Naugatuck Public Schools Holds Technology Summit

Naugatuck Public School employees headed to Naugatuck High School for the second annual Technology Summit. Over 120 administrators, teachers and support personnel came together for a day of learning, sharing and collaborating. Eleven out-of-district educators registered to attend this year.

At registration every participant was given a bag of promotional items and a tech summit t-shirt. Educators were then allowed to attend four breakout sessions of their choice.

During the first 35 minute session, Rob Hollern presented LEGO Robotics for fourth grade teachers, Cara Tyminski demonstrated parent communication tools, Heather Burke taught Google Classroom Basics, Caroline Messenger gave a sneak peak of PowerTeacher, and Maribeth Ford demonstrated the use of the ELMO Document Camera.

Second session included the tech summit coordinator Cathy Bosco holding a roundtable discussion on using Chromebooks in the classroom, Maribeth Ford and Heather Burke demonstrating the Pearson Realize Platform (digital tools for math and social studies,) Rob Hollern showed how to use Google Sheets, Shelby Adams presented Google Classroom Intermediate, and Ms. Messenger repeated her sneak peek at PowerTeacher.

The third session offered Mr. Hollern demonstrating how to create a website in Google Sites, Katherine Massicotte showed how to use YouTube in the classroom, Jeff Remillard demonstrated online tools for formative assessment using Plickers, Ms. Adams showed how to create centers in the classroom, and Mike Bennett demonstrated how to use Kahn Academy.

During the final session, educators could choose from Ms. Burke showing how to use video production technology for formative assessment, Johnna Hunt demonstrated the use of the ELMO Document Camera, Ms. Massicotte demonstrated the use of online resources for instruction and assessment, Lindsay Swiatek showed Google Slides and Mike Bennett demonstrated the use of Khan Academy.

Throughout the morning, there were drop in sessions held in the NHS Media Center for one-on-one support.

At the conclusion of the workshops, raffle prizes were drawn in the Media Center. Participants were able to choose the technology-themed raffle they wanted to enter, and they did not need to be present to win. Most of the winners were in the room to collect their prize and everyone applauded each and every person who was a lucky ticket-holder.

Thank you to all the presenters, organizers, sponsors and especially Ms. Bosco for another great day of information.

All photos by Jennifer Gelband