ITTIP Monthly Newsletter
June 2015
Monthly Megabite Longwood’s ITTIP Leadership
Above: Dr. Manorama Talaiver, ITTIP Director 2005 - 2015.
As many of you know, Dr. Manorama Talaiver, Longwood University’s Institute for Teaching through Technology and Innovative Practices Director, will be retiring at the end of June. She has dedicated many waking hours (and some of our sleeping hours) to the success of Longwood’s ITTIP in her ten years as director. The Institute will surely miss many things about her and her leadership, but look forward to hearing about her new chapter which is sure to include spending time with her children and grandchildren, traveling, educational outreach, and mission work in the developing world.
With Dr. Talaiver’s retirement quickly approaching, ITTIP will be starting a new chapter with Dr. Paula Klonowski Leach as the Director of ITTIP. Dr. Leach has been with ITTIP since 2011 as a STEM Learning Specialist and has worked closely with Dr. Talaiver in securing grant funds and providing professional development opportunities for teachers. We are sad to see Dr. Talaiver retiring, but know that ITTIP will continue to flourish under the expertise and leadership of Dr. Leach.
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Up-Coming Events June 22nd - Flying with Finch, Longwood University 23rd
June 28th - ISTE, Philadelphia, PA July 1st
What to find in this month’s Megabite: Page 1 ITTIP Director Page 2 Staff Award Page 3 IMPRES Page 3 PI STEM Summit
ITTIP Monthly Newsletter
June 2015
Dr. Talaiver Receives Award of Excellence from Longwood University Longwood University is in its third year of celebrating staff members' contributions for outstanding service. Awardees are nominated by their peers in one of the following categories; Award of Excellence, Distinguished Contribution, and Outstanding Service, and recognized at an annual ceremony at the end of the school year. This year, Longwood’s ITTIP office was delighted to have two staff members nominated for an Award of Excellence: Susan Throckmorton & Mano Talaiver. The award seeks to recognize someone that demonstrates commitment to excellence in the workplace through perpetual personal and professional development, competency, and service supporting the University’s vision. It also wants to be sure to recognize a staff member’s willingness to go above and beyond job responsibilities to serve the greater University. The ITTIP office staff went to the award’s ceremony in mid-May, only to learn that day that Dr. Talaiver received the Award of Excellence with several peer nominations. The award was presented to her by Longwood’s President Reveley. Although we are very proud of Dr. Talaiver and her recognized accomplishments in excellence by the University, we are just as proud to have had Susan Throckmorton nominated for her own excellences as well.
Above: Longwood’s President Reveley presents Dr. Talaiver with her Award of Excellence.
Makey Makey GO ITTIP takes Technology Around the World Many of you have heard of Makey Makey, a preprogrammed microcontroller that works by connecting it with even slightly conductive objects such as a banana, apple, or person. Although the designers have come up with some unique ways to use Makey Makey, so have educators. In fact, we have been able to observe many of ITTIP professional development participants using them in their classrooms. Since it has been such an inexpensive hit, the designers and developers of the Makey Makey decided to come out with another Makey Makey tool, this one is called Makey Makey GO. The Makey Makey GO is very similar to the original Makey Makey, however, it is directly connected to the your device with a USB and of much smaller size. It’s even small enough to fit on a keychain or bracelet. The Makey Makey GO will be funded in July of this year, as it began as a Kickstarter with the goal of receiving $10,000 in pledge money. Currently the project has been supported by over 2,400 supporters in the amount of almost $120,000. They currently plan on delivering the first Makey Makey GOs in November 2015.
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ITTIP Monthly Newsletter
June 2015
ITTIP Receives MSP Grant Award Innovative Mathematics Partnership for Rural Elementary Schools (IMPRES) was funded by the Virginia Department of Education’s Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) grant in May. IMPRES is a collaborative partnership between Longwood University’s ITTIP, Virginia State University (VSU), Brunswick, and Sussex County school divisions. IMPRES is comprised of four main components. 1) One-week workshop during the summer focused-on mathematics content strand; 2) Intensive follow-up during the school year with math coaches at the school sites; 3) Online learning community across the schools for peer feedback and collaboration; and 4) One-day follow-up Saturday session in the spring. Twenty-four grades K-5 teachers will meet beginning in August at VSU for content-driven mathematics professional development. It is anticipated that this project will be funded for three consecutive years and reach the majority of the partnering school divisions' elementary mathematics teachers. Each year will focus on a different content strand of the Mathematics SOL. Year one will be Computation and Estimation, year two is Measurement and Evaluation, and year three is Probability, Statistics, Patterns, Functions, & Algebra. Teachers will be supported in their divisions with classroom support from math coaches and math leadership teams at their schools. In addition to the focus on teacher professional development, IMPRES will also offer a principal workshop for 20 participants that will be conducted for K-5 principals in Sussex and Brunswick, and open to all Region 8 elementary principals. ITTIP staff looks forward to their role in making this experience successful.
Longwood’s ITTIP Celebrates PISTEM Saturday, May 16th, Problem-based Interdisciplinary STEM Learning (PISTEM) participants gathered to celebrate and share their accomplishments, as well as their challenges in implementing Hummingbird Robotic kits into the classroom. A number of participants also shared student testimonies, writing samples, videos, images, and more! The conversations that were shared throughout the day, proved to be worthwhile experiences for both the teachers and the students involved in this project. For many collaborative groups, this was even whole entire grade levels.
Above: Pittsylvania’s teachers brought a student example of a Hummingbird project.
ITTIP staff is currently recruiting for PISTEM II to be held in June (25 & 26) and July (15, 16, & 17) of this year, in anticipating of receiving grant funding from the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV). Eligible participants include teachers from grade 5-8 in Charles City, Chesterfield, Franklin City, Goochland, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Patrick, and York. If eligible and interesting in learning more, please call the ITTIP office: 434-517-0717
Grant recipients will be notified in mid-June. Above: Colonial Height’s teachers preITTIP office will then let registered participants know as soon as they find sent their PISTEM integrated lesson. out whether the grant has been funded.
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