Raspberry Pi with Joel Bruns, Flipgrid, Harry Potter, and Screencastify: March 20 Tech Tuesday

Teachers Using Technology

Teacher of the Week: Joel Bruns, WHS Innovation Specialist Tool: Raspberry Pi A Raspberry Pi is a small, single-board computer produced by a non-profit organization for the purpose of spurring innovation and education in all things related to critical thinking, coding, and STEM. To quote from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, you can “Teach, Learn, and Make with Raspberry Pi.” Here’s a two-minute intro video about the Raspberry Pi.

Here’s what Joel had to say about using the Raspberry Pi: We are building a phone booth this year that will store messages from students and play them back when you dial the number. We've used Raspberry Pi for lots of other projects like the Poetry Box, an RFID reader Museum in a box, theremin, etc... Physical computing is very different from just writing code because you are also utilizing design skills, electronics, etc... in order to create a physical product. We use Raspberry Pi for all sorts of IoT (Internet of Things) applications and physical computing from building arcade machines to musical instruments. We have an RFID reader that connects a physical object to a green screen video created by students. The Raspberry Pi also runs a Poetry Box that we put out every April for National Poetry month. This box prints out a poem when you press the button. Connect with Joel: @whslearningctr   @WHSIdeaFarm Earlier this school year, Joel was on the Inside the Rock podcast with Dr. Grate and discussed his vision for “Library 2.0.” Do you know of a great use of technology by a Westfield Teacher? Share your own technology tip with me or nominate another teacher!

App Pick of the Week

Flipgrid https://info.flipgrid.com/ “The leading video discussion platform used by tens of millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families in 150 countries.” Flipgrid is incredibly powerful and easy to use. It allows students to start making videos about educational topics in seconds.

I recently visited WIS and did a Flipgrid training for them. Check out all the resources in this blog post! I can train your team, grade level, or building on Flipgrid or any other EdTech tool. Just reply to this email and let me know how I can help!

Google Tip of the Week

Harry Potter from Google Arts and Culture Google Arts and Culture is kind of like an online, digital museum. There are all kinds of interesting and educational materials available. They have recently partnered with the British Library to produce a special project called Harry Potter: A History of Magic.

What I've been training on

Chromebook Care Protecting your Chromebook saves money and allows you to continue your education. I recently put together a short video showing proper and improper care of a Chromebook. A big thanks to Shawn Davis and WMS and WIS students for helping make this video.

Odds and Ends

Screencastify Screencastify is a fantastic tool to record the screen of your Windows, Mac, or Chromebook. I’ve mentioned it in this newsletter before. I’m looking to find out more about how teachers are using this tool with their students to promote learning. Please take 60 seconds to fill out this short survey about Screencastify. Thanks!

Access the archive of past newsletters in this shared Google Drive Folder. WWS Tech Tuesday Newsletter Archive Access our Google+ Community here.