Collaborative technology in the classroom: pilot project

In 2015-16 school year, YAYOE piloted a ground-breaking incorporation of technology in the classroom, with an interdisciplinary, collaborative technology curriculum module. Led by Mrs. Lynn Karz (seventh grade language arts and history teacher), and together with Mrs. Ashley Scotti (director of middle school general studies), and Rabbi Yisroel Pollock (Torah Studies, technology integration in the classroom), a bank of iPads was introduced to selected classrooms in order to give students an opportunity to use up-to-date, real-world tools in their project-based, collaborative learning.

Based on the success of the pilot project, a fully-computerized learning lab for 7th grade boys and girls was configured for the 2016-17 school year, and the history and language arts curricula were redesigned from the ground up to incorporate cutting-edge educational technologies and learning modalities. (The learning lab curriculum also forms a core element in the Tech Tools Module of our new Comprehensive Digital Citizenship Curriculum; see our school’s other submission.)

Seventh grade girls were assigned an integrated history project critically analyzing the way history is reported and taught. Students were provided with five guide questions and tasked with researching their chosen topic, considering the bias and legitimacy of the historical record and then creatively reporting their conclusions in an original video using script writing,costuming, set design, acting, videography, and audio-video editing.

In parallel, fourth grade boys were assigned an integrated language arts project critically analyzing a book that they read and reported on. Students were provided with a choice of video formats (dramatization, news casting, interview format) and tasked with reporting on their chosen book and creatively reporting their conclusions in an original video using script writing, costuming, set design, acting, videography, and audio-video editing.