Arts&Technology

About Me

 

My name is Kerry Brown Abbott, and I have been an educator for the past 14 years in Arlington, VA.  I began my journey as a 5th grade homeroom teacher with an inclusive special ed and ESOL/HILT population.

 

Classroom Teacher – Grade 5 Inclusion (6 years)

• Planned and taught innovative and differentiated lessons in all academic areas for resource, special education, ESOL/HILT, GT and general education students

• Implemented unit plans and lessons plans based on the Multiple Intelligence Pathways: Exploration, Bridging, Understanding, Authentic and Talent

• Employed guided reading strategies, literature circles, word study, writer’s workshop, research projects and drama techniques during Language Arts lessons

• Integrated technology and fine arts into classroom instruction 

 

Awards and Recognition: 

• Teacher of The Year for Abingdon Elementary School (2003)

• 5th Grade Team Leader and Representative (2001-2006)

 

After 6 years of homeroom experience, I was given a unique opportunity to develop my own program for grades PreK-5.  I developed a communications course that focused on various ways to communicate a story.  We used many different techniques to share and explore our stories, including drama, arts, music, technology, videography, and animation.  I cultivated and crafted this program over the next 8 years.  Through this program, I produced 26 musicals for grades 1-5, and over 100 videos including PSAs, Dramatizations, Claymations, and Documentaries.  Our claymation animation movies have been recognized world wide through the Shorties Award (an international competition for student film makers).  

 

Communications Teacher  – Grades PreK-5 (8 years)

• Created a Communications Program that focused on a variety of different ways to communicate

• Planned and implemented lessons for 6 classes (one from each grade level) daily

• Integrated technology daily to enhance and deepen student understanding of objectives (ie. claymation videography, digital music composition, live video production, cinematography, photography, audio voice recordings, and narrations, web 2.0 cartoon animation, social media discussion boards, and slide show presentations exported to quicktime movies)

• Incorporated fine arts strategies in all units of study as a foundation for the technology integration as a way to deepen empathy and personal connections to the content (ie. drama, tableaus, readers theater, puppetry, musical composition,  sculpting, movement/dance, and performance)

 

Awards and Recognition:

• Teacher of The Year for Abingdon Elementary School (2009)

• International Shorties Award - 1st Place for “The Lost Colony”, a claymation film (2009) 

• International Shorties Award - 2nd Place for “Jamestown”, a claymation film (2008)

• “Jamestown” was played as a silent movie behind the Alexandria Band during a public concert (2008)

 

After graduating with a Masters Degree in Technology Integration in 2011, I created and launched a Technology Coaching Program, a 1:1 coaching model for technology integration in the core classrooms. Please explore this website to see documentary footage of my teachers and young trailblazers engaged in such activities as directing movies, employing trick photography, creating eBooks, and composing music. 

 

Technology Coach – Grades K-5 (3 years)

• Developed and employed a 1:1 coaching model for technology integration in the classrooms

• Collaborated with the school-based Instructional Technology Coordinator (ITC)

• Met with each teacher to plan SMART goals, specific goals with measurable results, based on content needs

• Planned lessons to meet those goals, ensuring that it allowed students to meet objectives in both technology and content

• Supported staff through training and in-class assistance during implementation of the lesson

• Documented the process, evaluated the effectiveness of the technology to accomplish the content objectives, and reflected with the teachers in order to inform their instruction for future lessons

 

I spent eight years acting as an Exemplary Project Coordinator at Abingdon Elementary School, home of Project GIFT - Guiding Instruction through Fine Arts and Technology. I have been a leader on the partnership we have with the John F. Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program to study how students gain a deeper understanding of curriculum when they explore it through the arts. I adapted this idea for the digital arts and cultivated a new generation of collaborative student innovators. I coached staff, trained staff, presented our success to the greater community and stake holders, reflected on our glitches in search of improvement, and overall I have helped my school to grow.  Over the past eight years I have created a community presence in the hallways of our school by developing Project GIFT Showcases throughout the year to share our Exemplary Project with the greater community.  I have also coordinated and hosted many tour groups through Abingdon to show Project GIFT in action.  These groups have consisted of stakeholders, current parents, prospective parents, as well as principals and educators throughout the country!

 

Exemplary Project Coordinator – Grades K-5 (8 years)

• Coordinated “Showcase Night” four times a year for students and parents to view student projects

• Worked with administration and staff to coordinate and develop our school focus program

• Coordinated and hosted monthly site tours for school groups interested in Arts and Technology Integration 

 

Training and Staff Developement (attendee):

• Kennedy Center Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) – completed 17 courses (2005-Present)

• Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) - completed 2 years of training (2011-2013)

• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) - attended 2 conferences (2011 and 2013)

• Apple ReThink Education - Reston, VA (2011) 

• Mac Training Program for Educators - Arlington, VA (2011)

• Understanding by Design - Arlington, VA (2008)

• Library of Congress Adventures of the American Mind - completed 2 years of training (2005-2007)

• Harvard University Project Zero - completed 2 courses (2003 and 2007)

• Teaching Qualities of Writing with Ralph Fletcher Craft Lessons and Writer’s Workshop (2005-2006)

• History Alive - completed 4 courses (2002-2005) 

• Becoming an MI School - week long conference in Indianapolis, IN at Key Elementary School (2004) 

• University of Virginia (UVA) - completed 2 courses from their reading program (2003 and 2004)

• Copenhaver Institute - four day conference on Multiple Intelligences in Roanoke, VA (2003)

• Harvard Tripod Project with Ron Ferguson and data collection for the research project  (2002-2003)

 

Committee Work:

• School Focus Committee (2002-Present)

• CETA Strategic Planning Committee (2005-Present) 

• Showcase Nights and Site Visits Coordinator and Leader (2006-Present) 

• Exemplary Project Coordinator (2006-Present)

• Abingdon’s Musical Theater and Drama Club Creator and Leader (2007-Present)

• Technology Integration Team (2011-Present)

• PTA Committee Member (2002-2009) 

 

Awards and Recognitions:

• CETA Certificates of Study from the Kennedy Center for Arts Integration (2011) 

• CETA Certificates of Study from the Kennedy Center for Arts Integration (2009)

 

I have been selected to speak at 19 different workshops and presentation across the country to share the innovative work that I have been doing with students and staff at Abingdon Elementary School.  

 

Speaking Engagements - PRESENTATIONS and WORKSHOPS (presenter):

• Arlington Technology Symposium - presented 2 breakout sessions (July 2014)

• Howard County Technology Symposium - presented 4 workshops over 2 days (June 2013)

• International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in San Antonio, TX (June 2013)

• Mac Site Visit at Abingdon in Arlington, VA (March 2013)

• Kennedy Center CETA Course Tiny Toy Tales Technology (February 2013)

• MAESP Aspiring Leaders’ Conference in Maryland (February 2013)

• Apple ReThink Education - presented 8 breakout sessions at 4 conferences (March-June 2012) 

• Kennedy Center’s “A Day of Arts Integration” in Arlington, VA (April 2010)

• Kennedy Center Changing Education Through the Arts, CETA Conference (April 2009)

• Copenhaver Institute conference on Multiple Intelligences in Roanoke, VA (June 2003)

 

I would love to share my expertise with you,  and I welcome the opportunity to learn from yours.  Please enjoy the videos on this site and send me a note with your thoughts, questions and suggestions.