PPS Instructional Technology

Have you heard of Flippity? Yes, well, read on for some more coolness! No, well, go check it out then, Flippity.net .  (NOTE: Read to the end to get the best surprise!) Flippity uses Google Spreadsheets to store information, like student names, questions and answers, timelines, spelling words, and more. Then, Flippity displays that information in very visually interactive ways, such as a quiz show, flashcards, and crosswords, etc. Flippity makes information dynamic! Today, I want to write to you about the Random Name Picker. The basic Random Name Picker displays your student names in the form of a Spinner that, when clicked, will randomly choose a student. Need more students? Return to the linked spreadsheet and add them. Student drops? Spreadsheet to the rescue! However, the fun begins when you click on the tabs at the top of the name picker. You'll see lineups and groups and teams and more... Below, you will see a screenshot of the Groups of 2 and a scree...

I think, as educators, we can all agree that “the process of composing is, in a nutshell, critical thinking”. That particular quote is from our own Collin Nuismer, ELA teacher at Central Middle School. I definitely could not agree more. That is why I was so excited to hear about the work he is doing with his students, or more accurately, the writing his students are doing. For example, here is an excerpt from one of Collin’s student’s, Elizabeth, and her writing from a prompt about volcanoes. the Earth shakes, the mountain trembles, on the verge of eruption smoke billows from it’s dark maw, blocking the sun, casting a shadow on the world lava spews upward,  raining fire from clouds of grey ashes,  gleaming bright in the gloom. (For Elizabeth’s full piece and access to her other writings, follow this link .) She, in addition to all of Collin’s students, is composing a large percentage of her writing on a web platform called, Write About . In fact, his st...

We love student created content! Creating materials to teach others can, when done well, really impact a student's learning. However, no matter the positive outcomes of students teaching students, when it comes to presentation day, getting students logged into and out of Google Chrome can be tedious and time consuming. Ugh. Well, here's a tech tip that might just speed up students getting access to their Google Drive presentations (or any other files associated to their Portage accounts). Google Chrome's Incognito Window Chrome's Incognito Window allows another user to quickly login to and out of Google Services without disrupting your profile on Chrome. Either use the shortcut keys Ctrl+Shift+N from Chrome or click on the Chrome menu button and choose "New Incognito Window" Then type in or go to " gmail.com ", " drive.google.com ", or whichever Google Service you wish and login to that service. When students are done pr...

As we approach the end of another school year, it is important for all students to know that ALL files and folders in their network storage drive, otherwise know as the U Drive , will be purged or deleted during summer maintenance . What does this specifically mean for students? If you need to keep any of your files from this school year, you will need to move them into your Google Drive or another service of your choosing. Any students leaving the district (Congratulations, Seniors!) will have to move their files into another storage location outside of the Portage Public Schools Network and their @portageps.org Google Account. There are several methods for making this move; however, we recommend either of the following methods below. Moving U Drive Files to your PPS Google Drive Account If you will be at PPS next year, this is the one for you! Login to a student computer with your Portage username and password Open Windows Explorer or My Computer to go to your...