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Often visits us here in the Villages;


Welcome to the Shepaug Valley Middle School’s Technology Blog! (Connecticut)

My name is Sheila G. and I learned the art of being a technology teacher at a very innovative and creative school district, Bethel Public Schools. I was at Bethel Middle School for seven years. When I started, I was an English teacher, but a second M.S. degree in Computer Information Systems led me to apply for the position as the technology teacher at the middle school. I’ve always loved technology. My mother used to tell me and my brother that we could stay up all night playing video games….if we programmed them ourselves….so we did! Though we never made it until 3am like we had originally planned, we did learn some Basic Programming. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always been involved with new and innovative technology. I love learning new things and living in this exciting and innovative time. It’s an amazing feeling when I see the “light bulbs go off,” and the twinkle in students’ eyes (if you know what I mean) as they solve complex problems or come to the realization that technology can do something they never thought possible… or never thought about at all. Like my students, I love to learn as much as I can about technology. In fact, one of the best things about my job is learning new things. Sometimes it feels as if my knowledge grows exponentially each year to learn different skills to teach students.

Since I started teaching technology, some of the things I’ve accomplished:
•Wrote curriculum for robotics, programming, and digital student classes
•Aligned PLTW curriculum to state and school standards
•Taught robotics building and programming with Lego Mindstorms NXT and VEX with RobotC
•Taught computer programming in Scratch, Alice, Javascript, and Objective C for iPhones
•Made WeDo sensors work through the USB ports to control objects in a video game via USB steering wheels made from Lego pieces
•Developed digital filmmaking and production units in the TV Studio and taught more cinematographic techniques for digital storytelling
•Learned and applied website programming with HTML, Javascript, and CSS, Dreamweaver, PHP, MySQL, ASP.NET, Visual Basic 10 and Visual Basic for Applications, iPhone Programming, and I’m currently learning HTML5 and C#
•Photoshop CS3, CS5 (try teaching layers to 7th graders…and art teachers….but I did it!!!)
•Taught pre-engineering through Project Lead the Way, including Design and Modeling and Automation and Robotics with 3D modeling and animation with Autodesk Inventor
•Provided technical support in hardware, software, and using technology in the classroom to a staff of approximately 50
•Provided formal and informal professional development to groups of teachers in different subject areas – I’ve taught many, many, many lessons to staff members on Smartboards, Senteos, iMovie, Garageband, Digital Storytelling, Video Production, TV Studio, Photoshop, and Web 2.0 Tools like Prezi, Blabberize, and YouTube

For the past four years I’ve also taught “How to Make Your Own Music Video,” Digital Photography, Robotics, and Video Game Programming through the Summer Enrichment Program and I teach iPhone programming and Manga Drawing after school. Many teachers have developed projects for their own classrooms after having seen the creative work we do over the summer.


It seems I always find ways to grow and improve. In my constant quest for knowledge, I recently attended an Engineering Externship through NextGen Manufacturing, where I worked at Branson Ultrasonics for 160 hours over the summer to learn about requirements gathering in the IT Department. I met with the Director of Engineering about several projects and I’ve built a few database applications. One of the projects I’m most proud of is the rebuilding of their Intranet site. It was developed to allow sharing and collaboration of information and to support multiple content contributors with different levels of permissions. At the end of the summer, my boss at Branson liked my work so much, he asked me to stay on as a part-time member of their amazing IT team and I’ve been there for two years now. The work I do there every day really connects to what I do in the classroom and I understand the skills that are vital to student success in a global economy.


One of the things I’m most proud of in my teaching career is that I helped to develop a program called The Digital Student. Magic happens in these classes. I’ve been able to teach students how to utilize today’s Web 2.0 tools to become creators and collaborators while they learn 21st Century Skills. I teach students skills they need to compete in a global marketplace, differences between open source and commercially licensed software, how to protect themselves online, how to program computers, video games, and robots, and how to go through the engineering design process to create an innovative product that solves a problem. I also teach digital filmmaking and try to incorporate it into as many projects as I can. A few of our students’ films were chosen to represent Bethel Middle School in the 2011 CT Student Film Festival. It is predominately a high school event, so as you can imagine, it was VERY special that our films were chosen to open up the festival!!! You could’ve heard a pin drop when they were viewed. The movies were riveting! You can view them on my teaching YouTube channel, bethelmiddleschooltelevision or on the CT Student Film Festival website: Why? and The Bullying Poem.


This year I am teaching at Shepaug Valley Middle School with a team of creative and amazing teachers. I teach a structured STEM class called Project Lead the Way. Students learn about the engineering design process, how to design and model in the 3D CAD modeling program called Autodesk Inventor, and how to design, build, and program VEX robotics kits. Students learn how to work collaboratively as part of a team to solve problems and to present their findings in a variety of ways.


The thing I love the most about teaching my classes is that students are entirely engaged and minds are always on! Many students come in for lunch everyday to work on various projects because they love it so much. As a teacher, I go above and beyond and try to teach students everything technological that they are interested in learning about, in addition to what our curriculum offers. If it is something I don’t know, I learn it and teach them.This is how “The App Factory,” an iPhone programming club, got started. Michael F. and Marco P. came to me to ask if I could teach it and I had been thinking about iPhone programming and had a couple of books, so it gave me the perfect opportunity to learn… and then teach… the best way to learn!


In the future, I hope to bring even more joy to the world of technology students as we delve deeper into the world of technological change with subjects such as biomedical engineering, nanotechnology, and alternative energy. I am also studying to learn how best to integrate technology in a more fluent way with core curricular subjects, how to enhance lessons with technology in the classroom, how to use assistive technology with SPED students, and how to best provide professional development for my peers in areas of technology and the upcoming Smarter Balanced Assessments.


In addition to my accomplishments in technology, I recently received my 092 Certificate in Intermediate School Leadership and I am serving as the assistant principal at Shepaug Valley Middle School, where I will help to assist our Technology Specialist in infusing technology into core curricular classes.

How do we get students to develop more meaningful and rich technology skills that can transfer across many platforms? We use technology a lot and in a very wide variety of ways. I am a teacher, but also a leader because I don’t just feed people, I also teach them how to fish… how to find the answers they don’t yet know. I “do good quietly.” One of my best traits is that I am a an innovator and I’m always ahead of the curve.

I’m out for now, but until we meet again, Happy Computational Thinking to All!!!