The 6th Grade Team organized a fun way to begin the Thanksgiving Day Holiday.  The teachers put together a game of Jeopardy using Quandary, a program that is part of Quizdom.  Each teacher submitted 5 questions from their curriculum which was then uploaded into the Quandary program.  Quandary can be programmed to categorize the questions by subject.  Once the program is set up it resembles the real television show Jeopardy.  The entire 6th grade was brought into the cafeteria, where Mr. Simpson, Mrs DeSantis and Mr. Teixeira had the “show” set up.  A large projection screen was ready to view the game and four desks lined up for the “contestants” to begin their battle.  Homerooms played against each other competing for the most points and for a chance to play “final jeapody”.  As the students filed into the cafeteria you could see the excitement and interest in their eyes.

“Let the game begin”…….. Once students where briefed on the rules and strategies of the game the learning and fun began!  One “contestant” would choose the subject and amount of points to be waged. “I’ll take Math for 200, Mrs.D”, said Walter.  As the teacher controlling the Quandary game, I would then announce the topic and points, then reveal the question.  The “contestants” would then read, think and answer as quickly as possible to lock their answers into the Quizdom remote.  Once all had responded, the answer was revealed and the points accumulate accordingly.  The atmosphere in the room was explosive……students, thinking, laughing and building friendships!

The students and teachers had so much fun and best of all it was all curriculum based!! Students were actively engaged and having a great time.  Nice work to the 6th Grade Team…. We would also like to thank Mr. Simpson for all he does as a technology leader.  Also, a special thanks to Mr. Teixeira for taking time to teach another teacher about ways to implement Quizdom into the classrooms!

Two fourth grade classrooms at the Ferryway School had fun learning vocabulary in a new way. They were introduced to their new vocabulary words using an interactive program called Qwizdom. Students answered questions using individual remotes and then were able to watch their answers appear on the screen. The class loved it! The students quickly picked up on how to use the remote. They were enthusiastic, engaged and asked when they would be able to use it again. The next session will involve an activity called “think, pair, share.”

The Technology Leadership Team at the Ferryway School has been established to promote technology within the classroom.  Under the guidance of Robert Simpson, the Technology Team has successfully completed three workshops and has attended many meetings on how to best implement digital media into our lessons.  This has been very exciting for both, teachers and the students.

The 6th grade team and the students have had many opportunities over the past few weeks to implement technology within our curriculum.  First, Mrs. Terranova and her students did podcasting  book reviews.  A few students were selected to try a live podcast based on their writing reviews of books they had read.  The students met with Mr. Simpson and had a lesson on how to use the audio equipment.   Once the podcast was uploaded, Mrs. Terranova played the podcasts for students within her ELA classes.  The students excitement was infectious.  They all wanted to “go live”.

Due to the success and interest of the podcast book reviews, we came up with the idea of a picture podcast.  In Social Studies, the students wrote about the Five Themes of Geography using a personal photograph.  A few students were then selected to present a “picture podcast”.  Once the students became familiar with the podcasting process, they were then asked to demonstrate what they did to the class.  The students that did the picture podcasts, taught their classmates how to do a live podcast.  Pair/sharing at it’s best!  Students teaching students!  How motivating and exciting!   Again, it was amazing that the students were so comfortable with the computer, microphone and program.  We were so surprised at how much the students knew about computers.

Powerpoint has also been used in Social Studies to present information to students using charts, pictures and graphs.  Visual context is a valuable tool for all students, including students with learning disabilities and English Language Learners.  Overall, Ferryway is moving forward with technology in the classrooms.  Keep up the good work, both teachers and students.