MySimpleShow - Show what you know!

Your students can create great explainer style videos in 4 easy steps with MySimpleshow!

Step 1: Choose a template.

• There are many templates to choose from.  
• The "Introduce a Physical Law" template is great for having students create vocabulary videos.

Step 2: Write a script. 

• Each template has various "chapters" for the script.  
• Students write what the voice-over will be saying during the video.  
• Each chapter includes some example text to use as inspiration.

Step 3: Choose visuals.

• Mysimpleshow chooses visuals to represent the key words in each chapter of the script. 
• Student can replace the chosen visuals easily to choose an image that better represents their key words.

Step 4: Add voice & captions.

• Choose the built-in text-to-speech voices or record your own voice.
• Turn on captions so the text of the script will appear on the screen.
• Finalize your video!

Videos can be easily published to YouTube and shared!

Here is an example:

3 Ways to Teach Media Literacy

Media literacy refers to 21st century learning competencies that enable students to analyze and evaluate information during research. Students create messages in a wide variety of media modes, formats, and genres and need to know how to access, analyze, evaluate, and create using all communication tools available to them. Being an informed digital citizen requires media literacy skills. It is important to encourage students to consider the following questions when accessing online information. What is the message? Who is the message for? What is the purpose of the message? Whose point of view is presented? Are credible sources linked? When was it published? What have I learned about the topic?

Teach students how search works.

Teaching students how to search online is a critical component toward becoming a strong digital citizen. There are many search engines, meta-search engines (a query that uses many search engines) and directories on the Internet, which can seem a little overwhelming.  Not all search engines populate or rank results tin the same manner. Encourage your students to utilize a variety of search engines. 

Kiddle is a search engine designed to afford elementary classrooms safe search results to include web, images, news, and video that "satisfy family-friendly and privacy" requirements. Search results populate with a larger easier to read font along with language tailored to students under the age of 10.

Partner with your Campus Librarian and Digital Learning Specialist. 

Your campus librarians and digital learning specialists are a great resource and can assist teachers toward selecting the best resource to fit a targeted need. Check out our elementary library resources to assist in preparing your students toward becoming media literate.

Encourage students to think like an author and create media.

When creating their own media, students should apply the same set of questions mentioned above to understand how others might view their message. When curating content, teach students to follow copyright and fair use guidelines and encourage the use of the creative commons meta search engine for curation purposes. 

Formative Assessment - Part 2

Formative Assessment Menu

Formative is a free student response system that works on any device. Formative includes short answer, M/C, T/F, and Show Your Own Work. Formative provides instant feedback. 20 Ways to Use Formative Formative How To Videos	EDpuzzel  is a platform in which teachers create interactive video assessments pulling from YouTube, Khan Academy, National Geographic, etc.. Create custom integrated assessments for videos they assign for students to watch. Interactive Video Assessment EDpuzzle Tutorials	Quizlet Live allows teachers to select a set of vocabulary words in Quizlet and that set as the basis of a review game that students play in teams. Teamwork and Communication via Quizlet Live How to Use Quizlet Live
TodaysMeet is a backchannel in which students can share ideas, and teachers can check for understanding. Students post in a discussion feed similar to Twitter, summarizing a 140 character response. Transcripts and teacher moderation tools are available. 20 Useful Ways to Use TodaysMeet How to Use TodaysMeet	Padlet provides quick evidence of student understanding, progress, and thinking. Students can add links, YouTube videos, images, and files to a padlet note. Log-ins are not required, improving accessibility. 20 Useful Ways to Use Padlet How To Use Padlet

Formative Assessment

Formative Assessment Menu

Socrative is a free student response system that works on any device. With its built-in quick questions and quiz options, it is an incredible resource for formative and summative assessments.   3 Ways To Use Socrative Socrative Tutorial	A Kahoot is a fun learning game made with a series of multiple choice questions.  Players answer using any device connected to the Internet. 10 Ways to Use Kahoot Kahoot Tutorial	Use Plickers for quick checks for understanding to know whether your students are understanding big concepts and mastering key skills. iOS App or Android App *No need for student devices. More About Plickers Plickers Tutorial
Answer Garden is a quick way to get feedback from students.  No account is required to create your question page. All About Answer Garden Answer Garden Tutorial	Quizziz is an online quiz tool with fun feedback memes.  Question order and answer order can be shuffled to discourage cheating. More About Quizizz Quizizz Tutorial	Google Forms is a versatile, easy-to-use, paperless way to collect student responses. Learn more about using Forms for assessment here or visit the Google Training Center.

Teaching Responsible Digital Citizens

During the month of October, the elementary digital learning team will be sharing resources to assist toward teaching our students to become responsible Digital Citizens in a Connected World. As many of you know, Digital Citizenship Week is the week of October 18 – 25, 2016.  As part of our digital professional learning series, we will host a #bisddlp Twitter chat every Tuesday night from 8-8:30 during the month of October highlighting a digital citizenship topic. Join us tonight as we consider Becoming a Responsible Digital Citizen. 

How do we begin teaching our kids about responsible digital citizenship?

In classrooms where digital citizenship is integrated effectively, teachers often model technology use for their students daily. Modeling appropriate use of technology allows for teachers to naturally incorporate digital citizenship conversations during instructional delivery. Remembering that we are all digital citizenship teachers is a crucial component toward improving a student's understanding of becoming a responsible digital citizen. Here are some resources to teachers begin conversations with our students. 

• BISD Digital Citizenship Scope and Sequence was just launched by BISD's Digital Learning Department and is closely aligned to BISD's CORE (Community of Respect) values. The Digital Citizenship Scope and Sequence contains resources and lessons to help continue important conversations toward becoming a responsible digital citizenship.  

BISD Digital Citizenship Curricular Topics

Fall Semester	Spring Semester
Digital Responsibility	Creative Credit and Copyright
Ethics and Empathy	Media Literacy
Kindness Matters: Community Communication	Cyber Courage

• BISD's Digital Citizenship Posters: Engage and remind students about responsible digital citizenship and order a BISD Digital Citizenship poster. 

What are the 9 Elements of Digital Citizenship? 

What does it mean to be a responsible digital citizen? Being a good digital citizen includes learning about safety concerns, such as how to stay safe while communicating online to protecting private information with strong passwords. Scholars and the international academic community have identified nine elements of digital citizenship. Being a good digital citizen includes learning to become an informed digital citizen, learning how to conduct online research, improving digital etiquette, and how to prevent, stop, and report cyber-bullying.