected at the
end. Each assignment should take you
about 2 hours….or I should say you will get 2 hours of credit. You will need to read through the assignment
and then complete the assignment by writing a response to the questions at the
end of each assignment. To take this
summer’s learning to the next level – don’t just respond with your answers but
rather look at what others have commented on, add to, embellish and then come
back and respond to what others have written.
Just as in your classroom, there is the basic assignment,
support for the “remedial” learner, and enrichment for the gifted and talented
or over achiever. Feel free to do
whatever feels best for you. Know that
in the basic assignment, there are short instructions with very little support,
in the “remedial” support you will be
given more information and possibly some graphics to help you finish. The enrichment section will just give you
more ideas and suggestions to integrate into your classroom.
A big
thing to remember as we work through using technology – technology is only a
tool – a tool to help make things easier, more efficient, or more
motivating. In your classroom, don’t try
to force technology….it should be the “natural tool” to make things smoother
and better for you as an educator. Just as with any other tool, allow for
choices. Not all students will be
interested in all things. If you gain
one “AH HA!” moment this summer, let it be that technology is a tool!
Just because I like to do the hardest thing first…the first
assignment is definitely the most difficult and time consuming. After you complete the first section, it is
downhill from there!
Have fun, think about how this will help you next year….the
purpose of the summer on-line training is to give you time to explore what is
available for your classroom. As a
reminder, make sure your name is attached to any response you make…either by
using your google id or by putting your first name and last initial at the
beginning of your post. The way I
give credit is to check to make sure you wrote in each blog session.
Lesson 1:
Reading in a New Way
Technology continues to be a driving force in education. However, good teaching comes from integrating
technology in a seamless way. Using
e-books is a great way to integrate technology into the classroom. At Rummel Creek we have several types of
E-Books that can be read using many different devices. For this segment you will learn about the
e-books that are available for you to use with your students at RCE. Some of these resources are available
district wide; others are limited to only Rummel Creek students as we are the
funding source for the materials.
Why
e-books? Most of the e-books
that have been selected for Rummel Creek are multi-user – which means that more
than one student can check out a book at a time. You could have your entire grade level or
classroom read one book together on various devices. Many of our titles are best used on Wi-Fi,
rather than downloading on your own devices, however many of them can be
downloaded as well.
With the e-books – every book can become a “big book”. No need to scan, no need to do all kinds of
work to make the book show up, just open up a title using your activeboard –
you have a book to share with your class.
With the interactive ability of the promethean board – you should easily
be able to click through a book from the front of the classroom!
Enrichment:
Why
use an e-reader
What
e-books does Rummel Creek have?
Well, outside of the district books, RCE has almost 300 titles of
e-books ready for students to read. The
easiest way to find titles for RCE that are e-books is to go to the Rummel
Creek On-Line Card Catalog. If you have
never tried this – follow these directions to the on-line card catalog – you
have this at your fingertips anywhere you have access to the internet.
Go to the Spring Branch Home Page
Click on IRMS
(Library)
Click on Campus
Links (Rummel Creek)
At this page,
you can log on using your SBISD log on creditials – using your log in gives you
more access to materials and you can place holds on something that you want
Click on the CATALOG tab across the top.
This will take you to the on-line card catalog for RCE
On the next
screen, you have many pull down choices.
If you select electronic book as the material type, it will only search
through the e-books that we have at RCE.
This is a great place to start.
If you try this handout it will give you directions for using Destiny Quest –
which is the “hip” side of Destiny. It
too will search the e-books (There is also a list of the e-books at RCE you can
click on).
Assignment:
Spend a few minutes perusing the e-books available at
RCE. You will notice that most of the
books are Non-fiction. Thinking ahead to
our transition years, the acquisition of books has been to support your
classroom and curriculum needs. Also,
most of the titles are for multi-users – meaning that all of your class could
access the same title at the same time.
Open an e-book. Click
on the table of contents, the glossary, and the index. Follow this handout for more
information on using the particular books.
Each company we purchase from has a slightly different way of
accessing. As long as you log in, you
will have not have as many issues. So
make sure that you log in first.
From the handout (one
used to send home with parents) you will see that some books (those from
Follett) will allow you to make markings in the books and take notes. The notes will only appear under your log in
– not the students. Students may also
mark in their books as well. Play around
with marking and highlighting in the e-book you are using. Open it up again later, and you will see that
it will still have your notes. How Cool!
More e-books are available on the Library
Resources Page – Click on e-books and read all of the information about Overdrive. You may want to download overdrive on one of
your devices. Look at the district books
that are available. Most of these are single
user licenses – only one person can use at a time.
Still more e-books are available on the DATABASE page: Pebble Go and the Power Kids Science. These e-books are designed to read over the
web.
Another cool thing about e-books is that most of them do have
an audio link to read the book.
Select an e-book – click through it and try all of the things
that it does. Imagine your students using e-books in your
classroom, homework, research….how can using the e-books stimulate unmotivated
students.
If e-books are not enough – check out the other databases
found on the Library Resources Page.
(Check my e-mail for the password list!)
On the
blog, respond to these questions –
How can you see e-books help your students in reading? Do you think some students will want to read
more with an e-reader or not? How will
you incorporate the e-books that are available in your classroom? How can e-books be a tool to use in your
classroom?
