2024VSTE Annual Conference

In this session, we will explore the world of Makey Makeys and discover how to transform everyday objects into tools for student creation. Learn how to create interactive books, various types of controllers using balls and hula hoops, and much more. With Makey Makeys, all student can explore and learn with greater independence. This technology empowers users to actively participate in activities, making access possible for all and turning the impossible into reality.

This session will highlight a success collaboration between the Instructional Technology Coach, the first grade Ell specialist and their students at Randolph ES. Our students show tremendous growth at the end of the school year. We realized we were onto something and wanted to share our joy for teaching and learning with other educators.

Discover how to foster a school-wide culture of innovation and the 6Cs through student-led events. Join the journey of an ILC and a teacher who collaborated to empower 7th and 8th grade students to plan, organize, and execute school-wide events. These events focused on teaching their peers through challenge-based stations.

In today's digital age, teaching digital citizenship is essential for students to navigate the online world responsibly and safely. This proposal outlines a comprehensive, engaging, and practical approach to teaching K-5 students digital citizenship through real-world scenarios. The session will focus on fostering positive online behavior, understanding digital footprints, maintaining authenticity, balancing screen time, and protecting privacy. We will equip educators (coaches, admin, ITS) with practical strategies to teach digital citizenship. The proposed activities and lessons enable students to reflect on their online actions and their consequences. Our goal is to cultivate a positive online presence for young students, ensuring that their digital footprints remain positive as they continue their journey in life.

Dive in deep into how an action research model can leverage your student's screen use to tell compelling and place-based stories about how our devices are impacting our health. Three years, ago, we presented at VSTE about how we were leveraging a shift from Digital Citizenship to Digital Health and Wellness while we connected powerful data (screen use metrics, grades, varsity letters, behavioral data and more) to show students how their screen use was impacting themselves and their community. We found that this model was significantly better received in the secondary grades where digital citizenship lessons weren't quite hitting the mark. Now, our data set is three years larger and a powerful conversation starter. Check back in with us to talk about what we've loved, what we'd do differently, what we're doing to inform policy and parent outreach, and how you might integrate this at your school.