Learner-informed knowledge is a prerequisite for integrating technology in an inclusive way so that students from all communities can effectively use it to achieve their goals.
All guiding questions are aligned to the element criteria located in the Portfolio Guide.
Guiding Questions:
How has technology access impacted student learning at your campus?
How are students given voice and choice to demonstrate how they leverage technology to learn?
Technology access on our campus has been invaluable through the pandemic. We are always connected! In addition, teachers are evolving their practice and finding new ways to not only transform, but to extend learning in ways not possible before. Ms. Dilosa's classroom is an excellent example. She serves students who have accommodations, and she collaborates with their general ed teachers on lessons. She leverages the technology to help every student have a voice and choice in how they demonstrate what they know. Practices in her classroom provide a model for other teachers, and she has worked closely with her coach to help share what she's learned and to continue making the most of the powerful tools available to her.
Ms. Wiley's 6-8 Hybrid ELA class uses Nearpod to learn new vocabulary during a novel study.
3-5 ELA SPED Teacher Ms. Glass works with a 5th grader on an assignment.
Guiding Questions:
What are the needs of your community and how are you meeting them?
Our community has many needs, and our school network provides many resources to our families. A big push for us in the next year will be to provide more tech resources in the way of technology training. See the Family Engagement page to see our plan!
Are the systems and processes accessible for multilingual families and students? If not, please explain your next steps.
Yes! Our school website has a section in English, Spanish, and French for families to see device troubleshooting and their technology handbook. When our school received the Discovery Education subscription, we provided information to families in English and Spanish.
How do you offer choice and voice to your families?
There is a plan in the works for family tech classes and Q&A Zooms with their coaches. See the Family Engagement page to see our plan!
How are you promoting diversity and inclusion when selecting members of your student tech team?
Our tech team is comprised of 13 students across 6th through 8th grade. These students were nominated by staff members for their leadership capabilities and commitments to device care and classwork completion expectations. We intentionally chose for Tech Team to be a weekly club versus a daily enrichment class so that tech team students could enjoy their other interests and explore something new as a part of tech team. We leverage membership as a way to motivate students to model expectations, feel a part of something important, and encourage perfect attendance on Fridays (assessment days).
Due to Consistent Access, all students are able to participate in a schoolwide Mural-Design contest. Art teacher Ms. Matthews created a template in Google Canvas, which is pre-installed onto all Chromebooks. Students can use styluses to sketch their ideas and submit them digitally. Students may also draw on paper and submit their ideas in person. This option allows students to use different formats to express their creativity!
Art students learned about stop-motion animation and used Chromebooks to record their ideas after learning about and planning their storyboards. This type of project planning and team management helps students collaborate with others across all subject areas!
In thinking about how tech can further support student needs, we decided to make a greater push for extra keyboarding skills before state testing. Students use their devices in class daily, but rarely explicitly have typing lessons, so, in order to ensure student typing stamina is sufficient for the demands of week-long testing, we distributed options for teachers of all grade levels to use, including typing lessons in Spanish.
Another special tech-based initiative this spring has been the rollout of Duolingo. The enrichment team leads this program with scholars twice a week during their enrichment block. Students whose primary language is English study Spanish, and students whose primary language is Spanish study English; however, students who are already bilingual worked with their teachers to select a third language to learn!
Mrs. Santoro leads a Nearpod lesson for a hybrid SPED class. Her lessons leverage technology to give students different ways to build their learning, multiple ways to respond to questions, and provides high levels of engagement for our scholars who need the most focused support.
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