A New School Year in Edmodo: Managing Groups

For those of you using Edmodo this school year that have used it in the past, you may find yourself trying to manage old and new groups. If you have your current class join an old group, they will be able to go back and view all the old posts from you and students in the past. But if you create a new group, you can start fresh.

Remember to add a new group for a class or subject, click the plus sign (in the full website on your computer.)

You can click the box next to each group to change the color for easy visual differentiation.

 

A couple tips for saving posts and content from old groups to use again with a new group:

• When you click "Show All" under your groups, you can hide a group from your home screen but still save the group to refer back to later. Click the star next to the group. A solid star means it will appear on your homescreen. An outline only of the star means it will only appear when you click "Show All" again (perfect for old groups to which to refer back.)
  
  
  
  
  
• For any old content you may have linked or uploaded, it should already be saved in your library. You can save old posts themselves in your library for future use, also. Hover over the post with the content until the settings gear icon appears and choose "Add Post to Library."

Do you have any other tips or ideas for using Edmodo you can share with others?

Scheduling Tool for Parent Teacher Conferences: Sign Up Genius

Some of you are starting to think about parent teacher- conferences next month. Dreading the back and forth papers and creating a schedule? Let an online tool do the work for you and go paperless!

Check out Sign Up Genius. The setup process walks you through several easy steps and then you're done! It should take about five minutes. It allows you to set up time slots you are available, then you can invite parents. You have the option to email parents directly from the site or just copy and paste the link to your signup page on your website, in an email to parents, etc.

Example of what a Sign Up Genius page looks like for parents. You can also create signups for other events, requests for volunteers, etc. 

Have any of you used this or another online scheduling tool? If so, what was your experience?

Highly Engaging: Skype in the Classroom

We're excited to share a site of resources with you for Skype!

You're probably familiar with Skype, the video call program. With your teacher laptop, you can easily set up a video call with another classroom. Face the built-in webcam to your students, and project your screen so your class can see the class with which you are Skyping.

Skype has a site devoted to educators: https://education.skype.com/.

• There are a number of lessons you can search through by subject and age range. 
• You can connect with guest speakers and other teachers looking to do a lesson. 
• One of the most popular activities is Mystery Skype. It's an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim is to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other questions. It's suitable for all age groups and can be used to teach subjects like geography, history, languages, mathematics, and science.

Imagine how excited your students would be to connect to another classroom across the country or even world! Talk about a highly engaging lesson! Check out the short video below for a glimpse of Mystery Skype and the enthusiasm it brews in students.

We hope you consider trying a lesson using Skype, an opportunity to teach "above the line" on the modification or redefinition level of the SAMR model .

If you're looking into using Skype with your students, connect with Elizabeth to help you get started. You'll need to make sure you have the Skype program downloaded first, then installed via a tech ticket because of the required admin password. Then come back and share your class' experience in the comments below!