Bold Thinkers and Technology

Second through fourth grade students begin each year with “Pre-Project” work. The goal for this period is to review ways students can represent their thinking in a variety of ways, through art, sculpture, writing, photography, and more.  Then, they can use these techniques throughout the year.

This year, 4th grade teachers, Katie Christo, and Kathy Bartelmay tied this to work students do in Writers Workshop. Since writers always want an authentic audience, teachers decided students would create materials to teach other students in the school about our Recycling Program.  The message, or theme, we wanted to convey was that recycling is important to save the earth.  Students rotated through three centers to create information to teach about recycling:

Photography: Students learned how photographers can tell a story with a beginning, middle and end in only four photographs.  Students studied the work of other photographers and then carefully framed each shot to tell a story.  They also uploaded their pictures, edited, and printed them.

Movie Making: Students studied commercials to learn how advertisers craft a commercial to influence others.  We noticed that commercials often have a slogan, catchy music, sound effects and a theme or message.  Students first created a storyboard on paper to map out their commercial.  Students then took footage with Flip video cameras, edited their movies, and added sound in Windows Movie Maker.  Student commercials were then shared with the school community.

Presentations: Students learned how presentations are changing and how you can use a presentation to tell a story.  Students looked at examples of presentations on http://www.slideshare.net and then created their own stand alone presentation about recycling at Duke School.  


Duke School believes that students should be given every tool possible to become successful learners. Technology is like any other tool, pencils, paintbrushes, and books, it opens up a whole new world of learning. A second grade student can refer to an online encyclopedia for information on a project topic, a beginning reader can listen to a book online with pictures to go along with it, and a fourth grader can learn how to use PowerPoint effectively for sharing and presenting project work. Duke School uses technology among other things as a tool to help students become bold thinkers and 21st Century problem solvers.


Katie Christo is the new Technology Curriculum Coordinator.  She works closely with teachers to help them integrate technology into the classroom.  Katie supports teachers in planning projects, co-teaching, and mentoring students as they learn and use technology skills. Her goal is to provide the students of Duke School with the technology tools, resources, and skills they will need to boldly and creatively shape their future. For more information about Katie Christo click here http://katiechristo.pbworks.com/About-Me.