INFOhio ICoach

Transparent Language Online is my favorite tool for our EL population and their parents and teachers. I've also curated resources for research projects for each of the core disciplines and send emails to other staff members who I know are looking for high quality materials and standards-based review. Each year I plan to download the updated presentation and use it during PD staff days to let everyone know what's new and available with no cost!

Bookflix is my favorite resource on INFOhio!  If you have not explored this resource, stop what you are doing and go there now!  Bookflix helped when dollars for library materials were limited.  Students were able to read and hear amazing  books that I could not financially provide access for, this includes books for ESL students as well!  I will be sharing this information with teachers at our January PD.  The name of the session will be New Year, New INFOhio: Get ready for the information game changer!  My district knows about INFOhio because a lot of our teachers have been trained with INFOhio.  I will continue to support educators by offering PD's and collaborating with teachers and staff.  

I think my two favorites are Bookflix and IWonder.  I am looking forward to sitting down with our literacy coaches to introduce them to this resource and help get teachers trained and ready to use it.  The selection of paired texts is excellent and I know this resource will help our teachers support readers in our district.  

I also can't want to show intermediate/middle grades all the things they can do with IWonder.  I know of a few teachers who would like to implement a genius hour and I think IWonder would be a perfect fit.  I know I would have used it that way in my own classroom.  

As an technology integration specialist, I can meet the needs of our teachers by offering support during our PLC time, during 1:1 coaching sessions and by visiting classrooms and modeling these tools.  

I look forward to sharing iWonder with my staff. I will promote it to anyone who is looking to do inquiry-based research or give students more freedom in choosing thier own topics and materials. Even teachers who do not think they're comfortable with inquiry might change their minds when they see how easy it is for kids to use this site. They might be more willing to do a less traditional research project and more inquiry-based work when they see this resource. I will also be happy to help facilitate instruction on this resource as teachers use it in their classrooms, as well as provide support to students as they complete the inquiry process.

Two resources that I enjoyed learning more about were Go! Ask, Act, Acheive, and Bookflix. Go! is such an important tool to help teachers and students develop an inquiry-based learning mindset. It can feel like a daunting task to get started with inquiry-based learning, so having a resource that helps you organize your thoughts and gives you helpful next steps is key to finding early success. I plan on sharing this tool with teachers that are already trying inquiry-based learning in their classrooms, then I plan on reaching out to teachers that have shown interest, but are unsure of their next steps. This tool would be great for all grades. 

Bookflix is an amazing resource to help support reading and language arts. This tool would be great for elementary teachers to provide a large library of books, read-alouds, and paired texts for students to read. 

I plan on supporting the use of these programs by being available to teachers for 1 on 1 meetings, while also providing profession development opportunities through our PD days and PLC times.

I am most excited to share World Book Student and my newly found information on Search with my colleagues. My colleague and I completed this class together and are planning a presentation together to show our other colleagues what we have learned. We are excited to still play around with different reserouces and give even more information about the different avenes within INFOhio. The continued learning will happen as we give the information to our other teachers and we can all then play around and find new resources or little tips and tricks to help each other out. We went into this having a mindset for our research paper unit, and we found so much information that we had no idea existed, but we also realized other avenues that we can utilize for other departments and other projects. 

The biography section of World Book Student and World Book Advanced is what I am most excited about for our senior research projects next school year.  I did not realize that this section allowed our students to explore people in their career area which is part of the project required of all seniors.  This will save the students time and the ELA teachers a lot of headaches since it is virtually impossible to know all the famous people in every career tech area.  I will be doing this with all the students and the educators before we begin research next year in September.  I am hoping to make this training part of the PD day before the first student day.  

The resouce that grabbed me throughout this training is the Points of View Reference Center.  I used to bring in opposing viewpoint items like this all the time when I was in the classroom and I would have loved this as a resource!  It makes it so easy! I can't wait to connect with my social studies teaching staff in particular.  I'll likely utilize a parent square post to share with teachers and have direct discussions with our building level TRTs so they can support the use when I am unavailable.  

I am most looking forward to sharing and training World Book Student / Advanced.  I have been speaking with the freshman teachers about taking a little time at the begining of next school year to show the students how to find and utilize Infohio.

There is soooo much that encompasses all that is INFOhio, which I don't believe could ever be utilized to its maximum potential. 

As I have mentioned, somewhere in INFOhio Land, that I have used PebbleGo Next with my primary students doing their first research assignment. It helped lower readers gather the same information as higher readers with support.

WorldBook is a great resource, but I don't believe I'm proficient in any of them.....yet. This is where I intend to start with my fellow staff members in our first scheduled PD day. I will share the information that I found in the Document Library via email to pique their interest as to what it is and how they can use it. Recommend using the webquests that best suits their needs. I'll recommend that this be an option for BONUS points for their classes because a webquest hones students' scan and search skills.

CLEO - Current Biography - the biography one is something that my HS teacher uses every year with her sophomores to write a short biography about an important person in american history.

CLEO-because of all fo the digital literacy tools available for free and will help the students with understanding how to research more effectively.

I think World Book Student and Explora will be very helpful for the students when doing research. 

I have already shared many of the INFOhio resources with staff. The resource that I am most looking forward to training others on is ScienceFlix. I think this is the one at the top of my list because our MS science department is receptive to new resources and to adapting to change that improves their instruction. The best advertising is through word of mouth, so I would definitely have this group share their experience using INFOhio with others across the curriculum. 

Being available to support teachers and being willing to co-teach when incorporating INFOhio resources are the ways that will assure that staff and students are accessing and utilizing INFOhio.

I look forward to sharing PebbleGo Next. I believe the teachers in the elementary schools will absolutely love it! During our first PD for the year, I will be sharing it as a resource for all elementary teachers.