The Lee H Bryant Outstanding New York State Teacher Award

 Beth Sullivan

4^th Grade Teacher

Binghamton Schools

Binghamton, NY

More than any teacher I have ever known, Beth Sullivan exemplifies the spirit of NYSCATE and works to promote its mission among her students and fellow teachers. I cannot imagine how a teacher could spread an enthusiasm for technology to more teachers, or could use technology to benefit more students than she has in the six years that I have had the honor of working with her. Beth is tireless and her imagination inexhaustible. With the limited resources in our school, she manages to connect teachers to resources that spark tired old lessons, and has connected students to other students halfway around the world!

Outstanding New York State Leader

Mathew Swerdloff

Director of Technology

Hendrick Hudson Schools

Montrose, NY

As an educational institution, the Hendrick Hudson School District has viewed computers and computer technology as a powerful tool for learning since the early 1980s. We believe that by infusing technology in our instructional design benefits students. Mathew Swerdloff has been instrumental in guiding this process wherein we not only have computers in our classrooms, but we are increasingly integrating educational technology skills and process learning with our content in all areas of the curriculum. While there were certainly teachers who were using technology before Mathew’s arrival in the district, Mathew has built an infrastructure that supports our efforts both technically, and pedagogically. As the level of technological background among staff members was as varied as the people themselves, presenting a daunting challenge to the full integration of technology in our instructional program.

2010 Grant Winners

Wendy Smith

Webster Schools

Rochester, NY

The I.D.E.A. (Inventing, Designing, Experimenting, & Art) Room

The I.D.E.A. (Inventing, Designing, Experimenting, & Art) Room provides elementary students with the unique opportunity to connect digital technologies with the physical world through expression involving creative arts using a constructionist approach to learning. It is through this active construction of making tangible objects that ”Children don't get ideas; they make ideas."(Kafai & Resnick, 1996) The I.D.E.A Room enables students, working as Jr. Engineers, to construct knowledge about physical science principles, while designing and building personally meaningful artifacts using craft materials, Lego & PicoCricket blocks, and Scratch & PicoBlocks computer programs. While PicoCricket kits are based on research from the MIT Media Lab, the I.D.E.A Room is a unique proposal utilizing these materials to bring engineering design combined with individual interests to our students helping to answer our nation's call to strengthen preparation to succeed in STEM subjects.

Lisa Brown & Sharon Fein

East Aurora UFSD

East Aurora, NY

Transforming Homework from Dreaded Chore to Exciting Interactive Play

The debate rages on over appropriate homework for students. Opinions range from “students should not have homework” to “more is better”.

We believe effective homework assignments:

*are directly tied to classroom instruction

*are motivating and enticing

*provide practice in benchmark skills

*provide immediate feedback

*encourage responsibility

*are a minimal interruption to family life

*are NOT busy work

Many interactive activities and games available on the web motivate students to work hard and practice benchmark skills. Replacing paper and pencil homework with these activities can be a powerful learning tool and make time spent on homework more effective.

Currently, because of the lack of equipment, (5 second grade teacher share one projector) we have limited ability to use interactive activities in lessons and almost no opportunity to have students use the same activities independently. Having an interactive white board and projector would allow us to build lessons around powerful interactive activities and assign the same or similar activity for homework. "Digital Playground” activities would replace most of the current paper and pencil homework assignments.

There are several added benefits to using the "Digital Playground” for homework:

*engages students in a virtual learning community and allows for positive feedback from classmates and other adults

*activities communicate to parents specific information about current curriculum

*communication is enhanced between parents and students about curricular topics

*digital homework is GREEN- using much less paper

*digital homework saves money by cutting down on copying costs

Marie Baker

NYC DOE

In Tech Academy

Brooklyn, NY

Skype and Flip: New Tools for Research.

Ninth and tenth grade students will use a digital communication tool, Skype, as a means of supplementing and enhancing their current research project, “My Future Career”. Students will utilize e-books (reference and non reference), create a multi-media project (PowerPoint and Flip) and will communicate other students in the United States/World through Skype. Teachers will advertise this project globally using online resources such as EPals, CILC.org, and Collaborations Around the Planet (CAP).

Patricia McKane

Minisink CSD

Slate Hill, NY

Science Probe Updates

This project will support the NYSCATE mission to lead the transformation of teaching and learning through technology by utilizing sensor probes to collect data about motion, light, heat, pressure, magnets, ph balance, air moisture, air pressure and force on the computer. Students will be able to analyze this data to make predictions and ultimately conclusions about it too. Minisink Middle School’s Science department presently has an inventory of sensor probes from Vernier but they are of an outdated technology, 5 pin serial. Our goal is to obtain the needed adaptors to transform this older technology into technology that can be utilized today. The Middle School also does not have motion detector sensors from the old inventory so this would be a beneficial addition to our sensor equipment since motion is part of our curriculum. The LabQuest hand held device we would like to order has many features that make data collection easy such as a built in microphone for voice annotation and USB interface to connect to a computer. The LabQuest has built in stopwatch, periodic table, on-screen keyboard and stylus, scientific calculator, and an audio function generator. There are 66 compatible sensors we could add to our collection in the future so expanding the classroom ideas would be possible. The lab organizer feature will provide over 400 experiments to download.

Susan Guerrette

Wappingers Schools

Wappingers Falls, NY

What’s Happening Van Wyck

What’s Happening Van Wyck? is a inter-disciplinary project to involve the whole school community in creating a way for students to use technology along with career and critical thinking skills to publish their work for an authentic “outside the classroom walls” audience. The computer applications class will be the program directors and will initiate contact for topics such as, current events and school news items, weather reports, critiques of movies/ music/books, etc. Classes, clubs and activities will be recruited to participate to create presentations for viewing. Students will record the programs with a video camera then download and edit the video so that it can be available to be played in classrooms, from a link on the school website and even in the cafeteria during lunch periods. 

Mary Ann Karre & Beth Sullivan

Binghamton Schools

Binghamton, NY

SMART and Smarter!

With the help of SMART Technologies, we enabled 25 fourth graders to create digital portfolios using SMART Notebook SE. At the 2009 NYSCATE Conference, we spoke with SMART Technologies representatives, and convinced them to send us a set of 30 SMART SE bracelets, with which we began the SMART Portfolios Project. Our objectives were to enable students to set and monitor personal educational goals, then to report their progress in portfolio form. As a bonus, the students also learned to create lessons with SMART Notebook, and then taught other classes. The project was a resounding success! I know. We already HAVE the project in place, so why do we need a grant, right? The answer is that this project NEEDS to be expanded to other classrooms! The students in our original group are advancing to 5^th grade, and they need to continue setting goals and monitoring progress so that they can continue to direct their own learning. We believe that students who set personal goals and self-monitor, through the creation of projects and portfolio entries, will become more successful adult learners. However, we need to monitor one more year to determine if this type of learning and reporting will indeed change their approach to learning and enable all students to realize success. Meanwhile, Beth Sullivan's incoming students would “inherit” the SMART bracelets from the previous class, with advice and words of encouragement for the new bracelet users on each USB device. Beth will use what she has learned from this year's project to begin a new SMART Portfolio Project with the incoming students.

Nicole Nicosia

Canastota CSD

Canastota, NY

Reading on the Go: Developing Better Readers in the Digital Age

Research continues to assert the importance of reading aloud to preliterate students to enable them to decode ad comprehend text more easily. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Becoming a Nation of Readers, “the single most important activity for building knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.” The study shows that listening comprehension is a stepping stone to eventual success in reading alone. Students often require a text to be read to them as part of their Individual Education Plan (IEP) or prefer to listen to a text to increase their comprehension. Having wider access to MP-3 audio versions of texts will allow students to be more independent readers rather than relying on another individual to read aloud to them. Having more independence will motivate students to have more confidence and control over their own reading and learning.

NYSCATE Grant & Awards Program

NYSCATE awards Grants each year for Outstanding Projects proposed by NYSCATE members. These grants, of up to $2,000 each, are awarded to teachers with a project that meets NYSCATE's mission of transforming education through the use of technology.

NYSCATE also honors Outstanding Educational Technology Leaders & Outstanding Teachers. These competitive awards are given to those school leaders & teachers who show leadership and vision in implementing technology in their school or district. To nominate someone, you must be a NYSCATE member.