I was so proud of the Monaview Elementary Staff and Administration during the Technology Showcase on April 19, 2013. District staff was invited to tour the school and visit every classroom to see how students are using technology on a daily basis. A form was created in Google Docs and sent to the district staff as an invitation to the showcase. This event was planned in August 2012 by Sharon Dowell, the principal, Rhonda Folmer, the Title I Facilitator, and myself, Fran Mauney, Instructional Technology Facilitator. We knew that the teachers and students were doing a fantastic job using the Promethean Board, ActivExpressions, and interactive websites so we decided to market how well the school integrates technology and came up with a plan.
Several workshops were designed that showed how to use 1 iPad in the classroom, by using Educreations and ShowMe to create screencasting videos, by using the iPad on the Promethean Board to play interactive games, and to use as a center activity. I led several workshops after school about the 1 iPad classroom, then proceeded to show how to set up a classroom using 4 laptops for student projects. We talked about the accountability piece and teachers made several Learner’s Contracts for students to use to record their progress while on RazzKids, Compass, and, IXL.
Teachers invited me into their classrooms to model how to effectively integrate technology using a wide range of technology tools. I demonstrated how to use Self-Paced tests using Question Generator with the ActivExpressions. I modeled how to use the iPad for screencasting and gaming on the Promethean Board, I showed how to do interactive websites such as www.abcya.com, and helped set up student accounts with Edmodo.
Next, we did several planning period workshops where I showed how to create QR codes and how to upload videos to School Tube. When the teachers learned how easy it was to upload to School Tube, the fire for using videos in the classroom was ignited. They uploaded so many great student projects and made QR codes for newsletters, bulletin boards, class blogs, class websites, and more. They used QR codes for book reports, students reading their own books, presenting research projects, webquests, Educreation books with children’s voices reading the pages, and explaining how they solved problems. Here is an example of a student’s research about Poachers.
One way that Monaview was able to get the teachers involved in implementing technology integration, was they planned Curriculum Carousel agenda days where teachers taught teachers. The Instructional Coaches, Casey Woods and Kathy Paige-Griffin, created the agenda and awarded points for attendance. The after school workshops were led by the in house experts and teachers chose which workshops they were most interested in to attend. Giving teachers choice and voice for their professional development was very powerful.
Parker Rowland, a phenomenal 4th grade teacher and in-house expert, has really impacted instruction at Monaview Elementary over the last 2 years. He is quite talented with technology, understands curriculum, and relates well to his students. He uses the laptop cart almost daily and has been more than willing to spend hours working with teachers if they are having technical difficulties and helps them solve problems. He stays late and uses his planning periods to help teachers make QR codes, set up School Tube accounts, explain Edmodo, set up ActivExpression questions, work on Promethean Boards, you name it, he’s done it. We are all so thankful for Parker and all the work he did to prepare for this day. He made an amazing movie that shows how students use technology and a tech showcase brochure explaining how Monaview builds strong minds. Having a strong teacher leader at a school is a must for a successful technology integration plan!
The students and teachers enjoyed showcasing their classrooms as special guests walked in and out of their classes. Students were able to explain their learning and tell about their projects, visitors were able to see students working in stations while teachers worked with small groups,and teachers were able to demonstrate how effectively they integrate technology into their curriculum. Here are my Notes for Technology Showcase about the learning taking place in each grade level.
It was a fantastic cumulative activity for an exciting year of learning using technology. I hope we can do this again next year.