Yesterday’s LID Vision Day offered Harker teachers the opportunity to attend a variety workshops led by Harker middle school teachers, some of whom participated in the 2017 LID Grant program. A total of six sessions, held concurrently in various rooms around the middle school campus, gave teachers insight into how their colleagues used the program to bolster their teaching methods.

History teacher Sara Pawloski, English teacher Mark Gelineau and Spanish teacher Julie Pinzas demonstrated Google Expeditions VR by taking teachers on a virtual trip to New York’s Citi Field using special headsets. Science teacher Kathy Peng recapped the fidget spinner projects she had her students conduct using 3-D printers, which provided valuable lessons on how to design group projects that integrate self and peer assessment, project reflection and other useful concepts.

In history teacher Melanie Ramsey’s classroom, teachers learned how visual notetaking could help students better retain and understand the material they learn, in addition to improving their creative thinking. Math teacher Andy Gersh showed teachers how the use of games such as Minecraft could encourage reflection on classroom lessons.

Teachers attending math teacher Hava Sasson’s workshop learned the various uses of Desmos, an web-based graphing calculator that also serves as a collaboration tool, and how teachers can use it to creative unique lessons and assignments. History teacher Keith Hirota demonstrated how to create interactive lessons using software called Apollo, whose simple drag-and-drop functionality makes adding files easy. Students can also collaborate on these files using their own devices as well as access them from home.