Seven Sayville Educators Present At Technology Conference

Recently, seven Sayville educators recently gave presentations at the 13th Annual Educational Technology Conference recently held by The Association of Suffolk County Supervisors for Educational Technologies (ASSET) at the Huntington Hilton.

While many schools throughout Suffolk County either participated in or presented at the conference, Sayville was the only district to have such a large contingent of teachers and staff developers demonstrating the technological innovations used by our students and schools.

The Sayville teachers and staff, representing each of the school district's five schools, presented on diverse topics that were extremely well received by the vast audience:

• “Your Students Can Be Real-World Authors” - Pamela Rooney, Debbie Urso, and Tracy Toth–Middle School Library
• “Using the iTouch in the Science Classroom” - Sonja Anderson and Don Heberer– High School Science
• “Bringing Historical Fiction to Life Using Web 2.0 Tools” - Kelly Cummings and Frank Franzese – Cherry Elementary
• "’In Creativity and Technology We Believe’ HS English and Web 2.0” - Margie Dashiell and Tricia Hinchman– High School English
• “Why We Travel: Journeys to Voice and a Digital Destination” - Edward Schmieder and Tricia Hinchman– English Department Chairperson
• “Using Animoto to Enhance Creative Writing” - Garrett Campbell and Frank Franzese – Lincoln Elemenatry
• Together we can stop Bullying: Public Service Presentations  - Sharon Donnelly and Frank Franzese– Sunrise Drive Elementary

"Each Sayville presenter provided details of how Sayville students have been using technology to enhance their learning and how their projects aligned State curriculum and instruction to all the ISTE standards—a special focus for educators in the Sayville School District this year," said Barbara Hall, Sayville Instructional and Information Technology Coordinator. "The ISTE standards include Creativity and Innovation, Communication and Collaboration, Research and Information Fluency, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making, Digital Citizenship, and finally, Technology Operations and Concepts."

Highlighting each presentation topic was an array of Sayville student work. In addition, every Sayville teachers and staff stressed Internet Safety and how they used many WEB 2.0 tools to facilitate their instructional technology projects with the students. As stated by one presenter, “we have to teach students how to maximize their learning capacity with technology while being safe.”

The ASSET organization’s mission is “to enhance teaching and learning in Suffolk County Districts through the use of computer and other educational technologies by encouraging the integration of technology into the K-12 curriculum and ensuring that student are provided with the educational opportunities necessary to prepare them for the 21st century.”

"It is evident that the Sayville Public School District is making great strides in this area," Hall concluded,  "and I am so proud of our teachers who presented!"