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TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION/MAKING/DESIGN
As a K-12 Instructional Technology Specialist, I collaborate with my administrators, educators, and industry professionals to support educational technology development across the district. Additionally, I work with small groups of students and in whole-class settings on a wide variety of projects and assignments. In order to bring my teaching experiences to life, I have designed a showcase to highlight my work. Below you will find project summaries, links to handouts, photos, and videos.
Virtual Museum: Chicago History
Third grade students researched the history of Chicago and designed virtual museums featuring fur trading, the Union Stock Yard, and the Chicago Stock Exchange. I created this virtual museum template to house a wealth of information, photos, and facts, as well as a meet the docent room and even a gift shop! View the template below and check out the pictures of students at work to the right.
MakerSpace
As Co-Coordinator of the MakerSpace, I was involved with the physical design of Lab's Lower School MakerSpace and supported its rollout by organizing professional development and curriculum for use in Lab's MakerSpace. In one example, my third grade students learned the Design Thinking Process and used the MakerSpace to design 3-D models of their designs. Here is a sample project. Please also see the images to the right of students working on various creations in the MakerSpace.
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Digital Publication: Nonfiction Research
In social studies, these fourth graders learned about the geography of ancient Egypt, Gods and Goddesses, pharaohs, mummification, pyramids, tombs, and much more. Students were immersed in reading and writing about ancient Egypt, as they crafted their first research papers. The unit culminated with the students' work on an interactive bulletin board, wherein their 30 second commercials were displayed and reserach papers could be accessed digitally via ISSUU.
Green Screen Productions
In one unit, third graders studied the history of Chicago in a cross-curricular unit that spanned across reading, writing, and social studies. For one culminating activity, students recorded green screen presentations. The goal of their presentations was to share about Chicago history, while also using strong language, like vivid verbs. In another unit, third grade students researched influential people, learned how to take notes, then shared their new understandings with their classmates. Watch as they take us back in time!
Student Blogging: Cross-Curricular
Student blogging can be used across the curriculum as a safe way for exploring one of the positive uses of social networking. Using Weebly's privacy features, I created password-protected student blogs. Although the students started by blogging in book clubs, the blogs quickly expanded to social studies and writing. Check out a few sample posts to the right.
Digital Portfolios
The downside to traditional portfolios is that often the reigns are in a teacher's hands, making maintenance cumbersome. Meet Seesaw! Seesaw is a digital portfolio for the 21st Century. In the beginning of the year, I coach teachers to use SeeSaw as a tool to document student learning and make thinking visible for families. Through reflections, exit slips, self-selected documentation, and more, students continually add to their journals throughout the school year. Watch SeeSaw in action in the video to the right, and learn more by clicking here.
Book Trailer Creation: Adobe Spark
The Zena Sutherland Awards for Children’s Literature have been given annual at University of Chicago Laboratory Schools since 1995. Selected and voted on by students, this is truly something students look forward to each year. To involve the youngest members of Lower School, I helped third grade students design book trailers for their favorite nominees. Using the template below, students brainstormed and recorded their trailers with Adobe Spark. A sampling of the videos can be viewed to the right.
UCLS Labbie Podcast
Students love being broadcasted on the UCLS Labbie Podcast. To participate, students submit applications for a variety of segments, ranging from Talent Time to Mystery Reader. When selected, students practice, record, and receive a participation certificate. Follow the link below to listen to the podcasts.
Website Updates
As Instructional Technology Specialist in Chelsea School District, one of my responsibilities is to support administrators and secretaries with the school website, using Campus Suite. To provide support, I create and maintain a database of instructional videos for updating the website.
Screencasting: Multiplication Method Explanations
One key to mathematical understanding is helping students demystify computational processes. Students in Lower School study a variety of multiplication methods, and because students learn by teaching, I helped them use a screencasting tool to walk others through their favorite multiplication methods. Check out the videos to the right to learn more.
Bond Video
In 2019, Chelsea School District proposed a bond that would generate $81,000,000 to complete district-wide improvements, create safe and modern schools, and address the aging facilities. My colleague and I were charged with creating a promotional video for Chelsea community members to view. View this video to the right.
Big Deal Media - Guest Writer
In February of 2020, I wrote this article for Big Deal Media. This piece was designed to spark teachers' interest in integrating computer science into their general education classrooms through writing workshop by way of book trailers. I highlight two programs that work together to support this: Google CS First and Scratch. Click the image to the right to read the article.
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