Investing in Community Education

Lighthouse Grant Extends Community Support to Complete Document Camera Implementation K-5

Posted by Elmbrook Education Foundation on Jan. 10, 2012

Earlier this year, the Foundation kicked off a campaign to implement a SMART Document Camera in every K-5 classroom district-wide to support large group instruction for Elmbrook's youngest learners. 

The Foundation's initial plans provided for a 3 year campaign.  However, due to community support and a $50,000 Lighthouse grant from the Wisconsin Technology Initiative, this campaign is now complete.  All K-5 classrooms including special areas (i.e. Art, Music) received a SMART Document Camera in January.  Staff training on how to use the new systems and integrate them into daily instruction is being provided by the District. 

The Elementary SMART Document campaign is the next cycle of the Foundation's Super Grant Program which funded long overdue technology projects at the High Schools in 2008 (SMART Boards at BEHS and a new mac lab at BCHS), and the implementation of SMART Response assessment technology in every math classroom across both middle schools in 2009-2010.

The EEF's Super Grant Program serves to provide a meaningful impact on daily instruction across the District leveraging proven innovations often initially funded by PTO Grants and/or the Foundation's Innovation Grant Program.  Unlike individual teacher/classroom grants, the EEF partners with the District on these large-scale implementations to ensure that the rollout is well managed and that staff are provided the training and support they need to effectively integrate the new technology into their curriculum.

The SMART Document Camera Proposal was initially developed in partnership with the Elementary principals and was unanimously suppported due to the success of these units in pilot classrooms.  The units can be used daily because they provide so much flexibility in what a teacher or student can share with the class 'on the fly'.  The document camera is versatile and easy to use. Teachers and students may demonstrate math manipulatives, show visuals for science experiments, model the writing process, display student work, project objects, and much more. Then, if the teacher wants to document the activity they can capture the images and save them to the SMART software or a memory card for future use. This tool provides extraordinary visual experiences for the young learners.

In the picture on the right, students are working with science manipulatives while their peers are working with the projected image of those manipulatives on the SMART Board in real time.  Their final product can be saved and shared with students who may have missed the lesson.  These lessons require minimal prep time and support the need to stay flexibile to meet the diverse needs of young learners.

For more information, please view the SMART Document Camera video to see how SMART Cameras are already being used in Elmbrook classrooms today.

The Foundation strives to provide proven methods of support to our staff whenever possible within the budget set by the Foundation's Board of Directors.  The use of technology is one strategy for helping to support staff's efforts to deliver instruction in light of the increasing challenges caused by budgetary shortfalls.   

The Foundation is not equipped to solve the budget shortfall and/or fund operating expenses, but instead strives to complement and extend the private support provided by building level PTO's and booster clubs to benefit students district-wide by fostering and supporting innovative approaches for delivering instruction and supporting students in their quest to think, to learn and to succeed!

THANK YOU to the community members that stepped forward to support this campaign.  Without all of you, Elmbrook would not have been eligible for the Lighthouse Grant recently awarded to the District to complete the campaign:
 

Related Links

• SMART Document Cameras 
• Press Release re:  Wisconsin Technology Initiative Lighthouse Grant