A Great Communication Tool for all Staff and Weekly BPS Blog Update (Edition 3)

The post below is actually a copy of an e-mail that I sent our teachers today to continue to promote our Burlington Public Schools Blog which shares the great work going on across our school district. It is the third post in a series that I will continue throughout the school year.

The number of Burlington Public Schools blogs and websites that have been shared with me is up from 73 to 82!  I am hoping that we will hit 100. You can check out the entire list here if you are interested. If you haven't had a chance to share yours, then please enter it here on this Google form when you have a chance. If you have been thinking about starting a classroom blog or website and feel intimidated then please reach out to me or one of the members of our technology team for support. 

The posts below are the ones that have appeared on the blog over the last five school days. Today's post by BHS Senior Cat Hoyt is actually our first student post of the year. Please feel free to forward any student work that you would like to show off for a post. Even if you don't have a blog, I am happy to turn the work into an original post. 

Day 12 - Writing "Kick Off" Celebration - Mrs. Boucher, Francis Wyman Elementary Second Grade

Day 13 - Explorations in Light - Kim Lynch, Francis Wyman Fifth Grade

Day 14 - Living Things Day - Mrs. Scelsi - Marshall Simonds Middle School 7th Grade Science

Day 15 - #Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts - Ben Schersten, Francis Wyman IT Specialist

Day 16 - 3 Reasons Why Google Calendar is the Student Athlete’s Best Friend - Cat Hoyt, BHS Senior

Only 164 more posts to go... 

This Week's Blogger Tip of the Week is for Everyone whether you have a blog or not.

The topic of yesterday's mentoring meeting for new teachers was communication with parents/guardians. Within the discussion someone asked for thoughts on teachers giving out their personal cellphone numbers to parents and/or students. With the availability of Google Voice within our Google apps domain, you can give your parents and/or students a number to reach you without ever giving your personal number. 

The slideshow below will take you step-by-step through the process to set up a Google Voice account. Once you have it set up, you can receive calls and texts to your Google Voice number. If you miss a call, it will end up in your e-mail inbox with a transcription of the message.

Finally, if you do have a Blogger blog, you can click on the gear icon within Google Voice and get a widget to embed the link to your Google Voice account on your blog. This allows people to click on the widget and connect with you right from your blog. If you want to get an idea of how it works feel free to check out my Google Voice widget on the top right corner of my blog.