Spotlight on Willis Techy Teachers!
Volume IV - May 17, 2013
As the year is winding down....
We are still excited to see all of you using technology in your rooms. Whether it is a special education classroom or kindergarten classroom, each one of our spotlights this week has really used technology in a great way!
Dynavox! Featuring: Mrs. Melissa Carpenter
Mrs. Carpenter, a special education teacher at Brabham, uses a special kind of technology with one of her students. This student uses a DynaVox VMax+ which comes equipped with eye gaze. Eye gaze allows her to use her eyes to scroll and move the mouse around on the screen. She uses blinks to click like a mouse. She also communicates by using single words and phrases as well as reading books on the internet. This technology also enables her to play educational games on her favorite sites, ABC Mouse and Starfall! This use of technology is truly changing the life of Mrs. Carpenter's student!
Starboard Link and Tablets! Featuring: Mrs. Melanie Underwood
Mrs. Melanie Underwood, from Meador Elementary, has been using Nexus Tablets and the Starboard Link to engage her Kindergarten students' center instruction. According to Mrs. Underwood, her students can’t wait to use interactive software and tablet applications to enhance learning. We are proud of our Tech Savvy Teacher!!!
Tablets! Featuring: Miss Niki Preston
One of the most challenging jobs as a teacher is assessing students (especially kindergartners ). Miss Preston, a kindergarten teacher at Parmley Elementary, has found a great way to administer her Rigby assessments. She downloaded an app called Smart Voice Recorder from the Google Play store. The students sit in a quiet area, press record and then read their book. The recordings are automatically timed and the students finish by saving it with their name. According to Miss Preston, "This also saves time in the classroom, I can take the tablets home and listen. If I hear a student struggling then I can have that student read to me one on one. Also, the kids think it's cool to hear themselves". To view a short video tutorial from Miss Preston, please click on the following link: http://goo.gl/Xpbyd
Chromebooks! Featuring: Ms. Melissa Griffin and Ms. Laura Lovett
The 6th grade science students in Ms. Griffin's and Ms. Lovett's classes have been working on a project this week at Lynn Lucas. The students are becoming the teachers! The students were put into groups and each group was assigned a topic. They are using the chromebooks to research their topic and then to make a google presentation on their topic. At the end of the week the groups will present and become the teachers!
Google Docs! Featuring: Mrs. Lauri Cornelius
Mrs. Cornelius, a 4th grade teacher at Cannan Elementary, has been using Google Docs in her classroom this week. Her students are creating books about trees using Google Docs which is basically an online word processor. One of the best things about using Google Docs is that it saves automatically. In each book they must have the scientific name and facts about the tree. They are also including QR Codes in their books that directly link to informational websites.
QR Codes! Featuring: Mrs. Rachel Rockwell
Mrs. Rockwell's classes at A. R. Turner are using QR Codes this week. The 5th grade science classes are scanning QR codes, that are posted around the building, for a project. They will find the codes and scan them for information. For the next part of the project, the students will partner up and create their own QR Codes for a scavenger hunt. This project is centered around ecosystems.
Starboard and More! Featuring: Ms. Margaret Hundley
Technology is no stranger to Ms. Hundley's students at C.C. Hardy Elementary. She uses her Starboard to teach and practice academic concepts such as synonyms, antonyms, nouns and verbs, 3 states of matter, writing interactive stories, graphing, and more. According to Ms. Hundley "Technology is just what we use in all parts of our day. It is an integral component in our instructional procedures and curricular activities."
Technology! Featuring: Mrs. Janie Wiggins
The iCoaches had the opportunity to attend/participate in a training this week at Parmley Elementary. Mrs. Wiggins, the principal at Parmley, was in attendance. Through the years, she has encouraged her teachers to try the latest and greatest technologies. She has also encouraged the teachers to attend professional development sessions to help them learn the best practices for implementing these tools in the classroom. She has tried (and succeeded) to equip her classrooms with technology. On behalf of the iCoaches, we would like to say Thank You for all of your support. We will miss you!
Brought to you by:
Tink Jones, Josh Cole, Jean Eaton and Courtney Brown
Website: http://goo.gl/nvico