Upcoming PD Events:  Click on each opportunity to register

---

Revisiting Tech Tools: How Can They Be Used to Increase Student Accountability?
​
Helping students become responsible for managing their own learning and actions is vitally important for their continued success.  There are many tools at a teacher's disposal to help with this. Let's talk about some of the ones that technology affords us. Matt Weld will introduce and demonstrate some of the best available and how they can be used.  There will be plenty of time for discussion and exploration to enable you to figure out which one(s) might work best for you and your students.
​
Cost: FREE!
Date: February 25, 2021
Time/Location: 3:30-5:00, Online (Google Meets)
PD Hours: 1.5
Audience: 3-12 Educators and Administrators
Facilitator(s): Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)

---

We Need to Talk: Tools to Enable Conversations and Collaboration

Description: Even if you have kids physically in your classroom, the time for meaningful, productive conversations is short at best.  In addition, research shows that learning is a social adventure, and humans learn best together and from each other. Let’s explore some tools to extend discussion time and allow for collaboration, whether your teaching is in-person, hybrid, or remote. 

Cost: FREE!
Date: March 11, 2021
Time/Location: 3:30-5:00, Online (Google Meets)
PD Hours: 1.5
Audience: Educators and Administrators
Facilitator(s): Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)

---

​Introduction to Video Editing Using WeVideo

Description: Want to be a YouTuber?  Want to up your online lesson game? Let’s pick apart the common YouTube video outline and see how you can copy it with WeVideo, a free online video editing software.  There will be working time to piece together your own video.  I’ll provide a Drive folder of materials that you can use in class if you don’t have your own.  (Instructor Matt Weld creates videos for TeachIllinois for work and for his hobbies after work.)

Cost: FREE!
Date: March 25, 2021
Time/Location: 3:30-5:00, Online (Google Meets)
PD Hours: 1.5
Audience: 2-12 Educators and Administrators
Facilitator(s): Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)

---

​Alternate Reality: The Magic of Green Screens 

Description: The purpose of green screens is to make it easier to remove the background of your video or image and replace it with something else. Let’s talk about the mechanics of green screens in video and photo editing and how to make them successful.  I’ll be using WeVideo and introduce some other apps as options. Then we’ll go over some ideas you can do with kids from 2nd - 12th grade.  Prerequisite: fundamental knowledge of video and photo editing. 
​
Cost: FREE!
Date: April 15, 2021
Time/Location: 3:30-5:00, Online (Google Meets)
PD Hours: 1.5
Audience: 2-12 Educators and Administrators
Facilitator(s): Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)

---

Episode #1: Starting a Podcast

Description: Celebrities are starting their own podcasts in droves.  Let’s get you and your students in on the fun! We’ll talk about storytelling, the spoken word, show formatting, scripting, recording, editing, and publishing.  It’s a lot to cover, but by the end, you should have an outline of your first episode. 
(Instructor Matt Weld hosts the podcast The Teachers’ Classroom.)
​
Cost: FREE!
Date: April 29, 2021
Time/Location: 3:30-5:00, Online (Google Meets)
PD Hours: 1.5
Audience: 2-12 Educators and Administrators
Facilitator(s): Matt Weld (Director of Technology & Innovation for IL Area 5)

---

---

Education Resources

Remote Learning

Ferpa/Coppa Compliant learning resources

Google Classroom
Classroom helps students and teachers organize assignments, boost collaboration, and foster better communication.

Blackboard
With a modern, intuitive, fully responsive interface, Blackboard delivers a simpler, more powerful teaching and learning experience that goes beyond the traditional learning management system.  

---

---

Class Dojo
​Build wonderful classroom communities with parents and students.

Seesaw
A platform for student engagement that inspires students of all ages to do their best, and saves teachers time. 

Standard & Framework Updates

UPDATED Standard Resources:
Priority Standards from ISBE

UPDATED Danielson Framework Resources:
Webinar Recording
The Framework for Remote Learning

Helpful teacher tools

Google Docs
​Google Docs brings your documents to life with smart editing and styling tools to help you easily format text and paragraphs.

---

Google Slides
With Google Slides, you can create, edit, collaborate, and present wherever
​you are. 

---

Google Forms
​Create a new survey and edit it with others at the same time.  Choose from a variety of pre-made themes or create your own.  

---

Google Drawings
Allows users to collaborate and work together in real time to create ​​flowcharts, organizational charts, website frames and more. 

---

Jamboard
​A collaborative, digital whiteboard makes it easy to create without boundaries and share ideas in real time. 

---

Seesaw
A platform for student engagement that inspires students of all ages to do their best, and saves teachers time. 

Screencastify
​The #1 free screen recorder for Chrome. No download required.  Record, edit and share videos in seconds. 

Video Platforms

Google Meets
Hold video meetings with people inside or outside of your organization. 

Zoom
The leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing chat and webinars.

Virtual Textbooks

CK-12
​CK-12 Foundation provides a library of free online textbooks, videos, exercises, flashcards, and real world applications for over 5000 concepts.

Virtual field trips

San Diego Zoo
​Live cams and videos of your favorite animals.

Over 30 Virtual Field Trips! 
Links to over 30 virtual field trips.

Return to Learn playbook

RETURN TO LEARN PLAYBOOK
​Promoting Engagement, Feedback, and Communication in any Learning Environment

Teacher Tools

Recommended Reading

The Way of Mindful Education
by Daniel Rechtschaffen

---

Educated: A Memoir
by Tara Westover

---

Harnessing Technology for Deeper Learning
by Scott McLeod, Julie Graber

---

Explore Like A Pirate
by Michael Matera

---

Poor Students Rich Teaching
by Eric Jensen

---

Teach Like a Pirate
by David Burgess

---

From Pencils to Podcast
by Katie Stover Kelly, Lindsay Yearta

---

Onward: Cultivating Emotional Resilience in Educators
by Elena Aguilar

---

The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
by Donalyn Miller

---

---

​​Teacher resources

PBS Learning Media
​Inspire your students with thousands of free teaching resources including videos, lesson plans, and games aligned to state and national standards. 

---

Read Write Think
​Providing educators and students access to the highest quality practices and resources in reading and language arts instruction.

---

TeacherTube
​A free community for sharing instructional videos and content for teachers and students.

Powtoon
​Make videos in minutes with Powtoon.  Use our library of styles, characters, backgrounds, and video, or upload your own. 

---

---

Reading IQ
​A complete digital library, with thousands of books to choose from, that your child can access at anytime. 

---

Storyline Online
Storyline Online®, streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations.

---

National Geographic for Kids
A fact-filled, fast-paced magazine created especially for ages 6 and up. 

---

SplashLearn
An award winning math learning program used by over 30 millions kids for math practice.

---

Epic!
Unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audio books, videos and more for kids 12 and under. 

---

Moby Max
This award-winning platform helps struggling learners quickly catch up to grade level and closes learning gaps for all your students.

---

Easy CBM
Widely recognized as one of the most state-of-the-art systems in support of Response to Intervention available today. 

---

Story Time From Space
Listen to a book read by a real astronaut live from the International Space Station.

Poetry4kids
Here you will find lots of funny poems for kids, classic children’s poems, games, poetry lessons and activities, plus a rhyming dictionary, videos, author visit information, and lots more.

---

Khan Academy Kids
​Khan Academy Kids is a free, fun, educational program designed to inspire young children to become learners for life.

---

TIME for Kids
Authentic journalism and high-interest nonfiction for students

---

Mystery Science
Offers open-and-go lessons that inspires kids to love science. 

---

Safe YouTube
Watch, crop and share YouTube videos safely without comments, ads, or other distractions. 

---

Freckle
Helps K-12 teachers differentiate instruction to reach every student at their own level across Math, ELA, Social Studies and Science. 

---

Amazing Educational Resources
A community of educators sharing resources and support!

---

Agriculture Around You
Teacher training, lesson plans, virtual field trips, author visits and so much more!

Parent Resources

Parent Resources

Google Classroom Parent Guide
​Google Classroom is a web-based learning environment.  Use this guide to learn more about your student's digital link to learning.

---

Seesaw for Parents
Tutorial for parents on using the reading platform Seesaw.

IXL Parent Guide
Personalized learning program to meet the needs of each student.