Ferryway Technology
Posted by rdesantis on November 17, 2008
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.
