Congratulations to David Chizzonite, our June 2017 Featured Teacher! David teaches 8th Grade Physical Science as well as Accelerated Earth Science at Chittenango Middle School. He is a 20-year veteran teacher working exclusively in the Chittenango Central School District. 

David has leveraged Schoology to act as an online venue for all of his digital assignments and assessments, as well as a hub to all of his digital course content. Students have 24/7 access to David's class and can interact with one another in a way that is not limited by the confines of time and space. The Schoology assignments are problem-based, and Schoology provides instant feedback on their learning. Students also can use the unlimited submissions feature to correct and re-submit their work until mastery is achieved, or to seek additional support from the teacher. Testing on Schoology gives students options like zooming and text to speech, as well as instant feedback on results.

David's lectures are available via Prezi, on online presentation tool that allows users to create non-linear slideshows that can be shared with a link. David also uses Castle Learning, an online instructional platform, to help prepare his students for the Regents exam, as well as deliver weekly assignments throughout the year. With Castle Learning, students have the opportunity to interact with leveled Regents-style questions continuously throughout the year. Weekly assignments help prepare students for the Regents exam by exposing them to thousands of questions, selected by topic for unit relevance. Instant feedback, as well as detailed explanations of questions and answers, is an enhanced feature of Castle Learning. Prezi enables all classroom presentations to be web-accessible. Students can (through the links in Schoology) use the Prezis to catch up on missed work, review previously learned material , or create study materials. Since Prezi is web-based, software or app compatibility is no longer a concern. All of these different technology learning tools are accessible through the one-to-one iPad program at Chittenango Middle School. 

The 1:1 iPad program has helped David with implementing Castle Learning as a regular instructional tool with the students. Students are able to bring questions to the classroom along with the technology to act as a springboard for student-to-student collaboration and as a driver of class discussion. Students can also use the iPads to download classroom presentations on Prezi, which they can then annotate using Notability. In this case, the slideshow becomes the foundation upon which the students can expand and add elements of class conversations, laboratory experience, and independent research. Using the iPads in the science laboratory helps students realize the importance of being able to use the technology as a work tool. Collecting and analyzing data in spreadsheets, as well as developing formulas for performing calculations in spreadsheets, are discoveries that the students make for themselves when they have access to the technology in the science lab setting. Collaboration becomes the norm, as students share individual data in order to create larger data sets where trends can be analyzed on a broader scale. The iPads give students greater access to information. They also give students the tools to be more independent with their learning, as well as place greater responsibility for management of their own academic data. By having continuous access to the online gradebook, students are more able to see the impact of their efforts on their performance, or address issues related to missing or overdue assignments.