More #ISLconnects workshops after Easter

We have now offered 5 different workshops and are very grateful for your support in signing up for them. We are all lucky that Nancy has arranged for subs to be found for teachers who have classes at the appointed times. The most recent workshops were:

• Digital Pics and Flicks
• Search Me!
• Noodletools 101

More than 20 colleagues attended these three. We have had 48 attendees for our whole series. Many fed back that they learned a lot and had time to apply their new skills in the workshops. They would pass on the message to others.

So after Easter, we will be offering the same three workshops again on various Tuesdays, period 3:

Tues 2 May, Period 3 - Digital Pics and Flicks, presented by Becky Burnett
Sources for digital images and creating your own pics and movies with Adobe Spark.
Signup: bit.ly/picsflickssignup

Tues 9 May, Period 3 - Search Me, presented by Steve Weatherell
Techniques to teach your students how to use Google search effectively for research projects. Come away with some free posters for your classroom!
Signup: bit.ly/searchmesignup

Tues 16 May, Period 3 - NoodleTools 101, presented by Marion van Engelen
How to use this tool to help your students with their research projects, organise information and thoughts on a topic, and cite their sources in MLA 8 format, at a level suitable to them. Excellent for use with the IBDP Extended Esay!
Signup: bit.ly/noodletoolssignup

Emailing your classes from the LMS

When I want to contact the students in my classes  or their parents, I use the LMS. I'm not sure all of our colleagues are aware of this function within Final Site which I find easier than INSIS. The instructions are below in the slideshow with a summary on the final slide.

More #ISLconnects workshops dates!

Teachers at the #ISLconnects workshop

It's hard to know when you are going to find the time to learn about all those shiny tech tools people keep talking about. The time is now!

We are delighted that the school is providing cover for teachers who sign up for the new series of #ISLconnects PD workshops. Last Tuesday, the first group of colleagues joined Steve for "Cloud documents in the classroom". We will conclude this week.

On Thursday this week, Becky will teach the first "Collaboration and Thinking Routines" workshop. It is already fully subscribed!

For those who missed them but would like to join us, we will be repeating the same workshops before the February half-term. Please sign up for any workshop that interests you and at the same time put in your application for a substitute through Cascade (mentioning #ISLconnects in the 'additional information').

Below are the new dates in the programme:

Workshop	Date(s)
Using cloud documents with your students - Research, Create, Share, Collaborate (2 sessions)	Tues 7 Feb, D day, p3 (1045-1145) and Tues 14 Feb, B day, p3 (1045-1145)	Sign up here
Collaboration and Thinking Routines Online - Padlets, Digital Whiteboards and more (1 session)	Thur 9 Feb, G day, p3 (1045-1145)	Sign up here

Using cloud documents (Two 1 hour sessions - you should attend both)There are many reasons to learn the skills of using Google Drive etc. These include: no more heavy attachments nor multiple versions of the same resource; embeddable in the LMS; contain multimedia resources; exist in many formats including Microsoft; great for student group-work. Learn these skills and more (based on Steve's 'Power and the Point' presentation).

Collaboration and thinking routines (1 hour session)Promoting collaboration online with organized activities using digital whiteboards and Padlet. We will use specific backgrounds to sort ideas, and even learn to create unique backgrounds to utilise in these tools.

If your team is interested in inviting us to deliver one of the workshops during your collaboration time, please get in touch and we will be glad to oblige.

The workshops we are offering were inspired by the consultation about effective lessons at the staff meeting of 30th November 2016 at which 'collaboration' was identified as a key feature. We have many ideas for other workshops, including Digital Literacy and Digital Projects; The Flipped Classroom and Top Tools for Curation and Creation, with yet more to follow. We are happy to prepare other topics on request.