Spotlights
Digital Storytelling // Tyne Sanders & Catherine Hunt
Digital storytelling is a short form of digital media production that allows students to share aspects of their story using digital tools. It takes the ancient art of oral storytelling and engages the palette of technical tools to weave personal tales using images, graphics, music, and sound mixed together with the author's own story voice. After teaching students the routines and procedures of writing workshop at the beginning of the year, Tyne Sanders & Catherine Hunt love to jump into personal narratives with their students. Kids love to tell stories about themselves and their lives, so writing personal narratives comes naturally to many of them! More...
March Teacher Spotlight! Andrea Rumsey
March Teacher Spotlight: Andrea Rumsey, Pinecrest Elementary! On March 14, elementary teachers spent part of their day collaborating on STEAM activities for their classrooms. They were introduced to three STEAM tools: littleBits, Ozobots and Makey Makeys. Afterwards, they were given time to play and explore. To get a look and feel for how one of these tools can be used in the classroom, we took a look at the Ozobots in action in Mrs. Rumsey’s classroom. Mrs. Rumsey gave her students time to play with the Ozobots, introducing them to programming and computational thinking. Students learned how the robots work and were able to give them commands to the Ozobots using OzoCodes, which are special color sequences draw by the student. After learning how to program Ozobot with markers and paper, students are challenged to solve mazes and puzzles, mixing up the commands they can give their robot. This lesson meets several ISTE technology and Common Core math standards, including: ISTE 1.c – Use models and simulation to explore complex systems and issues ISTE 4.b – Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project ISTE 6.a – Understand and use technology systems CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP1 Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP5 Use appropriate tools strategically. CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP7 Look for and make use of structure. More...
Teacher Spotlight: Megan Gracik and Michaela Norman [April 2017]
For 45 years, people around the world have celebrated Earth Day on April 22nd. Earth Day commemorates the gift we have received in this living planet, and refreshes and kindles anew the commitment of people everywhere to treasure and preserve their natural environment. More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. In honor of Earth Day, first grade teachers Megan Gracik and Michaela Norman wanted their students to take on a project that reached more than just the lives inside their classroom. They chose to create a recycling PSA using iMovie to help educate their student peers. More...
iMovie Superbowl Ads!
The Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in America, and whether you're a football fan or not, chances are you joined the millions of people crowding around their TV screens to see the Atlanta Falcons take on the New England Patriots on February 5th. Inspired by this event, MacDonald Middle School teachers Kyle Haskell and Dominique Schafer decided to bring a bit of pop culture into their instruction by having their students produce and star in their own Super Bowl commercials. Check out their project here! http://eastlansingpd.weebly.com/february-2017.html More...
Josh Robertson - Teacher Spotlight
Happy birthday Michigan! January 26 marked the 180th anniversary of Michigan’s admission into the Union as the 26th state. Third grade social studies is all about studying Michigan and in Mr. Robertson’s third grade classroom, students study the geography of Michigan and its five themes in their first unit. In order to expose students to more about Michigan, students work in partnerships to research one of Michigan's state symbols (i.e. state stone, state tree, etc.). Once they have learned about and collected information on their state symbol, they then write a script for a Pure Michigan ad about their state symbol. Once they've written a script, they are then tasked with creating a 30 second Pure Michigan commercial using iMovie. More...
Technology Professional Development
Technology & Media Services offers one-on-one and group support for teachers all throughout the school year as well as in the summer. Instructional technology activities qualify as professional development under section 1526 and section 1527 if the activity leads to new knowledge about using technology-enhanced methods and strategies to enhance student learning. This means you can schedule technology professional development before school, after school and on your prep and have it count toward your voluntary district provided PD hours (professional development that is being counted as instructional time as allowed by Michigan Compiled Law (MCL) Section 388.1701 Section 101(10), may only occur when students are not already receiving instruction). Request PD by (1) going to www.eastlansingPD.weebly.com, (2) going to www.elps.us > STAFF > Request Tech PD or (3) contact Technology & Media Services directly. More...
Teacher Spotlight! David Montgomery!
In David Mongomery’s 5th grade classroom, students are learning about scientific methods in an entirely new way. Students perform a simulation of a clinical trial and analyze data through a hands on experiment in Google Classroom, a blended learning platform for schools that aims to simplify creating, distributing and grading assignments in a paperless way. It was introduced as a feature of Google Apps for Education following its public release on August 12, 2014. More...
Julie Bungard! Teacher Spotlight!
There are 47 countries currently represented within Glencairn’s classroom walls where every day is an extraordinary celebration of cultural diversity. Each classroom supports the growth of linguistically and culturally diverse learners in English education in its own unique way. This month’s teacher spotlight highlights Julie Bungard, an outstanding Glencairn teacher that has gone above and beyond to bring technology into the ELL classroom as a means of integrating rich cultural content into teaching. More...
Jennifer Bricarell! Teacher Spotlight!
Back in January, Jennifer Bricarell met with Andrew Shauver, Instructional Technology Specialist from Ingham ISD, to take a look at Osmo. Osmo is a unique gaming accessory for the iPad that comes with games that will change the way your students play and learn. With some grant money available for her classroom, she was seeking an engaging new tool that would support student work during small group reading and math time. After spending some time playing around with Osmo, Jen found it to be very fun while also having a lot of higher and lower activities that seemed to be very engaging. More...
Marcy Sheldon! Teacher Spotlight!
The March 2016 Technology & Media Services teacher spotlight highlights an amazing, fun new class management tool called Classcraft. Marcy Sheldon and Rachel Gehres share how they’ve used it to transform the feel of classroom management in their foreign language classrooms. WARNING: teachers should note that the level of student engagement caused by Classcraft’s pre-set powers and events may reach extreme levels. More...
Dominique Olivarez! Teacher Spotlight!
This month’s teacher spotlight shares a story from Dominique Olivarez’s MacDonald Middle School classroom. Together with MacDonald Librarian, Lynley Watters, Dominique and her class worked together to use Aurasma to create book reviews. More...Latest News
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