Students will increase literacy skills through the strategic use of technology and digital media to produce a school wide news program. The program will present students with life and career skills including self direction, flexibility, adaptability, productivity, ... more »

Mrs. Nemeth and Mrs. Boutin will introduce a “grow lab” in their kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms. Students will study and monitor the evolution of various plants by planting, cultivating, and harvesting multiple species. Throughout the project, ... more »

Organic chemistry students at Northgate High School will enhance laboratory learning through the incorporation of iPads in the lab setting. Tablet simulations will portray volatile chemical reactions and molecular interactivity and allow students to visualize molecules ... more »

Ms. Tubridy will introduce “Poets for Change,” a personal inquiry and poetry project that will use poetry and research as a vehicle from promoting change in students’ lives. Senior ELA students will study the form and craft of poetry and learn ... more »

Ms. Butler will implement a digitized interactive curriculum to deliver personalized lesson plans and homework assignments to students. The system will manage all elements of teaching, learning, and assessment while allowing Ms. Butler to remain at the center of ... more »

Mrs. Estes and Mrs. Miller will use iPads to improve ESL and Title I student achievement in reading and writing. Conferences between educators and individual students will be used to record student writing samples both digitally and observationally. Educators will use ... more »

To foster student creativity, Mrs. Galezewski will encourage elementary students to participate in the creative process through musical composition. Students will first observe educators composing music and then will write collaborative compositions through the use of ... more »

Mrs. Robinson and her colleagues will introduce learning activities that pair students with autism with basic education students. The project will serve to enhance academic learning and communication and social skills for both groups. Students will gain a ... more »

Through the “Science is Real Life” project, Ms. Arellano and her colleagues will bring grade level standards to life by introducing students to the Los Angeles Conservation Corp’s Sea Lab. Students will see the water cycle in action through direct ... more »

Mrs. Feldt, Mrs. Cannon, and a team of colleagues will strengthen math lessons by teaching the “Han-5 System of Mathematics,” a program with differing strategies for visual, kinesthetic, and auditory learners to master basic math concepts. Students will learn ... more »

Second grade teachers at Liberty Elementary School will expose students to interactive hands-on visual projects to improve student understanding of the school’s comprehensive language arts program. Educators will create and provide interactive vocabulary ... more »

Through Bringing Everyone Together with Technology, Mrs. Nelson and Mrs. Johnson will emphasize language acquisition and increased cultural awareness in their students. Educators will infuse 21st century skills throughout the curriculum by incorporating relevance and ... more »

To reduce student risk factors and promote student achievement, Mrs. Prahl and Ms. Haygood will implement a parent involvement project to train parents in specific reading and math strategies. Parents will participate in learning workshops taught by primary level ... more »

To address the need for student improvement in science, language arts, and mathematics, a team of educators at Forest City Regional Elementary School will enhance their students’ 21st century learning environment by incorporating tablets into every classroom. This ... more »

Ms. Fish and Mrs. Mahone will promote 21st century data collection and learning in early childhood classrooms at Brentwood Elementary. The team will utilize electronic portfolios and real time photographic and video recordings of student learning to promote both data ... more »

Mrs. Conrad will implement a leveled literacy intervention, which is a research-based, systematic reading program that will enhance Wahoo Public Schools' Title 1 program to accelerate reading proficiency. The intervention, which will be introduced in the elementary ... more »

Students will enhance their understanding of math and social science concepts by designing and fabricating ceramic tile quilts. The quilt murals will illustrate local social, cultural, and natural history, and will also link local events to social and cultural histories ... more »

Ms. Corbett and Mrs. Rizzuto will lead an inquiry-based learning unit designed to encourage the development of students’ critical thinking skills and science content knowledge. Students will use these materials in conjunction with science notebooks to construct ... more »

Creating Original Opera (COO) participants from two schools will work collaboratively throughout the school year to create, produce, and perform original dramatic operatic works. Using Skype cameras, web based portfolios, Promethean Board technology, artist visits, and ... more »

Students at Kualapuu School will learn about exploring for survival, discovery, and adventure through a lesson on the history of the ancient Polynesian voyaging that brought the first humans to the Hawaiian Islands. Students will document the process of building scale ... more »

Special education teachers in the Adams 14 school district will utilize a research-based math program to address math achievement gaps for at-risk elementary students with identified disabilities. They will be trained in coaching to utilize the core K-5 program and ... more »

Turning the Key to Literacy will increase reading and writing proficiency by integrating technology into the classroom. Ms. Farrens and a team of colleagues will use response clickers to monitor and evaluate student responses to multiple choice questions. To increase ... more »

Ms. Wescott and Ms. Goodwin will introduce Project Math-I-Khan, a three-component, math intervention. The program will incorporate mathematical differentiated learning to increase student skills and understanding. Students will create math videos to be disseminated ... more »

Mrs. Halstead will attend Columbia University's Teacher College Summer Writing Institute to learn best strategies for implementation, including crucial structures and routines that allow teachers to meet the differentiated needs of all student writers. Mrs. Halstead ... more »

Through Techie Teachers, Mrs. Tardif will undergo Smart Notebook Certification Training. The training will provide Mrs. Tardif with the skills necessary to fully utilize her school’s technology equipment as educational tools. Upon completing the training, Mrs. ... more »

Ms. Lyons will attend the Reading and Writing Project at the Columbia University Teachers College. Through the program, Ms. Lyons will deepen her understanding of the implementation of effective reading workshops and the integration of the Common Core Curriculum. The ... more »

Mr. Applegate will read, "The Complete Learning Disabilities Handbook: Ready-to-Use Strategies and Activities for Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities," and attend the Learning Disabilities Association of America's annual conference in Chicago. Using the ... more »

Ms. Swanson will embark on a six-week stay in Guatemala through Casa Xelaju’s Spanish Immersion Program. Through the program, Ms. Swanson will further her knowledge of Latin American culture and languages via experiences in schools, site visits, and a home stay ... more »

Ms. Cushard will attend the What’s Different about Teaching Reading to English Language Learners institute at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC. Upon completion of the training Ms. Cushard will lead a study group that will equip colleagues with ... more »

Using curriculum from the Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry, Mrs. Hansen-Barber and Mrs. Joslyn will facilitate ten professional study workshops for educators in the Wallace and Kellogg School Districts. The first five workshops will introduce teachers to the benefits ... more »

Ms. Kareem will travel to a diverse, high performing school in Toronto, Ontario. While there, Ms. Kareem will investigate professional learning communities and parental involvement initiatives aimed at increasing student achievement. The strategies and knowledge gained ... more »

Mrs. Eanes will attend the Davis Dyslexia Correction Methods, a training that will provide insight into how the dyslexic brain works.  At the four day training, Mrs. Eanes will learn theories, principles, and procedures regarding dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, ... more »

Using iPads, the speech therapy team at Hayward Elementary will enhance student motivation, improve collaboration among educators, and increase student productivity. The technology will bring speech and language therapy into classrooms that previously have not had access to ... more »

Mrs. Shirley and Ms. Forbes will introduce Plants, People, and Our Planet which will allow third and fourth grade students to explore the environmental factors that negatively affect plants and humans. Students will develop a garden and outdoor reading courtyard to ... more »

Ms. Wuthrick and Ms. Hall will incorporate iPads into the classroom so that students will identify, analyze, and comprehend issues inherent in diverse ecosystems. The learning will enhance students’ understanding of the ways in which living ecosystems function and the ... more »

To improve student literacy and public speaking, Ms. Chill and Ms. Peck’s fourth grade students will host daily news programs for the entire school. The broadcasts will focus primarily on social studies themes, allowing students to report on both past and present ... more »

Lawrence-Lawson Elementary students will become actively engaged in technology using iPod Touch devices. Feeding the 21st Century Learner with Technology will motivate students to increase their knowledge of reading and math skills while differentiating instruction to meet ... more »

Ms. Persson and Ms. Boardman will incorporate the use of laptop computers into their classrooms to support the integration of the arts and technology with the disciplines of science, language arts, and social studies. Student work in the core curriculum will connect with ... more »

Educators at Spring Hill Elementary will introduce Discover Intensive Phonics with the objective of helping at-risk students increase their decoding and reading skills. Ms. Foland and Mrs. Pena will implement the program and monitor improvements in students’ reading ... more »

Students will explore the realities of extreme poverty in their communities and at the global level through Eradicating Global Issues through 21st Century Technology. Students will identify latent issues and produce videos about the issues and ways to eradicate them. Mrs. ... more »

Soaring Higher to Literacy Success will utilize a research based intervention program to help at-risk fourth and fifth graders accelerate their reading ability and apply decoding and comprehension strategies learned in reading class to other subjects. Mrs. Belcher and Mrs. ... more »

To enhance diversity and inclusion at Chestnut Elementary, Ms. Dickenson and Mrs. Carter will develop a school wide program to expose students to multiple cultures. Every month, students at each grade level will choose a different country to research and create digital ... more »

La Mirada Elementary students will participate in historic reenactments to build background knowledge and key vocabulary related to California’s history. Students will be immersed with a tour of a seventeenth century clipper ship, a walk on paths used by Spanish ... more »

Ms. Simmons and Ms. Macleod will lead an effort to implement assistive technology tools to enhance new student integration and learning.  The team will work to improve their skills in developing creative and engaging ways to foster inclusion and learning for all ... more »

Dr. Getman will lead of team of third and sixth grade educators through a collaborative professional learning community that will enable participants to perfect their instructional strategies. Specifically, groups of educators will attend sessions at Columbia ... more »

Mrs. Huset and Mrs. Kuschke will implement an action research project in which students will learn to “read pictures,” discuss authors’ purposes, and analyze the word choices used in texts. Painting techniques will also be taught, as students will create ... more »

Teachers and education support professionals in Alpena Public Schools and surrounding school districts will be trained in the curricular framework presented in Charlotte Danielson’s Enhancing Professional Practice. Staff will be trained in the Danielson rubric and ... more »

Ms. Walker and Mrs. Moy will lead an action research study of the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) as a tool to improve the teaching and learning of English language learners at Sargent Shriver Elementary School. The group looks to improve the performance ... more »