de Zavala Middle School - Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) - Irving ISD

de Zavala Middle School

We have completed our second year of the TIP Grant. We saw some exciting things happening on our campus this year. Most teachers have become very comfortable with laptops in their classrooms. Students use them on a daily basis. Computer use is becoming more "the norm" than not in many classrooms. Whether students are working on a large-scale project, completing a one day, one lesson assignment, or just needing a quick reference, computer use in those tasks is almost an expectation among students and teachers. Some of those who were our more hesitant teachers are now saying they don't know what they would do without one-to-one laptops in the classroom now. In any given classroom, the following terms are part of the daily vocabulary now without a second thought.

Blackboard - internet - Word - BrainPop - Online research databases - save your files - online tests - Understanding Math - LearnStar Quiz - Publisher - PowerPoint - Excel - validity of the site - copyright laws - analyzing test data - Video Streaming - NetTrekker - Visual Thesaurus - email - Digital Curriculum, Gizmos, and more!

Some of the ways you will see students using their laptops include:

Blackboard: Online Course Delivery and Communication Every teacher on campus has an online course in Blackboard where they can make assignments, give tests, and communicate with students and parents alike. Teacher lesson plans are also posted on Blackboard weekly. In addition, two student groups, Student Council and National Junior Honor Society, requested their own Blackboard courses to use in communicating with their groups. These courses are monitored by the teacher sponsors, but are kept up to date by student officers.
Students collect and graph data for science experiments and math classes.
Students use Learnstar, a gaming type software to learn about a new topic or review material already covered.
Research units are conducted regularly in different subject areas and grade levels.
Students are submitting recorded playing tests to the directors in Band, Choir and Orchestra
Students keep bowling scores on a spreadsheet in P.E.

Our next vertical venture revolves around the Federally Protected Wetlands on the de Zavala campus. We plan to have webcams with opportunity for access from other campuses. So stay tuned for some great learning opportunities for students all over Irving and beyond. To see a few pictures of our wetlands go to

http://www.irvingisd.net/dezavala/wetland_info.htm

Samples of Student Projects

The Outsiders and 1960's Project
Ms. Huff teaches 8th grade Reading. Currently her classes are reading the novel, The Outsiders as well as conducting a research project about the decade of the 1960's. This research includes information about music, movies, fads, science and technology, speech and/or slang, literature, family trends, politics, social movements and more from the 60's. The research project gives them more "background" knowledge from which to draw when reading the novel. The research part of the unit is conducted in a sort of pathfinder fashion. The finished products are very open-ended for the students. They have choice in the way they present the information. Click the link below to see the site students use as a starting point or home base for their research.

http://www.irvingisd.net/dezavalalibrary/1960's.htm

Other documents coming out of this project include:
1960's Electronic Project Rubric
"1960's Music" - student created poem
"Slang of the 60's" - student created double-bubble map
"Life in the 1960's" - student created Photostory project
"The 1960's" - beginning of student created PowerPoint project (work in progress)

Colonial America Websites
After studying Colonial Life in America, students in Ms. O'Neal's 8th grade history class created web pages giving information about life then and how it compares to life now. Click the link below to see some examples of their completed websites.

http://www.irvingisd.net/dezavala/class_sites/ONeal/default.htm



Claymation Projects
"Operations with Integers"
In her 7th grade Math class, Ms. Mudd using Claymation to drive home the rules about operations with integers. Included here are two completed student examples, a list of websites Ms. Mudd provided her students, and some Tips and Tricks using Movie Maker that made the project go more smoothly.
Adding Positive Integers
Adding Unlike Integers
Claymation Websites
Tips and Tricks Using Movie Maker

de Zavala Robotics Team
February 2006 at TCEA
While you do not have to have a 1:1 environment to make a robotics environment work, it sure does make it easier. It gives the kids a chance to work on their programming outside of the team meeting times.

Our school sent a team to the state Robotics competition at TCEA this year. The competition was held on Monday, February 6. This was the first time for our students to compete. They learned alot about the competition and had a great time. Watch out for them next year!!!!




Way to go de Zavala Robotics team!


Holocaust Newsletters - Point of View

Women's Rights: PSA to Vote
This project was created during the 2004 presidential elections. The group of students chose to create a PSA on the right to vote for women.

Geometry Tree Map
This project was done as a daily lesson rather than a full blown unit. Students created a tree map using terms from their lesson on Quadrilaterals and the draw tools in Microsoft Office.

Civil War: Choosing Sides
After studying the Civil War, students used Publisher to create a sign or poster trying to persuade viewers to "join" or support their chosen side. The sign had to include specific reasons why their side was the "best."

Architecture in Geometry
In a 6th grade Math class during a unit on Geometric Shapes, students used Word and found pictures of different buildings to show how geometric shapes are used in all kinds of architecture. This gave the lesson a real world connection for the students.

Maniac Magee News
While reading Maniac Magee, students in this 6th grade Reading class created a newsletter using Publisher covering one or two of the events in the book. They chose their events and wrote the stories as if they were news reporters.

Solar System Travel Advertisement
After studying the Solar System, student in this 6th grade Science class were to choose a planet and create a PowerPoint that acted as an advertisement for their chosen planet. They are trying to attract visitors to the planet (assuming travel to the planet is a usual thing). Through the advertisement, they had to provide certain facts about the planet which they gathered from research they did online.

Pictorial Vocabulary Definitions
The 8th grade students used digital cameras and PowerPoint to create a pictorial presentation of their vocabulary words. Students were placed in groups of 4 or 5 and given some of the words from their list. After each group completed their PowerPoint they were then shared with the other students in the class. This could later be used as a study guide for all of the students in the class.

The pictures above show what students spend their time doing before and after school now that they have laptops. They can even tell you exactly how far the wireless access will reach from any given side of the building.

Laptops in the classroom in a 1:1 environment has changed the look of a typical classroom, the way students get information, the way teachers teach and the way we all learn.