Bucks County Tech Mentors Share
Highlights and Best Practices in Instructional Technology
Feburary 2016 Edition
Welcome
Bucks County Computer Fair March 18th 2016!
PARTICIPATE:
Submit a Project
Please share with potential teachers and students who might want to submit projects for this event! Click here for more information
Volunteer
We need volunteers to help judge, present and run the computer fair. If you are available to help, please click here to sign up!
Keystone Technology Innovators Program Now Open for Nominations
Teacher Feature: Ken Ehrmann’s Flipped Classroom
The following interview was conducted with Ken Ehrmann, 5th Grade teacher in Pennridge School District, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Ken is known for his work “flipping the classroom” and hosts a YouTube Channel dedicated to the flipped classroom. Ken often trains teachers on elements of the flipped classroom, using his expertise to guide them as they embark on their own efforts to change the classroom environment for students.
Connected Classrooms
Meet Mrs. Christine Demore, a fourth grade teacher at New Hope-Solebury Upper Elementary School. This past month Mrs. Demore took her students on a virtual field trip across the globe, where her class met marine biologist Michelle Jewell through the organization, Exploring By the Seat of Your Pants. As one of the camera spots for this live webinar, Mrs. Demore’s class was able to interact with Ms. Jewell who shared her story about becoming a marine biologist and offered advice to the young students about science and life in general.
To connect your class with a live expert, join the Google+ community, Google Connected Classrooms. Through this community, educators are able to set up their classes for virtual field trips, expert talks, and mystery hangouts with students around the globe. The primary goal of Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants is to knock down classroom walls and take students anywhere in the world, never having to leave their desks. They accomplish this by connecting students with exciting guest speaker lessons and virtual field trips from around the world. Through their partnerships with individuals and organizations around the world, they strive to connect students with leading researchers, daring adventurers and innovative conservationists, and to give them the chance to ask big questions and meet meaningful role models.
Welcome to My Makerspace!
littleBits
The term “Makerspace” or “Make Movement” have been making the rounds in education recently. So what is a Makerspace? A Makerspace, according to Maker Media, is a space that serves “as a gathering point for tools, projects, mentors and expertise” (Maker Media, 2013, p. 1). A Makerspace is defined “by what it enables” which is making (Maker Media, 2013, p. 1).
Think of a Makerspace as a collection of various learning environments. These learning environments provide an abundance of possibilities for students to learn, create, collaborate, and share.
You may be wondering what goes into a Makerspace. Obviously there needs to be tools for students to use for “making.” In the following months I will be providing a brief overview of various tools that can be found in a Makerspace. This month we will be discussing littleBits.
littleBits
What are littleBits?: littleBits are “electronic building blocks” that can be used for any kind of project (littleBits, 2016).
Quakertown Digital Literacy Curriculum
Upcoming Events
2016
Bucks County Computer Fair - March 18th 2016
Upcoming Internet Safety Live Stream - Feb. 4th 2016
60in60: Conference 2.0 - May 20th 2016
Authors
Chris Brockman
Media and Technology Integrator
Pennridge School District
Email: cbrock@pennridge.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/pennridge.us/pennridge-technology-integration/
Location: 1200 North 5th Street, Perkasie, PA 18944, United States
Chad Evans
Learning Facilitator of Secondary Instruction
K-12 Social Studies Content Specialist
Quakertown Community School District
Blog: Learning is Messy
Email: cevans@qcsd.org
Website: http://www.qcsd.org/site/default.aspx?PageID=1
Location: Quakertown Community School District, Bucks County, PA, United States
Twitter: @cevans5095
Cara Gurysh
Media and Technology Integrator
Pennridge School District
Email: cgurysh@pennridge.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/pennridge.us/pennridge-technology-integration/
Kasey Hinrichs
Online Learning Mentor
Bridges Virtual
Powered by Bucks County Intermediate Unit #22
Email: khinrichs@bucksiu.org
Website: www.bridgesvirtual.org
Phone: 215-348-2940 1603
Karen Hornberger
Palisades High School
Email: khornberger@palisadessd.org
Website: khornberger.wordpress.com
Brandon Lutz
Bucks County Intermediate Unit
Email: blutz@bucksiu.org
Website: http://www3.bucksiu.org/edtech
Location: 705 N Shady Retreat Rd, Doylestown, PA, United States
Phone: 215-348-2940 1608
Twitter: @blutz01
Amanda Lynch
Technology Teacher Leader and Cyber Program Liaison
New Hope-Solebury School District
Email: alynch@nhsd.org
Website: https://sites.google.com/a/nhsd.org/technology-teacher-leader/
Phone: 215-862-0608 2200
Twitter: @t_chablemoment
Dawn Martesi
Instructional Coach
Bristol Township School District
Email: dawn.martesi@bristoltwpsd.org
Twitter: @DMartesi