​Teachers and students at Rodgers Forge Elementary have embraced their new MakerSpace in a number of different ways.  One way in which this space is being used is by two student book clubs that meet weekly.  The fourth and fifth grade student book club is being facilitated by Mrs. Karrie Cook, and the third grade student book club is being facilitated by Mrs. Katie Schmidt.  Both groups previously voted on a book of their choice to read, and they use the materials in the MakerSpace each week to work on a meaningful project relating to these texts. 
 
Fifth grader Colin Kenney is reading the award-winning novel The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander, with several other students.  “I really enjoy reading this book because of the format, how it’s written in really short sections.  I also like how it’s connected to sports.  In the MakerSpace we’ve been creating our own robots that we will program to do different tasks.  This connects to the nonfiction text we read a few weeks ago in book club called Robots.”  This activity also gave the students some practice investigating how things work, as they are about to begin a STEM activity connected to The Crossover.  Others in the fourth and fifth grade book club are currently reading I Funny by James Patterson.
 
All third grade students in the club chose to read Patrick Skene Catling’s, The Chocolate Touch. As they read, they are working on creating models of their own version of Hershey Park’s “Chocolate World” ride, relating to a subject of their choice.  For example, third grader Liam McAvinue is creating an “Anvil World” ride, where he will inform riders about how anvils are made and used, while Elaina Razon-Fernandez is creating “Cupcake World” to take riders through the process of how cupcakes are made.

Our school got 1:1 devices for all students in grades 1-3 two years ago. School was very different before computers.  When it came time for tests, we had to use paper and pencil.  It was a lot harder because it took longer, when writing a BCR there is no spell check, and it really hurt your hand because you had to write so very much.  In addition, prior to computers, we did not have access to math websites to help us in math.  Finally, before computers, we did not have BCPS One which allows us to see our grades and know which grades/classes we need to improve.
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Now that we have computers, it really makes school so much easier and fun.  Morgan has a student in her class who is from another country.  Her class uses Google Translate to communicate with this student.  This student also uses different websites to help her with her English.  Chris really enjoys using DreamBox and ABCya!.  DreamBox helps him improve his math skills and lets you play games and have fun while using it.  ABCya! is one of his favorites as well because you can play math games.  Morgan really loves to write and enjoys using Microsoft word to write her essays.  She feels limited when having to use paper.  Morgan likes the variety of homework that teachers can assign using the technology rather than worksheets.  Chris enjoys when his Science teacher, Ms. Gill, uses Kahoot to review for tests and quizzes.  Morgan enjoys using PowerPoint to make presentations to show to the class.  Chris uses Destiny to help improve his reading skills as well.  Overall, technology has really helped us learn and made school a lot more fun!      

Submitted by Katie Schmidt
5th Grade Teacher, Rodgers Forge Elementary

Third grade students recently worked hard in class to research an endangered species using the BCPS databases in order to create both a Discovery Board and an authentic habitat model to share their new learning.  Check out what Sloan had to say about the project!​

Submitted by Mike Cooney
5th Grade Teacher, Mays Chapel Elementary School

One misconception that we often hear about students using computers is that the 1:1 devices take away from the important social and emotional learning usually found in elementary school. The idea is that children who are sitting in front of a computer all day are isolating themselves within a digital world.

At Mays Chapel, I have found that the opposite is true. Collaboration is happening more often than ever. Students can often be found sitting close together, devices open, talking about what they have learned.

The STAT program has never been solely about the devices. It has never been about giving the students a computer and having them work independently for the majority of their school day. STAT is about the transformation of teaching and learning. It’s about making learning more accessible to students. It’s about giving students choices. It’s about preparing them for the future by making them problem solvers and creators. When students have these choices and opportunities, they are actually more likely to want to share their ideas with others.

Samantha Amato, a third grade teacher at Mays Chapel, notices the effect that her devices have on her students’ interest and engagement. “Seeing their work in a digital format gives students and audience and makes the work more authentic, so they are more likely to want to collaborate on a project because of the pride they have in their work.” As a result, human interaction and collaborative connections are not replaced by technology; they are fostered by it.

So how do students at Mays Chapel communicate and share their ideas? Several traditional cooperative learning techniques are used and enhanced by the opportunities the technology provides.

Jigsaw method: In my classroom, for example, there might be a time when the students are working in a group on something, such as a research project. Each group member might be responsible for a different aspect of the research. Using tools like OneNote for notes, students can then bring their devices to easily share what they have learned to their collaborative group. The devices make this easier because of their compactness; anything they would want to show their partners or classmates is right in front of them. Switching back and forth from notes to resources allows the students to share how they got their information for clarification.

Collaborating in person with devices: Mrs. Amato often has her students working in small groups with each child on his or her own device. “One student might have a text resource open, while another student has the product they are working on open on a separate device.” While students all have their own devices, occasionally it is easier for students to use one centralized computer to gather or record information. This allows the students to become more familiar with tools and resources that they might not be ready to use independently.

Using tech tools to collaborate: If you were to ask any teacher at Mays Chapel which tools he or she uses the most in the classroom, the answers would not consist of computer games. Instead, the most common tech tools we use encourage collaboration and communication: Padlet, Kidblog, OneNote’s collaborative space, just to name a few. The technology makes sharing easier with tools like these that update in real time as students compose and edit responses. After the students share their ideas online, face to face whole group and small group discussions are often used to further share and refine the ideas that were shared online, giving the students more opportunity to communicate with each other.

When the technology is placed in the hands of every student and teacher, we as teachers must give the students even more opportunities to work together. Our students are realizing that tech tools do not replace quality teaching and learning; they enhance it. 

Kara Delenick’s 6th grade classroom is one of a kind. In June, Principal Harvey Chambers tweeted a challenge to teachers and a picture of a room with no desks from ISTE:  Create this look in your classroom—first teacher to tweet back wins funding. Delenick won the challenge and immediately began scouring Pinterest and kindergarten catalogs for seating arrangements and furniture ideas. By the first day of school, Delenick’s room was a collection of high and low tables, squishy seats and stools, cushions and boogie board, and only 3 desks—two of which were used to charge devices. She repurposed items from her first year as a lighthouse teacher, covering a table with whiteboard contact paper and wrapping it with tie-dyed duct tape. Two months into the school year, Delenick says, “The room works because there is no front, no point of focus, so it doesn’t matter where students congregate. Students take ownership of their space, and they have pride in it. They always return the furniture and materials.” She has also noticed that each of her classes is unique in how they use the furniture. Students gather in a different area and use the furniture in different places. Students rarely sit in the same spot every day. They also like to move the furniture around to see if there is a new and fun arrangement.  Her deskless room makes it easy for students to collaborate and determine their own groups. “I am always looking for things to add to our room to spice it up,” Delenick added.  “Students gravitate toward new furniture. They figure out how to use it.”

Submitted by Laura Wurzbacher
2nd Grade Teacher, Church Lane Elementary School

​In second grade this year, we are focusing on a wide variety of skills to improve our reading fluency. Each week, we provide our students with a checklist for ELA with tasks that we work on throughout the week. One block on the checklist focuses specifically on improving our reading fluency skills. Using Vocaroo (a voice recording tech tool), our students record themselves reading their differentiated leveled texts. They then are able to copy and paste a web link that Vocaroo provides and use a BCPS One turn-in to submit their personal recording link to their teacher. Then, using a recording sheet, students listen to their recording and reflect on how they read in terms of the characteristics of fluent reading. We call this “Glows and Grows”, with glows being what the student feels that they excelled with and grows being what the student feels they can improve upon next time. Students are expected to determine whether each given characteristic was a glow or grow for them and they also explain why they rated themselves this way.

​We have found that when given this opportunity to be reflective readers, our students are comfortable with being honest with themselves and work to improve their grows the next time around. Eventually, we plan to have students listen to a partner’s recording and complete a glow/grow for them. Also, having our students’ recorded readings in a turn-in format on BCPS One easily allows us as teachers to check in with our students’ reading fluency abilities in a quick and simple way. This also allows our students to be able to listen to their older recordings to hear how far they’ve come with their skills! Our reflective reading practice was modeled and demonstrated multiple times in order to explicitly provide students with our expectations for this assignment. Students love to volunteer their recordings as whole-group examples and everyone enjoys hearing their friends read by clicking on a simple web link and then providing both compliments and constructive advice for next time. This activity has been very productive and successful so far in helping our students hear and understand what they can work on to improve their reading fluency skills. As a second grade team, we look forward to developing this task further with our students!

Searching for ways to incorporate 21 century skills in her art classes, Pikesville Middle School Art Teacher, Ms. Lynam, engaged her 7th grade students in applying their artistic skills to a problem they could relate to in their own world: homeless animals. The students partnered with the Baltimore Humane Society in Reisterstown, MD to bring attention to the animals that were in need of adoption. After they researched images of animals on their Revolves, the students practiced sketching the animals. Wendy Goldband, the head of PR at the Baltimore Humane Society, came to the school and talked with the students about the facility and their animal adoption process during which time the students presented her with donated pet treats and toys. After her visit, students searched the Humane Society webpage, chose an animal they wanted to sketch, and then designed adoption posters. Their fabulous designs, made from the heart, were displayed on the Baltimore Humane Society’s website, Facebook page, sent out across Twitter, and hung in the facility. Students celebrated when they checked the website and saw that their animals were adopted. The unit concluded with the students creating thank you letters reflecting on their experience of giving back to their community.

Submitted by  Lindsay Montanye
5th Grade Teacher, Fort Garrison Elementary School

​As a first year teacher, working in a county that has been so technologically advanced has truly been a blessing. I just recently graduated from Salisbury University, and I was actually required to take a class about how to use technology in the classroom. I also took many classes through Salisbury’s Education Program that enabled me and showed me how to make the most of the technology in my classroom. Going from the college experience to actually being a classroom teacher means that I get to apply everything I learned in college to my classroom, teaching, and students.

I am very happy and thrilled to be teaching 5th grade at Fort Garrison Elementary School, a Lighthouse School. Working in a Lighthouse School gives me endless opportunities and possibilities in the sense of how I teach the material given to me in Baltimore County’s curriculum.  Each one of my students has had and used their own device on a daily basis for three years now. This means they are well versed in how to use their device properly and effectively. My students are so great at using their devices that they even run to my side if I am ever having trouble working my technology. Also, in the case that we have a student who is new to our Lighthouse School and new to devices in general my students are so remarkable at teaching the new student how to work a device that it brings me a sense of peace.

My 5th grade students use their devices in a countless number of ways daily. For example, they go on Dreambox to practice their math skills, they use Discovery Education and BrainPop for research projects, and more. Since I teach 5th grade, my students are very independent learners and love to have opportunities to explore their own learning. I make the most of this independence by assigning them lesson tiles with links, files, directions, and more that students will need throughout a lesson. I also make a chart each day with each reading group’s rotations and post it to a lesson tile so students can work at their own pace and be informed as to what they have to get done for the day. Another efficient way that I use my device is by creating turn-ins on BCPS One. Students turn in their work to the turn-in in the form of Microsoft Word documents or PowerPoints to decrease the amount of paper we use.

Overall, being a first year teacher in a Lighthouse School has been an amazing opportunity and I can’t wait to continue to use technology on a daily basis in my classroom! I am happy that I’m able to use the knowledge and skills I gained in my college career in my classroom. I also feel that being a teacher in a Lighthouse School has supplied me with endless opportunities to engage and captivate my students in our everyday lessons. I am especially thankful that our county is so focused on preparing its students for life in a digital age. 

Submitted by Amy Felton
S.T.A.T. Teacher, Pikesville Middle School

As the focus this year includes infusing 21st century skills into teaching and learning, Pikesville Middle School teachers used collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and higher-order instructional feedback to work through a series of tasks in order to “break out” of a locked box during a faculty professional development. Table teams were presented with a number of items, some of which were red herrings or dead ends, which included a QR code, professional learning books and resources about 21st century skills, a flash drive that housed a numbered map of the school, and a black light. Among other tasks, teachers had to work together to fill in the blanks about effective feedback and determine examples and non-examples of collaboration. Following the fun, teachers reflected on ways they effectively used 21st century skills and how they can implement these skills in their classroom, and then they posted their responses on a Padlet. One teacher offered the following insight: “This learning experience was a great way for teachers to revisit what it takes to work effectively in a group. In order to be successful we had to speak and listen effectively, delegate responsibilities, and keep time in mind. We also had to be mindful of others’ needs. These are the skills we have to teach our students.”

The activity and tasks were borrowed and modified from a Breakout Edu session run by the Office of Digital Learning for STAT teachers in September. Much appreciation goes to the outstanding training that STAT teachers are receiving this year!