Category Archives: PowerUp

HISD Graduate Comes Full Circle to Train Teachers on PowerUp Laptops

Elvira Salazar

Cramming a towel under her bedroom door to hide the light, Elvira Salazar defied her father’s orders and studied late into the night to keep up with her high-school homework. Now a dedicated PowerUp instructional technology specialist with HISD, Salazar understands how giving every HISD high school student a laptop for both home and school use will help them to work more effectively and efficiently, not only in the classroom, but after school as well.

“This is going to transform how teachers teach and how students learn,” Salazar said. “I want to help integrate technology into their lesson plans to make sure that these laptops are an effective learning tool.” Salazar left teaching in another district and writing curriculum for Rice University to work with HISD teachers on the digital transformation currently underway.

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Teachers Going Digital During Saturday Sessions

High school teachers from throughout the district are spending their Saturdays and early-release training days learning how to integrate web tools and digital content into their daily classroom instruction. The training is part of PowerUp, a districtwide program that is giving students their own laptops to use at school and at home. HISD’s Professional Development and Instructional Technology Departments are co-hosting the training sessions, which are designed to give teachers hands-on instruction and guidance on how to use technology to make their lessons more engaging and student centered.

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PowerUp Parent Meetings Begin at Three Schools

Hundreds of HISD parents came out to the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy on October 3 to learn more about digital citizenship and the district’s one-to-one laptop initiative. YWCPA is one of 11 HISD schools where students will be given laptops to use at home and at school as part of the PowerUp initiative.

“I really think is a great idea,” said YWCPA parent Charlotte Goins, who attended the meeting with her teenage daughter. “Students today need certain skills to succeed in the work force, and by using computers they can develop and sharpen these skills.”

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HISD Opens School Year with New Campuses, New Programs, Thousands of New Students

Texas’ largest school district will open the 2013-2014 academic year on Monday with two new neighborhood school buildings, two new specialty magnet schools, and thousands of new students.

HISD Superintendent Terry Grier and members of the HISD Board of Education will visit with students, parents, teachers and principals at two campuses to personally welcome them to back to school on Monday, Aug. 26.

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Teachers Being Trained in Preparation for Students Receiving Their Own Laptops in January

Teachers at Austin HS received their laptops on Aug. 13

After 33 years with the district, 65-year-old HISD Secondary Curriculum Manager Angela Miller had every intention of retiring at the end of the 2013 school year. That was until she was tapped this past spring to serve on a committee charged with implementing the district’s PowerUp initiative.

“This program is so exciting in terms of what it’s going to do for students and teachers that I knew I couldn’t leave,” said Miller. “I had to stick around and be a part of this.”

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HISD Teachers Signing Up For Edmodo in Record Numbers

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/68313624/ w=320&h=205]

PowerUp schools and Rigor Institute using social learning platform to connect during training

Dubbed the “Facebook of education,” Edmodo now has more than 21 million members globally, and some 3,400 of them are HISD teachers enrolled in the HISD Summer Rigor Institute. Edmodo is also being used as an integral part of the PowerUp training at 11 high schools across the district that are receiving laptops for all of their students in January. Subjects being discussed in the Rigor Institute this week include how to enforce a wait time in the classroom after a question is asked, how to access students’ prior knowledge skills, and how to effectively use student data.

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HISD Begins Distributing Laptops as Part of PowerUp Initiative

The Houston Independent School District began distributing laptops to teachers at 11 high schools this week as part of phase one of the PowerUp initiative, and the district held a press conference to celebrate the roll-out at Austin High School on Aug. 13.

“We all know how kids learn today,” said Superintendent of Schools Terry B. Grier at the event. “Even some adults are learning differently. If we want it to work, instruction has to be rigorous, relevant, and engaging, so we have to modify how we teach and what we teach to meet their styles.”

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Photos: Teachers at PowerUp Schools Receive Laptops

Teachers at schools participating in the pilot stage of the PowerUp program, a districtwide initiative to transform how teachers teach and students learn through technology, are receiving their laptops this week.

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HISD Distributes Laptops to Teachers as Part of District’s New PowerUp Initiative

Eleven high schools to participate in pilot stage of program

The Houston Independent School District will kick off its pilot stage of the PowerUp program, a districtwide initiative to transform how teachers teach and students learn through technology, by delivering laptops to teachers at 11 campuses across Houston.  A press conference will be held on Tuesday, August 13 at 10 a.m. at Austin High School, 1700 Humble.

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Customer Service Reps and Rooms Being Readied to Support Laptop Initiative

While the latest and greatest technology can often make our lives easier and save us time, nothing is quite so frustrating as when a digital device doesn’t do what we want it to. That’s why HISD is making sure that its new one-to-one laptop initiative called “PowerUp” has a robust system in place to support participating staff and students.

HISD’s Information Technology Department has spent the summer months locating and preparing special customer-service rooms at each of the 11 pilot schools involved in the launch of PowerUp this coming school year. All the rooms are in the process of being renovated and upgraded with new cabling and equipment.

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