Half Hollow Hills School District technology questionnaire
These are the replies from some districts to the Newsday questionnaire regarding the use of new technologies in their classrooms.
Some of the answers are elaborate, and have not been edited or reduced. Some districts did not answer the questions directly.
The Half Hollow Hills School District is committed to integrating technology into all aspects of the instructional program. However, we strongly believe that it is not technology that should be guiding our practice but learning and teaching. To that end, rather than focusing on devices we focus on technological tools and resources that support authentic learning experiences by enabling students to find, analyze, manage, present, collaborate, share information and construct knowledge. The following systems that are in place make this focus possible:
• A strong infrastructure - every desktop and laptop computer in the District has high-speed network access. We have a gigabit network connecting our school buildings and 100Mbps connection to the Internet.
• Peripheral devices such as LCD projectors, scanners, high speed multi-function printers, and digital cameras are available to assist students and teachers in their work.
• A strong professional development program in which teachers are trained in the mechanics of using the hardware and software through the exploration of tools that enhance and expand the curriculum by including learner-centered, interdisciplinary, constructionist activities.
• Teacher laptop program – over 200 Half Hollow Hills teachers are participating in this program that began three years ago in response to the need for greater access to computers for teachers, and because teacher access to personal computers is a key ingredient to enhance instructional practice. Participating teachers are provided with a laptop computer (along with appropriate software) for use in school and at home. They also get an LCD projector installed in their classroom.
This program encompasses multiple components, including push-in support as well as 50 hours of specially prescribed professional development in personal computer competency skills and classroom technology integration tools.
Responses to your four questions:
1. Major technological innovations introduced in the classroom in the past three years: podcasts, wikis, and teacher websites • Podcasts (listed below are just a sampling!!)
o Candlewood Middle School Foreign Language teacher, Valerie Levy, is using podcasts in her Italian classes in a variety of ways.
• In order to sharpen their speaking skills, students are creating podcasts in which they enact and record various scenes from Italian operas or fairy tales.
• Mrs. Levy creates podcasts that enable her students to practice vocabulary.
• Actual examples of these podcasts can be accessed here.
o High School East Social Studies teacher, Cindy Yantz-Cullen, creates podcasts of her class notes and various review topics. These podcasts can be found here.
o West Hollow Middle School Librarian, Diane Calise is working with students to create podcasts that present various aspects of the library in engaging, skits written and performed by the students. Click here.
o Otsego Elementary School Music teacher, Elissa Reichstein, is posting podcasts that celebrate and share her students’ work. Click here.
o High School West Social Studies teacher, Jim Diver, along with one of his students created the podcast, Stephanie’s Story, in which they share the story of a student who moved to the US after the Haitan earthquake of 2010. See it here.
o Signal Hill Kindergarten teacher, Kate Schmitt, has created podcasts to help parents and students understand the world of kindergarten. Click here.
• Use of Web 2.0 tools such as wikis and Voicethreads
o West Hollow Middle School Language Arts teacher, Jeaninne Ortiz, is using Flip video cameras, wikis, and various other web 2.0 tools in seventh grade Language Arts classes.
• These tools enable her seventh graders to be twenty-first century reporters and time-travel the literary globe to report to a twenty-first century audience. Students are assigned a time period to explore in connection with a literary piece; for instance, after reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, students can broadcast interviews with the Queen after researching the roles of women in Victorian London. They can pretend to interview children working in factories after researching the Child Labor issues in 19th century London. Using computer-generated comic strips they create scenes, text-to-speech videos, news broadcasts, and other animations to help bring their literary creations to life.
• After reading about a 1930's family struggling in the rural south in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, students project what the characters' lives might be like during the Civil Rights Era. They analyze characters in the novel and then "Gump" them in to historical events such as the March on Washington or the struggle to integrate schools in the 1950's and 60's, to create collections of documents, letters, news articles, videos, etc. to publish on their wikis.
o High School East Social Studies teacher, Cindy Yantz-Cullen, had her Advanced Placement European History students collaboratively create a wiki to review for the AP exam. See it here.
o Chestnut Hill Elementary School 5th-grade teacher, Robin Ciavarella, has a class wiki for her students to “post [their] thinking and ideas about topics [they] are studying.” In addition each student has a page on the wiki that acts as a portfolio of their work for the year. View it here.
• Students and teachers create videos to support instruction o High School East Biology teacher, Jason Braun, creates videos for his students on topics that they are studying.
o Award winning student created video on why students should study a language other than English.
o Students in High School West Business teacher, James Diver’s Advertising class, created commercials for various products. See one here.
• Teacher websites – the District firmly believes in the importance of communication between home and school. To address this belief all 854 teachers have a personal website that enables them to “[i]ncrease communication and collaboration and integrate technology into the classroom by posting links, photos, pod casts, streaming video, and other digital content in just minutes.”
The tool we are using to accomplish this is eBoard. Teachers are post class notes; photos of trips and class happenings; information for parents on a variety of topics; sample student work; class discussions and more. All of these teacher websites are linked to our district site. You can go to the staff directory on our website. Enter the following teacher names and then click on the “Profile” link which in turn will lead you to the “Website” link:
o Deborah Goldfarb, 3rd grade teacher – Chestnut Hill Elementary School
o Denise Knoll, 5th grade teacher – Vanderbilt Elementary School
o Andrew Black, Science teacher – Candlewood Middle School
o Allyson Uttendorfer, Art teacher – High School East
o Lauren Kelly, English teacher – High School West
2. During this school year we are implementing online textbooks, in Math K-5, secondary Social Studies, and secondary Spanish. These online texts provide additional resources not available in a traditional bound text book such as videos, interactive activities, links to related appropriate content, and information that is more timely and up-to-date.
