Infinite Campus Messaging

(Thanks to Mr. Conway for this information)

How to send a message through Infinite Campus:

1) Log into Campus.  Click on your Campus Instruction page (if that is not already your default page.  You should see something like the picture below.

2) Click on the "New" button right above the Message Center.

3) You should then see the picture below.  Please do the following things on this page.

• Leave it as class message
• Leave the user/user group as user
• Leave a new template--- you may create templates but wouldn't have any at this time
• Look at all the delivery information and make sure it is what you want
• I always change the Sender's Email to my email address but it depends how you want to do it...

4) Type your message in the box like the picture below.  You will need a Message Subject.  After typing your message, hit the next button.

5) Below you will see the page where you can choose what class's parents you want to send messages to.  Please consider the following things below.

• You are in Term 1 so no need to check other terms
• Choose your class or classes
• Choose by checking below whether you want to send this to just the parents (Student Messenger Contacts) or the students too
• Hit "Next" once you make your decisions

6) Last but not least.... You will find this page.  Before you hit send, it might be a good idea to hit the "Review Recipients" button to see if you are getting all of the parent contacts you intended to.  You can uncheck someone if you want, etc.  If you hit close on that page, you can hit the Send button and it should go out to your parents.

PLTW Launch

Here are a few steps to getting you set up to teach on of the PLTW Launch modules.


1.  From your teacher laptop, log in to your PLTW account at this link.

From here, you can view all of the course content.  You have a teacher account already created.  You will need to 'Publish' the content you want your students to be able to view.  If you are working on Module 2, then it would be good practice to only make that module viewable.

2.  Your teacher iPad will include all of the teacher-viewable content.  Use the Canvas App.  It should already be installed on your iPad.  If not, go to Self-Service to install.

When you log in, enter PLTW as the school.   DO NOT put Grinnell as the school.  PLTW already has the content built and ready for you.

3.  Your students will need to be logged into their iPads.  This really should only need to be done once.  I have shared FV link / BP link that includes all of your student usernames and passwords.

Again, the school is PLTW (Project Lead the Way).  It is NOT Grinnell.

Your students have been rostered with usernames and passwords to login to Canvas.  Canvas is the Learning Management System for this coursework.

Students will have access only to the content that you give them access to.  Please do a test run to make sure everything is working well before jumping in front of the class with your lessons.  Students will need a little time to get acclimated to working with Canvas.

This video shows how to log in to a student PTLW Canvas account:

Apple Vanguard Cohort

Teachers and Staff:  

Please consider applying for one of 20 positions to become a part of a new Apple Vanguard Cohort yet this school year.

The Apple Vanguard Cohort is made up of like-minded Grinnell-Newburg teachers, leaders, and support personnel who are dedicated to the promotion of integrating technology into the classroom. The cohort allows for participants to deepen their knowledge around the Apple OS X and iOS operating systems and Apple creativity and productivity Apps. The goal is that each participant will go forward as a model and a resource for not only their campus or department, but also for the entire district.

Cohort meetings will be facilitated by Karen Seimears, a Senior Specialist with Apple Professional Learning.

Meeting times will be during our monthly Monday inservice days.  Each member of this cohort must commit to at least 24 hours of training in either the OS X or iOS operating systems and a combination of any of these apps: Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie, Garageband, iBooks Author, and iTunes U Course Manager.

Meeting Dates include:

November  7th

December 5th

February 6th

March 6th

April 10th

May 5th

Who is an Ideal Apple Vanguard Cohort Candidate?

The ideal Candidate must be excited about using Apple tools in the classroom and comfortable sharing related information with colleagues in a professional development model. The candidate should be committed to integrating technology into the classroom in order to enhance student learning and engagement.  

Any Questions? .... Please ask any of the building principals, Karen Seimears, or myself.

Here is the Application.  

Please download or duplicate the form to make it your own.
Send it to me when you are finished.

Certified Apple Teacher

In your personal professional development, consider working toward becoming a Certified Apple Teacher.   This can be a way to build your teaching skills using these new and updated computers issued this school year.  This certification is free to complete. 

This certification may be achieved by completing a series of 8 'badges' either working on your Apple Computer (laptop or desktop) OR using an iPad.  You may choose to complete both.

You will need a personal Apple ID to start this certification.  This I.D. is for your personal reference and not something that you will ever be asked to share.  Your Apple ID will most likely be a personal email address.   Please let me know if you have any questions or if you have any difficulty creating an Apple ID.

For the computer, the Badges include:      Mac      Pages for Mac      Keynote for Mac      Numbers for Mac      iMovie for Mac      Garageband for Mac      Productivity with Mac      Creativity with Mac For the iPad, the Badges include:      iPad      Pages for iPad      Keynote for iPad      Numbers for iPad      iMovie for iPad      Garageband for iPad      Productivity with iPad      Creativity with iPad __________________________________		Profile Screenshot:
Plenty of resource materials are available in each of these categories as you work through the lessons, including Starter Guides and videos.  They are intended to be easy to navigate and follow along.  There is a short quiz to complete each badge. Earning this certification is also one of the criteria to be considered an Apple Distinguished School, which we will be working on.  More on this will be coming later. When you have earned your certification, please send me a screenshot of your profile page for my records, similar to what you see to the upper right. You may also add the Apple Teacher moniker to your electronic signature with your email.  Due to a recent change in licensing, the Apple Teacher image can no longer be used.   To the right, see screenshots of how to navigate to those settings in your Gmail account.		From your Gmail, look for the 'gear' icon in the upper right part of you computer screen:

For those of you who taught here last school year, there are some similarities with the 'Tier 1' online Professional Development work you completed using Canvas.  This is much shorter and is focused on using your Mac in instruction.

Again, this is self-paced and free.  All of the help resources will still be available if you need a refresher at a later time.  This link will get you started.

Please let me know if you have any questions.