Technology Integration at Heritage

Some of you may have heard about the changes we are making at Heritage regarding teaching technology.  Earlier this year we chose to add World Language as an elective for our 5th and 6th grade students at Heritage.  For the schedule to work, we replaced the current “technology” elective.  Our vision for technology at Heritage is now focused on intergrating technology skills into the classroom in the form of content driven technology projects.

At this stage of the development process, Ms. Kellstrom and Ms. Patton are looking for input from 5th & 6th Grade staff members who are interested in helping create rubrics for large scale tech projects that include Podcasts, iMovies or Enhanced Powerpoint Presentations.  They are looking at creating tech integration projects that:

• take classroom learning to the next level and not just a regurgitation of content previously learned
• have a rubric created to support the researching, writing and product creation components
• involve detailed research using a variety of traditional and non-traditional sources as well as classroom lectures/presentations/learning experiences
• incorporate strong note taking skills
• use solid and creative writing skills
• use a variety of media for the project, i.e., video, images, music, software & hardware
• a majority of the work is personally created by the student(s) and not copied and pasted from the web
• the work is published on a teacher’s website, Hornet Tube and/or an ePortfolio
• fosters teamwork and collaboration whenever possible
• includes some type of presenting

I am excited with where we are heading with integrating technology into the classroom.  Heritage will be an exciting place for students and staff next year!