Google Classroom is a great tool which allows students and teachers to collaborate in an online classroom. This video will give an overview showing how students can join a Google Classroom. https://classroom.google.com

Skills for 21st Century learning include the use of technology, specifically to conduct research, organize, evaluate, collaborate, and communicate information. Students will be using digital technologies to communicate, network, integrate, evaluate, and create information to be successful as they progress through their education and eventually toward a career. Students will also begin to understand the fundamentals of responsibility and the ethical/legal issues that come with utilizing digital information technology.

To accomplish student learning at a deeper level as well as extending learning outside of the classroom for students HMS became a Google Apps for Education School (https://www.google.com/edu/).  Google Apps for Education (GAFE) is a free resource to schools that has given all students and teachers at HMS access to Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, and Calendar to collaborate, create and stay organized (Google Workspace for Education). Students will have access to Gmail accounts. The Gmail accounts will only enable students to communicate electronically with others inside the HCUSD#5 domain only. Students will not be able to receive or send emails outside of the district. Teachers also utilize Google Classroom (Google Classroom STUDENT Intro Video), a free web application to communicate with their students and extend learning beyond the 50-minute period they have with students. Teachers post the lessons they have taught during the day, videos that supplement what was discussed in class, collaborate with students through discussion boards and blogs, and engage students through easy electronic dissemination of assignments that students can complete and turn back in electronically.

We realize as students come to HMS they may be experiencing the use of technology for the first time. We have built-in precautions to help students make good decisions while they are accessing material online. First and foremost students undergo extensive training the first few days of school. Teachers review the iLearn Policies and the expectations that we have for them as they utilize technology at school. After student training is conducted they take a technology usage quiz to assess them to see if they have an understanding of what is expected of them. Student expectations are reviewed periodically.

Each year teachers have grown in finding new ways to utilize technology in the classroom. As we acquire new curriculums, we make sure that we purchase curriculums with online resources. Our current social studies, science, and math curriculum have online resources available to the students. The district has purchased a mathematics curriculum that has online resources that include videos, tutorial resources, quizzes, manipulatives, and access to homework assignments if they forget their assignment at school. HMS also has social studies and science resources that are available online that have interactive resources for your child. Technology is used in English Language Arts Classes to collaborate quickly and easily between your child and the teacher giving real-time feedback to them as they are writing. I have also witnessed cross-curricular assignments that teachers have assigned to students where they have constructed one piece of writing and turned it into two teachers for two separate grades.

Nearly every core teacher at HMS has a classroom Chromecart for their use with students.  Students are no longer allowed to utilize personal devices like a smartphone during the school day. They must be turned off and stored in their locker or backpack or consequences will be issued. 

Any personal device that has access to Wi-Fi can be used to access your child's Google Apps for Education Account. With the ever-changing advancement of technology, we have had parents come to us for a recommendation as to what device would best suit their child's needs at home. One of the benefits of utilizing Google Apps for Education is that no matter what device a student may be using at home or at school they will be able to access and work from the same platform across any device. Whether it is a smartphone or a laptop, students will have access to their Google account as long as they have access to internet services outside of school.

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