NYS Ed Tech Innovators
June 2019
Dear Colleagues, 

Welcome to the latest edition of The Office of Educational Design and Technology's NYS Ed Tech Innovators. We continue to receive positive feedback on this newsletter, and want to be sure to spread the word that other NYSED Offices send out their own newsletters highlighting their work. You can  find a listing of office newsletters with links to subscribe here . If you have a school-age child, you may be interested in receiving Commissioner MaryEllen Elia's  bi-weekly letter to parents , which breaks down the most recent news and initiatives from NYSED to help make the information accessible to parents. NYSED is continuously posting up-to-date information on various social media channels. If you are on LinkedIn,  connect with the New York State Education Department  to see multiple updates every day. In addition, you can connect with NYSED on Twitter ( @NYSEDNews ) and Facebook ( @NYStateEd ).
 
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires that all state and local agencies receiving Title I funding provide the public with an annual report card evaluating school performance and progress. To that end, NYSED is designing a Parent Dashboard to meet these requirements in a way that is informative and user-friendly for parents and the public. To raise awareness of the Parent Dashboard and to gather feedback, NYSED has compiled a Meeting in a Box that provides resources for school leaders to share with parents in an in-person meeting.
 
This edition of NYS Ed Tech Innovators contains the following articles:
  • Creators' Cove, Sloatsburg Elementary School's version of a makerspace, allows teachers to enhance unit lessons, like engineering, robotics, and electricity, by implementing a creative component where students can expand on concepts they learn in class through imagination and innovation. 
  • The robotics class at Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District competed in a regional, qualifying tournament for "Turning Point," the VEX Robotics game where several teams attempted to score as many points with their robots as possible. Students collaborated with each other and took on different roles. During this challenge, participating students had the chance to develop new STEM skills and became comfortable working with a team.
  • Amherst Middle School in Buffalo, NY expands its physics classroom experience by incorporating hands-on robotics into their classroom learning. The lesson incorporates  individual work, practice, revision, problem solving, discussion, and group work, allowing for accommodation of various learning styles and opportunities for audio, visual, and tactile learning.
CoveCreators' Cove: The Evolution of a Makerspace Mindset
Sloatsburg Elementary School
 
Sloatsburg Elementary took thoughtful action to establish a makerspace mindset, in which the skills of collaboration, creativity and critical thinking have been integrated within varying units of study. Sloatsburg Elementary is a Title I community public school, based within the village of Sloatsburg, New York (a suburban/rural region), serving approximately 215 students in Kindergarten through Grade 5. 

 
Learn more about Creators' Cove.
VEXVEX Robotics Team Competes in its First Regional Competition
Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District

Earlier this year, nine students from Mr. Doty's VEX robotics class went to Cuba Rushford High School to compete in the regional qualifying tournament for the VEX Robotics game, "Turning Point." There were 15 teams from the region and Cattaraugus-Little Valley Central School District (CLV) fielded two teams, one with four students, the other with five students. This was the first year that CLV had a VEX robotics team, and the first year the Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES hosted a tournament in their region. Some students focused on computer programming and others focused on mechanics or engineering.

Interdisciplinary Computer Science and Physics Lessons  Amherst
Amherst Middle School 

Located outside of Buffalo, Amherst Central School District is a suburban district with an enrollment of 2,888 students housed at two elementary schools for PreK to Grade 5, one middle school for Grades 6-8 and one high school. In one of these middle school classrooms, the cars, ramps and marbles that had been traditionally used to teach a velocity physics lesson have been packed away. Instead, a robust two-day interdisciplinary lesson in the seventh-grade physics unit had students coding Ozobot mini-robots on three different speed "maps" to gather, calculate, plot and analyze velocity data.
 
We are actively and continually accepting articles for future newsletters. Articles can be submitted to  edtech@nysed.gov at any time. Please see  Guidance for Newsletter Articles for more information.

Questions regarding  NYS Ed Tech Innovators may be directed to the Office of Educational Design & Technology, at 518-474-5461, or  edtech@nysed.gov.


The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the New York State Board of Regents, the New York State Education Department or its staff.

NYSED does not endorse or promote any products, services, or websites mentioned in these articles.
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