I decided to take a walkabout around Bridge Point today just to see what was happening. Everywhere I looked I saw students engaged in learning projects. Everywhere I went, there were kids enthusiastically working on assignments in their own ways. Opening up choices to kids brings out confidence in their ability to design their own learning adventures. From creating videos, to designing trigger pictures for Aurasma video projects, these kids are loving learning! As a majority of our students are preparing for Open House this Friday, you could really see they were working for authentic audiences, their families! Check out two videos below inviting parents to come to Open House.
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Today, three of the five Bridge Point Kindergarten classes went 1:1! Students in Ms. Hester, Ms. Krost, and Ms. Plevich's classes took the LEAP into 1:1 iPad learning. Students practiced using the app iFiles to create their own folder on the BPE student shared servers. They also took a picture of themselves and created a personalized wallpaper and lock screen. They were so very delighted with themselves. Way to go Kindergarten! Stay tuned for the rest of the Kinders to go 1:1.
From Mr. Wirht's BPOV letter last week:
LEAP This week the remaining iPads have been distributed to all Bridge Point grade levels. The LEAP initiative is a now school wide. I congratulate our EISD Technology Services department for executing a huge and complicated logistical challenge. To order, receive, ID, load, distribute over 2,000 iPads to six elementary campuses is a big deal. We appreciate and admire them. The iPads are in our hands and here we go. Over the next two weeks, Marianna Husain and Sandy Medina, our campus “Ed Techs” (teaching professionals who lead instructional technology) are conducting specific orientations for each Bridge Point class. Much has been learned since the December roll-out to grades 3 and 4. We have a high level of confidence that we are doing this well. Results are not immediate and we continue a stream of “lessons learned” but we are confident and proud of our path. Excerpted from my letter a month ago I again urge you to read: “I direct you to the series of “buttons” above this letter. We have just added the “Bobcat Blog” button which consolidates all things LEAP for Bridge Point and for the district. It is a joint resource. The Bobcat Blog is designed for teachers, students, parents and all curiosity seekers (it may help you explain to your in-laws what we are up to!) It is a live site, constantly expanding with information, resources, questions, commentary and tools. Spend some minutes on it for an overview.” We want you to know what we know. It takes a lot of teamwork to get 750+ iPads at our school up and running! The EISD Technology Services (TS) works to process iPads to roll out to students in our district. A team of Educational Technologists and classroom teachers worked together to develop a list of apps to be put on the iPads. The apps are purchased and tracked through our Business Office and then the small team distributes apps through the Apple Configurator. They also barcode and inventory each iPad. Once the iPads arrive at Bridge Point, Mr. Manor, the tech assigned primarily to BPE, has to work on each iPad individually. He makes sure they are all operational, connecting to our Wifi, and in the case of the younger students, help us configure iFiles and set up subscription services. Way to go team EISD!
Join the HCMS staff as they invite 50 educators from across Texas to learn more about all things iPad. Watch live via the Live stream website and learn more about what's happening at Hill Country MS here: http://hcms.eanesisd.net/leap/hcms_ipad-site-visit. Nola Wellman of the Eanes school district has been named Superintendent of the Year by the Texas Computer Education Association. “Dr. Wellman is a leader in recognizing the value of educational technology in advancing student-centered learning,” said Kal Kallison, Eanes school board president. “Dr. Wellman is quite deserving of this award, and I am pleased to see her efforts recognized.”
Bobcats love learning with iPads! Today fifth graders at BPE received their 1:1 iPads. After enjoying a few months with the shared iPad model, students and teachers are excited to extend their learning repertoire to include a personal iPad. On this deployment of iPads, the entire group of Educational Technologists throughout our district collaborated on a broader list of apps to include reviewed and recommended by EISD teachers. The list of apps included on the 2nd deployment of EISD iPads can be found here on our blog under Leap-App Lists. Stay tuned for more excellent iHappenings! Kinder, 1st and 2nd are expected to join the 1:1 model late next week. Go Bobcats! EISD's team of educational technologist, fondly referred to as the iVengers stormed TCEA this year and presented a variety of topics. The elementary team of Marianna Husain, Jon Samuelson, Janet Couvillion, Margie Brown, Debbie Smith and Jolie Jennings presented the hard work of our EISD teachers. Check it out at http://teach-different.org or click on the interactive dots on the picture above to visit other awesome EISD schools.
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June 2018
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