Third grader solves a math word problem for her classmates

Students will have more opportunities to think and create digitally as we enter our third year of Expanded Learning Time (ELT).   The Ferrway School has used the ELT grant over the last two years to integrate technology into classroom instruction.  A quick review of blog posts from last spring highlight some of the innovative approaches that teachers used to inspire their students.  Technology Specialist, Robert Simpson, who coordinates the effort with the school’s Technology Leadership Team delivered a short multimedia presentation during an opening day meeting of all faculty and staff.  Download PDF (840kb)

The presentation gave an overview of last year’s activities which targeted grades 3-6.  All students in grades 3-6 had multiple lessons that incorporated the use of the Qwizdom Student Response System.  Qwizdom helped teachers engage all students during their lessons by requiring that they respond to questions embedded in a PowerPoint presentation.  The image to the left shows a third grader solving a math problem based on a question that students each answered using a remote.  Once students saw the correct answer displayed they demanded to know how to solve the problem.  To complement classroom instruction, several Ferryway teachers who completed the digital media workshop class created online multimedia presentations.  Ms. Ambrose, a third grade technology leader, created a dynamic MCAS presentation that students watched with their parents in their homes.  A 3.5 minute photo slideshow was shown composed of pictures documenting last year’s technology integration efforts.  The slideshow was created with Adobe Photoshop Elements, a software program available on the school’s mobile HP laptop cart.

One challenge that teachers face as they confront the vast universe of digital tools is where to start.  A handout on becoming a better digital media teacher was distributed featuring a concept map.  The online version is available on the Ferryway wiki.   Teachers were encouraged to register for the fall digital media workshop series to build their skills.

Based upon student surveys we know that a majority of our students have Internet access in their homes.  One interesting idea to harness the technology skills of your students is to challenge them to create a tutorial on a difficult area of your curriculum.  The idea was presented by Alan November at this year’s National Educational Computing Conference.  I created a  concept map from my notes and shared it as a handout.  What 5 subject areas do your students need more help to master?

The Earth in peril from My CTRL Z

We are pleased to announce that we received an Adobe Youth Voices (AYV) grant this summer.  Ms. Prince and Ms. Mahoney, our 5-8 art teacher, both attended a week-long summer institute on youth mentoring and digital media.  The AYV program provides over $35,000 in software, equipment, training support, and curriculum resources.  The Ferryway AYV program will focus on students in grades 7 & 8. We watched My CTRL Z produced by Vivekavardhini High School students living in Bagalore India for inspiration.  Our students will have the time, technology resources, and 21st century curriculum experiences to learn how to communicate in a media rich world.

Stay tuned to the Ferryway blog to see how we are doing.

We had the opportunity to share how Ferryway School teachers use the longer school day to provide increased student opportunities to use technology to support 21st century learning in their classrooms. Mass2020 asked the Ferryway team to present at the state’s annual Expanded Learning Time summit based on our success integrating technology. During, Way Beyond Filmstrips: Using More Time to Integrate Technology Across the Curriculum, one of our effective technology integration strategies was modeled when audience members learned to use the Qwizdom Student Response System as they followed along with our projected PowerPoint presentation.  We’ve been using Qwizdom for the last five months to create interactive instruction that engages ALL students.

Principal, Thomas DeVito started the session by describing our school’s leadership goals. Moving beyond filmstrips, the audience watched a DVD of our recent George Lucas Educational Foundation profile, Turning on Technology. (Watch a streaming version on Edutopia.org)  Bob Simpson then explained how technology is used as a bridge to increase educational opportunity, to enhance enrichment, and as a tool for professional development and instructional improvement.  Fifth grade teacher, Margaret Briatico, detailed the development of the Saugus Iron Works project and showed its impact on student learning.  Finally, ELL teacher, Paul Teixeira discussed how he adapted another online curriculum project, Biome Breakthrough, to enhance language development and learning for his students. He also shared his experiences helping forth grade teachers integrate inquiry-based science and literacy instruction utilizing Qwizdom.

Experience the presentation for yourself.  Watch the multimedia version featuring slides, narration, and audience feedback.

Insert Adobe Presenter Presentation.

Download Ferryway School ELT summit handout (1MB PDF)

Digital Media is easier than ever to create with the software tools and Internet applications available today.   Ferryway teachers gathered today for the first in a series of six digital media workshops designed to build their technical skills in order to meet the Massachusetts’ technology literacy standards.  The workshops will increase the use of technology in Ferryway classrooms by providing high quality training and direct mentoring support.  Teachers are excited to integrate technology into their classrooms, especially since our expanded learning time initiative provides more time for project-based learning.

As the workshop instructor, I have a long history of collaboratively working with teachers to develop curriculum projects that use technology.  In fact, I’ve been in the Malden Public Schools since 1999 managing a number of federal, state, and non-profit grant projects to help teachers effectively engage their students with technology.   I have a strong belief that technology integration can produce gains in student achievement when it fits seamlessly into the curriculum.

Our first workshop was well attended by sixteen teachers and Ferryway principal, Tom DeVito.  Each teacher used an HP tablet computer (model tc4200) from the school’s laptop cart.  Teachers were able to logon and connect wirelessly to the Internet.  Here are some major highlights:

• Registered for a free teacher account on wikispaces.com
• Tried to view the Ferryway school Edublogs site.  Unfortunately, Edublogs was having major service interruptions due to a major site upgrade that had occurred over the weekend.  We will revisit this in our second workshop.
• Learned about embedded media by viewing slideshare.com, a slide presentation sharing site.
• Watched a short streaming movie on wikis produced by Common Craft.  These innovative movies use stop motion animation techniques to teach about technology tools.  Our student can create these types of movies using the Adobe Digital School Collection.
• Examined examples of Web 2.0 in education.  Teachers expressed interest in partnering Ferryway students with international classrooms.  The flatclassroom.com project is a good model.
• Introduced podcasting and recommended using wikispaces as a first step.
• Completed a short workshop evaluation survey.

Our first early release day included a thirty minute overview of the new technology integration initiative presented by Robert Simpson.  Principal, Tom Devito secured funding for Simpson to help develop a Ferryway school-wide technology integration plan.  An important aspect of the orientation session was to share ideas for transforming instruction to include what is know as Web 2.0.  Web 2.0 includes any online tool that enables students and teachers to create and communicate using the web.  Blogs, wikis, and podcasts are tremendously popular examples of Web 2.0 in action.   Streaming video is of course another extremely popular form of Web 2.0, especially considering youtube. In a tribute to our recognition by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, teachers viewed a clip from the viral Ryan vs. Dorkman video.  Sorry, the light sabers were not real!  The video underscores that technologies such as digital video cameras and special effects software can be harnessed by young people to create professional quality media.

Teachers actively responded to questions embedded in the presentation through the Qwizdom student response system.  Each teacher used a remote control to make selections that were then sent wirelessly for tabulation.  About 90% of Ferryway teachers have never used a response system.  The right-hand image shows that 52% of teachers correctly thought that Ferryway students reported only used a computer once per week last school year.  The Ferryway school will have a total of three systems to use this year.  Qwizdom will be used to make classroom instruction more interactive and improve real-time assessment.  Teachers liked the idea that every student could have their response recorded and then the data could be shared for whole class discussion.

Another exciting announcement was the launch of the Ferryway 2.0 on-demand learning site.  Ferryway 2.0 uses Adobe’s Connect Pro system for uploading and sharing digital media content.  You can view an interactive Flash version of the orientation presentation.  Some benefits of the on-demand system are that teachers are able to receive training any time and they can also develop interactive student lessons.