Great things are happening at Fletcher Elementary! Here are a couple of examples of what’s happening.
Jeff Wentworth is taking advantage of the power of visualizer technology to demonstrate proficient and outstanding work to students. Friday he used students’ science journals to demonstrate the various techniques that students are using to organize the scientific data that they are collecting. Jeff took two well organized journals and asked questions of the class in order to engage them in considering how the authors organized their work and how the class might replicate the same kind of organization. While the two students whose work was shared were seemed to be enormously proud, the rest of the class benefited from their expertise. All of the circling, diagramming and arrows that were annotated over the student work was virtual. Because of this, student work was respected during the process. Students were given back their work without marks and scribbles all over it. What a powerful way to share “best practices” with a classroom.
NETS for T: IIIc. Teachers apply technology to develop students’ higher-order skills and creativity.
Jori Botvinick’s second grade students are building their number sense by interacting with the Promethean ActivBoard. The board was set up with an interactive “memory” game consisting of digits 1 – 9. Students used the pen to uncover cards and find matches that equaled 10. At the end of the activity, a discussion was held detailing all of the combinations that add up to ten. Throughout the entire experience, students were engaged and excited to share which cards were hidden where and how they added up to ten. As students were working you could tell they’ve developed their own problems solving abilities related to the board. For example as one student accidentally opened a new page, she instantly new how to close it and go back to the previous page. What an incredible way to support students that are kinesthetic and visual learners! This is a great way to develop interactive learning centers.
NETS: 1c. Students use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
NETS for T: IIa. Teachers design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.
