We're excited to kick off a new month with a new Eduporium Featured Educator post! This month, we'll hear from Lindsay Simpson, a STEAM teacher and instructional tech specialist in the Genesse Valley CSD (NY). Though she and her students have new faced challenges throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she's found a creative way to keep them engaged and developing STEM skills. After starting a student podcast last year, Lindsay has found it to be very valuable. Not only is it a perfect 21st century learning experience, her students have also fine tuned their communication skills in the process.
Lindsay Simpson
STEAM and Instructional Technology Specialist, Genesee Valley CSD, Belmont, NY
Q&A:
Please share any innovative STEAM or EdTech project(s) you've completed with your students or plan to complete.
Especially with the COVID-19 situation, we have begun using podcasting as a teaching tool. It has really allowed us all to discuss and share out lots of class conversations, book studies, and athletics reviews, for instance. The district now has three active student podcasts: GV Talks Sports, GV Talks STEAM, and GV Talks Books. While we started last school year to share out our district-wide and community read of 'The One And Only Ivan,' podcasting this school year has really allowed us to discuss key academic topics.
They resonate throughout the PK-12 grade levels whether students are in-house or in hybrid and remote schedules. Through various STEM initiatives, we are always attempting to reach the community with these types of projects. To help reach that goal with this project, in addition to being available on almost all major podcasting platforms, we also share our shows on our local radio station (Angelica Radio 92.7).
What is a challenge you faced or are facing with your EdTech use?
What resources have you used in STEAM education or are in need of?
Because of our rural location, not all our students live in areas that have the infrastructure to support strong Internet access. With the pandemic requiring us all to try going 1:1 to offer hybrid and remote instruction, it also posed equity difficulties. We have purchased and continue to purchase additional mobile hotspots for supporting as many families as possible.
We are also looking into acquiring funding for purchasing swivel stands for our classroom video cameras. This would allow kids who are learning from home, specifically, to see and hear those in the classroom. It would also help as they talk and learn to blend groups together so they can experience the same things.
As a STEAM teacher, what are some of the real-world skills you've seen your students develop through regular EdTech use?
How could they be applied in the future?
With podcasting, student research, presentation, and communication skills, for example, have increased tremendously. Above all, they are beginning to understand the importance of knowing what they want to talk about, having all the research to back it up, and speaking at an appropriate volume without breaks in speech (like "umm," "and," or just silence), which is really important to me as a STEAM teacher. Students with interest in the field of communications and advertising see a lot of benefits as well. They have gained knowledge in editing and production as well as marketing the shows for distribution and listenership.
What interests you most about Eduporium?
How can Eduporium's services provide value to STEAM teachers?
We recently designed a new Innovation Center and, similarly, we're continuing to add on to our elementary makerspace. I am most interested in Eduporium's makerspace materials, specifically some MakerBot 3D printers, 3D printing pens, and even drones.
We all thank Lindsay for sharing her experiences with us in addition to helping inspire other educators with similar goals. We hope these monthly features continue to inspire teachers to try some new things as well! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for more updates on the great things they are doing with technology. Also, if you’d like to apply for a feature on our blog and social media channels as an Eduporium Featured Educator, we’d love to have you fill out the application!