Technology motivates learning!
Patti Cleary, Interim Superintendent
BCSD has benefited from eTech grants of $750,000 in the past two years to purchase equipment, software and teacher training. Here are just some examples of what teachers were doing during the month of December (compiled by Dr. Habegger and Mr. Hodanbosi, BCSD academic coaches).
Lisa Reese– used a Tic-tac-toe framework for student choice in assignments.
Matt Latham–used Discovery Education (educational website) for a unit on cellular transport in a 10thgrade biology class.
Victoria Cicero– used Discovery Education to teach a unit on Edgar Allen Poe for biographical introduction, audio broadcasts and analysis of Poe’s writing.
David Cassidy– created an interactive Jeopardy game to use on his Starboard (interactive whiteboard) to help kids understand facts about social studies.
Brian Filiatreau– used Discovery Education and Flip Cameras in his language arts class to develop logical arguments through the use of student-created video commercials with regarding a recycling project.
Allison Brandt– used Discovery Education to have her 5thgrade science students investigate the phases of the moon.
Sandy Yenchik– developed a unit on Christopher Columbus using Discovery Education which led to high test scores.
Rachel Neugebauer– used Rubistar to develop an online rubric that her students could use to guide them through a weeklong project of creating 3-D topological display from a topological map.
Anthony Holcombe- used the concept of skeleton outlines with Discovery Education videos to get students to make connections between the past and present.
Lori Manning- created a URLIST for her fourth grade phonics group to reinforce phonics skills.
John Sabol– used PollEverywhere in Social Studies classroom to increase student engagement. This Web 2.0 tool allowed students to voice opinion during class while not being singled out.
Michelle Stoller– developed a website to reinforce lessons in math class and also as a resource for websites that students can use at home.
Rick Iverson– used Discovery Education to enhance his high school science classes with embedded videos onto the Moodle site, so that students could use this information outside of class.
Brenda Cundiff– used the Starboard and VoiceThread to enhance her teaching by posting student comments to each other through voice or text.
Susan Jamison– used Discovery Education to enhance her unit on the Dust Bowl.
Jennifer Robinson– created a guidance office website focused on the process of getting into college.
Beth Bowling– created an active website for her third grade students so that they could access quality websites at home.
Dave Barnwell– created digital comic strips for students to showcase their knowledge in Algebra.
Jennifer Cowx– used Survey Monkey to have students answer the question, “Why did I get the grade I got?” The survey worked to focus her high school students on the need to be responsible for their own learning.
Jeff Sharkey– created a “Slideshow on Shapes” as a means of formative assessment before his students began their geometry unit in math class.
Melissa Nelson– created a “Jog the Web” to introduce a poetry unit to her language arts classes to motivate reluctant learners.
Dan Braswell– used Discovery Education to give his students an authentic view of ancient Egypt and the Pyramids.
Chris Bruner– used Survey Monkey in the guidance office as a means to gather data about the vocational program as students schedule future classes.