Cool Tool Alert -- My Website!

 Did you know I have a website? I do! There's a link to it at the bottom of my emails in my signature! This website can be a great resource for you AND your students! What's there? Let me give you a sampling!

• Link to my TeacherEase resource website -- everything you ever wanted to know about using TeacherEase (and then some)!
• Resources for teachers, including
• A link to this blog
• A link to apply for a #ChannahonPride sticker
• A link to request an iPad app
• Videos for various demos, like how to force a copy of a Google Doc, using Google Keep, creating contact groups in Gmail
• Doing Google image searches
• ...and many more!
• SOPPA information -- get all your SOPPA questions answered!
• Resources for students, including
• Resources for Google Drive
• Resources for Google Classroom
• Resources for doing effective Google searching
• Resources for Google Docs
• How to use Flipgrid
• eLearning Resources
• Technology Information for New Teachers -- which might be useful for ANY teacher -- things like
• Info about our district 1:1 program
• SAMR
• The 4 C's
• Twitter
• The CSD 17 app
• Google Certification information
• Flexible learning spaces program
• A Just for Fun page with fun videos and websites -- not necessarily educational, but fun for a brain break!
• A Page called Inspiration File
• Originally created for students in the Dream Lab at the junior high
• Articles and videos featuring kids who are making a huge impact in this world
• Designed to provide inspiration to our students that if they can dream it, they can do it!
• A page dedicated to online searching information for students to help them understand how to do an effective search!
• Special pages created at YOUR request!
• Need a space for resources for your students? I can do that!
• Current example: digital breakouts from last year's Fall Fest at TRS (they're still there in case any kids want to try their hand at a digital breakout).

So now that you know all about my website, let me know: what resources do YOU want added for YOU? What resources do you want added for YOUR students? What pages do you need me to add?

Cool Tool Alert -- Cleanup.pictures

 I've got a great tool for you and your students to use today for super easy photo editing! Check out Cleanup.pictures (yep, that's the address for the website!) -- you will be impressed at how easy it is to use!

Simply upload a photo, then adjust your brush size, and drag over what you want removed. You might need to go over something larger or darker more than once, and it might not always be a prefect removal, but it will get the job done! Check out the before and after pictures of me and my daughter, Becky!

Before

After

Please note that you should NOT edit images that you do not have permission to edit! That means if you find a picture on the internet (aka Google image search), you need to make sure you found a picture that allows editing/modification. If you're not sure, don't edit the picture!

Want to see Cleanup.pictures in action? Check out this demo video!

Cool Tool Alert -- Grackle Docs/Slides/Sheets

 Today I want to share a cool tool with you that has the potential to be especially helpful for students who may need documents or files converted to PDF form so they can used by a screen reader or for other accessibility options. Some students may need documents that are accessible for various reasons, but how can you know if your Google Docs, Slides, and/or Spreadsheets will convert well to PDF so they can be used effectively by the student? That's where Grackle comes in.

Grackle is a suite of add-ons: one each for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Once the add-ons are installed, you can open up one of your files and scan the file with the add-on. It will check for numerous accessibility features, like headings, photo text, and font readability among numerous other things. It will show exactly where issues are and offer suggestions for how to fix them so that your file and a resulting PDF of the file are useable by all students, but especially by students who may need those accessibility features.

Watch this short video to get to know Grackle a little bit better. Let me know if you try it or if you'd like some help with it!

ISTE Standards for Students -- Breaking Down Being an Empowered Learner

 In this post I would like to do a deep dive on the first ISTE Standard for Students -- Empowered Learner. Here is what that standard says directly on the ISTE site:

Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

1a: Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes.

1b: Students build networks and customize their learning environments in ways that support the learning process.

1c: Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

1d: Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use and troubleshoot current technologies and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

What do those standards mean? What does it look like in a classroom? I could easily share my own interpretation, but nobody needs me to do all their thinking for them. Why don't we jigsaw this! Let's have each building share their thoughts on one of the components in this Jamboard! Here's how to do this:

1. Open the Jamboard link.
2. Click on the arrow at the top (circled in green) to advance to the frame for your school.
3. Click on the icon to the left to add a sticky note (circled in red).
4. Add your comment to the sticky note. Change the color if you want!
5. Click Save (then click Cancel if you don't want to create another sticky note).
6. DONE!

Couple of tips: I added one note to each frame to help get the creative juices flowing! The ideas I offered are generic, but feel free to add specific examples from what you already do! Also, if the entirety of the text does not show on a sticky note, double click it to see the whole thing!

P.S. I've got fun Google emoji stickers for anyone who adds something to our Jamboard jigsaw!

Google Level 1 Certification -- The Time is NOW!

 If you have been kicking around getting the Google Level 1 Educator Certification, NOW is the time to do it! In the past, this certification has required an exam that was part multiple choice, part performance scenarios. However, the exam went through a big revamp recently, and it now consists of ONLY multiple choice-style questions. Those who have taken it have shared that while it is still a decent check of your knowledge and familiarity with Google Workspace tools, it is not as stress-inducing as the previous iterations of the exam. People are also reporting a higher passing rate than previous versions of the exam. In addition, there is still 3 hours allotted for the exam, but most people are reporting that they do not need more than 60-90 minutes for the test. So it sounds to me like anyone who wants to get this certification needs to strike while the iron is hot!

How do you do this?

• Review! Google has a free, online training site you can use. In addition, I have a website I use for boot camps (which needs to be updated with the newest exam information). There are also lots of free or paid resources out there. Do you HAVE to review for the exam? Not necessarily. If you feel pretty well versed with Google Workspace tools, then you can leap into the exam without reviewing! A nice thing to know is that you CAN use notes and you CAN use a second device to Google things or try things during the exam. You just CANNOT use another person to help you.
• Register! You register for the exam online. Once you do that, you will be sent a code, and you will have a week to complete the exam. The exam costs $10, which you can pay for yourself, or you can apply for reimbursement from the district (if we know ahead of time there are a lot of people who plan to take the exam, we can order vouchers so you each have a code you can use to pay the fee for the exam).
• Test! Once you take the test, you will need to know a few things:
• You have a 3 hour time limit to complete the exam.
• You sign an NDA, which means you cannot share specifics about the test.
• You need a webcam because your picture will be taken at the start of the exam and it will be checked at random times to ensure you are the only one working on the exam.
• You can use notes and another device to assist you during the test, but you cannot use another person for help.

Are you wondering why you should do this? Here are some reasons!

• Knowledge! This is a great way to learn about the Google Workspace tools! This familiarity will help make your work more productive, and you'll also be able to assist your students with confidence!
• Leadership! This is a great way to stand out as a professional in the education community. Google Certified Educators are well respected and recognized as top leaders in educational technology circles. Yes, YOU belong there!
• Badges! You get a cool badge you can use in your email signature, on your website, on a blog, etc. to show everyone what you have accomplished!
• Accomplishment! There is a great sense of accomplishment when you are recognized for your effort and expertise! 

I don't know if you know this, but I have long had a dream to have every teacher in Channahon School District 17 to be Level 1 certified. I don't know of any other school district where all teachers have accomplished this, and I think it would be a really cool way to distinguish the already impressive teachers in CSD 17 from everyone else!

Are you interested? Do you think you could do this by the time we start the 2022-2023 school year? If so, comment, "ME!" on this post!

P.S. Help me plan this by completing this form, please!

Cool Tool Alert: Chromebook Simulator

 I was watching a live video on some Chromebook features when the presenter used a Chromebook simulator. I thought, "That is really cool! I'm going to have to find out where she got this!" Lucky for me, I didn't have to look far -- she shared the link with us, and now I am sharing it with YOU!

The Chromebook simulator has a number of video tutorials that show how to do things like how to update your Chromebook or use the touchpad or open and edit Office files!

Check this simulator out and share in the comments which tutorial you think might be most useful for you or your students, and I'll send you a fun Google sticker!

Movies in the Classroom

 Anytime a teacher wants to show a movie in class, it generates immediate excitement from the kids! It doesn't matter if it's something purely educational or if it's for fun or a class reward, there's something about watching a movie at school that is fun -- maybe it feels like it's out of the ordinary, bringing a little bit of what we do for fun at home into the classroom. If you're a bit older, you may remember how excited you were when you walked into the classroom and saw this set up:

Now, we don't have to set up that contraption anymore -- we have streaming services! Hello, Apple TV, iTunes Movies, Netflix, Hulu, Disney +, Amazon Prime, etc.!

But wait. Not really.

Those subscription streaming services we use at home don't always carry over into use in the classroom. How come?

It's called High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). What this does, in the simplest terms, is prevent copying of digital audio and video as it travels across connections. Content is encoded to check to see if it is streaming through connections to see if they have the right permissions to play HDCP encrypted content. If it doesn't, then it won't play. In order for a connection to be HDCP compliant, it requires the manufacturer of the connection devices to obtain and pay for licensing. As you can imagine, many manufacturers don't want to do that because, frankly, it's of no financial benefit to them.

This all means that when you want to show a movie from a streaming service, even if it is for purely educational purposes, chances are it won't play for you here at school. Even if you're signing in with a personal account. It all has to do with the encoding and encryption in the content being streamed.

What it all boils down to is copyright. Technically, when we show a movie in class, it is considered a public displaying of that film, and that scary FBI warning at the beginning of a movie and the copyright information at the end basically say we can't do public showings of the films. 

So, how do you get around this? Well, the official answer would be you don't. Unless you go through the steps of being able to get the appropriate licensing to be able to have public showings of films.

The unofficial answer is get an external DVD player and show it that way. It bypasses the HDCP encryption (but if we are being 100% transparent, it's technically also violating copyright, so do with that information what you will).

ISTE Standards for Students -- A Brief Overview

 One of the things I put on a "21st century learning wish list" is, "Implementation of the ISTE Standards for Students." Now, before you go running for the hills ("Please, Renee, we already have enough learning standards!!!"), please don't panic! Adding some new standards to our students' learning experiences, especially these standards, will only serve to enhance what we already do in the classrooms with our kids. Having these standards will also help our kids be ready to tackle the future of learning!

This series of posts will help you become familiar with these standards and hopefully inspire you to augment your curriculum to address some of these standards. There are 7 total standards, and I am hoping to implement all 7 over the course of the next 3 school years, so we can take this slow and make sure we have our brains wrapped around what we are doing!

Today, all I want to do is share the standards briefly with you so you have a basic understanding of them. So without further ado:

1. Empowered Learner: Students take an active role in choosing the technology they want to use in order to demonstrate competency or proficiency.
2. Digital Citizen: Students recognize their rights and responsibilities living in a digital world; they act in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical.
3. Knowledge Constructor: Students curate a variety of digital resources they can use to learn from and create meaningful artifacts.
4. Innovative Designer: Students use a variety of technology to work within the design process to create new, imaginative, and useful solutions to problems.
5. Computational Thinker: Students use technology to solve problems and develop and test solutions to problems.
6. Creative Communicator: Students use technology to communicate clearly and creatively in different formats and for different purposes.
7. Global Collaborator: Students broaden their learning experiences by communicating and collaborating with others locally and globally.

Which one of these standards are you most excited to work on? Which one seems the most daunting to you? Share in the comments, and I'll send you a fun emoji sticker!

IAR Already??? Part 4

 This is part 4 of a 4 part series of posts I am hoping will help you help kids be able to better manage the experience of April's IAR test!

This post focuses on the language arts part of the IAR assessment. 

As a former ELA teacher, I know how much time and effort we put into creating meaningful writing assignments, working with kids on honing the craft of writing, and how meticulous we are about the rubrics we create to assess students' writing. We want to inspire students to be good writers, and we want the feedback they receive about their writing to be helpful so they can improve. That's why we work so hard on those rubrics. But did you know that IAR has its own rubrics it uses to score students' written responses?

I am not saying the ELA teachers should completely ditch the rubrics they have worked so hard on. But it would be very helpful to take some time to review what the test scorers are looking for when they evaluate students' writing to see what the alignment with our expectations are. It's also worth communicating this to students. Some people think this is "teaching to the test," but I beg to differ! Instead, I see this as providing students with the necessary information to complete a task that involves a particular kind of writing. Just like we teach students the difference between writing a business letter and a friendly letter, different kinds of writing tasks have different expectations. Being able to write for a variety of purposes and audiences is part of what the ELA teachers work on with kids, so sharing the rubrics is going to help with that.

Want to review the rubrics? Click here to see them! 

Are you going to use or share the IAR rubrics with your students? Share your thoughts in the comments, and I'll send you a fun emoji sticker!

IAR Already??? Part 3

This is part 3 of a 4 part series of posts I am hoping will help you help kids be able to better manage the experience of April's IAR test!

Time limits. Teachers hate 'em. We all know that imposing time limits on kids can cause stress for some students. We all know that kids are different and learn at different paces. Teachers are happy if their students can show what they learned in 30 seconds or 30 minutes or sometimes even 30 days -- all that matters is that the kids learned!

But the hard truth is that the IAR test is a timed test, and that is going to cause anxiety for some of our students -- the ones who like to do everything "perfectly" or the ones who know they might need more time to get things done. So one thing we can do is practice setting time limits on things we do in class sometimes. That doesn't mean we can't give kids more time later to complete what they need to do; it just means we need to find ways to get kids accustomed to having to work within time frames. Perhaps you're having kids do a hands-on project in class. Let kids know that their time to work will be done in 20 minutes. When that time is up, stop the kids. For the kids who might find time constraints a challenge, this will be an opportunity to help them work within those constraints in a safe environment, assuring them they can come back to their work later. It's also helpful to explain that sometimes we do things that we just have to finish in a certain amount of time, and you can try imposing hard time limits on some activities, if you think it's okay and won't be too much of a stressor. Ultimately, what is difficult is when a student only faces a time limit once a year when taking this test, so hopefully by practicing during the school year, we can make it a little easier on the kids!

While I'm writing about time, let's talk about "seat time". We all know it's not good practice to have kids parked n their chairs for long periods of time. But the IAR test can require students to be seated (in front of a computer) for as long as 90 minutes! To help kids with this, try giving them tasks where they can practice being seated and working for longer periods of time. Also find ways to make them comfy -- cushion to sit on, opportunity to swap out one chair for a different one, stretch breaks. We all know how challenging it can be to concentrate on the work we need to do if we are uncomfortable in our seat and have been sitting for too long. Let's try to find ways to help kids feel comfy when they have to do a task that is going to take an extended period of time to complete so they can truly give their best effort!

What do you do to help your students deal with time limits? Share in the comments -- one of you will get a cool prize for sharing your strategy!

IAR Already??? Part 2

 This is part 2 of a 4 part series of posts I am hoping will help you help kids be able to better manage the experience of April's IAR test!

Screen time is a real concern. I am certainly not an advocate of having kids looking at a screen all day long. But the IAR test is indeed an online test, and kids are expected to be able to look at that screen for a bit of time. Because we tend not to want to overdo it on screen time, we often don't ask kids to do a lot of reading online. But kids DO have to read long selections on their screens on the IAR test, so we can start to prep them for that by giving them chances to do some online reading. This will give them the chance to practice scrolling through a selection or using tabs to click to different reading selections (just like they are asked to do on the IAR assessment). Please don't think this means ALL their reading needs to be done online now! But consider having some reading assignments done on their Chromebooks so it's not a new or challenging experience once they get to the exam in April.

Similarly, consider offering some assessments online, too. Yes, the kids already take the MAP test online, but the MAP test format is different from the IAR test format. If you can have kids try to do some other online assessments (Google Forms, assessments that are part of your online curriculum), the kids will feel comfortable with different types of online assessments and not feel so intimidated by the IAR online format!

Drop a comment below about how you give kids the chance to practice reading online and taking online assessments for a chance to win some teacher swag!

IAR Already??? Part 1

 The IAR exam isn't until April, so why in the name of all that is good in this world am I writing about it now?????

Because there are things we can do all school year to help kids get ready for that assessment.

I'm not talking about "teaching to the test" type stuff. I am talking about experiential stuff. That's what is hardest to prep the kids for, the experience of taking that test.  So, how can this be accomplished? I plan to share some ideas with you over the course of the next 4 posts (I didn't want to do them all in 1 because that's overwhelming, so I'm trying to break the suggestions into bite-sized pieces).

Keyboarding

One of the biggest challenges for kids is being able to find the right keys on their keyboards as well as being able to type all the things they need to type in their allotted time. So the sooner we can make sure kids know where to find the keys, the easier it will be for them.

• Letters: just having the kids know where to find letters on the keyboard can be challenging enough. Having kids play online keyboarding games or giving them paper keyboards to practice "typing" on can help. The more they get to look at a keyboard, the more likely they will be to find the letters.
• Numbers: kids need to know how to find the numbers, too. It may seem obvious since the numbers are in order, but I have seen lots of kids struggle to find the numbers they want to type.
• Special keys: kids need to know how to use the shift key (to capitalize or use some pieces of punctuation), tab key (to indent or move between elements), backspace key, and even the CTRL key. Try to find opportunities for kids to have to use these keys.
• Fingers: I'll be honest, I am not so worried about kids learning home row finger placement (I know I should, but I'm not). What I have seen students struggle with is using more than one finger to do something, like hold down shift and a letter key to create a capital letter. So often, they try to do it with 1 hand, or they try to press 2 keys at the EXACT same time rather than hold down one and then tap the other. Giving them some opportunities to work with more than one finger at a time on the keyboard will surely help alleviate some of the frustration kids have operating the keyboard.

All of these keyboarding skills will ultimately help the kids manage the time limit they face with the IAR test. It just saddens me to think there are some kids whose score simply doesn't reflect what they know because they ran out of time because they struggle with the keyboard. 

How do you help your students learn their way around a keyboard? Share a strategy in the comments and I'll send you a cool Google sticker!

What's with this Security Update Notice in Drive?

via GIPHY

 Have you seen the little banner in your Google Drive that says, "On September 13, 2021, a security update will be applied to some of your files"? If so, do you know what it means for your Drive? If not, I am going to try to simplify it for you. It might matter; it might not. But it's still worth understanding :-)

On September 13, 2021, Google will be adding what is called a resource key to some shared links. Basically, this is going to change the shareable links so they are different. The whole idea behind this is to make the links more secure/less hackable. 

So here's some good news: Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms are NOT impacted by this security update. So that's good news since most of what we share tends to be in those file formats. 

Other file types and folders that have been shared MIGHT be impacted, though, so be aware of that.

So, how should you proceed? Keep using Google Drive as normal. If you run into a situation where a file or folder isn't accessible by someone because of the security update, let me know. I can walk you though removing the security update if necessary.

Hopefully, that little security warning at the top of your Google Drive isn't so scary sounding anymore.

Cool Tool Alert: Classroom Q

 First, I feel the need to apologize! The cool tool I want to share with you today is one I probably should have shared with you a long time ago because it's kind of perfect for teaching during a global pandemic :-)

This is called Classroom Q, and essentially it is like an in-classroom help desk. We have all had the experience of helping a student and then looking up, only to discover a whole bunch of hands in the air. And of course, each student thinks his or her question is more important than anyone else's question. Where do you start? Plus, sometimes we go from student to student, only to discover they all had the same question!

Classroom Q is going to help with this. Basically, here is how it works:

• You set up the "room" online.
• Students use a code to join.
• When a student has a question, he or she types in their question and clicks a button.
• You see the questions in the order that the students submitted them, so you know who is next to be helped, AND you can see if many students have the same question!

You can keep this open on your device, or you can project it. What is nice about projecting it is that when a student posts a question, other students who might be able to answer can assist the student, which frees YOU up to help more kids!

Here's a video that gives a demo and explains it much better than I can :-)

I used this last school year when I was teaching the computer class in the last trimester (for the short amount of time we were actually in class), and it was great! I knew who needed help and with what, and I had other students able to help their classmates as well.

So, the downside is this: with the free version, you can only have 5 kids in the queue at a time, and you can't see who has joined your class (like if some lurker managed to get in). The upside is the premium version is very affordable -- $19.99/year! This is something you can ask your building to cover the cost for, or you could submit for reimbursement from PTO, or even pay for yourself if you choose! There are Team and School prices available, too, so if your grade level or subject area team decide this is a tool that will work perfectly with your kids or your curriculum, you can work on getting that covered by your principal (see me to help you with this -- all the principals know I have no respect for budgets haha!). Here's a link to see the pricing options.

How could you use Classroom Q in your classroom? Share your thoughts in the comments, and I'll get ya a cool Google or emoji sticker!

SOPPA Information for Teachers -- Part 4

 Here it is, the final installment on the information for teachers regarding SOPPA! Finally, you learn what this all means for you directly! 

Keep in mind all that you've read so far. Can you make any educated guesses? Keep in mind, the ultimate goal of this law is to ensure student privacy and offer more transparency about how student information is used.

As a classroom teacher, you are likely going to find that SOPPA puts a little bit of a cramp in your style. Any websites or applications that collect student information (think: the student has to log in to use it) will have some rules attached to your use of it in the classroom.

• Does our school district already have a contract with the operator? If so, you can go ahead and use that application or website! If not, you can't use it. In order for you, as the teacher, to have students use a website or application that collects student data (the student has to log in to use it), the district has to already have a signed contract in place. This is how the transparency happens: the operator shares what data they are collecting and how it is being used; the district reviews this to be sure it is compliant with SOPPA; the district posts this information to make it publicly available.
• You will have to know where to find that list of contracts so you can see if the websites or tools you want to use are available. This is TBD. Once it is determined where this can be found, it will be shared with you.
• You will need to know how to go about making a request for being able to use a website or application that is not on the list. That process is also TBD. It still needs to be figured out who will be in charge of that because that individual will be responsible for ensuring compliance is happening and then entering into the contract with the operator.
• I'm sure your next question is, "How long will it take to get something approved?" Honestly, I have no idea. This is a new process for all of us, so that is also TBD. Part of it will be reliant upon our efficiency; part of it will be reliant upon the operator's efficiency.

In short, bad news: it will take a little bit of legwork and time to get access to any new online tools for kids to use; good news: we will have a much clearer understanding of how student data is being used which will ultimately make it safer for students to be online.

Here's an example (I am assuming I am correct in this):

• Flipgrid: This tool will need a signed contract because students are required to sign in to use it. 
• Padlet: This tool will not need a signed contract because students are not required to sign in to use it.
• Khan Academy: This tool may or may not need a signed contract because there are some features that require students to log in. If students are merely accessing the site and using the videos without logging in, then a signed contract is not necessary. If students are signing in, however, a signed contract will need to be in place. Students would not be able to use the features available by signing in without that contract being completed.

Working in compliance of this law is going to require some extra sleuth work on your part. I know -- you are already very busy. I didn't make the law :-) Ultimately, we need to remember that if this is going to keep kids' information safe, then it's a good thing.

Questions? Drop them in the comments and I will see if I can find you the answers!

Resources for this post:

• Illinois Compiled Statutes information about Student Online Personal Protection Act
• Learning Technology Center of Illinois legislation brief -- Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) Changes
• SOPPA Teacher Presentation shared by Phil Howard, Lake Zurich CUSD 95
• Ready or Not: Legal Matters, Illinois Association of School Boards
• The Adoption of SOPPA May Provide a Tough Lesson for Schools that Fail to Comply, Local Government Lowdown, Tressler LLP

SOPPA Information for Teachers -- Part 3

 This is part 3 of 4 in my series of posts to help teachers understand SOPPA and how it will impact them at the classroom level. This post will share an overview of the school's responsibilities, and finally, next week, you will learn exactly what this all means for you directly!

Under SOPPA, which takes effect on July 1, 2021, schools have responsibilities just like the operators do. What do schools have to do in order to protect student data and information and maintain transparency? Here's a sampling:

• Only collect student information and data for school-related purposes
• Post a list of all operators or online services used by the district
• Post the types of student data the district collects as well as what they do with the data, whom it is shared with, and why that data is collected
• Post contracts with operators within 10 days of signing the contract
• Post data breaches within 10 days and notify parents of these data breaches within 30 days
• Create a policy about who can enter into contracts with operators
• Designate someone as a privacy officer to ensure compliance with SOPPA
• Maintain reasonable security and safety measures

As you can see, transparency for families is a significant part of SOPPA. This is going to take some work and effort for the district to ensure that all requirements are being met -- the privacy officer will have quite a bit of responsibility!

Next week will be the final post in this series, and it will focus on what all this means specifically for you as a classroom teacher! Any thoughts? Share them in the comments!

Resources for this post:

• Illinois Compiled Statutes information about Student Online Personal Protection Act
• Learning Technology Center of Illinois legislation brief -- Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) Changes
• SOPPA Teacher Presentation shared by Phil Howard, Lake Zurich CUSD 95
• Ready or Not: Legal Matters, Illinois Association of School Boards
• The Adoption of SOPPA May Provide a Tough Lesson for Schools that Fail to Comply, Local Government Lowdown, Tressler LLP

SOPPA Information for Teachers -- Part 2

 This post is part 2 on my series of informational posts about the SOPPA law changes that take effect July 1, 2021. It's not often that laws regarding student privacy trickle down to the classroom teacher level, but this one does. If you're wondering why I appear to be dragging my feet when it comes to sharing what exactly classroom teachers need to do to work within compliance, I assure you there is a method to my madness!

Quite often, teachers are given directives without any kind of backstory. I could easily lay out what you need to do for SOPPA, but I am willing to bet you will also want to know why the heck you have to do that! This is where the feet dragging comes in! I want to be sure to ex
plain this enough that we teachers understand what is happening.

In my last post, I tried to give some context regarding SOPPA. This week, I hope to help you understand what is required of operators. Operators are the organizations that provide the online services we ask our students to use. The operators have access to student information that we may not even be aware of, and that has not escaped the eyes of those who keep an eye on that! That's why SOPPA requires operators to maintain the following:

• Implement reasonable security practices to protect student information
• Delete a student's information upon request
• Publicly state the types of data they collect
• Notify schools of any data breaches
• Never engage in targeted advertising
• Never rent or sell student information
• Never disclose student data

Why does this matter to the classroom teacher? Because if you're like me, you don't have an ever-loving clue what kinds of data is collected from students by these operators, nor do you know what kind of security practices they have, nor do you know about data breaches, nor do you know what they are doing with the student data, nor do you care, I'm guessing! Other people care, though, and that's why this is in place. 

Because of this, teachers may find that some of the services they've used in the past with students don't comply with SOPPA, or they may discover that something they want to use doesn't comply, and that can inhibit what happens in the classroom. 

Next week: the school's responsibilities!

Resources for this post:

• Illinois Compiled Statutes information about Student Online Personal Protection Act
• Learning Technology Center of Illinois legislation brief -- Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) Changes
• SOPPA Teacher Presentation shared by Phil Howard, Lake Zurich CUSD 95
• Ready or Not: Legal Matters, Illinois Association of School Boards
• The Adoption of SOPPA May Provide a Tough Lesson for Schools that Fail to Comply, Local Government Lowdown, Tressler LLP

SOPPA Info For Teachers -- Part 1

 I am going to start a series of posts about SOPPA. Often, laws about student information and privacy do not have a direct impact on the classroom teacher, as the compliance is managed at the district level. However, SOPPA, which goes into effect on July 1, 2021, will have an impact on teachers at the classroom level, so I am hopeful that the information I share in these posts will be useful to you!

SOPPA stands for Student Online Personal Protection Act. As you are well aware, students use numerous online services as part of their learning. As more services become available, there is also increasing concern over what student data and information is being collected by these online services and how that data and information is being used. SOPPA is intended to make that information more readily available and transparent to parents as well as to ensure that any data and information collected is safeguarded and used to help maintain a beneficial learning experience for students. 

What kinds of student information are we talking about? This includes anything that is personally identifiable information about the student, or information that is linked to personally identifiable information. This might include things such as

• Educational records
• Student email address
• 
  First and last name
• Home address
• Phone number
• Special education data
• Grades
• Health and medical records
• Social security number
• Biometric information
• Disabilities
• Socioeconomic information
• Food purchases
• Documents
• Search activity
• Photos
• Voice recordings
• Geolocation information

Many of these kinds of information are maintained at the district level, but some of these things teachers have at the classroom level, and some of these things are shared when students use online services for learning. For example, any time a student logs in to an online service, some of this information is shared with the online service -- likely things like name and email address, but it could also be things like location information, and documents or files, too. One of the things SOPPA intends is to determine which online services (called "operators" in SOPPA language) are collecting what kinds of student information.

Bottom line -- what does this mean for you as a classroom teacher? It means you will need to be aware of which services collect student information and whether or not our district is currently able to use that online service with students. Don't worry -- more information will be coming to you on how that will be done!

Next week: What Are the responsibilities of the operators?

Resources for this post:

• Illinois Compiled Statutes information about Student Online Personal Protection Act
• Learning Technology Center of Illinois legislation brief -- Student Online Personal Protection Act (SOPPA) Changes
• SOPPA Teacher Presentation shared by Phil Howard, Lake Zurich CUSD 95
• Ready or Not: Legal Matters, Illinois Association of School Boards
• The Adoption of SOPPA May Provide a Tough Lesson for Schools that Fail to Comply, Local Government Lowdown, Tressler LLP

Mad Libs Goes "High Tech"

 I think everyone loves Mad Libs! Kids enjoy the silly stories that result (teachers like the sneaky way it teaches parts of speech), and as adults, I'm guessing we've all laughed at the NSFW versions we've created! Wouldn't it be fun to be able to let kids create their own Mad Lib stories? It can be done pretty easily using Google Forms, Google Sheets, the Autocrat add-on, and Google Docs.

If you're thinking that's too many tools to use, don't worry! It's actually not :-)

If you're interested in how to do this, click here for step by step directions!

How can you incorporate Mad Libs into your curriculum? Here are some ideas!

• Have students "rewrite" a story, poem, event from history, process, biography, passage from literature, or character sketch.
• Challenge students to use vocabulary words.
• Practice parts of speech.
• Focus on using specific, descriptive words to practice creating imagery.
• Have students create a class silly story; assign a section of the story to each student, then compile them into one large class story.

As an example, here is how I am using this:

1. I am reading a story to students in grade 3 about a character who signs up online to receive a free game in the mail. He ends up getting tons of goofy junk sent to his home. The objective of the story is to teach students about not sharing their personal information online to avoid getting scammed and ending up with spam instead of what they thought they were getting.
2. After the story, I will debrief with the kids what they learned.
3. I did a short rewrite of the story and then turned it into a Mad Libs activity for the kids to complete so they have their own version of the story.

Does this sound like something you want to try? Let me know and I would be THRILLED to come help you set it up!

via NETFLIX on GIPHY

P.S. In case you thought I was smart enough to figure out how to do this on my own, ummm nope! I had the idea to do Mad Libs but wasn't sure the best way to do it, so I did a little research and used this site to help me figure it out!