Addthis

NETS*T Showcase

What is NETS*T?

  • NETS*T Certification is an internationally recognized certification program that engages teachers in a deeply reflective, intensive process to determine if their instructional technology practices meet the standards set forth by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).
  • This certification program offered by ACPS is a hybrid course using both face-to-face meetings and online communications to assist teachers through the rigorous submission of 20 teaching artifacts and reflections.
  • Teachers who complete the process and become certified earn 90 recertification points and three graduate credits from James Madison University. They are also given a choice of pre-selected technology tools for ACPS instructional use. For example, an iPad, three iPod Touches, six digital voice recorders, or an installed short-throw LCD projector.
  • This opportunity is for self-directed learners, confident in their use of technology, who are eager to measure their use of technology in the classroom against an international standard.

Congratulations to ACPS NETS*T Certified Teachers:

  • Rebecca Anderson, Second Grade Teacher, Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School
  • Christina Bohringer, First Grade Teacher, Samuel W. Tucker Elementary School
  • Lisa Coughlin, Earth Science Teacher, T.C. Williams High School
  • Jacqueline Cunningham, Second Grade Teacher, Patrick Henry Elementary School
  • Ginny Doherty, English Language Learner (ELL) Teacher, William Ramsay Elementary School
  • Nancy Hernandez, Language Arts Teacher, Francis C. Hammond 1 Middle School
  • Brian Hewlett, Technology Integration Specialist
  • Erin Joy, First Grade Teacher, James K. Polk Elementary School
  • Tanja Mayer-Harding, German Teacher, T.C. Williams High School
  • Hilary Shinn, Kindergarten Teacher, Patrick Henry Elementary School
  • Cheryl Stanley, Technology Integration Specialist
  • Nicole Wagner, Kindergarten Teacher, Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology

NETS*T Certified Teachers were honored at the May 26, 2011 School Board Meeting (left to right): Yvonne Folkerts (School Board), Erin Joy, Tanja Mayer-Harding, Brian Hewlett, Nicole Wagner, Hilary Shinn, Ginny Doherty, Kyle Dunbar, Mike DiSalvo, Morton Sherman (Superintendent)

Description of NETS*T Certification Projects

While teachers must submit numerous lesson plans and student artifacts, here a few highlights of what they submitted for their digital portfolio.

Rebecca Anderson and Christina Bohringer brought their first and second grade classes together for a special project in which students used a graphic organizer software program called Kidspiration to demonstrate how their families were similar and different. This cross-disciplinary, multi-age project offered opportunities for communication and collaboration within a diverse group of students while using a unique technology. This technology allowed students with a wide variety of linguistic abilities to represent their ideas with images and words.
View examples of the students' work (PDF).

Lisa Coughlin: In Lisa's Astronomy class, she had students design their own lab about craters. Given limited guidelines, groups of students identified their own independent variable, dependent variable, constants, and list of materials for their experiment. Not only did students need to use Excel and Word to complete this assignment, but they built collaborative and problem-solving skills as well.
View an example of a graded student lab (PDF).

Jacqueline Cunningham: Symmetry is a tough concept to teach to second graders but in Jackie's class they mastered the concept by manipulating virtual images using an interactive website called the Illuminations Shape Tool. Jackie notes that in the past having students draw symmetrical shapes took a long time and students often created reflections of shapes instead of symmetrical shapes. With the online tool, students gained greater insight into the nature of symmetry and observed that the more complex you make a shape, the harder it is to find symmetry.

Ginny Doherty: As an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher, Ginny used multiple technologies such as VoiceThread, PhotoStory3, and hand-held digital voice recorders to have her students compose, rehearse, revise, and publish oral presentations. Ginny used her students' work as formative assessment to track the progress of the English Language Learners she teaches. She also shared her students' work with their parents by giving them a DVD of their child's oral presentations during conference times.
View the student project.

Nancy Hernandez: In addition to using blogs, wikis and discussion boards to enhance critical thinking skills in her seventh grade Language Arts classroom, Nancy inspired a group of students, the Media Team, to create a FCH1 online school magazine. Nancy allowed the students to set the direction for the magazine, giving them the freedom to decide on content and format, thereby building their communication and collaboration skills as well as their creative talents.
Visit the online Jigsaw Magazine.

Brian Hewlett: Brian worked with rising sixth grade students to create videos that taught other students about Francis C. Hammond Middle School policies. Not only did students have a chance to gain a deeper understanding of policies and procedures at their new school, they learned valuable video production skills as well.

Erin Joy: Students created digital stories "proving" it was spring. Students used a digital camera to take pictures. Students then inserted those pictures into an original digital story using text and voice to demonstrate evidence that is was spring.
View the student project.

Tanja Mayer-Harding: Tanja tried an experiment with her German language learners. During one review lesson she let students use iPods while they completed assignments. She found that students were more focused on their work and asked more content-related questions while they worked.

Hilary Shinn: Hilary took her kindergarten students on a virtual field trip to Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Students were able to watch Thanksgiving presentations by re-enactors at Plimoth Plantation, a location too far to travel to from their own classroom.

Cheryl Stanley: Cheryl collaborated with a George Washington 1 eighth grade science teacher for a series of lessons in which students created online, animated cartoons about the organization of elements in the Periodic Table. Students were able to demonstrate their content knowledge while designing amusing, engaging cartoons.

Nicole Wagner: Nicole was able to collaborate with classroom teachers to have second grade students research different kinds of charts and graphs using online resources. Students then created original charts and graphs using SMART Notebook presentation software.
View the student project (PDF).