How Technology Brings Learning to Life
Earlier this week, Ellis welcomed more than 40 grandparents for a lively conversation with Dr. Lisa Abel-Palmieri about the ways our faculty and girls are using technology in new ways at our School.
As Dr. Palmieri explained, technology at Ellis does not replace face-to-face discussion and dialogue, but rather enhances it. Technology is utilized to provide differentiated instruction, such as diagrams or videos for visual learners. Other teachers provide lectures via video so valuable classroom time may be dedicated to solving problems, asking questions, and working collaboratively on projects.
Grandparents were fascinated to hear how Dr. Vicky Jordan, the School’s highly respected Latin teacher, created a social media site on Ning.com where Ellis girls assumed identities of historical figures such as Cleopatra and Julius Cesar and wrote daily “diary” postings—sometimes upwards of 100 per day—about their lives. Pre-K instructor Lori Zorn uses the program Animoto to make animated slide shows of still images of her students. Fourth grade teachers Jessica Nolan and Patrick Fagersten use wikis, which are collaborative web sites, to encourage girls to practice using spelling and vocabulary words in sentences, and to view and discuss one another’s online commentary.
Dr. Palmieri explained that US history teacher Rick Malmstrom’s class has engaged in a Skype video conferencing relationship with a girls’ school in Uganda. Together girls from Ellis and from Iganga Secondary School engaged in a collaborative research project comparing our three rivers with Lake Victoria. We also saw how 8th grade teacher Michelle Rust’s class uses Google Map technology to annotate and share maps of important historic sites and political regions.
Research shows that girls benefit strongly from learning environments that support collaboration and provide context and personal meaning. Social media, wikis, and annotated maps provide that context and collaboration in ways that excite girls and prepare them for college and careers where problem solving and team work are highly valued.
Dr. Palmieri also showed how Ellis faculty like chemistry teacher Martina Pavelko are using “pencasts” to support and reinforce classroom learning. Pencasts allow teachers to use a special high-tech pen to record written notes and verbal comments that are then uploaded to Ellis’s learning management website, Haiku, where Middle and Upper School teachers post syllabi, assignments and labs electronically. Students watch the pencast again later to make sure they heard and understood the teacher correctly.
Dr. Palmieri also explained how Ellis, as a member of the Online School for Girls, provides Upper School girls with access to classes not currently available here at Ellis, such as genetics, Japanese and AP psychology. Online learning is becoming more important particularly at the college level. By providing girls with access to online classes, we prepare them for a future where web-based learning is the norm rather than the exception.
Together, these learning technologies are helping our girls gain deeper understanding. They are strategies for encouraging students to take risks, cooperate, contribute, and participate in a global conversation where they are full participants in learning, not passive recipients of lectures.
Grandparents in the audience loved seeing how these technologies are giving girls greater ownership in developing content and mentoring others in class.
“This is exciting,” said one grandmother. “I can see how much these girls have to teach us.”
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Grandparents were fascinated to hear how Dr. Vicky Jordan, the School’s highly respected Latin teacher, created a social media site on Ning.com where Ellis girls assumed identities of historical figures such as Cleopatra and Julius Cesar and wrote daily “diary” postings—sometimes upwards of 100 per day—about their lives. Pre-K instructor Lori Zorn uses the program Animoto to make animated slide shows of still images of her students. Fourth grade teachers Jessica Nolan and Patrick Fagersten use wikis, which are collaborative web sites, to encourage girls to practice using spelling and vocabulary words in sentences, and to view and discuss one another’s online commentary.
Dr. Palmieri explained that US history teacher Rick Malmstrom’s class has engaged in a Skype video conferencing relationship with a girls’ school in Uganda. Together girls from Ellis and from Iganga Secondary School engaged in a collaborative research project comparing our three rivers with Lake Victoria. We also saw how 8th grade teacher Michelle Rust’s class uses Google Map technology to annotate and share maps of important historic sites and political regions.
Research shows that girls benefit strongly from learning environments that support collaboration and provide context and personal meaning. Social media, wikis, and annotated maps provide that context and collaboration in ways that excite girls and prepare them for college and careers where problem solving and team work are highly valued.
Dr. Palmieri also showed how Ellis faculty like chemistry teacher Martina Pavelko are using “pencasts” to support and reinforce classroom learning. Pencasts allow teachers to use a special high-tech pen to record written notes and verbal comments that are then uploaded to Ellis’s learning management website, Haiku, where Middle and Upper School teachers post syllabi, assignments and labs electronically. Students watch the pencast again later to make sure they heard and understood the teacher correctly.
Dr. Palmieri also explained how Ellis, as a member of the Online School for Girls, provides Upper School girls with access to classes not currently available here at Ellis, such as genetics, Japanese and AP psychology. Online learning is becoming more important particularly at the college level. By providing girls with access to online classes, we prepare them for a future where web-based learning is the norm rather than the exception.
Together, these learning technologies are helping our girls gain deeper understanding. They are strategies for encouraging students to take risks, cooperate, contribute, and participate in a global conversation where they are full participants in learning, not passive recipients of lectures.
Grandparents in the audience loved seeing how these technologies are giving girls greater ownership in developing content and mentoring others in class.
“This is exciting,” said one grandmother. “I can see how much these girls have to teach us.”
Envision Her at Ellis
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