Dallas ISD’s Early Learning department will showcase young students’ work with digital tools at the district’s third annual Digital Palooza, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 29, at Conrad High School. The theme of this year’s event is “I Can Create.”
“We hope to bring in Early Learning students, families, and staff and allow them to interact with iPads in hands-on, interactive learning,” said Sheena Kapadia, a digital learning coordinator who works on developing programming for prekindergarten through second-grade students. “Oftentimes we see students learning passively on technology, like watching YouTube videos, but it’s a tool that allows us to do so much more. Our mission is to spread awareness about the potential of devices as multimodal learning tools and to spark creativity in our early learners.”
Students will engage in activities that show how they can read, draw, story-tell, and compose, Kapadia said. “We want students to become active participants in their learning process by empowering them to use iPads to practice their listening, speaking, reading, and writing. We’ll be exploring these language domains across several different apps – Keynote Pages, Garage Band, iMovie, and more.”
Interactive learning stations will be staffed by “Vanguard cohort” members, a group of teachers and instructional specialists who receive one-on-one coaching and personalized support from Apple Professional Learning. Through this partnership, the Early Learning department has created a team of leaders fluent in navigating digital tools and who model best teaching practices. This select group of teachers and specialists receives 30+ hours of professional development with iPad and are challenged to apply these new skills with students across the district, through hands-on lessons similar to those they have designed for Digital Palooza.
Danielle Lozano, one of the Vanguard specialists, says she has seen the difference that technology makes in students’ learning. “As we work in the classrooms using technology, the engagement goes up, and personalized lessons are at students’ fingertips. There are so many possibilities that even the youngest students can master the simplest app on an iPad. Classrooms across the district that have incorporated digital training, from SPED classrooms to Pre-K and up, have all seen increased excitement around instruction that uses technology.
“Each time I walk into one of the classrooms and have a digital lesson, the students are so excited about what they have learned and love showing off their work,” Lozano said. “They have a sense of pride that some traditional instruction techniques would not otherwise have provided. There’s an undeniable value that has been added to instruction when using technology. Early Learning has done a great job of training specialists so we can support our teachers in the classrooms using technology to improve instruction delivery and engagement.”
Ember Crocker, a teacher at Dan Rogers Elementary, agrees and says this innovative use of the iPad goes beyond learning standards, to support students’ social and emotional health.
“I was excited to be able to implement iPads in my classroom in a new way this year,” Crocker said. “My students are used to the iPad and pretty good at navigating through the learning apps and portals. What excited me most was that they got to see how you can create original work using iPads. These
individualized creations can help us throughout the school year when we need a moment to stop and recognize our emotions. Instead of the student relying on the teacher, they can be taught to pull out their iPad and use their social and emotional (SEL) journal that is individualized to them. It helps to foster ownership of their emotions and the actions they need to take to regulate those emotions.”
At the Digital Palooza, in addition to learning stations and a panel discussion of students, teachers, specialists, and principals led by Dr. Elena S. Hill, Assistant Superintendent for Early Learning, guests will enjoy a community showcase, displaying digital learning lessons that have been implemented in the district this year.
The event will also feature the Perot Museum facilitating activities with technology and engineering, along with the district’s Computer Science and Technology department, to engage students in beginner-level coding activities.
“We’re excited about this event and the opportunity to connect families to the work we are doing in classrooms,” Kapadia said. “We are ecstatic to showcase the ways iPad can be used with our youngest students to engage in more meaningful learning experiences.”
