Building Organizational Capacity Through Technology Coaching

West Seneca was honored to be one of the recipients of the Learning Technology Grant (LTG). The "Building Organizational Capacity Through Technology Coaching" Program's will be featured here and updated periodically. The two major goals of the program are listed below. Currently we have completed Year 1 of the grant cycle.

GOAL: Support student engagement through building organizational capacity with technology integration.

Promoting student engagement with best practices

Best Practice Spotlight: Aligned Professional Development to Build Capacity with Existing Tools

During the spring of 2025, multiple professional learning options were curated to support teachers and student engagement through technology. The technology options were based on West Seneca's approved and supported software. Offerings focused on: elementary, middle and high school teachers with added emphasis on teachers teaching English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities.

The impact of these professional development opportunities were effective and impactful for the following reasons:

Opportunities were aligned with district expectations, initiatives, and needs.
The sessions were differentiated to reflect the specific needs of staff members.
Using a half-day training model, workshops highlighted a manageable amount of new learning and offered staff flexibility.
Each workshop led to best practices that could be immediately be transferred to practice.

Below are selected artifacts related to specific training opportunities provided by the grant for our staff:

Best Practice Spotlight:
Digital Resource Alignment

Educational digital resources provide engaging content and activities that can be used to supplement, enhance and provide remediation for student use. Aligning those resources to grade levels and content levels were implemented for classroom teacher use. Teachers were given the opportunity to invesitage those materials.

Best Practice Spotlight:
Day of Tech

A Day of Tech was delivered to K-5 students and teachers. Instruction and activities were created around: AR, Coding, 3d Design, AI and digital citizenship.

Best Practice Spotlight:
Movie Magic

Movie Magic afterschool 6th Grade Club managed video creation using LTG iPads, and Canva software to produce a video for incoming 6th graders.

Best Practice Spotlight: Esports Club

E-Sports Gaming and Learning club met over 8 weeks to experience gaming and creating artifacts that align to the esports industry. Students created logos and games using Canva software. The esports club was divided into 6 teams of 30 students and facilitated with two teachers.

Best Practice: Responsible & Ethical Use of AI

Introduction to using AI with 5th grade students and teachers. Students experienced responsible and ethical use of AI while creating a project. Two groups of 5th graders at two separate schools attended the Introduction to AI - 120 students and 5 teachers.

Goal: Support areas of need and focus through effective use of technology.

Best Practice Spotlight: Using Technology to Connect with Families and Promote Attendance

One of the focus areas of the grant is maintaining connection with chronically absent students.

One strategy for this is to produce attendance PSAs to promote the importance of showing up to school, and to highlight what students are missing out on by not coming to school. Using Canva, a dedicated team was able to create PSAs that emphasize the value and importance of attending school.

Additionally, members of our counselor and social worker teams received support with deepening their understanding of using digital tools to connect with families. Two specific examples of digital tools that were supported through the work of this grant include:

Remind (Training was provided to equip staff with using the full functionality of remind to connect with families).
Google Meet (To facilitate virtual meetings with students and families after school to offer support in a more flexible setting).

Best Practice Spotlight:
Vibe Coding

Professional Development provided for elementary literacy teachers on the concept of vibe coding to create student centered learning applications.
Professional Development provided for psychologists on how to create student behavior monitoring applications using vibe coding.

Best Practice Spotlight:
Report Writing / Gemini Notebook

Created and implemented professional development for PPS staff to support report writing using technology tools (E.g., AI). 50+ PPS staff (Related Services Staff Psychologists, Speech Language, OT, PT, Vision) members supported through Superintendent’s Conference Day Session.

Best Practice Spotlight:
Creating Classroom Material

Demonstrated and guided teachers from a private school on the use of Canva to create materials to use with their students.

Best Practice Spotlight: Pop-Up Museum

Created an interactive afterhours pop-up museum exhibit for the community to celebrate and learn more about the heritage and legacy of West Seneca Schools. Numerous families cycled through the interactive museum exhibit. This exhibit featured interactive historical trivia stations built using iPads.

Best Practice: AI Focus Group

Supported and contributed towards the efforts of the district’s AI Focus Group.

Professional Learning Continues...

Best Practice Spotlight: Building Capacity in new staff through Tech Tuesdays Onboarding

Developed to support newly hired classified and certificated staff as they acclimate to our IT systems and services.

Tech Tuesdays are designed as a resource for employees to learn more about our systems and technology tools as they become active participants within the West Seneca School Community.

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