AACPS OIT Byte

By: Koralina McKenna, Teacher Specialist, Office of Instructional Technology It’s that time of the year again; perhaps the most dreaded time of year - testing season. Where teachers everywhere scramble to keep their students engaged with meaningful content in between this test or that. For me my greatest challenge during this time was trying not to overwhelm the brains of my fresh-out-of-testing students with brand new material or highly rigorous activities without completely blowing off my instruction.  I spent my planning periods trying to delicately map out how to keep my classes in sync, debating whether to introduce new content or review prior content, all while managing my own stress brought on by testing.  This is the tightrope walked by teachers everyday but I found it particularly arduous during testing season. With this post I offer you the gift of ready-to-use activities, challenges, games and more. Below you will find a wide range of whole group or individual optio...

by Debbie Ray, Office of Instructional Technology Teacher  Specialist Many of you may remember the Office of Instructional Technologies’, Splash Page. This was great as it helped users access approved applications in one place. The problem was that users had to sign-in to all those applications which took up very valuable instructional time, and you could not customize your page. So the county needed a customizable application that would provide a way for all users to access applications without having to login multiple times. ClassLink provides that single sign-on solution that enables teachers and students to access web-based applications on any device. There may be some applications that need a login, but ClassLink is the portal that opens the door to all of the applications in AACPS.  Believe it or not, we have had ClassLink for about five years now. What an asset it has become for teachers and students! I know as I accessed ClassLink each day, I wondered if I could change...

 By Kerry Doring, Art Teacher, Glendale Elementary As a third year Elementary Art teacher, I am still collecting new strategies for my instructional toolbox. Over the past few weeks I decided that I was going to focus on the Self-paced courses from OIT that would help add variety to the way I deliver content to my students. So far, I have participated in the following self-paced courses: WeVideo, Paper to Digital, Engaging Digital Lessons, Google Sites, Google Forms, and Other Google Tools. My favorites were Google Sites and Engaging Digital Lessons, and I look forward to self-paced Wixie. Because the courses are self-paced and broken down into sections, it was easy for me to complete them on my own timeline, a little bit at a time. In addition to the readings and videos, there are opportunities to try all the strategies for yourself. I’ve learned about the abundance of tools and resources we have access to, such as virtual field trips or digital templates and examples. We’ve all ...