New School Year - Chromebook Tips!

The new school year is underway and all the Chromebooks have been distributed to 7th and 8th grade students! Mr. Carroll and I presented training this week to highlight key aspects of the Acceptable Use Policy. Students were reminded that the Chromebook is a Hillsborough School District purchased device loaned out to students for academic purposes. This year we are working hard to send out the message to students that activities other than school work are not allowed on these devices. Especially in class, there will be a consistent message from all teachers that off-task usage will elicit consequences.

Online gaming was an issue that created distractions last year, so this year we are working hard to send the message to all students that online gaming on the Chromebooks will not be tolerated. We have blocked as many of the common online gaming sites and students were told that all online games - blocked or unblocked - are against the rules. If students want to play games at home, most families have many other options for doing so - laptop or desktop computers, gaming stations, cell phones, etc. These other options for gaming are usually covered under household rules and families have set up limitations for gaming at home. Please let me know if you are having a problem with your student gaming on their Chromebook, we can investigate online activity and come up with a behavior plan that will help you manage Chromebook usage at home.

We want all parents to see and believe in the value that Chromebooks add to students' learning experience and join in with the teachers and the district to make this a positive experience for everyone.

Mr. Carroll and I reviewed the insurance program offered and how to best protect the Chromebook. You can do three things:

1. Purchase the insurance - this is a great deal and you will wish you had it when your student comes home with a cracked Chromebook!

2. Your student needs a Lunch Recess Storage Plan! Urge them to store the Chromebook in their locker or leave it in their 3rd or 4th period class during lunch. The WORST thing they can do is to put their Chromebook in their backpack and go out to play on the blacktop.

3. Purchase a good case. This will protect the Chromebook and prevent damage. Here are three options that we like for the 7th and 8th grade Chromebooks:

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-11-6-Inch-Laptop-Tablet-Bag/dp/B00DUGZFA6/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1441315704&sr=1-4&keywords=11.6+inch+laptop+case&pebp=1441315707802&perid=1M0QPSD0YSWVB2DNYDCA

 http://www.amazon.com/Case-Logic-AUA-311-11-6-Inch-Chromebook/dp/B009PIORNE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1441380770&sr=1-2&keywords=case+logic+11.6

http://www.amazon.com/Case-Logic-QNS-111-Chromebook-MacBook/dp/B003WCAX5A/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1441387646&sr=1-3&keywords=case+logic+11.6&pebp=1441387649086&perid=11633MCYWYR3YZM003KM

Educating and Parenting in the 21st Century!

Sorry I have not posted much lately but here is something that all parents might find useful, interesting and worth thinking about. I recently had a parent email me to find out if YouTube could be blocked on the student Chromebooks. Here is my response:

Dear Parent,

I am assuming you are having some issues at home with your student on YouTube when he is supposed to be doing something productive. I can completely relate to this issue because I have two daughters in the 6th and 9th grade and it is a daily problem for my wife and I.

YouTube has a vast resource of great educational video content and its use in school increases every year as more and more is added. Yes, the teachers do use these resources in their classrooms and do often ask students to view video content on YouTube at home for homework. There are websites and apps now that allow teachers to take YT videos and add stopping points, questions, discussions… so this is an extremely powerful teaching tool!

From the beginning, HCSD has decided to leave YouTube accessible for our teachers and students; I am thankful for this. Less progressive districts have not made this choice and are limiting their students and teachers educational experience. There are so many resources out there now that if your child does not have access to YT – he will find another resource to watch videos he wants to see. This also does not consider all the other devices in a modern home where YT is not blocked – cell phones, itouch, ipads, laptop and desktop computers. This is just world we live in.

Some things we do at my house are:

1. Know the passwords to email, google, cell phones and check history and email/chat discussions – my kids know this and we let them know we are aware of what they are doing online.

2. Have a check in time – all devices are checked in at night. My 6th grader is not allowed on her Chromebook in the morning and gets her itouch after her morning duties and her room is clean!

3. Our philosophy is – if the grades are good then we don’t worry too much. If the grades are not good we tighten the access to their devices. This has worked so far.

I know some families who put a timer on their Internet router and at a certain time it goes off – no access at night – for anyone in the family.

This is a huge parenting issue and we are the first parents who have to figure out how to deal with this amazingly huge resource and distraction called the Internet.

I feel your pain! It is a new world and not anything like how we grew up. I hope the above points help you to put this into perspective and offers some ideas for your family.

Mr. Hager

Eighth Grade Science Aviation Unit

Eighth grade science teachers, Amanda Siegel and Stephanie Newblanc decided to do something different with the Flyoffs this year. They have been learning about Design Thinking and decided to integrate what they learned into the 8th grade aviation unit.

Using students' Chromebooks and the teacher dashboard application Hapara, the teachers shared out design process logs and assigned students to work in small groups to build a custom plane and document their learning. Students recorded brainstorming, prototyping, design inspiration, daily process logs, flight logs, and goals for their next steps. They used their Chromebooks to collaborate on this research and documentation and the teachers were able to track each group's progress through shared documents. Mrs. Siegel and Mrs. Newblanc found that the students were fully engaged with their learning during this project. They were able to work together to troubleshoot issues and solve problems and the Chromebooks allowed ease of access to research information, assignment documentation and ongoing teacher feedback that help direct their learning experience.