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 | | Spring 2012 | Donor Newsletter |   | | Your Gift Makes a Difference! | | Each year, the generosity of our donors allows us to create amazing opportunities and experiences for our students and faculty. Your gifts to The Annual Fund are used to provide three essential programs: Technology, the Arts, and Professional Development for Faculty and Staff. We will be communicating with you several times a year to highlight how your gifts are used, beginning with this article about our Technology Program.
Father Cameron Ayers, Chaplain at Saint Andrew's Episcopal School, uses technology to teach all aspects of his global Religious Studies courses from PreK through 8th Grade, finding innovative applications to teach lessons from Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and even more faiths.
“I use the iPad in Chapel to display lyrics to hymns, allowing me to choose or change hymns depending on the theme for the Chapel that day,” says Father Ayers. “It’s efficient for me in the planning and easily accessible  during Chapel and the students enjoy using their technology skills to project the lyrics for me. He uses Activboard technology in the classroom to project presentations onto a large whiteboard. This technology allows interactivity since it connects to the Internet in real time and allows the students to access and manipulate information in real time using a stylus.”
Father Cameron cites the benefits of using technology in education as engaging students more easily since it’s in a medium that they understand and are adept at using. He recently used YouTube - something that all students are familiar with – to show a clip from Disney’s “It’s a Small World” to introduce a discussion about diversity with First and Second Graders. “It is always easier, especially with younger students, to introduce concepts with visuals rather than solely relying on lecturing,” states Father Cameron.
Kim Petruzzelli, Technology Teacher, is well versed in advances in the use of computers at Saint Andrew's Episcopal School as well as where our program is headed. Students in grades 6-8 all receive laptops for school and home use. And beginning the second semester, students in Fifth Grade will be able to take their laptops home as well. “We realized that having the students receive their laptops earlier would allow for an even smoother transition to Sixth Grade, as Middle School brings other changes such as changing classrooms, lockers and the like,” she explains.
 The school recently introduced Google Apps technology, which allows us to maximize cloud innovations. “Using Google Docs, students and teachers are able access documents from any computer, as well as collaborate on them in real time,” says Ms. Petruzzelli. Cloud technology not only allows students to function more efficiently, it also enables students to remain up to date on lessons and assignments since its functionality is accessible from any computer, whether it’s at school, home or across the world on a family vacation.
Another innovative addition to the school-wide Technology Program is called Scratch, an open source program developed at MIT that utilizes visual programming language that students can use to create their own computer games and animated stories. Rather than long lines of code, students are able to ‘grab’ blocks of code and drop them into programs that they write themselves. This graphic user interface is an excellent way to introduce younger students to the ‘science’ of computer programming. Read More... |  |
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| Matching Gift Program | | Your gift can go further! You can double your gift if you or your spouse work for a matching gift company. Check with your company’s Human Resources Department for instructions on how to submit a matching gift request and (some companies have forms and some have online portals. The Development Office staff has facilitated many gifts in the past and would be happy to help you with this process -- just give us a call at 408.867.3785, ext. 207. | |
| If You Made a Pledge | | If you made a pledge, we will be sending a pledge reminder letter on April 1 and all pledges must be received in our office by April 30, 2012. Thank you for your generous pledge – it allows us to plan knowing that we can count on your gift arriving before the end of the school year! Thank you! If you have any questions about your gift or pledge, please email Gail Longfellow at glongfellow@st-andrews.org or call her at (408) 867-3785. | |
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