News

I’ve been thinking about kids heading back to school this month, and thinking about the importance of access to a STEM curriculum and to digital learning tools for all children.  As a former special needs teacher and administrator, insuring equitable access to curriculum and to innovative learning tools will always be a core goal of mine, Also I’ve just read the Step Centre‘s back to school post, and it reminded me of the work they are doing with their special needs students.

Below are some tools we’re using now with all learners. ​In a future blog post, I plan to write about some of the many apps designed now especially to support special needs learners. 

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Welcome to our new TechTerra Education website!

Our new website is both a redesign and a consolidation of the former camptechterra.com and susanswells.com sites. We hope you like it.

Our intent in rolling out this new site is to continue to share with you the many exciting things that Camp TechTerra, TechTerra Training and TechTerra Tools are engaged in, as well as the many exciting things happening in the world of EdTech and Maker’s Ed for K-12.

We’ve tried to retain the best of both former sites, including this blog — formerly at susanswells.com — and plan to add to it with new blog posts on a regular basis. Please check out our pages — Home, Camp TechTerra, TechTerra Training, TechTerra Tools, Blog, About Us, Find Us, and Contact. – and let us know what you think of our new site.

Again, welcome!

We’re home now from our week at ISTE 2016 in Denver, and we’ve unpacked and sorted through our bags of brochures, flyers, cards, and catalogs.  For STEM and MakerEd aficionados, this was our year and our conference.  Manufacturers and developers are catching on to and up with the STEM and Makerspace movement.  They are understanding that innovation is not a moment of exception in the world of education, but a real pedagogical movement!

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One of the things I love about what I do is the chance to meet leaders and professionals from around the globe who are fostering STEM education.

Last month I was in Kingston, Jamaica, where I had the opportunity to be part of a discussion where several government ministry representatives, along with the director of the STEP Centre, ​a school in Kingston for children with disabilities, and professors from Lees McCrae College in western North Carolina ​came together to talk about STEM and citizen science work. I was struck once again with the realization that a focus on STEM education and the empowerment and equipping of our students to carry out the work of STEM is a global movement.  

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Due to customer demand, we are opening up five additional slots  for each of our two Camp TechTerra sessions at Pinewoods Montessori this July. 

When do children start making? When does exploration and creation begin?  The Bay Area Discovery Museum prepares young learners for just this with its new Fab Lab makerspace, the first of its kind for children 10 and under. 

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In late April, I had the chance to spend a week in San Jose, Costa Rica, working with dedicated teachers, administrators and students at Lincoln School.  During the week we were there, TechTerra Training helped Lincoln School launch 3D Printers across all grade levels.  We introduced STEM tech tools to staff through an edtech playground.  And we worked with primary students designing and creating an outdoor STEM lab.

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Traveling the country, imagining and creating brand new learning spaces with librarians and teachers and administrators, is about the coolest professional development opportunity I could have imagined.

So much of the work of this innovation and change for students is on the shoulders of librarians.  As a principal I stated many times that our library was our heart as a school community.  This isn’t a new notion but one that is worth repeating.  All of our students access, use and often find their inspiration from libraries. 

If you’re not sure of the work responsibilities of today’s school librarian, take a look at the AASL, American Association of School Librarians “Standards for the 21st Century Learner.”

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I’m reflecting today on equity, innovation and digital access for all.

In March  I had the honor of meeting with Denmark’s Minister for Children, Education and Gender Equality, Ellen Trane Nørby, with the Consul General of Denmark, Anne Dorte Riggelsen, and with members of the Danish Parliament. We met to discuss trends in U.S. Education. Our meeting focused on issues of equity and innovation and how countries consider these issues in making educational policies.  We shared a global awareness of diversity, accountability and the challenge of providing educational services for refugees and immigrants.

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