Elkmont High School started out our DPI Rollout Day by having classes come in one at a time to pack their laptops and charging cables into their laptop bag. Students logged into their laptops so that we could troubleshoot early in the day any log in issues that might exist.
Student aides from the high school helped move the laptops to the gym where a stage was set up for presenting the laptops to students "graduation style". In addition to the laptops, Digital Citizenship Certificate of Completion were also prepared, rolled and tied with a red ribbon.
At 1:00 all 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students filed into the gym and the ceremony began. Mr. Garris started by saying a few words and leading the pledge. Dr. Sisk then gave a brief speech about the Digital Passport Initiative and the learning opportunities that will now be available to them. Next, Ms. Pat Gartman took the stage. Calling one class at a time, Ms. Gartman read out the names of each student. As students proceeded across the stage they first received their laptop from their teacher and then their certificate of digital citizenship from Mr. Garris. When all laptops had been distributed, the 3rd and 4th grade classes posed with administration for group photos. Students then proceeded to the lobby area of the gym where Elkmont's wonderful PTSO had cookies and juice for the students. Our PTSO also spearheaded ordering covers for the MacBook Airs and delivered many of those to the students in their classrooms.
After getting snack courtesy of the PTSO, students went back to their classrooms for the last hour of the day. 3rd and 4th grades teachers had a variety of activities planned for this last hour. Ms. Adams jumped right in and taught her students how to use AirDrop. Ms. English got her students started taking pictures of themselves in preparation for learning about AirDrop. Other teachers walked their student through how to find the Elkmont High School website and how to log into their Moodle accounts.
Their were a few bumps in the road along the way but in the end, with the help of SwitchDesk, parent volunteers, student aides, teachers and administrators everything worked out in the end.
Take a look below at all the fun we had during Elkmont's DPI Deployment Day!