Tag Archives: powerup

PowerUp Schools Learning Best Practices From Mooresville, N.C.

HISD principals and administrators from the 11 high schools involved in the district’s PowerUp initiative now have a better understanding of what effective digital instruction looks like, thanks to a recent trip to Mooresville, N.C. The Mooresville Graded School District has had a one-to-one program in place for six years and is partnering with HISD to offer guidance and best practices as the district prepares to distribute more than 18,000 laptops to students next month.

In mid-November, PowerUp principals along with members of HISD’s High Schools Office, the Curriculum, and Professional Support and Development departments, spent several days inside Mooresville secondary classrooms observing teaching and learning using computers and digital technology. Principal Delesa Odell Thomas from the Young Women’s College Preparatory Academy found the trip was eye-opening.

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Teachers Getting a Jump Start on Using Digital Tools

Teachers at the schools involved in the district’s one-to-one initiative aren’t waiting until January, when nearly 18,000 students will be assigned their own laptops, to start using digital resources in their classrooms. Instead, many teachers at the 11 pilot schools in PowerUp are already integrating web 2.0 tools they have been learning at recent training sessions.

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HISD Announces Second Phase of One-to-One Laptop Initiative

HISD has selected the 18 high schools whose students will be receiving laptop computers in the 2014-2015 school year in the second phase of PowerUp, the district’s one-to-one digital transformation initiative.

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Thousands of Families Turn Out For PowerUp Parent Nights

HISD parent Cecil Perry is thrilled that her daughter, Tamara, will soon have her own laptop to use while attending classes at Madison High School and at home. “She is going to need computer skills in order to be successful after high school when she goes on to college and eventually gets a job,” said Perry. “Hopefully she will teach me a thing or two along the way.”

Perry is one of several thousand parents who have turned out for PowerUp meetings over recent weeks to learn more about the districtwide one-to-one initiative that will eventually provide a laptop for every high school student at HISD. As part of phase one of PowerUp, nearly 18,000 students will receive laptops this coming January; but before they do, HISD wants to ensure that both they and their parents understand the responsible use of technology, good digital citizenship, and Internet safety.

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PowerUp Curriculum To Empower Teachers To Use Technology

As HISD prepares to distribute laptops to nearly 17,000 high school students this coming January, the district’s Curriculum Department is preparing an expanded and enhanced set of planning documents to assist teachers at the 11 campuses in PowerUp. PowerUp is the district’s one-to-one initiative that will eventually provide all students a laptop.

“PowerUp is about more than just giving kids computers that they can use in the classroom and at home,” said HISD Secondary Curriculum Director Mike Dorsey. “This is about changing the culture of teaching and learning at HISD by digitizing the classroom and by giving our teachers and students the tools they need.”

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Students Learn Impact of Digital Footprint

Students at Young Men’s College Preparatory Academy received their laptops in mid-October

In today’s world of cell-phone texts, social media posts, and online videos, what a student says or does in the digital world may come back to haunt them in the future. That’s just one of the lessons students are learning during a special PowerUp digital citizenship class happening at all 11 high schools participating in the district’s one-to-one laptop initiative.

“Today’s world is full of technology, and it’s important that students know about good ethics and what is proper and improper behavior when using technology,” said HISD junior Charlie Barrio, who recently attended the class with his peers at Sam Houston Math, Science & Technology Center.

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Students at Three PowerUp Schools Receive Laptops

A thundering round of applause broke out at the Energy Institute High School this past week as nearly 200 students received their own laptops to use at school and at home as part of PowerUp, the district’s one-to-one laptop initiative.

‘’It was really touching and emotional for me to see these students get so excited as they were handed their computers,” said Instructional Technology Senior Manager Beatriz Arnillas. “This program is really going to change our students’ lives and prepare them for a successful future.”

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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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