I was so proud of my students who represented St. Louise de Marillac Catholic School’s Technology Team at the 24th Annual Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology (PAECT) Student Technology Showcase on Monday, May 11, 2015. The showcase, was held in the East Rotunda of the Capitol Building in Harrisburg. This is an annual event to present legislators and the public with the opportunity to learn how teachers are integrating technology into K-12 classrooms across the Commonwealth.

Emmy Ploskina (Grade 7), Alexis Riske (Grade 7), Brennan Valladares (Grade 8), and Sean Werner (Grade 8) presented how we have been using TouchCast an interactive video App for the iPad and how we have been using it with other tech tools such as ThePadcaster, green screens, microphones, and more to produce cross curricular, interactive video projects and school announcements.

You can see a sample of the student work from the showcase here: https://www.touchcast.com/stlnn/1fe2a53a02/?ref=stlnn&p=channel where they interviewed Senator Matt Smith along with other students and teachers at the showcase. The students also had the opportunity to visit other exhibits and to be “on air” for a livestream to describe their projects.

The livestreamed archive of the all the students who participated in the showcase will be posted here http://ccitv.cciu.org.

Photo directly above is courtesy of Senator Smith’s office.
Pictured left to right: Alexis Riske, Mrs. Zee Ann Poerio, Emmy Ploskina, Senator Matt Smith, Sean Werner, and Brennan Valladares.

Special thanks to McDonald’s for the MAC (Make Activities Count) Grant I received two years ago to purchase some of the equipment we used at this showcase.  (Middle school teachers of grades 5-8 can apply online for MAC Grants here: http://www.macgrants.com

Thank you to TouchCastEdu and  ThePadcaster  for their continued support and encouragement, and to PAECT, sponsor of the showcase. ( I am proud to be a member of PAECT.  I was honored at PAECT Teacher of the Year in 2014 and the organization had provided numerous opportunities for me to grow and learn as a teacher.  I encourage any teacher in PA to join this group and take advantage of the many benefits of membership.) Special thanks to the parents of these outstanding students for traveling to Harrisburg and allowing their children to participate in the showcase. Our student tech team is fantastic and I am proud to be their teacher.