March Madness

Whew!!!  What a busy month.  Here are some highlights from the Mad Mad Month of March.

Hudson Valley NYSCATE.  

Orange Ulster BOCES Jim Treloar and Jaclyn Ellefsen each presented at the 15th Annual Hudson Valley NYSCATE Conference held Saturday April 12th at Roy C. Ketcham HS in Wappingers Falls.  Jim presented on 21st Century Formative Assessment Tools where he highlighted the use of many digital tools like Plickers, Padlet, MindMup, Today's Meet and more.  If you were unable to attend, here is the presentation:

Jaclyn represented Orange Ulster BOCES in the APP Smackdown where teams from each of the local BOCES presented their favorite apps.  While she made us proud, she was no match for the awesome game creator Pixel Press Floors, that was presented by Team Sullivan County BOCES.

Creating the 8th Wonder of the World in Washingtonville

The trailblazing eSports Club at Washingtonville High School sponsored their first ever Mincraft Building Competition on Friday March 18th where participants were asked to build what they think should be listed as the 8th Wonder of the World using the creative & interactive game Minecraft.  There were 10 students who entered into the final showdown ranging in grades 5-8 from roughly 230 that attended the initial interest sessions and signed up.  This program was spearheaded by the innovative and indefatigable WHS English teacher Kevin Calderin who is the group's advisor.  The announcement that all finalists would be receiving a 3D printout of their Minecraft Skin was met with much enthusiasm and shouts of joy.  The entries were all amazing and we can't wait to see what students come up with next year!

Minisink Valley Google Summit

The Minisink Valley School District teamed up with NYSCATE to have a Google Summit at Minisink High School on Wednesday March 16th.  Once again our very own Jaclyn Ellefsen and Christine Dworetsky helped out by sharing their expertise in integrating technology.  Our resident math expert Christine, shared Digital Math Tools at two different sessions that day.  Jaclyn imparted her expertise in Harness the Power of Google Forms and showed participants the Power of the Google Chrome Browser.  The event was well attended with nearly 200 local teachers and administrators in attendance.  The Hudson Valley continues to be a wellspring of tech infused teaching and learning.