Pods and Blogs
What impact does podcasting and blogging have on student learning relative to the history and writing Standards of
Learning (SOLs)? An action research team will be developed to study two instructional strategies for integrating
technology into the social studies and language arts curriculum. This team will study the effectiveness of podcasting
and blogging in an elementary environment.
Mary Hefner
Courthouse Road Elementary
Spotsylvania County Public Schools
Teaching SMARTer: Integrating SMARTboards into Math and Science Curriculum
Teachers and students alike would benefit from utilizing a SMARTboard system at the elementary school level in the
areas of Math and Science. Teachers could make learning fun by sparking student interest and providing interactive
lessons that would engage students and bring Math and Science to life. Monthly professional development
opportunities and staff meeting demonstrations would be offered by a core group of teachers to model effective math
and science SMARTboard lessons. These opportunities would allow professional collaboration among staff members,
increase student and teacher technology skills, and increase SMARTboard use throughout the entire school so that all
students would benefit from this form of integrated technology.
Dawn Miller
Catoctin Elementary
Loudoun County Public Schools
Digital Journal Writing to Increase Student Motivation and Achievement
Stafford Elementary School is embarking on a year of online journal writing. All of the teachers (general education,
special education, and specialists) will be offered professional development opportunities that will support the
improvement of student writing skills through the use of digital pictures as writing prompts and digital journals. We
have found that writing often discourages students own digital pictures to serve as an inspiration for their writing,
creating a deeper connection. The teachers will model the process by keeping their own online journals. The teachers
will complete a yearlong workshop that will provide them with the tools necessary to increase student motivation in
writing. The teachers will learn how to use a digital camera, digital microscope, scanner, Power Point, and Moodle to
develop writing journals for themselves and their students.
Alexis White
Stafford Elementary
Stafford County Public Schools
Boosting Reading Skills through Teacher Research
The goal of this project is to develop best practices using teacher research to improve student reading skills. The
teacher research team, consisting of 6 elementary teachers will utilize a variety of read aloud technologies to increase
reading time. As they learn and participate in the process of teacher research they will collaborate on different ways to
implement the new technology into their classrooms.
Jessica Carter
Wilderness Elementary
Spotsylvania County Public Schools
