On Thursday morning, May 21st, students will be called to the commons to check in their iPads. 6th graders will be called first, during first period. 7th and 8th grades will be called accordingly. We anticipate that it will take about 15 minutes, hopefully we can be all done by the end of first period.
Students should follow these instructions BEFORE check in...
Sixth grade:
Make sure you have a recent backup.
Power down your iPad.
Leave your charger in your home room.
Seventh and eighth grade with no summer take-home:
Make sure you have a recent backup.
Power down your iPad.
Bring your charger with you to the commons when your grade is called.
Eighth grade with summer take-home:
If you have everything completed for summer take-home, you will NOT need to report to the commons. You may take your iPad and have a great summer!
Staff Notes:
If, after iPad check in, you have chargers in your home room, please take them to Mr. Evertson's Office on Thursday.
On Wednesday, May 20, We will send all MS staff a list of students who are NOT cleared to take their iPads home. 8th grade students on this list must report to the commons to check in iPads when called. All other 8th grade students may remain in the classrooms.
Students, we'd love to have your help in creating a positive video to send our teachers off for the summer. What we need from you is a short video message to your teachers.
We don't care if you do this alone or in groups, for one teacher or many. We just want your advice for what teachers should do to relax and enjoy their summer. We'd like to show a compilation of these videos to your teachers on the last day of school. We'll also post the video so that it can be shared with the entire student body via youtube.
So if you have time and a little creativity, please create a short video email your message to me (dave.evertson@cozadschools.net) or Ms. Wolfe (patty.wolfe@cozadschools.net) with a subject of "Summer advice", by Friday, May 15.
Thank you for sharing your genius and talents with us!
We are excited to have 11 staff members attending the ISTE 2015 Conference in Philadelphia this summer. This conference allows attendees the opportunity to collaborate with educators from around the world, explore current topics in education, and discover new strategies in education. The following staff members will be attending:
Elementary:
Anngie Love
Teresa Barnett
Karen Berreckman
Middle School
Barry Mraz
Patty Margritz
High School
Dustin Favinger
Kyle Vincent
Logan Morris
Beth Carver
Technology
Dave Evertson
Patty Wolfe
Information for Attendees:
Conference Dates (including travel): June 27th to July 2nd Conference Location--Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Hotel Accommodations--
Holiday Inn Midtown in Philadelphia (5 rooms reserved) June 27th check in and July 2 Checkout
Phone Number 215-735-9300
Flight Information:
Depart Saturday, June 27th--NonStop Flight to Philadelphia. SouthWest airlines Flight #2506. Leave Denver at 11:35 am and arrive in Philadelphia at 5:10 pm
Return Thursday, July 2nd--NonStop Flight to Denver. SouthWest airlines Flight #175. Leave Philadelphia 7:10 am and arrive in Denver at 9:20 am
Pre-Conference
All attendees, please complete this contact and travel plans for by Friday, June 12.
Departure & Return
We will depart at approximately 5:00 AM from the West parking lot of the High School on Saturday, June 27th. We will be traveling as a group in two large school vans. You may arrange your own travel to the Denver airport if you wish, but the district will not reimburse travel expenses.
We will return the day after the conference ends on Thursday, July 2nd. We should arrive back in Cozad by mid-afternoon
Meals
All attendees will receive a cash meal per Diem at departure time. You will receive $108 for meals for the conference and travel. That probably won't cover all of your meals, so you may want to bring some extra cash. No other meal expenses will be covered by the district.
For those traveling with the group in school vehicles, we will stop for a short restroom break on the way to Denver and you will be able to grab a bite for breakfast at this time.
The hotel offers a free "breakfast bar" which we assume is a continental breakfast with coffee and juice. Lunch will be available at the conference center or at a restaurant nearby.
Dinner--we will go to dinner together as a group each evening. This, of course, is optional but it is a great time to reflect on the day and plan for the next conference day.
Dress
While you will see some people dressed in jeans and shorts at the conference, we ask that you dress professionally, as you would at school. Please remember that you are representing our entire school district.
While the weather in Philadelphia will likely be warm and muggy, it will be cool in the convention center, and sometimes downright cold! You may want to carry a light jacket.
Evening activities are very casual, feel free to pack shorts and t-shirts. You may also dress casually but tastefully for travel days.
Keynotes and Sessions
The conference will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Conference Schedule. A map of the convention center will be included in your registration packet.
Opening Keynote is on Sunday, June 28th at 5:45 pm. ISTE has three Keynotes throughout the conference. We ask that everyone attend the Keynotes.
ISTE provides an on-line planner called My Favorites where you can save the sessions you are interested in and build your schedule.
Please look over the session descriptions ahead of time and plan which you might like to attend. You can search sessions by focus, presenters, date, format, etc. The Program Search also identifies those that have pre-requisites.
You may also want to make time to attend the Vendor Expo. This is a good place to see a demonstration of new tools or answer questions on existing resources. You also can sign up for prizes and/or grab some free stuff!
Technology
You may bring your iPad, computer, phone or all three. You will receive a bag during registration with the conference guide and many other flyers and goodies, but you will want a bag for the conference. Note that charging a device during the day is difficult, so you may want to leave your computer at home.
Some prefer paper and pen for notes. If you are looking for good note-taking apps, I personally recommend Evernote, but there are many others. Whatever your preference, you should plan on being able to take notes without a WiFi connection (so a google doc is probably not the best choice).
If you need WiFi in your hotel room, you will have to pay for it. WiFi is available in the conference center all day, but there are thousands of people connecting multiple devices, so don't plan on speedy internet!
Etiquette dictates that each person limit the number of devices they connect to the WiFi. Please stick with just a single device on the WiFi network.
Post Conference
We ask that each attendee post a reflection or summary of their conference experience e as a way to share thoughts and resources with others. You may want to take some pictures and/or screenshots to document your learning and include in your reflection. Alisa had a unique reflection of NETA and it was very effective.
We expect all of our ISTE attendees to share their experiences and ideas with other staff through various channels. This may include PLCs, staff meetings, or by helping to provide leadership through various staff groups and organizations.
Students (Current Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors):
Please watch the following message from Mr. Beckenhauer in regard to the Summer and 2015-16 iPad Take Home:
If you do not wish to participate in the Summer Take-home Program, you will simply hand in your iPad on the last day of school and it will be returned to you when the 2015-16 school year begins. However, you will need to complete these items for take home during the school year.
Please note the following changes in the program from previous years:
Students and their parents are now only required to attend ONE parent meeting in their CHS career. Current CHS students who take their iPads home are NOT required to attend another parent meeting.
2015-16 students in grades 9-11 will be issued new iPads at some point in the summer or fall of 2015. The cases used for our current iPads will NOT work with the new iPads. Seniors will keep their current device.
The school will no longer provide mandatory iPad cases for the new iPad Air. We STRONGLY recommend that students purchase a case which will protect the iPad.
The take-home fee which helps to cover repair costs has been reduced from $35 to $25. This fee covers ONE iPad repair per year. Subsequent repairs within a given school year are the financial responsibility of the student and parents. Typical repair costs are $100 - $130. Replacement cost is $379.
Cozad High School does NOT require students to participate in the take-home program. Students and parents may elect to leave the iPad at school, thus avoiding the take-home fee. However, students and their parents ARE still responsible for repair costs if the iPad is damaged due to negligence or lack of proper care while it is at school. If you elect to not pay the take-home fee, the student is not entitled to one free repair.
In order to participate in the iPad Summer Take-home Program, students and their parents must meet the following requirements.
Watch the Video Message (above) from Mr. Beckenhauer. Please share this video with your parents.
Sign and return the Device Take-home Program and Responsible Use Agreements. You and your parents must sign these agreements (also located in eBackpack) using your iPad. Make sure you have signed pages 3 and 5. Once signed, submit these forms electronically in ebackpack through the class titled "TECH001" (if you do not have this class, please see Mrs. Wolfe).
Pay the $25 iPad take-home use fee for 2014-15. The school will accept cash or checks, and will provide you with a receipt upon payment. This fee MUST be paid by the final day of school, May 22nd, 2015 for the student to participate in the Summer Take-home Program. Please bring your payment to Mrs. Wolfe or the High School Office (envelopes are provided for payment).
The student iPad must be in good repair and working order. If the student’s current iPad is in need of repair due to a cracked or broken screen or other significant hardware damage, it MUST be repaired through the 2014-15 Take-home Program before the student will be eligible for the 2015-16 program. Students have been notified to schedule these repairs with the tech staff before May 8, 2015. For more information, please check out the announcement previously sent to students.
For more information regarding CHS iPad Summer Take Home, you can read this early Announcement.
