New Prosthesis Helps 10 Year Old Bicyclist – 3D Printing STEM Project – Milford, NH

Story & Photos by Loretta Jackson – The Telegraph – Nashua, NH

Morgan Peterson was born without the lower portion of her left arm. The limb tapers to slim roundness just below the elbow. She was 6 months old when fitted with her first prosthetic, courtesy of Shriners Hospitals. Four more have answered her increasing needs for growing room. Morgan, 10, a fifth-grade student at Heron Pond Elementary School, nevertheless is as active as any of her friends. She especially likes bike riding. And she likes building things.

She is a frequent visitor at “builder” workshops held at Milford High School & Applied Technology Center. Morgan’s mother, Meg, wondered aloud at one such workshop whether it was possible for the students to make a device that would modify Morgan’s rigid artificial limb so she could ride her bike more comfortably. “I had an attachment made of rubber,” Morgan said. “It would fall off when I turned left.”

The team of students, under the tutelage of teacher Frank Xydias, focuses on science, technology, engineering and math. Several seniors are headed for colleges emphasizing those disciplines. The conical prosthetic the students examined allowed no flexibility at its terminus. Morgan described the problem more fully, and the group immediately embraced the idea of designing and building a better attachment, one that would allow lateral movement, flexing and rotation.

Gen YES and NH Office of Educational Technology Launch Gen YES New Hampshire

The Office of Educational Technology at the New Hampshire Department of Education is partnering with GenYES to help promote participation of New Hampshire schools in the GenYES program. Dr. Dennis Harper will give a GenYES workshop in Concord on August 9 for interested New Hampshire schools and educators.

All New Hampshire educators are invited to attend a free four-hour workshop, scheduled for August 9 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM at the Concord Center of Plymouth State University. The NH Office of Educational Technology is working with the nonprofit Generation YES to organize a statewide initiative to promote, train, and fund GenYES chapters in interested NH Schools. Dr. Dennis Harper of Generation YES will lead the workshop that will give practical guidance on how to systematically prepare teams of Student Technology Leaders (STLs) in grades 3-12 how to assist teachers and IT staff integrate technology to improve student learning. The workshop is based on 21 years of research and will emphasize the online curriculum and resources available to NH schools through the GenYES program. Implementation strategies and the role of school and district administrators will also be addressed. 

Speak Up 2017 Survey Registration is Open

Happy end of the school year! Thank you all for another wonderful year! Before you head out for the summer, get a head start on Speak Up 2017, check out our plans for ISTE 2017, and sign up for a Future Ready Institute to ensure your district is Future Ready this fall.
Before you head out for the summer, register your school or district (for free!) in Speak Up 2017. Registration is now open here – just click on the green registration button in the middle of the page or the gray tab on the left side of the page.

Information needed to register:

▪ Name
▪ Email address
▪ An organizational login password (to view weekly survey counts and other important updates during the survey period)
▪ Student Survey password (secret word students will use to access the survey)

Note: Main contact information needs to be renewed each survey year.

Speak Up 2017 will be open October 16, 2017-January 16, 2018.      

Start planning your Speak Up 2017 efforts!

Review some of our webinar video clips to get some Speak Up tips from other schools and districts (see Speak Up 2016 Intro recordings, or individual Speak Up in Action recordings): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3gk96PMU2WkxD_e6jXj74Q

To learn more about registration, register or email us at speakup@tomorrow.org.

REGISTER  http://tomorrow.org/speakup/MainContactInformation.html

Thank you for reading! Feel free to share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Twitter, and our Blog.

-The Project Tomorrow team

NHSLMA Library Camp ~ “Breakout! Unlock the Possibilities”

There is a New location and New Format for the NHSLMA Summer Library Camp!

This year’s camp is at the NH Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH.

Opening session speaker will be Laura Gardner, 2016 SLJ School Librarian of the Year Finalist – click here to read about her! In addition to the opening session, the day will include breakout sessions, time to connect with colleagues, and FUN!

Registration Cancellation Policy: Written cancellation of conference registration must be received by July 10, 2017. NHSLMA will not issue any refunds after July 10, 2017. Refunds, minus a $50 cancellation fee, will be processed 4-6 weeks from date of cancellation request.

TO REGISTER, CLICK HERE: http://www.nhslma.org/event-2531570/Registration

Breaking down NH’s draft plan for the ESSA with the DOE and Center for Assessment

Photo courtesy of Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action.

At the end of May, the New Hampshire Department of Education (Department) published its draft plan to comply with federal requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The Department is asking for public input on the plan by June 23^rd.

In order to help facilitate public engagement and input on the plan, Reaching Higher NH partnered with the NH Department of Education to record a podcast that breaks down the state plan. You can download and listen to the full podcast, but if you are interested in specific parts of the state plan, Reaching Higher NH has broken down the conversation by topics, listed below.

You can skip to any section you want by listening to the podcast on Sound Cloud at https://soundcloud.com/reaching-higher-nh/essa-state-plan.

• Introductions – 00:00 – 03:00
• The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): 03:00 – 08:00
• ESSA vs. No Child Left Behind: 08:00 – 13:15
• Developing the draft state plan: 13:15 – 16:45
• Overview of the components of the state plan: 16:45 – 22:30
• Accountability system: 22:30 – 31:15
• Timeline: 31:15 – 33:10
• Federal funds in the state plan vs. federal funds not covered by the state plan: 33:10 – 38:10
• Students with learning disabilities: 38:10 – 40:20
• Educational activities NOT in the state plan (such as curriculum): 40:20 – 42:50
• The vision for how the state plan will help NH: 42:50 – 46:52
• Providing feedback on the plan: 47:07 – 51:22

You can access the podcast from the Reaching Higher NH website at https://reachinghighernh.org/2017/06/12/breaking-nhs-draft-plan-essa-department-education-center-assessment/.

 

July 12th: Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality

The FCC wants to destroy net neutrality and give big cable companies control over what we see and do online. If they get their way, they’ll allow widespread throttling, blocking, censorship, and extra fees. On July 12th, the Internet will come together to stop them.

Fight for the Future is asking you to join them in the protest to maintain net neutrality.  Fight for the Future is dedicated to protecting and expanding the Internet’s transformative power in our lives by creating civic campaigns that are engaging for millions of people. Alongside internet users everywhere we beat back attempts to limit our basic rights and freedoms, and empower people to demand technology (and policy) that serves their interests. Activating the internet for the public good can only lead to a more vibrant and awesome world.

What will happen on July 12th?
Websites, Internet users, and online communities will come together to sound the alarm about the FCC’s attack on net neutrality. Fight for the Future will  provide tools for everyone to make it super easy for you, and your followers / visitors to take action. From the Stop Online Piracy Act blackout to the Internet Slowdown, we’ve shown time and time again that when the Internet comes together, we can stop censorship and corruption. Now, we have to do it again!

Join the Protest at https://www.battleforthenet.com/july12/.

Learn more about Fight for the Future at https://www.fightforthefuture.org/.

World Wide Web Foundation  http://webfoundation.org/2017/06/web-foundation-backs-us-coalition-for-net-neutrality/

OPINION: We won’t break the status quo until we admit our own biases

by Kate Gerson

As a teacher in an urban high school, I used to tell myself a lie every day. I told it as I led lessons on Catcher in the Rye, Night and Sula. I told it as I met with students after school and when I graded their homework. Every day I told myself I was doing what I could for every student and that I assumed they could all go on to be successful in college or career if they did what I asked of them. And every time I did, I lied to myself – and to all of my students.

What I am awakening to is that that lie is part of my unconscious bias.

Unconscious bias is a real phenomenon in all schools. It thrived in my practice as a teacher and principal even though I felt devoted to my students. It lives in me still, though I work constantly to examine it. It’s painful to admit, but I must. We all must.

As educators, we are sometimes unconvinced that every student can do the same work, hit the same targets — at least during our short watch. When we avoid addressing these low expectations, they have powerful consequences for how we teach, coach and advise, leading us to unknowingly assume the outcomes and eventualities for students based on race and class. Those assumptions become the core of structural racism, making our education system – and all of us in that system – complicit in systemic inequity.