After a 24-hour delay due to the weather, Notre Dame's faculty and staff spent January 7 immersed in all things "tech." Coined "Tech-Mania" by school administration, the day gave teachers from all three NDPMA academic divisions lessons in the many technology changes coming to their classrooms.
In two separate sessions, the teachers and staff received a "tabletful" of information from a number of in-house volunteer presenters, including middle-school teacher Kelly Patterson, who provided an overview on the panoply of education apps available from Google; computer-science teacher Katrina Palushaj, who discussed LanSchool, which is software that allows teachers to monitor students' activity and improve learning in a digital classroom; and upper-school math teacher Dan Staniszewski, who presented information on the innovative "flipped-classroom" concept that currently is catching fire across the U.S.
Brandon Jezdimir, vice principal of the middle school and a Tech-Mania organizer, said the day was designed to "help integrate technology thoroughly in the classroom as NDPMA goes 1-to-1" with tablets and computers.
Notre Dame currently is in the process of bringing the school fully into 1-to-1, with a tablet pilot program slated to get underway in the middle and upper divisions during this semester. The school's lower division, which educates students in junior-kindergarten through fifth grade, has been working with iPads in the classroom since last semester.
In fact, with at least a couple of months technology-integration experience already under their belts, lower-division teachers Donna Stuk and Allison Pearsall will be conducting their own session today for fellow teachers on Socrative, a software application focused on giving them the ability to even better engage their students through educational exercises and games using smartphones, laptops and tablets.
The day began with Mass conducted for the entire faculty and staff. School resumed for students January 8.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.