Skinner

School / Group:

= SKINNER MIDDLE SCHOOL =

//Attendees://


 * Megen Gilman, Michelle Koyama , and Matthew Dennis **

//We're on our way to TIE and we hope to learn://

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Skinner Middle School is making a technological advancement in the 2009-2010 school year. We have been afforded the grant from the Morgridge Foundation to our classrooms with our Teach for America staff. This means we will be receiving 5 Promethean boards from this source. Additionally, our Principal, Nicole Veltze, received a grant that will assist in purchasing another Promethean to total 6, in addition to adding document cameras to all literacy classrooms. With these new tools to enhance our delivery of instruction, the three team members applying for this scholarship will have different focus areas to guide our inquiry while at the TIE Conference. =====

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Megen Gilman is currently our 7th grade Language Arts teacher. Next school year Megen will be our non-Teach For America staff member who will have a Promethean in her classroom. The TIE conference will provide Megen the opportunity to interact with other professionals using this technology to enhance literacy in the classroom. Additionally, Megen wants to incorporate more inquiry based learning during the 2009-2010 school year. The ILT standard of “The student as an efficient information and technology user” is reinforced using this methodology. Megen has never attended the TIE conference and is exited to learn and gain ideas on how to incorporate technology in her language arts classroom. =====

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Matthew Dennis is the special education teacher supporting Language Arts. Matthew is one of the Teach For America staff members that will have a Promethean in his classroom. In attending the TIE conference, Matthew will gain an understanding of how to utilize multiple technologies to motivate and support students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. In working with multiple student groups with different instructional needs, Matthew will learn about the intersection between differentiation and technology in the classroom. A particular area of focus will be how technology can assist reluctant readers with fluency, comprehension, and stamina concerns; in addition, how to support developing writers. =====

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Michelle Koyama is the Skinner Humanities Facilitator and the ELD teacher. If granted the scholarship, this will be her 4th conference. The intended learning for this conference is two fold. First, she wants to begin accessing tools and resources for her students developing their English Language acquisition. For example, she is attending the Tech Boot Camp sponsored by the district for the podcasting session. This session was selected purposefully to access more resources for her students that already exist for their English development, as well as learn how to create more for them to use that are directly related to the district curricula. The ultimate project for my students who are English Language Learners would be to create a personal learning portfolio that documents their progress and development in English in the areas of Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing which incorporates the ELA and ILT standards. Michelle will seek out additional sessions at TIE that will assist in these areas. =====

The next focus Michelle has for this year’s conference is to gain more knowledge and background about how to enhance literacy instruction using our school’s new technology. Michelle will seek out ideas and strategies that I can share with my literacy and social studies teachers that will impact their delivery of instruction that builds in ILT standards “to prepare students to succeed in a global, high-tech, information rich society, …and ensure that all students and staff are effective users of tools, ideas and information to meet the goals and content standards of the Denver Public Schools.”

At TIE, we attended sessions on (give a couple of sentences for each session by each member. You do not all need to attend the same session, however if you do attend the same session then work together for a single response) : Literacy Instruction//** ||  || and Bang-Up Blogs//** ||  || Reluctant Writers//** ||  || Projects for the Global Classroom//** ||  || Achievement!//** ||  ||
 * MEMBER || SESSION || How it influences / changes / supports proposed TIE student project ||
 * **Megen Gilman** || 1111 **Film Festival Bootcamp** || Knowledge on how to make imovies for Taking action project. ||
 * **Megen Gilman** || 2314 **Wiki 2.0** || How to make a wiki interactive and useful. ||
 * **Megen Gilman** || 3301 **Google literacy with eeePCs** || How to use thinking stratigies with blogs and the internet. Run reading and writing from the computer lab. ||
 * **Michelle Koyama** || 3316 - **//Using Technology to Enhance
 * **Michelle Koyama** ||  ||   ||
 * **Michelle Koyama** ||  ||   ||
 * **Matthew Dennis** || 1101 - **//Wicked Cool Wikis
 * <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">**Matthew Dennis** || 2112 - //**iLife '09 in Education**// ||  ||
 * <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">**Matthew Dennis** || 2203 - **//Using Comics to Encourage
 * <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">**Matthew Dennis** || 2313 - //**Tech Tools for Struggling Learners**// ||  ||
 * <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">**Matthew Dennis** || 3111 - **//Create, Communicate, Collaborate--
 * <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">**Matthew Dennis** || 3217 - **//A Community of Writers//** ||  ||
 * <span style="border-collapse: separate; color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">**Matthew Dennis** || 3310 - **//Mastery Learning: Vodcasts Increase

Our classroom learning project for students is:

**<span style="color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Megen Gilman **

Thinking strategies- Students express thinking and their understanding through meaningful blog conversations. Taking Action-Students will select a social issue topic they feel strongly about, research, and then choose a form of media to take action on issue.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Michelle Koyama


 * //Fluency//** - podcasting of Skinner reading books for each grade level.

<span style="color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">**Matthew Dennis**

Reading Comprehension //**&**// Writing -

Our timeline for implementation of our plan is:

<span style="color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Megen Gilman Semester III- Start semester III, Unit 4, with group reading of "Night" integrating new technology into the existing Springboard Unit.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Michelle Koyama


 * //Fluency//** -

<span style="color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">**Matthew Dennis**

Reading Comprehension //**&**// Writing -

**Below are posted the projects we developed and used as a result of attending TIE:**

<span style="color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Megen Gilman [|Gilman's Blog]

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">Michelle Koyama


 * //Fluency//** -

<span style="color: #1c9b1c; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace;">**Matthew Dennis**


 * //Reading Comprehension//** & **//Writing//**- final draft of Comic Essay will be uploaded, with students citing the technology resources they used (digital comics, motion comics, websites, etc.) to gain the knowledge.