The Digital Pulse
Digital News From Your Middle School Facilitator
This Month's Tech Savvy Middle School Teachers
Dixon Middle School- Natalie Ostrander
Northwoods Park Middle School- Angie Kautter
Southwest Middle School- Philip Hollinger
Jacksonville Commons Middle School- Debra Hendricks
Swansboro Middle School- Job Armenta
Hunters Creek Middle School- Arnita Morris
Trexler Middle School- Melisa Browning
Want to share best practices? Share your tips here!
Unconference
OCS’s Second Annual unConference is here! Be a part of this unConference by presenting your best practices in technology and showcasing what you already do. This unConference is open to teachers and students to present. If you would like to attend, there is no registration required, just come by on June 9th from 9:00 – 1:00 at Jacksonville Commons Middle School. For more information or to sign up to present visit: www.ocsunconference.weebly.com
Did You Know?
According to Onslow County Schools Board Policy 3225/7320: Technology Responsible Use
When using e-mail, chat rooms, blogs or other forms of electronic communication, students must not reveal personal identifying information, or information that is private or confidential, such as the home address or telephone number, credit or checking account information or social security number of themselves or fellow students. In addition, school employees must not disclose on school system websites or web pages or elsewhere on the Internet any personally identifiable, private or confidential information concerning students (including names, addresses or pictures) without the written permission of a parent or guardian or an eligible student, except as otherwise permitted by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or policy 4700, Student Records.
See the entire document here: Technology Responsible Use
BrightBytes Survey Deeper Dive…what does it mean for us?
Teachers spend many hours researching, planning, and preparing for their instruction. The question is…how are they keeping up with the ever-changing world of education? Of course, the answer must be professional development BUT what does this PD look like for teachers in Onslow County? The BrightBytes survey data shows that many OCS teachers are looking for and need additional hours of formal and informal professional development opportunities. Below is a quick definition of each:
- Formal professional development would be workshops, conferences, and college classes. Informal learning could be attending a
- un-conference; following a back channel from a live professional development event like a conference; or watching videos on YouTube, Teacher Tube, or School Tube. Informal learning also might be as easy as sharing with colleagues in the hallway. –The Journal
CHECK OUT THE RESULTS
Teacher reported time spent per year participating in non-school sponsored formal PD
Spotlight International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards
Emerging Tech
Bell Ringer Bing
Motivate your students to settle down with a visually inspiring activity provided by the homepage of the Bing in the Classroom program. Help them to build their search skills and increase their digital literacy with these fun and educational exercises. The squares on the image below are facts that students can click on to learn more about the image.
NAVIGATING THE BING HOMEPAGE:
SAMR
The SAMR Model of one of several popular technology integration models. SAMR is an acronym which stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. It is no wonder why we refer to this model by its acronym. It was developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura as a way for teachers to evaluate how they are integrating technology into instruction. You can use SAMR to reflect on how you are integrating technology into your classroom. Many resources about SAMR link it to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy. The table below provides some basic information about this model.
As an educator, where are you in this continuum? Hopefully, this article has prompted you to reflect on technology integration in your instructional planning and practices. SAMR is a huge buzz word in the instructional technology field. We will be hearing more about this technology integration model as Onslow County Schools continues the 1:1 Laptop Initiative. Please see your Digital Learning and Teaching facilitator for more information. Listed below are some resources you can explore.
SAMR in 120 Seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us0w823KY0g
Bloom’s (Digital) Taxonomy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LZhid-STbo
https://sites.google.com/a/msad60.org/technology-is-learning/samr-model
http://www.schrockguide.net/samr.html
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/videos/introduction-to-the-samr-model
Middle School Digital Learning and Teaching Facilitators
Dixon Middle School- Crystal Durham
Northwoods Park Middle School- Marsha Rowntree
Southwest Middle School- Sachelle Dorencamp
Jacksonville Commons Middle School- Tabbie Mundy
Swansboro Middle School- Kelly Mitchell
Hunters Creek Middle School- Christy Torres
Trexler Middle School- Jerri Sydes