In this day and age, no one can fathom being without access to a computer or the internet, especially in the schoolhouse! The computer not only serves as a direct link to the curriculum and its plethora of resources, but as a means for students to access information and then demonstrate their learning in a highly personalized way through the many exceptional applications in our LMS. Technology is central in our society and it is an integral part of instruction, learning, and daily life.
 
Recently, I discovered a way to use technology to connect students sitting in my classroom directly and intimately with the world around them. Although I use Twitter to share the many wonderful things happening at my school, I additionally use it daily for my own professional growth. I read articles, share educational ideas and best practices, attend Twitter chats, and network with other professionals. It is through this networking that I connected with many children’s authors who are passionate about their craft and more than willing to share the art of writing children’s books with others.
 
I took advantage of these new connections to invite several authors to Skype with my second grade Writing Club and they accepted! In order to become proficient in any craft one must learn from the successes of others. So, we read books by different authors, studied their crafts, determined which features we wanted to include in our own writing, and then enjoyed the opportunity to meet the authors LIVE through Skype and asked specific questions! What an amazing experience for these young authors to learn from the pros!
 
Our first Skype author was Jarrett Learner, author of Enginerds, a chapter book about boys and robots in a funny fast-paced novel for the middle grades. His advice to students was to read and read and write even more, and then do it all over again. He told them not to give up because authors have to persevere, as it can take years and many manuscripts before getting even one published.

​Our second author was Alastair Heim, author of picture books Love You, Too, No Tooting at Tea, The Great Puppy Invasion, and Hello Door. His message was the same - never give up! Write two ideas for possible stories each day and return to write about them at a later time. Stories are all around us every day and he shared how the ideas for each of his books came about.

The Writing Club has expanded to third grade and is now called the Young Author’s Club. We look forward to continuing our study of various author’s crafts and conferring with them through Skype.
 
Connecting students to others in the world with whom they otherwise might not have an opportunity to interact with, makes the world seem just a bit smaller and provides a powerful and meaningful experience that is certain to have a lasting effect on all those involved. As one inspired “young author” exclaimed, “This is so cool! I want to be an author like him one day and I know I will!”  

This year, Rodgers Forge Elementary was the recipient of a 21st Century Enrichment Grant by way of a partnership between the BCPS Education Foundation and HotSpots Extended Care program.  The funding from this grant was used to purchase a unique learning platform and many resources, including a set of virtual reality goggles that allows students to go on virtual field trips.  These virtual field trips, powered by 360cities, can be used in a myriad of ways to increase student engagement in learning.
 
While the initiative is very new for us, we showcased the learning platform and virtual reality opportunities to parents and students recently at our school’s STEAM Night to allow interaction through the use of the goggles, our student 1:1 devices, and our large Promethean screens.  Several teachers at our school (who have volunteered to pilot this initiative) have gone through a training and are starting to incorporate components into their classrooms. We plan to open our doors to other BCPS employees in order to showcase our school’s use of this platform in May.

​Submitted by Susan Smith
S.T.A.T. Teacher, Ridgely Middle School

Submitted by Faith Sparzak
First Grade Teacher,  Joppa View Elementary School

What is my teaching background?
 
​Currently, I am in my fifth year of teaching.  I began my teaching career at Dogwood Elementary School, a Baltimore County Public School in Windsor Mill, Maryland.  I taught kindergarten for three years at Dogwood Elementary School.  When I transferred to Joppa View Elementary School last year, I taught kindergarten.  Currently, I am in my first year of teaching first grade.  Although I transferred teaching the same grade, the delivery of instruction was different due to the technology.
 
How often did I use devices at Dogwood Elementary School?
 
While teaching at Dogwood Elementary School, I had three desktop computers in my classroom.  The students had to share the desktop computers during literacy and math rotations. Although BCPS began the device roll out while I was at Dogwood Elementary School, kindergarten classrooms were not recipients of devices.  Fortunately, my students were able to borrow a small group set of devices from a first grade classroom in order to begin to learn how to use the devices.  However, we were only able to borrow the devices a few times.
 
How did the technology usage in my classroom change when I transferred to Joppa View Elementary School?
 
When I transferred to Joppa View Elementary School, I was pleasantly surprised to have a small set of five devices in the classroom.  With the devices, my students were able to practice typing their username and password, as well as learn how to use educational programs such as Dreambox.  When I found out that I would be teaching first grade the following year, I was excited by the idea of having one-to-one devices.  This would enable my students to use the devices to enhance their learning experiences throughout each day.
 
What is it like to have a class set of devices in the classroom?
 
By having a class set of devices that my students are able to use daily, I have the opportunity to integrate technology into my lessons throughout the day.  Therefore, my students have the opportunity to use a variety of engaging and educational digital tools in order to help them develop important skills and concepts in many different subject areas, such as phonics, reading, and math.  For language arts instruction, I have been able to send Wonders activities to the devices, as well as have my students use iReady in order to reinforce fluency, comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, and vocabulary.  Also, my students have been able to enhance their research skills through the use of PebbleGo.  For math instruction, my students have been able to use the devices to advance their math skills through the use of Dreambox.  Throughout the rest of the school year, I am looking forward to learning about additional digital resources and tools I can incorporate into my lessons in order to enhance learning and help my students develop the skills they need to be successful learners.

Submitted by Ellen Mangels
Math Department Chair, Cockeysville Middle School

​It is now the end of February and I realize I have not added any new thoughts to this page this year. We have been so entrenched in just doing, that I have not taken time to reflect.

Today I had the opportunity to step back and think about the progress we have made in this transition of teaching and learning. My 8th grade Geometry class was working on a review for a unit test today. Four years ago before we became a Lighthouse School, I would have given the class a set of problems from the end of the chapter in the book one day or we would have played a Jeopardy game as a class. Book work can be boring. A class run Jeopardy game can be a good review for the handful of kids who are vocal and participating. The rest may get some benefit from listening, but they are not truly engaged.

Today as my students reviewed ...

I had several groups playing the Jeopardy Game which was posted as a PowerPoint file on a Lesson Tile in BCPS One. Each group was working at their own pace and since there were only a few students playing each game, everyone was involved in the discussion. The document will still be available to students who may want to go back and review the problems again tonight on their own as further study for the test.

​There were two pairs of students working on practice with writing proofs using a ActiveInspire flipchart that was posted on the class web page in BCPS One. The flipchart allows the students to drag the proof steps to the two column proof and then move to another page to check their answers. These flipcharts were posted at the beginning of the unit and will be available through the end of the year so students can go back a practice again as needed or use the practice to prepare for the final exam.

There was one student working on the book pages and researching Geometry ideas on Google.

​There was one student who had been absent who was working on make-up work using the online textbook.

​Two other students were able to complete a redo for a previous Learning Check in this unit.

​I've been doing this job for several decades now. When I think back to the beginning of my career and the most exciting thing I could use was an overhead projector and we played Jeopardy using paper taped to the chalkboard, I realize how far we have come. Today I had four distinct activities going on in the same room. Activities that the students had selected themselves. Most of the options were possible because of the digital options available to us. I am so grateful for the learning opportunities available to us that were not even possible a few years ago. I know that we are still learning how to use the technology effectively, but today was an awesome day in math class.

Windsor Mill Middle School’s SMaRTZone was a flurry of activity during African-American History Month. Language Arts teacher, Mikal Annis, and Library Media Specialist, Tiki Love, coordinated a lesson to introduce Ruby Bridges, a pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement. Students watched a Flocabulary video which highlighted six-year-old Ruby Bridges’ experiences with integration. During the video, students answered critical thinking and reflective question. A discussion ensued where students personalized Ruby’s experience and asked, what would I have done if I were in that situation? Ms. Love finished the lesson with a book talk to highlight various print resources about famous and lesser well known African Americans such as Muhammed Ali and Fannie Lou Hammer. The GT students extended the lesson with a Vocabulary Jam created by ELA Resource Teacher, Stephanie Fanshaw.
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Finally, Ron Smith, Baltimore author of Hoodoo and The Mesmerist, visited WMMS to talk about his new book, Marvel’s Black Panther the Young Prince which tells the story of T’Challa as a young boy. “It was cool that I got to see him speak before the movie,” remarked student Diamond Valentine.  Mr. Smith kept students on the edge of their seats with his own story of how the book came to be. “My agent called and asked me if I was sitting down.” Mr. Smith promptly sat down and held his breath. His agent continued. “Marvel Comics called, and they want you to write the young adult story of the Black Panther. You have 30 days.” Mr. Smith devoured Black Panther comic books to understand his protagonist’s background and purpose, and one month later he had a draft. D’Angelo Orr noted that “Mr. Smith worked hard writing the book so students can enjoy it.”  Taryn Lewis piped in by saying “hearing his stories inspires other kids to write.” Mr. Smith will return to Windsor Mill in March to work with students. 

“I have a dream that families will stay together and world peace will be achieved and there would be no more wars…I have a dream that homeless people get houses and jobs… I have a dream that people of different colors, religion, races, genders, etc. are looked at as a human because at the end of the day, we're all one race- human.”
 
For Martin Luther King Day, students at Windsor Mill Middle School watched an excerpt of Dr. King’s historical speech delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and then shared their own wishes on a school-wide Padlet. Reading and Language Arts teacher, Chris Kosmides, was inspired to take the activity one step further. He culled themes from the students’ posts and launched a Slam Poem unit. Students watched videos of Slam poets’ performances, selected one of the identified themes, and put pen to paper to craft their own poems. “It was difficult but it was good, because I always want to let people know I want to help the world, said Sinaya Bowen. Kehinde Adelabu was equally enthusiastic about the project.  “I want to make my parents proud and make the world a better place. The poem helps me to stick to what I want to do.” Students performed their poems on Voicethread for the class to see and provide peer feedback. View the VoiceThread here!

Submitted by Casey Markilinski
​Social Studies Department Chair, Chesapeake High School

Like all professional educators, my main focus as a teacher has always been to deliver the best instruction every day for every student in my classroom. In order to improve my instruction and accomplish my goals, I began the coaching cycle with Maggie Cummins, our STAT Teacher.  This process has not only influenced my teaching and impacted my students, but has also been a major influence in shaping the feedback I provide to my department members as Department Chair. 

The coaching cycle began with Maggie visiting my classroom to script a lesson. She came into my classroom to observe students during a collaborative group assignment. After reviewing directions with students, I spent most of class visiting groups to assist them in researching how the discovery of silver in South America impacted the native population, Spain, and the international economy. 

After this initial visit, I met with Maggie to review the transcript of my lesson and to discuss the goals for my instruction and my students. Before diving into the coaching conversation, Maggie asked me to read through the transcript from her visit. This was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to take a subjective look at my instruction and my role in the classroom. One of my instructional goals is to create a student-centered classroom in which students are collaborating to research historical topics and answer research questions that they have constructed. After reviewing this transcript, I realized that there were many instances in which I was assisting individual students with accessing content and using research databases. Though I was helping my students, I was realized through my conversation with Maggie that I was spending a majority of time helping my students overcome executive functioning barriers instead of truly facilitating collaborative learning. In order to truly create a collaborative, student-centered classroom driven through research and application of historical thinking skills, I needed to focus on an additional goal. I needed to work to alleviate issues with executive functioning to empower my students instead of assisting each one of them when they hit similar roadblocks.

​As a result of this initial conversation and the coaching conversations that have followed, I have been able to reflect more clearly on the successes and areas of growth within my instruction in order to accomplish my goals. I have worked diligently to create executive functioning supports for historical research assignments. Through participating in the coaching cycle, I have been able to more clearly and subjectively reflect on my own teaching practice to impact my students in a more powerful way and act as facilitator during inquiry-based research assignments.

​As a Department Chair, I strive to create a professional learning environment for my staff members that encourages risk taking in the name of providing the best education for students. I want the teachers in my department to feel supported in their efforts, and I view the informal observation process as one means of providing this support. Beginning the coaching cycle with our STAT Teacher has undoubtedly helped me to improve my own observation and feedback for the teachers in my department. I am better able to focus on their instructional goals when providing feedback and am working to craft questions that inspire more meaningful self-reflection. Experiencing the coaching cycle has enabled me to not only develop tools necessary to improve my own instruction, but to support my department members in reflecting and accomplishing their own goals.

Submitted by Yoriam Laboy
10th Grade Student, Chesapeake High School

“How will giving computers to students change learning?” is a question I asked myself when we were told we were going to be receiving devices at Chesapeake High last year. I honestly thought that a laptop was just another thing I would have to lug around at school, and it kind of is, but having devices has way more benefits than worrying about the extra weight on your back. Not only does the school-wide giving of computers help those who don’t have access to one at home, but it also makes it extremely easy to access assignments through lesson tiles and to keep up with your grades by having access to your scores.

Teachers have also been able to have more freedom creating fun lessons to keep students engaged when learning new concepts. My teachers have been implementing programs such as OneNote, Voice Thread, and Mathspace into our learning, which allows us to share our work with our teachers and classmates and to be able to receive feedback more directly. Our teachers are also making an effort to place us in small groups when we need more support or if we want to move ahead.

Having the ability to access the internet helps students to learn new and relevant material. Having books that have information from as long as 10 years ago is not preparing us to become 21st century learners, which every school should be trying to make us achieve. I love that we have access to Techbooks that are updated and relevant.
 Having access to other information outside of outdated books gives us an opportunity to explore deeper. With our generation, proper use of technology will continue to develop and as time passes, more jobs will be technology related, so the addition of technology in schools is only necessary in a modern learning environment.  I am excited that BCPS will continue to implement computers into everyday learning to better prepare us for entering the 21st century world.

Submitted by Jennifer Meltzer
Library Media Specialist, Pikesville High School

Senior, Easop Lee, has really enjoyed how technology has made interactions in her AP Physics class more convenient.  Through the use of digital simulations, students can conduct their own labs at home, even on snow days!

The University of Colorado, Boulder offers a digital simulation on spring mass laws and teacher Greg Hrinda has capitalized on this tool for his unit on simple harmonic motion in AP Physics

Students can even experiment using the various levels of gravity from different planets.  Students can view their results in slow motion for a deeper analysis. 
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“I think this is pretty cool because you don’t need all the materials to run different labs and the computer simulation save us a lot of time and allows a lot of opportunities to experiment,” says Easop.