Teacher Spotlights

Granite Presentations at UCET 2018

March 2018

Last week the Utah Coalition for Educational Technology held their annual conference at the University of Utah. Sessions were led for and by educators, and many of Granite’s teachers and school technology specialists attended and presented at the conference. Below is a roster of the sessions shared by Granite teachers, along with links to resources from the sessions if available.

Granite UCET 2018 Presentations

Session Title	Presenter(s)
Don't Be Afraid of Technology: How To Establish Successful Classroom Procedures	Melissa White (School Technology Specialist, Oakridge El. and Valley Crest El.)
Edpuzzle	Edna Habel (5th Grade Teacher, Western Hills El.) Ross Pope (School Technology Specialist, Arcadia El. and Whittier El.)
Engaging All Students with Classic Toys	Quinn Rollins (Social Studies Curriculum Specialist, Curriculum & Instruction Dept.)
Engage Students Like a Boss	Tricia Fenton (School Technology Specialist, Vista El. and Western Hills El.) Nicole Maycock (6th Grade Teacher, Plymouth El.)
Flipping out for Flipgrid!	Krystal Plott (School Technology Specialist, Wright El.)
HTML Programming on Chromebooks in the Elementary/Middle School Classroom	Andy Misco (School Technology Specialist, Eastwood El. and Twin Peaks El.)
Hyperdocs: Engage, Educate, and Inspire	Rebecca Baggett (School Technology Specialist, West Valley El.) Anastasia Limantzakis (School Technology Specialist, Crestview Elementary and Roosevelt Elementary) Tiffany Simons (School Technology Specialist, Driggs El. and Granger El.)
Learn and Play with Ozobots	Brandi Gollinger (School Technology Specialist, Armstrong Academy) Jayanne Unander (School Technology Specialist, Pleasant Green El.)
Makerspace: How to Build a Solar Greenhouse	Laurel Udy (Special Education Teacher, Hunter El.)
Meet KIBO in this Hands-on Session for Robotics for PreK-2nd Grades	Janeen Johnson (Kindergarten Teacher, South Kearns El.) Jennifer Millett (Kindergarten Teacher, South Kearns El.)
Micro:bit by Bit	Sherri Harris (School Technology Specialist, Wilson El.) Kathleen Riebe (School Technology Specialist, Fox Hills El. and Frost El.)
Micro:bit Coding	Sarah Eyring (School Technology Specialist, Granite Technical Institute) Samantha Mitchell (School Technology Specialist, Academy Park El. and Gourley El.)
Mixology: Structures and Strategies for Blended Learning	Pam Moeai (Specialist/Team Leader, Educational Technology Dept.) Jennifer Peirce (Specialist/Team Leader, Educational Technology Dept.)
Online Library Resources	Tricia Fenton (School Technology Specialist, Vista El. and Western Hills El.)
Raspberry Pi	John Smith (School Technology Specialist, Bacchus El. and Plymouth El.)
School News Production and Film Made Easy	Jen Johnson (3rd Grade Teacher, William Penn El.)
3D Printing and Engineering Design in the Classroom	Dave Pendleton (4th Grade Teacher, Armstrong Academy)
Teacher Leadership in Utah: Utah Teacher Fellows	Deborah Gatrell (Social Studies Teacher, Hunter Sr. High)
UEN Canvas Modules for your class	Mikelle Gordon (1st Grade Teacher, Sandburg El.)

Research on Chromebooks and Note-Taking in Art Class?

January 2018

Teacher Spotlight: Julia Bossi, Granite Park Jr. High

The students in Julia Bossi’s art classes at Granite Park Junior High learn not only how to create beautiful pieces of art, they also learn research skills and use Cornell note-taking strategies to record and organize the information they learn. Ms. Bossi teaches the students that artists research new techniques to inform their art-making practice, and she has the students do the same. [Read more…] about Research on Chromebooks and Note-Taking in Art Class?

Spotlight: Digital Breakouts at Calvin Smith Elementary

January 2018

Third Grade Students in Kimberly Cretsinger’s classroom at Calvin Smith Elementary worked collaboratively to solve clues in the Digital Breakout challenge they were given. Digital Breakouts are a newer component of the already well known Breakout EDU web site. Instead of physically unlocking boxes by finding and solving clues, students unlock digital levels of a breakout mystery. Questions contain a variety of content aligned challenges. The storyline for this Digital Breakout explained that students had accidentally been locked into their classroom and would miss the bus if they didn’t solve all the clues to Breakout.
Students worked in groups using their classroom Chromebooks to solve the mystery. Watch the short video above to see these 3rd Grade Problem Solvers hard at work Breaking Out!

Spotlight created by Teresa Bruin, District Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader. This post originally appeared in our January 2018 Ed. Tech. Monthly Newsletter for Teachers.

Kearns Junior High Hacks the Attendance Problem with QR Codes

December 2017

This school year Kearns Junior High implemented a new program in which teachers take attendance by scanning QR codes in student binders at the door at the beginning of class. This simple technology trick saves teachers and students time by eliminating the awkward roll call process, provides more accurate attendance data, makes students more aware of when they are tardy, and gives the teachers the opportunity to greet their students at the door and get to know them better. Toni Blattman, Library Media Educational Technology Specialist, explains the program in the video above.

Spotlight created by Celia Powell, District Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader.

Teacher Spotlight: Third Grade Team, Arcadia Elementary

November 2017

3rd Grade Small Group Instruction with Mrs. Walton — Mrs. Walton leads math instruction with a small group of 3rd grade students

The third grade students at Arcadia Elementary are becoming Subtraction Masters thanks to a unique approach their teachers are using. Felicia Walton, Matthew Morse, and Kathy Godfrey have created a leveled system and work collaboratively to ensure that all of their students are working and proceeding at their level of understanding. They began by breaking down the subtraction skills students should know by the end of third grade and ranked these skills into twelve levels according to their complexity, beginning with a basic understanding of subtraction to being able to solve complex word problems using multi-digit subtraction with regrouping. To make it more engaging for the students, they gamified these levels by relating them to Star Wars Jedi mastery levels.

Third Grade Subtraction Skills Leveled and Gamified as Star Wars Jedi Mastery — Subtraction Skills Leveled and Gamified as Star Wars Jedi Mastery

Subtraction Masters Tutorial Video — A Subtraction Masters tutorial video created by Arcadia 3rd grade teachers

To provide practice resources for their students, they used their Mimio software to create screen-casted tutorial videos that the students can refer back to as they practice at each level. They then used Go Formative to create sets of practice problems the students work through for each level. The video they created for each level is included in the Go Formative activity for that level, so students have all the resources they need to practice their subtraction in one place.

Not only did Mrs. Walton, Mr. Morse, and Mrs. Godfrey collaborate to create these resources, but these three teachers team up to teach the math. Students will go to one of the three teachers to receive small group instruction with other students who have achieved the same level. Mrs. Walton, Mr. Morse, and Mrs. Godfrey have the small groups in front of their whiteboards to teach the students and provide guided practice at their level during this time.

Mr. Morse Leading Small Group Instruction — Mr. Morse leading small group instruction with Mimio interactive whiteboard

While the three small groups of students receive instruction directly from the teacher in their small groups, the rest of the students work at their desks using Chromebooks to access the Go Formative activity for their level, watch the video, and practice subtraction at their level. Once a student has achieved 80% mastery, he or she levels up to the next level. Go Formative allows the teachers to easily see where the students are at in their mastery of subtraction.

While this may seem like a lot of work, Mrs. Walton said that each video took them only about 10 minutes to create. Mr. Morse noted that, though there was quite a bit of front end work, using technology in this way has ended up saving them a lot of time. The level of student engagement is very high. One student, Amanda, noted that she really likes learning math this way because it’s fun. Through collaboration, blended learning, targeted instruction and practice, and use of technology, these teachers are ensuring that their students will come away with the math skills they need.

Mrs. Walton Leading Small Group Instruction

Spotlight Created by Jenny Peirce, Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader.

Watch: #GSDEdTech Hands-on Learning

November 2017

Have you ever wondered what school technology specialists and library media educational technology specialists do on their Friday trainings? Heidi Meenen, one of our Educational Technology team leaders, gives some insights into our department’s Friday professional learning in the video above.

In this meeting, technology specialists learned about a new technology tool, the Explore feature in Google Sheets, and then had the opportunity to engage in a lesson that integrates that tool into learning. They experience first-hand how the lesson works, then take it back to their schools to share with students through co-teaching opportunities, modifying when necessary to meet specific classroom needs.

Additionally, technology and library media specialists spend time at Friday meetings in collaborative groups creating original lesson plans. Each month they focus on one or two specific topics or tools from our Technology Integration Progress menu. The goal is to create and amass a library of lesson plans aligned to specific core standards that integrate innovative technology use and 21st century learning practices such as those described in the ISTE Learning Standards. Technology and library specialists share what they create with each other and bring these lessons back to teachers and students at their schools.

You can see snapshots of some of these shared lessons in action in classrooms by browsing our @EdTechGSD Twitter Feed. As time passes, selections from these shared lessons and resources may also be shared publicly on our Technology Integration Progress Resource Pages.

Spotlight Created by Heidi Meenen, Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader.

Teacher Spotlight: Tiffany Pontius, Truman Elementary

October 2017

TNN — Truman News Network

Breaking news! All Salt Lake City news reporters and anchors just may have their job security challenged due to some up and coming talent…hungry for reporting the news. That’s right! Truman News Network, or TNN, is currently taking up residence at Truman Elementary in Taylorsville. Student council members as well as guest reporters tell it like it is every week. Their well-received news cast is filled with information about the weather, sports, holidays, special events, book of the week, word of the day, staff and employee interviews, and the habit of the week. What is the habit of the week, you may ask? Well, on top of all the other awesome things going on at Truman Elementary, they are also a “Seven Habits of Happy Kids” school, wherein they review key ingredients of being successful in life!

TNN is organized by Tiffany Pontius, the School Technology Specialist for Truman Elementary. What could be an overwhelming and daunting task is smooth sailing due to Tiffany’s awesome organization and procedural planning. The best thing about this is that Tiffany prepares her students to be in charge of the news programs. This includes choosing the stories, writing the scripts, and deciding what props and backgrounds to use in place of the green screen when filming and editing. It is purely a situation of a student-led activity. No “sage on the stage” for Tiffany! She simply facilitates this well-oiled machine of news and information. She has used her skills as a top-notch educator to empower her 6th grade TNN members so that they gain confidence in running the news segments.

How do they do it? It all begins with a storyboard. Students choose what assignments they will have for the upcoming news cast during “staff meetings.” Reporters are then on the hunt for the news that will enlighten and inform the students. The student anchors create the script and film the leads. As soon as all of the elements are completed, one of the students edits the footage at home using WeVideo.

When asked the most challenging aspects of this project, the students replied, “…being able to film without laughing…getting everyone on the same page…and finding a time when all are able to meet.” What a terrific way to teach students how to collaborate in an authentic setting!

They also commented that the best thing about TNN is “…being on camera…writing the scripts…editing…hanging out with their friends…and working with Miss Pontius.” We would like to thank Tiffany for being a vital part of Granite School District. Her willingness to go the extra mile with her students and allow them to experience project-based learning, collaboration, problem solving, and creativity in the classroom should be celebrated.

Be sure to visit Truman TNN on YouTube!

Spotlight Created by Pam Moeai, Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader.

Teacher Spotlight: Ashley Moore, Diamond Ridge Elementary

October 2017

Blended Learning at Diamond Ridge Elementary

Diamond Ridge has one Chromebook for every student in all grade levels this year. Their School Technology Specialist, Ashley Moore, works with teachers and students in the classroom to help them integrate the technology in fun and meaningful ways.

On this visit to Diamond Ridge, Ashley pushed into a fifth grade class with Mrs. George and a first grade class with Mrs. Harbaugh.

Cindy George, 5th Grade

Mrs. George’s 5th graders learned about using onomatopoeia in their writing and picked up some new tech skills along the way.

Students write poems with onomatopoeia words in Google Slides

Her students drafted poems using Google Slides. After writing their poems, students used the Screencastify Chrome extension to video record themselves reading their poems.

Students record themselves reading their poems using the Screencastify Chrome Extension

They then posted their poems to a shared wall using Padlet, where all the poems could be enjoyed by the whole class.

Stephanie Harbaugh, 1st Grade

Mrs. Harbaugh’s 1st graders learned about the life cycle of a pumpkin and practiced using the Chromebook trackpad.

Trackpad practice with plant life cycles

Ashley taught Mrs. Harbaugh how to use LanSchool with her students, so that getting websites and documents out to her little learners is easy.

Ashley Moore and Stephanie Harbaugh set up LanSchool, a classroom computer management tool

Many thanks to Mrs. Moore, Mrs. George, Mrs. Harbaugh, and their students at Diamond Ridge Elementary for allowing us a peek into their blended learning classroom activities.

Spotlight Created by Teresa Bruin, Educational Technology Specialist and Team Leader.

OverDrive Digital Library School Checkouts Competition

October 2017

In September 2017, students and staff in Granite School District checked out nearly 10,000 ebooks and audiobooks from our OverDrive Digital Library. The infographic below reveals the top five schools for the month.

For 2017-18 we are sponsoring a monthly checkout competition between schools, with four traveling trophies that will be awarded to the highest circulating elementary and secondary schools, as well as the “most increased” elementary and secondary schools. Members of the Ed. Tech. team recently delivered these trophies to the winning schools of our September competition.

Elementary September 2017 Top Checkouts: Beehive Elementary

Secondary September 2017 Top Checkouts: West Lake STEM Jr. High

Elementary September 2017 Most Improved: Gearld Wright Elementary

Secondary September 2017 Most Improved: Valley Jr. High

Granite OverDrive Circulation Site

Alyssa Carraway, secretary in the Educational Technology department, tracks these checkout numbers and has used Google Sites to create a simple but beautiful website to share this data with our district throughout the year. She uses Canva to convey the data in infographics, such as the year-to-date information shared below. You can check out the full site for more details on Granite OverDrive usage per school, as well as monthly updates on our OverDrive checkouts competition winners.

https://sites.google.com/granitesd.org/overdrive-circulation-granite/home

Infographics and Granite OverDrive Circulation Site created by Alyssa Carraway, Administrative Secretary, Educational Technology Dept.

Teacher Spotlight: Amber Palmer, Bennion Elementary

August 2017

SAMR, Disneyland, and the STS

What do the SAMR Model, Disneyland, and a dynamic School Technology Specialist all have in common? At first you may think that only two of these subjects are connected, but given the creative thinking of Amber Palmer, STS at Bennion Elementary, they create a beautiful symphony of thoughts and ideas that teachers at her school will enjoy all year long. [Read more…] about Teacher Spotlight: Amber Palmer, Bennion Elementary