Chromebooks + Innovative Teacher = Engaged Students

At N.R. Burger, students, in Mr. Jarrod Odom’s seventh grade history class, are working on an exciting project using their Chromebooks.  The students had to select their favorite city and use the five themes of geography to describe the city.  They also had to use the internet to research three facts for each theme.  Once the students gathered the information, they created websites, using weebly.com, to display their information.  The students incorporated not only information about the city, but also used pictures and videos as well.  The students published their websites, you can view a couple of student examples by clicking on their names: La'Jadia Jones and Carmen Brown.

Here is a short Q and A with Mr. Odom.

Q: Why did you decide to do this project?

A:  I chose to to the project this way because it provided an interactive way to learn about various cities across the United States and the World.

Q:  What unit is your class studying about right now?

A:  We are studying the 5 Themes of Geography which was part of the Unit “Intro to Geography.”

Q:  What learning objectives did you have in mind when planning this activity?

This activity allowed the student to meet several learning objective standards including Writing Standards 6.7, 6.8, and 6.9 a and b. (Research to Build and Present Knowledge)

Q:  Did the students enjoy this activity?

A:  The students had a wonderful time working on this project.  They were engaged and excited throughout the entire activity.

Get Going with Google Hangouts

By Dr. Will

Google Hangouts is a group chat feature, which allows the user to set up a video chatroom with up to 10 people. A user can start a Hangout and a notice will go out to everyone in that user's Circles that the user is “hanging out.” A user also has the option to invite specific people to a Hangout. To gain entrance into the chat-room, a user simply has to click on the invite link. 

The on air Hangout is a Hangout that is broadcast live, recorded and uploaded to the user’s individual Youtube Channel. These are great for leading discussions, for communicating with parents and community leaders, for connecting teachers and schools together within a school district, as well as for using the Hangout to deliver professional development, such as creating conferences like Google's EduOnAirconference. You can also use the on air Hangout to bring in guest speakers, to do class projects with other classes - Think Global Read Aloud, as well as teach online classes. The possibilities are endless. 

This week Ms. Potts', JMG, and Ms. Gipson, Business Academy, both used Google Hangouts to bring in experts to speak to their students. Ms. Potts' class did an air GHO (Google Hangout) with social media specialist Ryan Pena, who spoke to the students about a career in social media. While Ms. Gipson's class did a Q&A with Diana Kander, who fielded the students' questions about entrepreneurship. 

The students were engaged and asked questions of the speakers. Please see the videos below. 

A Career in Social Media with Ryan Pena

Q&A with Diana Kander

If you are interested in your classes doing a GHO, please schedule a training, and I will assist you in finding a speaker for your class.

How To: Create a new "IT Incident" in ServiceDesk

To create a new "IT Incident" in ServiceDesk, start by opening Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer and go to http://servicedesk.hattiesburgpsd.com.

Next Click on the "End User" link (the small square icon) located on the ServiceDesk login page.

After clicking this link you will either be automatically logged in to the ServiceDesk or presented with a login page.  If automatic login does not work, you will be presented with a username and password login box.  In this case, you will use your network login account (First.Last) with your district password.

You will see the ServiceDesk website where you can put in a ticket by clicking the "Log New Request" button.

Then just fill out all the relevant information about your issue.  Below is a sample request where I have filled out all the required information.  Some of the fields may be filled out for you automatically. Otherwise, please click on the arrow on the right to choose a category. NOTE: When you click on an arrow at the end of a form entry area, there might be a pop-up window created where you make your choice. You may have to turn off your pop-up blocker for the "End User Request Form" page.

Once you're done, just click the Save button (looks like a floppy disk) in the top right area of the form. You will be notified via email that your ticket was created as well as the technician to whom it was assigned.

The Kitchen Metaphor

Ok,

All analogies and metaphors break down at some point but hang with me for a second. I would bet that few people realize that the HPSD Technology Department and boardroom building was originally a school cafeteria. We still have a couple of fruit flies that we can't seem to get rid of so I bet there is fifteen or twenty-year old fruit somewhere in the ceiling or walls.

At any rate, the technology has . . .
many, many pots on the stove . . .
stuff bubbling up constantly . . .
a well-seasoned staff . . .
a smorgasboard of technologies to administer . . .
etc. (feel free to comment with your own kitchen-related phrases . . . just be nice!)

However, in the middle of all the work, I hope that we, as a department, have a focus that provides the best customer service to our administrators, teachers, and students that we can. This doesn't mean that we can say, "Yes" to every request but will try very hard to keep our table set with the best tech "dishes" we can provide.