Release Time Work Summaries
Below is a summary of what was worked on at our recent release time meetings.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
We concluded our iPad teacher training. We learned how to make a photo slideshow using Animoto. This is how I made the videos that you have seen come home this week. The teachers explored options for using the iPads that would fit with what they are currently studying in their classrooms. Within the next two weeks, all of the classes will have used the iPads in their classroom. Ask your child about this!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
We focused on logistics and sharing regarding the iPads. Now that they are being used on a daily basis, there are several logistical matters to consider. These include things such as our policies for charging them, checking them out, and purchasing and downloading applications. Mrs. Wahlen went over all of the procedures for the iPads, and then teachers shared what they have been doing with the iPads in their classes. Teachers spent some time in discussion with each other regarding integration of the iPads into their curriculum. Here are just a few of the things that have recently been done with the iPads:
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Mrs. Conole used the iPads with her 8th grade Language Arts class. The assignment was to make a promotional video which highlights the benefits of our school. The students went around the school and church and took pictures and videos. They will use an iPad application to make this into a promotional video.
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In Mrs. Flaminio’s 3rd grade, the students paired up and recorded their partner’s airplaine presentation on the iPad. After all the presentations were recorded, each student watched the recording of their own presentation and critiqued themselves according to a presentation rubric.
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The first grade class used the iPads yesterday for skill review and practice. Mrs. Kern had a small group of students with her and they used a sight word application. The rest of the students worked individually with the iPads with a choice of a spelling app, a story app, or a blackboard app that allowed them to practice writing their spelling words.
Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 –
At this week’s early dismissal meeting, we worked in our Strategic Plan Committees on specific tasks for meeting goals on our Strategic Plan. Here is a brief summary of the committees and their work:
Technology Committee
One of the tasks of this committee is to redesign the teacher web pages on our school website. They have researched other school's sites. From this research, they have developed a template for our teacher pages. They have also developed a timeline for accomplishing this work.
Character Education Committee
This committee is charged with leading our school initiative of adopting a school-wide character education program. They have developed a survey that will go out to parents to help us assess our needs in regards to character education. They have also begun to research various programs.
Spanish Committee
This committee began working on aligning the Spanish curriculum to ensure that all of the standards are covered. They also prepared a proposal for changing the current structure of the Spanish program at Holy Family to help ensure that students are prepared for Spanish 2 when they enter high school.
Tuesday, March6, 2012
At this week’s early dismissal meeting, the teachers reviewed and updated their professional development plans. The majority of the teachers have a professional development plan that relates to our school-wide writing initiative. These teachers met and did a self-assessment of where we currently are with our Step Up To Writing Program and what steps we need to take to meet our goals for this initiative. In response to our assessment, we will be having consultant Jane Marko come in and do some more inservicing on other forms of topic sentences and multi-paragraph essays. For our Techie Ten, we explored a website called “Smart Exchange” which provides numerous pre-made SmartBoard lessons that teachers can easily incorporate into their lessons. We also went over some tips and tricks for using Brain POP with the students.
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