This summer we say goodbye to many wonderful members of our team, but also welcome new faces into the Educational Technology department. [Read more…] about Educational Technology Dept. Welcomes and Farewells, 2017-18
Kristen Johnson
Registering Soon: Granite Educational Technology Endorsement Program 2017-2019
Granite’s Educational Technology department will soon be accepting applicants for two new cohorts of the Educational Technology Endorsement Program (ETEP) for 2017-2019. Registration opens May 16, 2017 at 7:00 A.M. Each cohort will include 24 participants, with one cohort attending classes on Wednesday evenings, and the other on Thursday evenings.
2017-2019 ETEP Quick Links
- 2017-19 ETEP Wednesdays Year 1 Schedule
- 2017-19 ETEP Wednesdays Registration Form
- 2017-19 ETEP Thursdays Year 1 Schedule
- 2017-19 ETEP Thursdays Registration Form
You can find more general information on the ETEP program on our dedicated page at https://www.graniteschools.org/edtech/professional-development/etep/. If you have any other questions about the program please contact Kristen Johnson in the Educational Technology department.
Granite Ed. Tech. Presentations at UCET 2017
Last week the Utah Coalition for Educational Technology held their annual conference at the University of Utah. Sessions were led for and by educators, and many of Granite’s teachers, school technology specialists, and library media educational technology specialists attended and presented at the conference. Below is a roster of the sessions shared by Granite teachers, along with links to resources from the sessions if available.
| Session Title | Presenter(s) |
|---|---|
| BreakoutEDU | Brenda Duford (STS, Silver Hills El.), Stephanie Evans (STS, Monroe El.), and Dave Taylor (STS, Moss El. and Pioneer El.) |
| BreakoutEDU | Michelle Reed (LMETS, Jefferson Jr. High) and Mary Anne Wiebe-Strong (LMETS, Churchill Jr. High) |
| BreakoutEDU | Tricia Fenton (STS, Vista El. and Western Hills El.) and Sarah Robinson (STS, Oakwood El. and Calvin Smith El.) |
| Bringing the World into Your Classroom with Virtual Fieldtrips | Adam Brough (STS, Diamond Ridge El. and Gourley El.), Samantha Mitchell (STS, Academy Park El.), and Will Walden (STS, Bacchus El. and Rosecrest El.) |
| Code Unplugged | James Baliff (STS, Bridger El. and Jackling El.) and Aaron Kammerman (STS, Hartvigsen School) |
| Creating Stories, Illustrations, and Collages with iPads | Michelle Hanson (STS, Hillsdale El.) |
| Creating VR for the Classroom | Becky Schaap (STS, Copper Hills El. and Twin Peaks El.) and Tom Sparks (STS, Penn El. and Spring Lane El.) |
| Digital Breakout Edu | Tiffany Pontius (STS, Cottonwood El. and Truman El.) and Keith Reidford (STS, Hillside El. and South Kearns El.) |
| Engaging Students with Toys, Games, and Comics | Quinn Rollins (District Social Studies Curriculum Specialist) |
| Get Hyped About HyperDocs | Stephanie Mondragon (LMETS, Valley Jr. High), Jenny Peirce (LMETS, Kearns High School), and Stephanie Seely (LMETS, Granite Connection High School) |
| Go Unplugged: Coding Without Computers (For Kids!) | Cherie Anderson (Granite District Elementary Educational Technology Specialist), Celia Powell (Granite District Secondary Educational Technology Specialist) |
| Googlizing The Amazing Race | Kris Fox (STS, Elk Run El.), Joell Wilkins (STS, Farnsworth El. and Woodstock El.), and Jaime Woolley (STS, Taylorsville El.) |
| Incorporating Music and Movement in the Classroom with Go Noodle! | Krystal Plott (STS, Driggs El. and Wright El.) |
| K-3 Meets G Suite | Teresa Bruin (Granite District Elementary Educational Technology Specialist) and Heidi Meenen (Granite District Elementary Educational Technology Specialist) |
| La La Land Yourself into Digital Storytelling | Kristen Johnson (Granite District Elementary Educational Technology Specialist) |
| LEGO League Robot Games | Michelle Reed (LMETS, Jefferson Jr. High) |
| Maker Space: Mechanical Hands | Sarah Eyring (STS, Granite Technical Instute), Samantha Spangler Mitchell (STS, Academy Park El.), and Davina Sauthoff (LMETS, Wasatch Jr. High) |
| Motivating Upper Elementary Through Popular Culture: Providing the "Why" | Keith Reidford (STS, Hillside El. and South Kearns El.) |
| Orange Slice Rubric Creator | Jeremy Smith (Spanish Teacher, Taylorsville High) and Lorraine Wyness (LMETS, Taylorsville High) |
| Show What You Know - Creative Assessments in the Elementary Classroom | Maggie Tanner (STS, Redwood El.) and Kareena Steed Vance (STS, Mill Creek El. and Sandburg El.) |
| Sphero Olliempics | Alisha Kerby (STS, Roosevelt El.), Ashley Moore (STS, Lincoln El.), Karen Tinsley (STS, Stansbury El.) |
| Technology and Educational Equity | Chris Larsen (Director, Educational Technology) |
| The $10,000 mistake: Essential Steps Every Teacher Should Know | Dale Roberts (Director, Information Systems) |
| They want formative..Now What? | Misty Butterfield (STS, Beehive El. and Oquirrh Hills El.) and Melissa White (STS, Oakridge El. and Valley Crest El.) |
| Zubi Flyer - The World's First Interactive, Programmable Flying Toy! | Thomas Phipps (STS, Upland Terrace El. and West Kearns El.) |
Thank you to all who shared their ideas and expertise at the conference this year. We would also like to congratulate Chris Larsen, Director of Educational Technology, for being elected to a position on the UCET Board during the conference.
Photo from a BreakoutEDU session at UCET 2017 facilitated by Tricia Fenton and Sarah Robinson.
Photo from a BreakoutEDU session at UCET 2017 facilitated by Tricia Fenton and Sarah Robinson.
Teacher Spotlight: Jayanne Unander, Pleasant Green Elementary
Jayanne Unander is the school technology specialist at Pleasant Green Elementary. In this spotlight video we see her introducing Ozobots to students in the school’s coding club. For this activity students use tablet apps such as OzoGroove and OzoDraw to interact with the ozobots, learning fundamentals of computer coding in the process.
In addition to her work with students and teachers at Pleasant Green Elementary, Jayanne is also a developer and trainer in our district’s Educational Technology Endorsement Program.
Spotlight Creator: Kristen Johnson, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist
Teacher Spotlight: ETEP Teachers in Action
Adobe Spark video feature was used to capture some of the past ETEP teacher lesson activities. Adobe Spark allows you to login using your Google account, and create a Post, a Page, or a Video. Besides choosing a theme and music, students can also have the option to narrate their pictures. Share with a link or an embed code. It was a fun way to share student learning taking place in some amazing Granite School Education teacher’s classrooms.
Spotlight created by Kristen Johnson, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist
The Four Cs of 21st Century Learning
The Granite School District Educational Technology Department seeks to leverage the power of technology to support the “Four Cs” of 21st Century Learning: Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity. [Read more…] about The Four Cs of 21st Century Learning
Teacher Spotlight: Katie Ricks, Driggs Elementary
Hour of Code with Katie Ricks’s 3rd Grade Students
Katie Ricks, a 3rd grade teacher at Howard R, Driggs Elementary School, is one of many teachers participating in the Hour of Code throughout Granite School District. Most of the 3rd graders at her school have the opportunity to program while using Chromebooks. Programs such as Code.org, Tynker, and Khan Academy are some of the sites where Ms. Ricks’ students learn how to drag and drop programming commands. She says that the students are really excited about Hour of Code, and that she sees it as having great benefit for increasing problem-solving skills as well as an overall learning of basic programming.
Spotlight Author: Kristen Johnson, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist
Teacher Spotlight: Robin Farnsworth, Armstrong Academy
Mrs. Robin Farnsworth is a third grade teacher at Neil Armstrong Academy. This 2014 Excel Award winner is noted for ensuring that her students learn by doing and that they are each active participants in her classroom. Whether they are creating on an iPad, using their hands for exploration, connecting to the world by participating in a Global Read Aloud, blogging, doing a #MysterySkype, or another innovative learning opportunity, Mrs. Farnsworth uses a variety of ways to engage her students in learning. She also emphasizes innovation and world problem solving with her FIRST LEGO League (FLL) team that she coaches before school. FLL students have to build a robot and learn how to program it to perform various tasks for competition.
Outside the classroom, Mrs. Farnsworth is inspiring teachers to collaborate and share. She had the vision to bring Edcamp to Utah on October 11, 2014 at Armstrong Academy. Edcamp is a type of “unconference” designed to bring teachers together to talk about the things that matter most to them. With the help of Jared Covili of UCET, Mrs. Farnsworth’s vision was a success. Teachers who attended Edcamp Utah were able to discuss topics of interest, share their own knowledge, and leave with new knowledge and ideas for teaching.
If you are interested in learning more about Edcamp Utah you can go to www.ucet.org/edcamput. Also, watch Neil Armstrong’s principal, Tyler Howe, interview Robin Farnsworth about Edcamp Utah’s success:
Spotlight Author: Kristen Johnson, Granite District Educational Technology Specialist