2016 East Lansing Tech Camp: Day 2! 7/19/2016

2016 East Lansing Tech Camp: Day 1! 7/18/2016

2016 East Lansing Tech Camp! #517edtech #MichEd

Dear #MichEd,

We’re pleased to announce that East Lansing Public Schools will be offering a 3-day tech camp style PD on July 18th, 19th and 20th where teachers and staff will have the opportunity to come earn up to 15 hours of DPPD in various areas of technology. The purpose of this event is to bring educators together from Michigan K-12 schools to model how to use technology in instruction to support teaching and learning.

We see Michigan educators as leaders of using district technologies and would love to see you share your experience and knowledge with the ELPS and MichEd communities. Click here to join us in presenting!

We also encourage you to pass this on to anyone who may be interested in presenting a great session at East Lansing’s tech camp. The deadline to submit is Friday, June 3. All submissions will be peer reviewed by our technology department and classroom teachers. You will be notified if your proposal was accepted shortly after. Stay tuned for a complete schedule with session descriptions by Friday, June 10.

Julie Bungard: Supporting Linguistically and Culturally Diverse ELL Learners at East Lansing!

There are 47 countries currently represented within Glencairn’s classroom walls where every day is an extraordinary celebration of cultural diversity. Each classroom supports the growth of linguistically and culturally diverse learners in English education in its own unique way. This month’s teacher spotlight highlights Julie Bungard, an outstanding Glencairn teacher that has gone above and beyond to bring technology into the ELL classroom as a means of integrating rich cultural content into teaching.

Tell us a little about yourself? My name is Julie Bungard and I am currently working in the Glencairn Elementary building. This is my second year at Glencairn. During my first year in East Lansing I worked as a part time kindergarten teacher at Red Cedar and a part time ELL teacher at Glencairn (it was then a five/six grade building). After that first year, I became a full-time ELL teacher at Red Cedar. I have now been in the district for eight years. Tell us a little about the ELL technology used at your school? Two years ago, when I was working as the Title III coordinator for our district, I learned about a software program that was innovative, research based, individualized, and kid friendly. The name of the program is Imagine Learning (If interested, go to this web address: http://www.imaginelearning.com. The program is aimed to improve literacy for all students and is particularly useful for ELL students. After much investigation, I was able to use Title III funding to purchase licensing for our ELL students. Students can log-on to an iPad app and use this program in their individual classrooms to help them learn English. Teachers were beyond excited! They now have tools to help them with the English Language Learners while they are in the classroom. This program may be used on iPads, laptops, and desktops. How was this technology brought into the school? Title III is under the umbrella of Title I, but its funding is specific for Title III or English Language Learners (ELL). Under this government funded program, I was able to purchase for our district, licenses from Imagine Learning, iPads, and laptops to help with students in grades K-5. In the 6-12th grades, students are also using iPads and technology from this grant. What was the educational need that inspired this project? During our shift from classroom instruction to more explicit instruction - 90-minute reading blocks, intervention, and good fit work, ELL students, especially beginners, needed supplemental materials to help in the classroom. During ELL conferences, I asked other ELL teachers what they used in their schools to supplement ELL students in the classrooms and this program was often recommended. What made this technology (ELL iPads) a particularly good fit for your student population? Not only can ELL students use the iPads and programs in their classrooms, but teachers can access the program on-line by logging in and learning about the strengths and weaknesses of each student. How do you see the students using this technology in your building? ELL students log in to Imagine Learning on a daily basis for 30 minutes a day. If the teacher is consistent, most students who have used the program more than twenty hours during the school year, grew at an accelerated rate. Students scored 20% higher than those who have not used the program. This program can also be used at home and this function will be better utilized next year as we grow and develop. How have the students responded to this technology? Most students absolutely love the program. Some want to use it all day long. It’s game-like structure allows students to progress at their own rate. What are some specific programs used on these devices and how do they benefit your student population? Not only can our students use these iPads for Imagine Learning, they can also use them for numerous iPad apps helpful for ELL students like: Kids A-Z, Bitsboard PRO, Endless Alphabet and Endless Reader, Little Story Creator, Word Hippo, Green Screen, Google Translate, Stack the States, Noodle Words, and many more. The Middle School and the High School are also utilizing this technology by using TumbleCloud (http://tumblebookcloud.com). For the elementary level, Tumblebooks is a program that you can get through the ISD for free, but TumbleCloud is not available for free from the ISD. This program is extremely vital for students in grades 6-12th grades. TumbleCloud is an online collection of ebooks, enhanced novels, graphic novels, videos and audio books, which offers students and adults of all reading levels access to an amazing range of content. This means that ELL students who struggle with reading massive amounts of material can listen to a shorter version of the story and still get the gist of the book, using an iPad to do it.