Michael J. Grainger

Nellie Coffman Middle School
Palm Springs Unified School District

Click here to download a .pdf of Michael's story.

EETT-Competitive

With a diverse student demographic and majority ELL population, Nellie Coffman faces a challenge to improve student scores while meeting the very diverse needs of its students. There is no doubt in my mind that the professional commitment shown by Coffman teachers will move the school to the next level. Our administrative team has mapped out a course - one that each of us believes in and aspires to. As we continue down the road of discovery together we embrace the opportunities given to us and appreciate the incredible learning tools the Enhancing Education Through Technology grant has provided.

Several years ago Dr. Lee Grafton (Technology Coordinator) and Chad McGough (Vice Principal) applied for grant monies to place technology in the hands of the district’s middle school math teachers. The Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) grant was awarded to the district and state-of-the art technology became an integral part of each middle school math classroom.

Technology pieces included hand-held Qwizdom® remotes (www.qwizdom.com), Interwrite® pads (www.interwritelearning.com) and student and teacher laptop computers. With remote controlled ceiling mounted projectors, document cameras, drop-down white screens, speakers and a plethora of subscriptions to interactive web based sites, teachers had all the tools they needed to increase student engagement and address the varying cognitive needs of students.

We have discovered that technology in the classroom is infectious. Since the inception of the EETT grant our Language Arts department has now acquired Interwrite pads via a separate grant and our science department has acquired Qwizdom hand held remotes.

Wikispaces have become an integral part of our day-to-day communication at Nellie Coffman. The entire school now uses wikispaces to document and communicate data team minutes vertically and horizontally throughout the school and the district.

The CST scores of the Nellie Coffman math students improved markedly after the inception of the EETT grant. Student engagement I believe was a significant factor in this growth. This year we have taken our technology commitment to the next level; teachers are now developing new content files for Qwizdom®, integrating multiple technology pieces and students are developing more in-depth complex technology projects guided by the California Math standards. The sky is the limit and we look forward to the anticipated growth this year from our students.

I hope this brief testimonial will motivate you the reader to stir your interest! Teaching is an extremely fulfilling yet demanding career and as educators we must tap into our passion which will percolate down to our students and they will directly reap the benefits. Technology has revolutionized my classroom teaching and now I cannot imagine or care to remember what teaching used to be like before Qwizdom and Interwrite. I encourage you to research grant monies that may be available to you and your district to provide for your students these incredible learning tools. With increased student engagement and a rigorous commitment to learning you too can experience this paradigm shift in learning.

Michael Grainger
Nellie Coffman Middle School

 

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The Region 10 RIMS CTAP Spotlight Teacher program is designed to recognize and share the work of exceptional teachers in the region who are successfully integrating technology in their classrooms.

If you know of or if you are a teacher who consistently integrates technology successfully in their classroom, please download and complete this form, then send to the email below for consideration. Please include information on what is being done in their classroom to increase student learning by using technology to address the standards.

Gregg Legutki
Region 10 RIMS CTAP
Project Specialist
glegutki@ctap10.org