Just This Week

In just this week alone I saw some unbelievable teaching practices and educational technology integration that helped promote the success of all students. Here is the unbelievable list......

• Our newly formed Student Tech Club met and is excited about working together in order to ensure that our middle school's technology is working and staff is supported in any way possible. 
• In language arts class Mrs. Hotchkiss is using KidBlog to give students a 21st century voice in a safe learning environment. 
• The final stages of preparation for a BYOD pilot and Digital Learning Day are coming together with great excitement. 
• In social studies class Mrs. Connahan incorporated the SmartBoard, Online Textbook, Graphic Organizers and laptop stations so students could really grasp the culture and geography of Ancient Egypt.
• The District Wide Online Book Club is ready to start next week. We will be reading Dave Burgess' "Teach Like a Pirate" and holding conversations online using Edmodo.
• Everyone is wearing their favorite sports jerseys for spirit day. Of course I am wearing my Philadelphia Eagles jersey and getting booed. 
• Advisory went off with great success. Students were collaborating, talking and learning to work together as a team. 
• Mr. Pizzo was recognized as the 2013 "Teacher Who Makes Magic" Congrats goes to a very professional and well liked teacher. 
• The weekly Tech Tuesday was very successful as teachers came in on their own time and learned about the power of Google Apps.
• The boys and girls basketball teams were very successful with important wins against arch rivals. 
• The BOE presentation on 2012 test scores and school highlights was very impressive and made everyone proud.
• In social studies class Mr. Cullen utilized iPads to assess student's knowledge with an app called Socrative. 
• Ms. Hey and Mrs. Meierhofer visited John Fritzky of the Mt. Olive School District to learn about "flipping the classroom."
• Ms. Palumbo and Ms. Sheridan successfully leveraged the power of SmartBoards during their units on math and science. 
• District Administrators attended a seminar at Seton Hall University on Teacher and Principal Evaluation Tools/Models
• Students took the online SRI reading comprehension test for diagnostics purposes. This allows our teachers to use timely data to impact instruction. 
• The willingness to learn about and try new "tools of the trade" is tremendous and evident by Mrs. Vilagos developing a game plan to incorporate digital portfolios in her art class. 

Imagine what next week will hold. Very honored and proud to be apart of the unbelievable educational experiences that are going on in the Chester School District. 

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