{"id":2183,"date":"2017-01-24T09:05:17","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T17:05:17","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2019-10-16T02:21:36","modified_gmt":"2019-10-16T02:21:36","slug":"how-holly-springs-teachers-tap-technology-to-ignite-young-minds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/industry\/microsoft-in-business\/customer-experience\/2017\/01\/24\/how-holly-springs-teachers-tap-technology-to-ignite-young-minds\/","title":{"rendered":"How Holly Springs teachers tap technology to ignite young minds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\nFocus on: Engaging Students, Empowering Educators<\/span><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Today, Lisa Lougheed and her second-grade students are visiting the Lisbon Zoo. The eight children are on a special mission to help a clever princess reclaim her missing crown. Together they\u2019ve scoured the reptile house, the aquarium, and the bear\u2019s den, but despite their best efforts the crown is nowhere to be found. With dusk quickly approaching, the expedition ventures to their final location\u2014the chimpanzee enclosure.<\/p>\n

A chill starts to fill the evening air. The adventurers are restless, but wary\u2014it\u2019s no secret that chimpanzees are known for being as dangerous as they are cunning. The princess is anxious. They\u2019re running out of time, and the importance of the lost crown shows on her face, her hopeful smile wavering and her eyes deep with masked concern.<\/p>\n

A chimp laughs somewhere in the bush, the scent of matted vegetation lingering in the air. The bold adventurers descend into the enclosure and scatter across the space, checking under benches and around recycling bins. Then, just as the sun dips behind the zoo\u2019s high walls, they find it. Tucked between the enclosure\u2019s cool concrete and the dry earth, the missing crown sparkles brightly.<\/p>\n

The princess thanks her companions for their help and courage and, with a wave, ends the Skype video stream.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n Welcome to Holly Springs<\/strong><\/span>A far cry from Portugal, Lougheed and her students are forty miles north of Atlanta at Holly Springs STEM Academy\u2014an elementary school specializing in project-based learning and engineering design. The students wave as the feed cuts out, then scramble off the floor to their computers laughing about elephants and potbellied pigs. Shortly after, the room is silent save the tap-tap-tapping of small fingers on keys. The children are focused on their screens, each wanting to commit every highlight and observation to the digital page. They\u2019re still writing ten minutes later\u2014a miracle for any one second-grader, let alone an entire classroom.<\/p>\n

Lougheed\u2019s classroom runs on OneNote, and it has revolutionized the way her students learn. This is a real story of digital transformation.
\n \"\"
\n Engaging Students with Interactive Technologies<\/strong><\/span>\u201cNormally, you ask kids to write about what they did and they\u2019re going to sit, they\u2019re going to hem and haw; it takes them a while to get started. Then, you might get a couple of sentences out of them,\u201d Lisa explains. \u201c[With OneNote] my third and fourth graders write paragraphs.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that most kids struggle to stay organized. Between bus lines, backpacks, and binders, and managing separate notebooks for math, science, reading, social studies, and language arts, it\u2019s a miracle any time school work makes it from the classroom to the refrigerator door. That\u2019s not to mention the traditional grind of student engagement. These days, children are rarely excited to write, and when they do it\u2019s often out of obligation.<\/p>\n

Then there are the teachers, who regularly struggle to help each individual student learn and develop in the optimal environment\u2014with the ideal tools\u2014without exhausting themselves and their resources. That means balancing time between students and finding the right method of communication with each child (and their parents), while still leaving room to develop lesson plans, set future assignments, make copies, and order additional resources.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Lougheed leads Holly Springs\u2019s gifted program for first through fifth graders, about 50 total students Monday through Thursday\u2014roughly half of whom qualify for state-funded lunch programs and don\u2019t have Internet access at home. It\u2019s this new access to technology that\u2019s driving the excitement in her students. With their OneNote notebooks, Lougheed\u2019s students are interacting with new tools and ideas that they rarely engage with at home, and it\u2019s bringing the enthusiasm back into their studies.<\/p>\n

With OneNote, students drop in their own research or write their own stories. Lisa explains, \u201cThey\u2019re so driven\u2026They love to be able to enter pictures, or draw. They think OneNote is the coolest thing in the world. If they have free time in my classroom, that\u2019s what they choose to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, instead of having to push her students to explore ideas via pen and paper, Lisa has to interrupt their typing as writing time runs out. But, with OneNote in the classroom, children can record and store thoughts on their Office 365 account and come back next class to pick up right where they left off\u2014no wrinkles, no tears, no excuses.<\/p>\n

Lougheed continues, \u201cRather than just reaching those students with pencil and paper, \u2018Read this page, here\u2019s the assignment,\u2019 OneNote gives them a lot more flexibility, a lot more choice\u2026I\u2019ve seen their writing progressively get better because they\u2019re really taking into consideration what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Lougheed\u2019s students aren\u2019t just using the computer; they\u2019re learning the tools of tomorrow, getting a leg-up on their classmates who don\u2019t have these opportunities to engage with technology. They\u2019re leaving her classroom and heading to middle school with the full confidence that they can, and will, succeed.<\/p>\n

Just ask Aiden, one of Mrs. Lougheed\u2019s fifth-graders: \u201cOneNote has helped me finish work on time because typing is easier for me. In OneNote it is easier to keep up with things because it\u2019s organized and saves for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs. Lougheed loves her classroom and is far from subtle about sharing her love for technology. She\u2019s a huge advocate for technology in the classroom, sharing her experiences with not only teachers at Holly Springs, but at her own children\u2019s school and districts around Georgia, \u201cI love to go out to other schools and show them how they can use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Empowering Educators to Facilitate Teaching and Learning<\/strong><\/span>With OneNote\u2019s cloud integration, Lisa doesn\u2019t have to collect papers or guess whether that\u2019s Ashley J.\u2019s handwriting or Ashley M.\u2019s. She can leave direct feedback on each student\u2019s work as easily as she would update her Twitter<\/a> feed. Students can then instantly view their progress and directly apply it to their work.<\/p>\n

The simple ability to streamline her grading process has transformed the way Mrs. Lougheed manages her classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that in a matter of seconds I can insert a page and distribute it to my students,\u201d Lisa says, \u201cThey don\u2019t need bulky textbooks or workbooks, and I don\u2019t have to copy off any pages because everything that we do is in their notebook.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the instant distribution of reading materials and worksheets to transparent lesson planning for substitute teachers, OneNote allows Lisa to keep her costs low and her enthusiasm high while engaging her students with new and exciting technology.<\/p>\n

With assignments and study tools going paper-free, OneNote not only helps manage district budgets, but eliminates the \u201che-said-she-said\u201d of misplaced assignments and creates an objective space where students, teachers, and parents can instantly view their previous assignments and current progress.<\/p>\n

Lisa\u2019s love for OneNote first started when the entire Holly Springs faculty started their Microsoft Innovative Educator certification. \u201cHolly Springs was the first school in the world where the entire faculty became MIE certified. It was through those classes where OneNote really stuck with me.\u201d The MIE program equips instructors at all levels with the experience they need to take these great tools to their classrooms through expert training and Microsoft\u2019s unwavering support.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe relationship with Microsoft has been a wonderful experience. They love to hear from the teachers that are using their products, and they want to know what\u2019s working, what\u2019s not, and how they can improve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lisa hopes to spread these great tools throughout the Holly Springs district as new opportunities present themselves\u2014Holly Springs has already adopted a BYLD (Bring Your Own Learning Device) policy and hopes to see more educators MIE certified and more students excited to learn.<\/p>\n

At Microsoft, we\u2019re proud to partner with Lisa and Holly Springs as we work to empower the innovators of tomorrow.<\/p>\n

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