EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY:BRIDGING THE

ENTHUSIASM GAP

David Eisenberg, MLISSchool Media Specialist, Vernon Township Public Schools

President, Sussex County Library Media Association

N.J. School Boards Association, 2012 School Leader Award Recipient

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY:BRIDGING THE

ENTHUSIASM GAP Contents:I. Educational Technology: More Important Than Ever

II. Functional & Targeted School Technology

III. Applied Technology in Action: Programs at Glen Meadow Library

a) Session # 1: Data-Driven Analytics in College & Career-Ready Book Clubs (Recognized

Program by NJSBA)

b) Session # 2: Star Reading (NJASL Program Overview and the Renaissance Learning

Linking Study)

c) Session # 3: Novel Writing with Google Docs (our newest program)

d) Session # 4: Data-Driven Analytics in Math Book Clubs (AMTNJ Workshop Overview)

e) Session # 5: School Wide Broadcasting without TV’s (an AACE Best Practice)

IV. Reasons to Sign Up for this Professional Development Course

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

“As our work and social lives come to center on the use of electronic media, the faster we’re able to navigate those media and the more adroitly we’re

able to shift our attention among online tasks, the more valuable we’re likely to become as employees and even as friends and colleagues” (Carr, 2011).

SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY FUNCTIONAL & TARGETED

“Just because we can is not a compelling reason to use technology” (Brophy, 2008).

“Technology must be well-used, thoughtfully applied, and exactingly targeted in its application to education” (Carr, 2011).

“The increased demands of decision-making and visual processing in

hypertext impaired reading performance” (Carr, 2011).

“The division of attention demanded by multimedia further strains our cognitive abilities, diminishing our learning and weakening our understanding” (Carr, 2011). 

SESSION 1: INTEREST DATA TARGETING STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS

“Technology can easily provide access to much useful information and store it for rapid retrieval later. It can also provide access to current, real-

time data” (Brophy, 2008).

INTEREST INTAKE FORM:

What can I do with what I’ve learned?

• I’d like to write a novel or learn about getting published• I’d like to help plan our Animal Lover’s Club (where students bring pets to school!)• I’d like to be on or to help produce a Morning Announcements Show• I’d like to be a peer tutor to help fellow students (in Math, English or Science)• I’d like to make movies, or be part of a movie-in-progress • I’m interested in gaming, graphic arts, cartooning, anime, or RPG’s• I’m good with computers and like new technology• I like to take pictures (photography) or to draw• I like to plan parties and fun events

STUDENTINTEREST INVENTORY:

Name

Study Hall

Period Writing Photo Animals TV Comics Computers Parties Tutor Movies

 A 7   x     x   x x  

 B 7   x x       x    

 C 1 x x x x         x

 D 6 x x     x   x   x

 E 1         x x      

 F 7     x   x x      

G  2                 x

SESSION 2:

STAR READING

Star Reading helps teachers to demonstrate quantitatively improvements in students’ proficiencies in areas targeted by the Common Core Curriculum Standards.

Star Reading Enterprise provides regular progress reports and continual assessment of individual student proficiencies in 36 reading skills in five Language Arts domains:

Vocabulary Development; (2) Understanding Text; (3) Reading Progress; (4) Literacy Analysis; and (5) Evaluating Text.

STAR READING

As I presented at the 2011 New Jersey Association of School Librarians Annual Conference, Glen Meadow Middle School Library received a grant to participate in the Star Reading Linking Study. The Linking Study demonstrated the relationship between student success on the New Jersey ASK exam and proficiency on Star Reading assessments.

STAR READING: FAST, EASY, & EFFECTIVE

• Quick computerized reading assessments that take only about 15 minutes every month or two to maintain

• Teachers receive reading levels for every student

• Printed parent & student reports useful for explaining and documenting student progress in reading ability

• Student reading growth reports – print longitudinal reports showing student reading progress in reading level month by month, toward proficiency on the NJ-ASK reading test

• Proven alignment with New Jersey standardized tests

• Available online from anywhere, making Star assessments even assignable as homework! 

SESSION 3:MATH BOOK

CLUBS:

We’re making use of the bestselling middle school books by Danica McKellar, who’s a mathematician, former star of TV’s The Wonder Years, and author of Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Get Through Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail.

 

Using a writing style similar to a teen magazine, McKellar’s books help make learning math fun, especially for students who enjoy reading. While we may be the first school attempting to directly address the NJ-ASK Math with her books, McKellar’s books have for years been shown by teachers to improve students’ enjoyment, confidence, and grades in middle school math.

SCHOLASTIC MATHATHONINTEGRATION:

SAVING CHILDREN WITH CANCER

Glen Meadow Library has teamed up with St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and Scholastic to lead our selected students in helping cure childhood cancer. Our students will become the official Glen Meadow Mathathon Team, to complete the official Mathathon Fun Book, a curriculum designed by Scholastic that both raises money for kids fighting cancer and helps students practice for standardized tests, such as the NJ-ASK.

GIRL POWER MATH: STUDENT SELECTION

Since selected students will be reading McKellar’s book, this is aimed at students who scored high on the Language Arts NJ-

ASK, while scoring substantially lower on the Math NJ-ASK test. We have examined all seventh and eighth grade students

and generated a spreadsheet allowing close analysis:

 

• Math Doesn’t Suck best addresses Problem Solving and Numerical Operations. We are looking for students whose scores

need improvement in these areas as our best candidates. When we include Kiss My Math and Hot X Algebra, those books

also cover the other subsets of the NJ-ASK Math. This will allow us to more comprehensively address these students’

mathematics needs.

• Students with high reading scores will be best suited for this program

• Female students are these books’ intended audience.

Last FirstLAL

ScoreLAL Prof

Math Score

Math Prof

Number

Prob Solv Read Enrich Lunch

240 P 199 PP 11 18 48 1 6

223 P 190 PP 9 13 45 1 6

248 P 193 PP 11 19 46 8 6

228 P 205 P 12 18 43 5 6

SESSION 4: STUDENT NOVEL WRITING

WITH GOOGLE DOCS

“Technology allows for shared peer learning to occur in real time with other students anywhere in the world” (Brophy, 2008).

College & Career Ready Book Clubs 2012 School Leader Award Recipient

New Jersey School Board Association

Glen Meadow Library’s Student Novel Writing Project

In pairs, across nine 7th grade classes, students are team-writing a single, cohesive novel. Student authors and editors are gaining a love for literature, writing, organization, character development, and an appreciation for the editing process.

Students learn from outside career professionals and subject-area experts, including

Student Novel Writing ProjectSpecial Guest Educators

Students learn from outside career professionals and subject-area experts. This will include award-winning published authors, a senior art director of a major book publisher, a representative from a graphic-arts college, and a children’s magazine editor.

The Vernon Historical Society use PowerPoint, web-searching, photography and video to teach our students about historical locations within Vernon Township, the students’ novel takes place. 

This Spring, the historical society will return to lead our students on an archeological field trip of Black Creek, the setting of the final scene of our novel.

Student Novel Writing ProjectSpecial Guest Educators

During our 2012 School Library’s Science Fiction & Fantasy Convention, named an “Innovation in Education” by the New Jersey Historical Society (NJEA Review, 2012): Students will learn novel-writing and publishing from award-winning fantasy author and

Glen Meadow Middle School graduate Noelle Kalipetis Our visiting Random House Books’ Senior Art Director will review student work, critique

and give feedback for students’ cover art and interior book illustration, demonstrating professional graphics design in Photoshop and other industry-grade technology.

Students, faculty, administration, and guests celebrate at their own Book Launch Party!

With Google Drive, students write collaboratively at school or from home and securely online.  This technology lets our students look at the same document, and at the same time in different locations, while even commenting on each other’s revisions.

SESSION 5: SCHOOL-WIDE

TV BROADCASTINGWITHOUT TV’S

“2012 Best Practice”World Conference for Educational Technology & School Media,

Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education

Smarter Technology Costs Less! Traditional school broadcasting program includes TV Sets

in Each Classroom; Closed-Circuit Coaxial Cabling throughout building; and separated room dedicated to housing a broadcasting switchboard.

Entire cost typically $150,000 - $300,000. Prohibitive for less affluent systems, especially at lower grade levels, such as middle schools.

OUR WEB-BASED SOLUTION: $800 / year

Teaching Teachers & Changing School Culture

Enlisting the support of every homeroom teacher in the school to take on additional voluntary work in the morning.

How do we make sure all teachers will buy-in? Without their participation, the morning show does not happen.

Student Tech Support Team

Students 12-13 years old were given leadership roles to enter teachers’ classrooms and make sure they could log onto the new system.

Called the “Student Tech Support Team”

The Result: Glen Meadow Library’s

TV & Broadcasting Program Students were brought on a field trip to the county college TV Studio

and were excited by meeting their professors and touring a real Public Access TV Station.

Our Middle School Students now use Adobe After Effects, Premier, Visual Communicator, Maya, Audition, and other professional tools to produce a top-notch show.

PLEASE SIGN UP…• Refreshments will be served• Learn practical skills to engage

students• Apply best practices acknowledged by

both the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education and the New Jersey School Board Association

REFERENCESAssociation for the Advancement of Computing in Education. EdMedia: World Conference for Educational Media and Technology. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.aace.org/conf/

Carr, Nicholas. (2010). The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. W. W. Norton & Company.

Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. (2008). Looking in classrooms. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

New Jersey School Board Association. (2012). School Board Notes: May 2012. Retrieved from http://www.njsba.org/news/sbn/20120530/june-8-is-deadline-for-school-leader-award-entries.php

Renaissance Learning. Star Reading. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.renlearn.com/sr/

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Mathathon. (2012) Retrieved from http://www.mathathon.org/