In the Classroom

E-Readers in the Classroom

Izora

More and more eReaders are becoming the go-to devices for Student reading on Nookreaders everywhere. We love the ability to carry 50 books at time with us on the airplane, to never lose our place because our bookmark fell out and to search names of characters to find when they were first introduced. The English Language Arts department at George Washington Middle School wanted their students to have these same advantages. In the winter of 2013-2014, a 6th grade co-taught Special Education and General Education class began using Nooks for the first time.

The immediate reaction was more than positive. Students loved the layout of the device and had fun discovering all the features available to them. We all love to personalize our devices and Nooks are no different. Students learned (and taught each other) how to change the background image, adjust the font size to suit them and even adjust the orientation to the style they liked best. The ability to make a book their own was a new experience, and it makes a difference, having a book that you can change and modify increases student ownership in the device and increases their interest in reading the text.

Nook cartBeyond the personalization of Nooks, students were able to practice a number of different during reading strategies. Students can highlight passages that they find significant, much the way readers in a book club will underline sections they want to share of come back to. Students can also use the embedded dictionary to look up words they don’t know. For reluctant readers, the ability to find out the definition of new words without asking the teacher or physically using a dictionary (and thus showing the whole class you don’t know the word) is a gift. Watching the students read on their Nooks, you can see them smoothly using all these techniques and empowering themselves to be better readers.

As this first class tests out the Nooks and we see the progress they are making, we look forward to expanding the use of the Nooks to more classes and for more novels. Students will be able to check out eBooks from the school library and the public library. We will be able to load novels that specifically match individual student lexile levels and increase their access to non-fiction texts. As we move forward, these devices will continue to give students access to relevant devices, literacy skills and personalized details which increases their interest and engagement with a wide variety of texts.

 

Game-Based Learning

Izora

“Are we playing Dimension M today?”

This is what you’ll often hear in math classrooms across middle school classrooms in ACPS. Dimension M is an online, multi-player video game that requires students to answer math problems to earn points and power up. In other words, students log on, design and avatar and enter a virtual world where they tackle challenges and avoid obstacles. Their main goal is to answer math questions that show their knowledge on topics from properties of multiplication, to estimating results, to calculating rate of change. As you can imagine, students are leaning forward in their seats, shouting with enthusiasm, and begging for more time to play.

Across the nation, schools are seeing that games can be “effective tools for teaching complex ideas because they:

  • use action instead of explanation,
  • create personal motivation and satisfaction,
  • accommodate various learning styles and skills,
  • reinforce mastery,
  • provide interactive, decision making context (Charles & McAlister, 2004; Holland, Jenkins, & Squire, 2002).

iPads at Ramsay

Izora

KinderiPads1William Ramsay Elementary School began working with iPads in the Fall of 2012. Seeing a need to improve literacy in the Primary grades, the school improvement team looked to technology to help supplement the wonderful learning already existing in the classrooms. Having used iPads the previous year at Polk, TIS Bobby Offterdinger worked with Ramsay to develop an action plan involving the purchase of 4 class sets of iPads. Since acquiring these devices, students have been primarily using them to engage in think-aloud activities and to extend their literacy knowledge.

 

SMART Boards at Minnie Howard

Izora

SMART Boards are gaining in popularity and are evident in numerous classrooms throughout Alexandria City Public Schools. SMART Boards are praised for their tactile nature, which encourages students to manipulate, experiment, drag, drop, interact with objects and, above all, empower their learning. A SMART Board is a perfect example of a technology tool that also serves as a visualization tool and that allows students to participate in hands-on activities. SMART Boards allow students to do many unique things that traditional methods of teaching do not allow and are overwhelmingly popular with students and staff alike. SMART_Board_interaktiivne_puutetahvel

During the 2013-2014 school year, the 9th Grade campus of Minnie Howard invested in 14 new 800 series SMART Boards. These SMART Boards were installed in two stages within 14 classrooms and have been in use ever since. Fourteen teachers were selected by the principal, Sara Schafer, to pilot and model SMART Boards in the classroom and these 14 teachers participate in ongoing professional development sessions, led by the high school TISes. The professional development sessions began with a basic skills component, proceeded to an advanced component and a culminating boot camp designed to increase student participation and engagement with the SMART Boards now that teachers are familiar with the practical applications of the SMART Board. The teachers are working with the TIS to create and plan lessons that are designed around integrating the SMART Boards into daily instruction with an emphasis on student participation. Student responses are positive regarding the introduction of the SMART Boards into their classrooms.