Horizon School Virtual Learning Student Document Cameras (2023-2024)
Horizon School is the sole virtual learning academy for Desert Sands Unified School District. Horizon meets the educational needs of all students by providing alternative education with 100% virtual classes for grades TK-12. Any student within the Desert Sands boundary may transfer to Horizon if they feel virtual learning is the best approach for them. Through the Horizon School Virtual Learning Every Student Shares- Document Cameras each student will have a document camera to take home and plug into their Chromebook, and work alongside their teacher and classmates during live instruction. Currently when teachers instruct virtually, they see their students' faces in "Brady Bunch'' style boxes. These document cameras will revolutionize all those boxes into student work samples where teachers can see the pencil on the paper of all students simultaneously. This will allow for immediate feedback from the instructor to the student.
One-on-one document cameras also impact student accountability. Students can no longer hide behind their screens until the end of the lesson. This live teacher feedback results in live student interaction. This interaction is similar to the traditional classroom model of when a teacher could walk the room and look over the shoulder of students working. Subjects like art, math, and penmanship will no longer be taught blind, with teachers "just doing their best" and students skating by. We know that document cameras are highly effective teaching tools because each of our teachers use them daily to model teaching. Students already see what the teacher is doing, and now it is time to pass the baton so the teacher can see what the students are learning.
Our plans are to provide a learning environment that provides less stress and brings more of the traditional classroom atmosphere back for our virtual students. We want to make the future of Horizon School as similar to a comprehensive school as possible with the technology granted with the generosity from Anderson Children’s Foundation.
Contact: Rhea Hoffman
rhea.hoffman@desertsands.us
Early Education Family Engagement Activities (2021-2022)
Desert Sands Early Childhood Education will offer parent training and activities to increase and improve parent participation in their children’s academic and social emotional success. One of the programs is the Parent University where parents receive classes that include “Parents as their child’s first teachers.” “Mental health of the young child/family.” “Nutrition and physical health of the young child/family.” “Getting the preschool child ready for kindergarten.” At every session parents receive hands-on demonstrations and learn techniques to implement with their child/children to best assist in the development of the whole child.
The second training provided is the “Fun Night with Dad,” which is a series of classes to promote the involvement of fathers and father figures in the lives of children and to instill the quest of learning and engaging in the ongoing training provided to our parents throughout the school year.
The third and final activity is an evening full of literacy and language arts activities at the Dr. Seuss Literacy Night to help promote language arts. We model the love of reading for the extension of language development, comprehension, sequence of stories, and understanding of language, communication and phonological awareness.
Children’s Art & Music Festival (CAMFest) Sound Reinforcement Equipment (2020-2021)
The Desert Sands Educational Foundation will purchase quality sound equipment to showcase student performances and better engage annually increasing audiences attending the Children’s Art & Music Festival. CAMFest is a day-long festival held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden wherein programs in music, dance, and theatre performances, artwork, videography and short film displays from the grades K–12 students of Desert Sands Unified School District are appreciated by the diverse communities they represent. Attendees enjoy live music and theatre performances, art displays, short films and participate in an interactive multi-media art area. Of the many components that help make CAMFest a successful event, sound projection for the 2,200 student participants in sixty group performances on seven performance stages is ranked highest.
Sound reinforcement equipment has been a hurdle to the event’s production and a limit to meet highest aspirations for this multi-age, multi-cultural, multi-community, and multi-media event. ACF funds will provide the much-needed sound reinforcement equipment, including lavalier, cardioid, and hand-held microphones with accompanying stands, cables, and power strips to integrate the CAMFest experience. These professional elements to enhance choral and theater group performances and project to audiences have been the most difficult to secure through loans. The equipment procured through ACF funds will be well-cared for and will serve for years of showcasing talent. Included in the project goal is teaching students the respect for and use of professional equipment to maximize individual and group presentations. Public appreciation of student and staff dedication is as inspiring for all as it is critical to sustaining and growing programs in the arts. CAMFest, in its first three years and in the many yet to come, provides such a forum.
