PowerUp initiative empowering teacher to use new tools
Teachers from 11 high schools are attending Saturday training sessions to learn how to use web based tools with their students who soon will be receiving laptops as part of the district’s PowerUp initiative. After each training, teachers are asked to create mock lesson plans using the new resources. Some, including English teacher Sarah Campbell from the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy, are already incorporating the new tools into current classroom instruction.
“That very Saturday, I started using a program called turnitin.com with my students to submit final drafts of their personal narrative essays. The on-line platform removes the red pen shame that students often associate with teacher feedback. Now students can isolate an area of concern, improve it, and get immediate responses for their revisions. Of all the steps of the writing process, nothing can cripple a young author more than the experience of re-writing. With turnitin.com, teachers finally can provide a risk-free environment for creating, modifying, evaluating, and upgrading expressions of student ingenuity. It’s been a wonderful experience for me and my students”
Campbell is also using Edmodo in her classrooms. Her English students recently wrote about why they love the social media platform. You can read what they have to say here.
| Had a breakthrough in your classroom? Tell us about it! Just send an email to info@houstonisd.org briefly describing your situation, and we could feature it here. |
