As I write this announcement, eighty new Lenovo laptops and two new carts are being prepared in our library for installation in math, science and English classrooms!Special thanks to Fairview’s Technology Director Brian Junker and to Scot Layman for facilitating a successful rollout. Much preparation occurs in the background that may not be recognized very often. Thanks, too, to our Facilities Director Dave Muye and his maintenance team members Randy Fedei and Preston McKeen, seven new projectors and five new Promethean Boards are being installed in the high school.
The teachers who have volunteered to participate in the grant also have attended a regional training, during which time teachers learned about numerous web 2.0 tools and 21st Century software. Teachers selected sessions to learn to use Geometers’ Sketchpad, Google docs, Inspiration, Audacity and Photo Story, Promethean Activstudio, Discovery Education (United Streaming), and Google Earth. If you do not know what these terms mean, they are new resources that teachers are using to transform Fairview’s classroom instruction by using collaborative, engaging, and interactive activities.
Additionally, CFF teachers also devoted a great day of training to learn about and enhance Promethean board skills and to develop interactive learning materials for their students. Our staff members are learning more than they ever imagined!
What’s next? Video conferencing! Through the IU5 grant LEARN Initiative, Fairview School District received a video conferencing camera. Fairview Middle School students have participated in two simulations using the video conferencing technology already! We also are in the process of investigating inviting some formal programs that can offer our students distance learning opportunities. There are regional universities who are interested in developing distance learning foreign language programs with Fairview High School.
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