Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Blended Bulletin, Issue 24

Blended Brags

Where to start? So much to brag about!

First and foremost, Chromebooks are finally in our classrooms and in the hands of our students. Carts are being used at Bulkeley Lower and at JMA, and over 260 11-12 graders at Bulkeley Upper now have devices to take home.

Chromebook Kickoff
On Saturday, March 12, from 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, just under 200 students and family members came to Bulkeley High School for the first ever Chromebook Kickoff. Students and families first learned about Chromebook care and HPS policies in two brief presentations, given in both English and Spanish. After passing through these stations and signing some paperwork, the students received their devices. A big thank you to Stacey Rosado, Diana Gonzalez, Myrna Rivera, Billy Conroy, Kevin Clemens, Diane Anthony, Yolanda Baez, Gayle Allen-Greene, and Kim Childress for making everything run smoothly for all 10 hours! A special thank you to the student volunteers from Bulkeley's National Honor Society for guiding families around in the school and helping with childcare, as well as the Women's League for providing childcare.


ThinkCERCA Training

Last Thursday, English, social studies, and science teachers at Bulkeley and JMA all received the first round of training to use ThinkCERCA as integrated digital content in their blended classrooms. The teachers were excited by what they learned and know that it will have an impact on student literacy. Steve from ThinkCERCA was energetic and responsive to the needs of the teachers, and I know I don't just speak for myself when I say that I can't wait to see this software in action!


Social Studies Site Visit

Last Friday, Kevin Clemens, Justin Taylor, and Janice Milroy travelled to Maloney High School in Meriden to see examples of station rotation models in social studies classrooms. The group walked away with some important insights and spent the afternoon drafting or revisiting their instructional designs. Below is Kevin's unique design where instead of thinking about classes day-by-day, he designed around the principal learning objective of certain class periods. 




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