SBTS EdTech

Students in 3rd Grade at Rose Hill Elementary are learning about Earth cycles and patterns. A lesson is introduced on the Smartboard focusing on key concepts such as rotation, revolution, seasonal changes, the Earth’s tilt, and the two axis points. Students later move around a lamp in the classroom showing the movement of the Earth with both a rotation and revolution based on images and the lesson presented on the Smartboard. The following day students review key vocabulary words and then are given both digital cameras and flip camcorders to take pictures/video tape objects they find in the classrooms that can both rotate and revolve.  Students also make skits showing these two earthly motions.

SBTS in Neighborhood C have been busy getting our teachers up and running with all the technology that is available in our schools.

 All Kindergarten teachers have been trained in the KMRA and are ready to begin assessing students and collecting online data in order to have a consistent and ongoing view of student progress and areas of need in mathematics.

SBTS are already working on training teachers on how to create their own common assessments using ASPIRE in eCART, with some, creating and entering their own questions. 

We have been working with classroom teachers and specialists to set up class blackboard sites that are ready for students to access.  Blackboard is being used in a variety of ways including; posting announcements and websites for students to access for extra practice or to gain the needed background knowledge for an upcoming lesson.  United Streaming videos have been posted in BB for students to view at home or on their own during centers time. Students are creating their own wiki’s as a place to recommend books for others to read, plus they get to read and comment on other book recommendations and make connections!  Students have also been blogging with classmates as a way to brainstorm for projects or discuss books they are reading.

SBTS are working with teachers to create SMART Notebook lessons that allow curriculum content to be taught in an interactive way that captures student attention and works to engage each learner in the process.

As many teachers review geography skills in the beginning of each social studies curriculum, mapmaker’s toolkit was utilized at many of our elementary schools. In 4^th grade students’ created maps of Virginia where they demonstrated knowledge of the geographic regions in VA. Fifth grade students worked on perfecting their map reading skills by locating states and countries using latitude and longitude coordinates and pinning these areas on their maps.  They also created maps that demonstrated their knowledge of direction and the hemispheres’.  Sixth grade students created maps of the 8 geographic regions as these regions are the basis for how and where settlement began in the United States and will be key in helping students understand settlement in the US.

At Weyanoke Elementary school teachers are working with the SBTS and other resources teachers to use technology to analyze data and create common activities and assessments.

The 2nd , 3rd  and 4th grade teachers are collaborating with their SBTS and 2 SUM teachers to improve student scores in math.  These professionals are creating common activities and assessments and then meeting to analyze the data. This project materialized as teachers were looking at SOL math scores and noticed a disparity between boys and girls, as well as, in certain math strands. In order to work towards a solution to this problem the SBTS organized a plan to implement Destination Math in grades 2-4.  The SBTS trained the 2 SUM teachers and the grade level teachers in the use of the Destination Math software.  The group planned common activities and tests for each grade level that targeted the areas of need.  They are currently working collaboratively to analyze the test results during common planning times and then use this information to drive their math instruction.  In the future the SBTS and teachers are going to use this same approach in creating Aspire tests in grades 2-5.

Science SOL scores indicated that girls were outperforming boys 4:1. The SBTS, 2 resources teachers and all grade level teachers are now working to create common assessment in ASPIRE that highlight the lowest science strands.  The teachers are using the data from these teacher created assessments to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the students.  They are now working to locate remediation activities that would best serve the students.

Second graders at Hunt Valley are participating in Skype sessions with an elementary school in Alaska.  The Alaskan school is raising salmon and will act as experts as they answer Hunt Valley Student’s questions about the unique life cycle of Pacific Salmon runs and about life in Alaska.  Hunt Valley students will then act as experts about Washington DC and other historical attractions in our nations capital.

The hope is that a relationship will develop between our schools so that future projects on all grade levels will occur.

At Dranesville ES, upper grade students designed snow flakes in Geometer’s Sketchpad and imported them into PowerPoint. In PowerPoint, students learned how to animate the snowflakes into “falling snow.” With these animations, they added winter poetry and winter scenes drawn in Pixie. In addition, some classes are combining all of the individual slides into one “class PowerPoint” adding music and/or narration.

To help support and prepare 5th graders for the Global Awareness Project,  Colvin Run 5th graders have completed research projects on MesoAmerica using PhotoStory and are starting a WebBlender project.  As a kickoff for the project five teachers, the librarian, SBTS and GT Resource Specialist each chose a different question from the eight guiding project questions and prepared a sample GAP project.  These projects use different technology applications: Publisher, Inspiration, PhotoStory, WebBlender, and Power Point.  Students participated in a ”GAP Museum Walk”, spending a few minutes listening to a presentation for each of the eight project.  This helped jump start student thinking about their project before they choose the question and topic they will be researching.  

At Great Falls ES, teachers and students are busy using technology as a tool for learning and teaching.  Fourth grade students are using dialogue blogs in FCPS 24-7 as reading responses and they are doing current events journals where they are finding lots of articles from online kids’ newspapers.  Kindergarten students are becoming quite savvy using Pixie 2 to take a snowman adventure.  Students drew pictures of snowmen in various settings (in space, at the firestation, in the jungle, along a Native American camp) and will be working to add text and voice recordings about their snowman’s adventure.  Students will share their story in their classroom as well as on the morning announcement TV show.  Second grade students created slideshows in Pixie about the lifecycle of crickets and are working on Animal Classification movies in Photostory.

There have been many things going on in the neighborhood D schools since the beginning of this year.  It is nice to be past the first month and focus on instructional best practices with technology.

Blackboard and blog implementation have been on the rise in all schools. SBTS and teachers are working to use Blackboard in an instructional way and finding ways to increase use at school and at home. Teachers are reinforcing content in many subject areas and working on writing skills through the use of the blog and discussion board.
Co-teaching with Teachers is a priority in all our schools. We are attending team meetings, co-teaching lessons, modeling lessons, meeting with students through Tech Teams and special assignments, and planning with teachers on short and long projects.

We are all involved in school planning, testing, and other school leadership roles.

Currently, our neighborhood is discussing options for a neighborhood-wide training.

For more information on any of these activities, please contact the School Bases Technology Specialists in Neighborhood D; Canterbury Woods, Daniels Run, Fairhill, Kings Glen, Kings Park, Laurel Ridge, Little Run, Mantua, Mosby Woods, Olde Creek, Ravensworth and Wakefield Forest.

Welcome to the Hinterlands in Fairfax County!  We are excited to share all the wonderful things going on in our schools and how we as a neighborhood are supporting instruction and each other as we meet the needs of our diverse school communities.  Due to the varied needs or our teachers and students, our neighborhood of SBTS focuses on supporting the differentiated instructional needs of each community.  Below are just a few of the things we have done in the past and a few of our ideas for the upcoming year.

• Students at Great Falls Elementary participated in a project integrating technology in a study of the famous photographer, Ansel Adams.  Students used digital cameras to take black and white photographs of nature in the style of Ansel Adams. Students were engaged in discussions and activities related to perspective and learned many different skills related to using digital cameras.  We are excited to extend this project during the 08-09 school year to a study of Portraits of Power of Richard Avedon.
• Forestville administrators have their own blog on the staff Blackboard course.  They have been using the blog to start professional conversations about technology, PLC, and other topics.
• Colvin Run students in different grade levels are using digital recorders and Audacity to create content-based podcasts that are posted on the school’s website or teacher’s Blackboard sites:  6th graders Explorer podcasts, 1st graders Animal Research, 4th grade Virginia Minute, 5th graders Math review and class books in primary grades to created to increase reading fluency. In lieu of a school newspaper, a group of fifth & sixth grade students create podcasts that demonstrate what is happening around school so every grade level has online informatioin in the form of podcasts about their learning.  After a summer course in which 15 teachers participated, Colvin Run teachers have focused on integrating SmartBoards with their daily instruction. The boards have been used in as centers and in small and large group instruction.
• Herndon Elementary school purchased 33 SMARTBoards, 32 projectors, and 41 carts in the past year.  They now have a SMARTBoard and a projector in every general education classroom.  They are currently working hard to integrate this equipment.  Many teachers are taking the “Building Lessons for The Interactive Whiteboard” class this fall.  They are planning on starting  a SMARTBoard “Support Group” to share ideas for implementation and integration.
• Kindergartners at Forest Edge ES are video conferencing with their 3rd grade pen pals in New Jersey allowing teachers to test the process. 

As an SBTS neighborhood we have celebrated many successes this past school year both instructionally and technically. However, the main focus of our job is the impact we have on teachers and instruction. Here are some of our favorite instructional technology celebrations from the 2007-2008 school year.

• As a group we organized a mini- conference entitled “Ed Tech Expo.” Teachers from over 20 schools were invited to attend and learn new and innovative ways to infuse technology into their instruction. We had a great turn out, of both presenters and attendees. However, the real power or impact this conference had, happened not during the conference, but afterward when teachers applied what they learned there. One instance was with a second grade teacher who was introduced to a program called ”Scratch,” a free program where students can use creativity and problem solving skills to create and animate pictures and scenes.  (Learn more about scratch here http://scratch.mit.edu/.)  The teacher was so impressed she went back to her home school to share with her teammates so that they could begin using it as tool in their classroom. (Franklin Sherman)
• Essential vocabulary is an instructional focus for teachers particularly in the clusters where Marzano’s Building Background Knowledge, book had been emphasized. To promote the learning of essential vocabulary and giving the students control of their learning, Lemon Road ES began using recorders (small mp3 players) to make digital dictionaries. The students were responsible for researching the term and then creating the recording. The recordings were then put into a PowerPoint to create an index using a simple teacher created template of an image, definition of the word, use in a sentence, and the recording.  This project really helped focus on essential knowledge and brought in several learning styles for differentiating instruction.  Sally Bryan, the school SBTS, wrote a Best Buy grant and from it recieved $2000 to purchase the mp3 players.
• Over at Shrevewood ES, the teachers began to use audacity to check for fluency for their ESOL students.
• New SBTS, Carrie, used audacity and mp3 players last year in her 4th grade classroom to help differentiate lessons for students without a lot of parental support at home to help with homework not on their own grade level.  They posted recordings of the teacher or other students reading the assignments to the students. They received a grant through speech and language, to help pay for the mp3 players.

We had a great year last year, making a difference in the lives of teachers and students in FCPS. We look forward to posting many more celebrations this year too!