Valley teacher honored for technology teaching
A valley teacher is the outstanding “Computer Using Educator,” or CUE, teacher of the year. The nonprofit group of educators promotes using technology in the classroom and teachers right here in the Coachella Valley are taking students into the future.
“We are preparing students for a world that doesn’t even really exist yet,” said teacher Jessica Pack.
We live in a digital age, so that’s the way Pack, the teacher of the year honoree, approaches her classroom at James Workman Middle School in Cathedral City.
“Pretty much all content is Google-able at this point, so it’s really about the thinking processes that make us responsible citizens, people who are prepared to interact in the world. For me, that’s why I give my kids that opportunity to express themselves and they are learning through the medium of film,” said Pack.
Pack uses techniques from digital storytelling, to exploring new forms of interactive media.
“It’s happening right here in the Coachella Valley,” said Pack.
Pack is one of 5,600 educators at the Annual CUE Convention, a group of computer using educators whose goal is to share the latest innovations of the classroom.
“We look at how connected the world is. We don’t want to cut our students off, we want them to be learning how to use the technology effectively and how to use it enhance their learning and understanding, because that is the world they are going to be working in,” said CUE Board President Robert Craven.
Educators from across the country and Canada are spending three days in the desert learning how technology can ignite the imagination.
“I come every year to try and get some new ideas for my class,” said Gary Norwalk. “This year has really been heavy on coding and programming, trying to get students involved and fired up about programming in the classroom and maybe getting into a job that does that.”
With all the advances on display here, the idea is not to replace everything.
“We still want them using paints, paper and crayons at the younger levels, then we want them in Minecraft creating, using 3-D printers to print those out,” said Craven.
For more information about CUE and the conference, Click Here.
