Pflugerville Joins The Hour of Code

The Hour of Code has been a success (and we have some campuses still participating next week). We enjoyed visiting schools and seeing students CODING! There was excitement and interest from students at all levels and we hope to continue encouraging them.

Code.org is available 24/7 on any internet connected device and it is FREE! Computer Science remains a top growth industry and the Austin area has plenty of opportunities available for our graduates.

Visit @PfISDIT on Twitter and the PfISD Facebook page to see a little bit of what was happening across the District.

GoFormative - a great tool for assessment; free for teachers and students

The Hour of Code - Dec. 7-13

The Hour of Code is approaching and we are looking forward to this amazing event! The International movement to build interest in Computer Science from K-12 begins on December 7. 

The Instructional Technology Team has added information to the Pflugerville ISD Instructional Technology Web Page to assist teachers with “The Hour of Code”. This one-hour introduction is designed so anybody can learn the basics of computer science. Help us grow the international campaign to reach 100 million students.

The “Hour of Code” is flexible; use individual computers in a lab, workstations in the classroom, mobile devices, the presentation station with a large group or even go "Unplugged”. The Instructional Technology Group and the K- 12 Digital Literacy Leads are prepared to help teachers embrace and implement the “Hour of Code” with their students. Ask us how we can assist your campus!

Please complete the PfISD Commitment Form  by November 11 to show your support for the Hour of Code. By completing this form you are committing yourself to doing 1 hour of code during the event week, December 7-13. No previous coding experience is necessary! As a reward for your participation, each campus teacher who commits to an hour of code and participates in the Hour of Code event will be entered into a drawing to receive an individual recognition prize. In addition, teachers at campuses that have over 75% participation in the Hour of Code event will be registered for a Classroom level prize. Campuses that have 75% of their teachers and students participate in the Hour of Code event will also be registered for a District level prize. Sign up at https://hourofcode.com/us#join to register for prizes from Code.org. 

Sign up and join this amazing event! J

Update: Code.org has added a Star Wars™ themed game builder: Building a Galaxy with Code. Can you direct the droid through the maze? After you finish all levels create and share your own game!

Project Tomorrow Speak Up 2015

Today the Project Tomorrow blog announced Texas is one of the top five states submitting surveys. Let's keep the trend going and make Pflugerville a top district. To join in and make your voice heard visit bit.ly/SU15survey and select the appropriate survey.

The Speak Up survey collects information from teachers, students, parents and community members. Project Tomorrow shares data collected with schools and districts that participate in order to help develop a vision for 21st Century Learning. Project Tomorrow also submits a nationwide report that federal and state agencies, research groups and organizations can use to support initiatives in educational technology.

Discover more about the Speak Up Research Project here.

Join us in making the Project Tomorrow mission statement - Preparing today's students to be tomorrow's innovators, leaders and engaged citizens - happen here in Pflugerville ISD.

Take the survey

Are You Safe?

As we celebrate a day filled with scary movies, creepy costumes and haunted houses how careful are you online? Although Cyber Security Awareness Month is coming to a close, we continue to remind students about cyber safety and encourage them to THINK throughout the year.

What about you? Do you think about your own online activity?

TED gathered some interesting thoughts here from two TED Talkers on the information you share without even knowing it. I think I'm going to have some curly fries for dinner.

A few Cyber Safety resources:
Digital Citizenship across the curriculum
Essential elements of digital citizenship
Resources from Atomic Learning
Resources from Edutopia

The school year is off and running. I think several people feel like me, the tortoise, while everyone around is in a sprint. We want to help you keep up with the pack and have posted some additional FOCUS Grade book support videos.

These videos can be found on the PfISD Teacher Focus Support page. http://www.pfisd.net/Page/5672

You can also scroll down on the PfISD home page and click the Focus link in the right menu bar to reach the Teacher Support page. The videos can be viewed on the PISDvid YouTube Channel as well. 

The Teacher Support page also contains links to PDF training documents for Focus. In addition the Focus portal page contains links to the Focus University Courses in the bottom right.

We hope these tips are helpful and keep you ahead of the curl...

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/57954193@N00/4409365585">Todos Santos - Frothy Curl</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">(license)</a>

School Safe Images
There are tons of sites out there to get images -- but how many are safe for schools to use. And, how many help cite their images.
Check out Photosforclass 

Having trouble seeing the new curriculum documents --
be sure you are logged in to your district GAFE account.

How to Setup your Desktop Computer