{"id":32090,"date":"2023-11-07T12:08:54","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T17:08:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nearpod.com\/blog\/?p=32090"},"modified":"2024-12-13T17:20:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T22:20:14","slug":"adirondack-success-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nearpod.com\/blog\/adirondack-success-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking the digital fluency leap with Nearpod: Adirondack Central School District\u2019s story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a digital age where technological literacy is paramount, the integration of computer science and digital fluency into K-12 education is a top priority for school districts. For students today to become the confident, competitive professionals of tomorrow, they must be prepared for contexts that shift in a click. With this in mind, in 2020, New York State (NYS) introduced Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards<\/a>, mandating all K-12 schools to fully incorporate them into their classrooms by the end of 2024. The standards are categorized into five topics: Impacts of Computing, Computational Thinking, Networks and System Design, Cybersecurity, and Digital Literacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant step for students is a giant leap for educators. Determined to support and not swamp teachers, the Adirondack Central School District<\/a> in upstate New York is leveraging its long-term partnership with Nearpod to prepare its staff for the standards\u2014and the assessments that will inevitably follow. Together, the district, educators, and Nearpod specialists devised a pioneering plan to align ready-to-teach lessons from Nearpod\u2019s 21st Century Readiness Program<\/a> with these standards so that by the time they come into force, everyone knows what they\u2019re doing, how they\u2019re doing it, and why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New to Nearpod? <\/strong>Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod\u2019s 21st Century Readiness Program for schools and districts.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Teachers: Sign up for free<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Administrators: Schedule a call<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Main challenge: Navigating digital literacy standards with purpose<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

How could an ambitious rural public school district prepare all its teachers and students for incoming digital literacy standards without ramping up the pressure and workloads? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Determined teachers across the Adirondack Central School District were aware of the criteria set out by the New York State Education Department. For Michael Faustino, the district\u2019s director of curriculum, instruction, and technology, the only way to successfully implement the standards was to transform educators\u2019 apprehension into intention and purpose.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe easy way out would be to explain the standards and ask teachers to just do their best. That’s not our philosophy. When you have new standards, there\u2019s going to be an assessment of some sort and there must be an accountability measure,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Michael knew the district needed to support all teachers with a solid, structured plan so they didn\u2019t feel overwhelmed or underequipped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnytime you have mandates come down, the tendency is to put more on teachers\u2019 plates without taking anything away. We realized that we can\u2019t put students first if we put teachers last,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Nick Palczak, the district\u2019s STEAM coordinator, it would be crucial to support teachers in leveraging the existing lessons and resources their students enjoyed and engaged with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur educators are already meeting many of the standards\u2014sometimes without even knowing it. So, the question was simple: How do we incorporate these lessons into their classes?<\/strong>\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer was <\/strong>Nearpod<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> The Adirondack Central School District has been an active Nearpod partner since January 2019. The incoming standards present a prime opportunity to take the partnership to the next level and use Nearpod to align what is being done with what needs to be done. As Michael asserts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur goal for this academic year is to familiarize all our teachers with the alignment documents we are creating. If we roll out the alignment by September 2024, we won’t need implementation. We will just be fine-tuning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program sets path to meet NYS Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program<\/a> is a powerful tool that equips teachers with a singular solution to infuse 21st-century learning into their daily lessons. This program is designed to bridge the gap, ensuring that students not only excel academically but also develop vital life skills.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adirondack recognized the transformative potential of this program for educators who aspire to ready their students for the complexities of the 21st century while meeting the stringent requirements of the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To support the district in the demanding task of aligning its curriculum with the new standards, the Nearpod team helped build alignment documents using lessons from the 21st Century Readiness Program, specifically customized for these incoming standards. These documents encompass comprehensive, user-friendly, and adaptable resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Check out the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards content alignment<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The district’s forward-thinking approach to education is evident in creating curriculum maps that meticulously identify Nearpod lessons aligning with the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards across various grade levels. Significantly, most of these curriculum resources are sourced from the 21st Century Readiness Program. This strategic integration ensures that students are exposed to high-quality, standards-aligned content and underscores the district’s commitment to nurturing digital fluency and 21st-century skills among its learners.<\/strong> By leveraging these curriculum maps, educators can effectively use them to pinpoint which of their lessons fulfill the criteria of any given standard and track their progress toward ticking all the boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that\u2019s what Adirondack did, and the results were rewarding\u2014and relieving\u2014as Michael explains: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew we didn\u2019t want a system that provided standard-aligned lessons but was complex to navigate. Nearpod is so easy to use and works so well. Kids love it. Our students\u2019 mental health is one of our primary concerns, so the platform was a win-win.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nick concurs: \u201cIt’s not hard to introduce Nearpod to a set of students by day two. They can run lessons at their own pace. Teachers, even those who are tech-wary, lose their fear because they still use tools they\u2019re familiar with, like Google Docs, with Nearpod.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching with<\/em>, not at<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In anticipation of the 2024 deadline, Michael and Nick are collaborating closely with Nearpod to plan and execute a comprehensive districtwide rollout meticulously. The first step will be training administrators to become instructional leaders who build capacity through workshops and ongoing support from turnkey trainers. They aim to help teachers explore the standards and connect the dots to what they\u2019re already teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Quote<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to teach at them,\u201d Michael insists. \u201cThe beauty of the Nearpod alignment documents is that teachers can see the standards broken down into subjects and the timeline and then link to the lessons they can use in the classroom.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York State\u2019s learning standards work by bands. Nick has taken each band and broken it down by grade for K-12. He is progressively feeding the alignment documents in which the standards are listed, with an explanation of the standard, examples of the standard that the state provided, and lessons that align with that standard to give to teachers, encouraging them to add their own lessons to the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The aim is for teachers to recognize what they\u2019re doing in class and understand how the district and Nearpod can help them fill in the gaps or try something new. Nick gives an example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPart of the digital fluency standards is creating a digital artifact. Every teacher who creates a slide in Google Slides is creating digital artifacts. How can we make that more intentional? Why did you pick Google instead of something else? What are the features of it? How do you save it? Do you have folders? Is it stored in the Cloud? What does that mean? Great. Now you can deliver a lesson on digital citizenship.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some examples of the lessons* Adirondack used for instruction: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Visualizing<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n