PPS Instructional Technology

March 18-20th was the MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning) conference in Detroit. This year Portage Public Schools was well represented! We had seven staff members presenting and over 25 teachers, principals and staff members in attendance! There was so much exciting learning going on during these three days that we knew we had to capture and share the experience and knowledge with all of you! Each of the attendees were given the opportunity to be a guest blogger and shed some light on what they learned at MACUL. Over the next couple weeks, we will be sharing out their experiences! Thanks you to all our guest bloggers who stepped up to the Learning Together at MACUL challenge! Our first guest blogger is Kevin Luteyn , fourth grade teacher at Moorsbridge elementary. Kevin is one of our chromebook pilot teachers and was looking forward to learning some new tools and techniques to bring back to his fourth graders. Here is his post: MACUL was again a grea...

In the last month, we deployed 640 chromebooks to the elementary schools and community high.  The possibilities these devices bring to the classrooms can be amazing and overwhelming all at the same time.  It is our goal, as technology integration specialists, to help teachers create engaging lessons using these devices that foster unique, customizable learning opportunities for all students.  With this goal in mind, Paul and I set out to create videos to demonstrate how teachers, right here in PPS, are using these devices with their students.  The short video below is our first attempt.  It features Todd Chappa, 3rd grade teacher at Lake Center Elementary.  In the lesson, he discusses how he uses the tools Socrative.com and Sumdog.com to help him differentiate instruction in math and make it possible for him to effectively run small group instruction.  We hope you find it useful and that it sparks a fire of inspiration for you with your own students. ...

Many of you know about the “Clicker” systems that a couple of our schools have that allow teachers to ask questions of their classes and have the students type in their response using the clicker. These are great tools for formative assessments, exit tickets and quick checks. Unfortunately, clicker systems are expensive and not very practical since they only do one thing. This is where great tools like GoSoapBox , Geddit , Infuse Learning and Socrative step in. These programs work like clickers to collect student responses, but students can use computers, chromebooks, smartphones or tablets to submit their answers. Another bonus is that they are really easy to use! Over the next week, let’s take a look at each one of these programs, starting with: http://www.socrative.com/ Question Types: Multiple choice, True/False, Short Answer, Exit Tickets Works on: Any internet connected device, iPad/iPhone App, Android App Really cool features:  1. Quiz answers are compiled i...