Each school in Granite School District has either an assigned Technology Coach or Library Technology Coach. (The STS and LMETS titles were recently changed to reflect their role in supporting teachers and students with the use of technology to enhance learning.)
School Technology Specialists
Now Hiring: Elementary School Technology Specialists
Are you passionate about enhancing instruction and student learning by integrating technology into your classroom? Come work with us! We are hiring elementary school technology specialists for next year.
Visit Granite’s Human Resources Employment Opportunities page or follow this link to the current Elementary School Technology Specialist job posting.
Granite Educational Technology 2018 Infographic Presentation
The following infographic posters share insights into the work and organization of our department, and feature a few of our current and future initiatives. These images come from a presentation given by Chris Larsen, Director of Educational Technology, to the Granite Board of Education in May 2018. Click here to view or download the complete board presentation, or scroll through this post for more information and links to our initiatives and projects. [Read more…] about Granite Educational Technology 2018 Infographic Presentation
Educational Technology New Hires and Farewells 2018
This summer we say goodbye to several members of our team, while also looking forward to welcoming new additions to our technology specialist roster for the 2018-2019 school year.
Farewells
Warren Child, Library Media Educational Technology Specialist at Cyprus High School, who leaves us for retirement.
Colleen Hughes, Administrative Secretary in the Educational Technology office, who leaves us to pursue a new opportunity in another industry.
Tiffany Peoples, School Technology Specialist at Mill Creek Elementary and Sandburg Elementary, who has accepted a classroom teaching opportunity at Fox Hills Elementary.
Jayanne Unander, School Technology Specialist at Pleasant Green Elementary and one of our ETEP Trainers/Developers, who leaves us for retirement.
We wish each of you the best in your new endeavors and will miss your friendship and expertise.
New Hires
Tricia Fenton, our School Technology Specialist at Vista Elementary and Western Hills Elementary, will be moving into the Library Media Educational Technology Specialist position at Cyprus High School in the 2018-2019 year. Congratulations!
We welcome three new elementary school technology specialists to our roster in the coming year:
Kailie Nelson, coming to us from a 4th Grade classroom at Fox Hills Elementary.
Rebecca Vala, coming to us from a 4th Grade classroom at Spring Lane Elementary.
Margaret Yau, coming to us from a 4th Grade classroom at the Montlieu Academy of Technology in High Point, North Carolina.
Additional Information
You can find more information about our staff and their school assignments for the coming year on our directory pages:
- Educational Technology District Office Staff
- Elementary School Technology Specialists
- Secondary Library Media Educational Technology Specialists
Watch: #GSDEdTech Hands-on Learning
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: Amber Palmer, Bennion Elementary
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
Educational Technology Dept. Welcomes and Farewells, 2017-18
This summer we say goodbye to many wonderful members of our team, but also welcome new faces into the Educational Technology department. [Read more…] about Educational Technology Dept. Welcomes and Farewells, 2017-18
A Day in the Life of an STS
From teaching 5th graders collaborative writing processes to troubleshooting an interactive whiteboard, in this video School Technology Specialist Misty Butterfield shows us a few of the ways she works with students and other teachers in a typical day at her schools. This video provides a brief snapshot of the variety of great work that Ms. Butterfield and all of our school technology specialists do to facilitate student learning, whether in front of a class of students, consulting individually with a teacher, or working behind the scenes and sometimes crawling under desks to prepare equipment and solve technical issues.
Spotlight created by Misty Butterfield, School Technology Specialist at Beehive Elementary and Oquirrh Hills Elementary.
Teacher Spotlight: Tricia Fenton and Katy Halliday, Western Hills Elementary
Tricia Fenton is the STS at Vista Elementary and Western Hills Elementary. She collaborates with teachers at both of her schools on the integration of technology into their lessons on a regular basis. Tricia is excellent at all aspects of her job as an STS. which includes front line tech support, helping implement district online tools, and training students and teachers in multiple programs and technologies. She notes that her favorite part of her job is going into classrooms and working with the teachers and students.
Katy Halliday is a 3rd grade teacher at Western Hills Elementary. She eagerly seeks out ways to enhance learning through the use of technology. She isn’t afraid to try new things, knowing that it doesn’t always go perfectly the first time, but that’s what learning is all about. She finds ways for her students to think critically, communicate, collaborate and create with the use of technology.
In this short video, students share the biographies they’ve been working on. They are able to wirelessly cast what’s on their Chromebook screens to the projector for the class to see by using Google Cast For Education. The students have done their research using the Chromebooks and have built their presentations using Google Slides. Katy sends out assignments using Google Classroom, which makes managing digital assignments a breeze.
Both Tricia and Katy are excellent teachers individually. Teamed up together, they make a Dynamic Duo!
Spotlight created and authored by Teresa Bruin, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist
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