by AJ Daughtry Krill
On May 29, 2024, Information Technology Academy (ITA) Madison Site AJ Daughtry Krill, ITA Outreach Coordinator and Technology Education Lead, visited Orchard Ridge Elementary School for a Technology Road Show.
The annual Technology Road Show is aimed to engage younger students through technology-based projects. It is an opportunity to expose the elementary school community to ITA’s program and mission as well as inspire the young students to consider education and careers in technology.
“My students were so excited about this project! It was great to see them put their creativity to use and explore ways to make learning fun. I loved watching their faces when they saw their games come to life on the screen! What a wonderful program.”
Janie Kampschroer, 5th Grade Teacher Orchard Ridge Elementary (ORE)
This year’s event marked a special milestone in the return to ITA’s Annual Road Show. Due to the pandemic, 2019 was the last spring ITA participated in this collaboration. AJ Daughtry Krill coordinated the effort this year. AJ visited the 5th grade class at Orchard Ridge Elementary (ORE) with an opportunity to develop a proposal for a creative new idea for a game that aims to also fulfill a learning objective for 3rd grade students, based on Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) standards. Students worked alone, in pairs, and as groups of 3 to design their games. The proposals included brief biographies, game descriptions, the setting, mechanics, and components of the game, and the rules for how you play, win, and lose. 5th graders at ORE also created drawings and charts to help further communicate their game proposals.
“During the video game creation process and when they got to play their final video game, I saw 5th grade students engage for the whole hour who normally [may] have trouble engaging. I also saw 5th grade students start thinking about doing ITA in high school which made them excited for their future.”
Madelin Reynolds, Cross Categorical Teacher (ORE)
Once 14 proposals had been submitted, AJ brought them to ITA students, ranging from grades 9-11, and found students willing to learn more about code and develop these proposals into playable games. Students worked alone in a collaborative setting to share ideas and develop the games using MIT’s scratch program. Technology Instructors, Cassandra Angeles and Jeremyah WIlliams, both ITA graduates of the class of 2020, led the classrooms with AJ to answer questions, solve issues, and provide ideas on how to achieve goals with the games. Over the course of a couple months, from February to May, the games came together. Most were developed by the ITA students, and a handful were developed by Cassandra, Jeremyah, and AJ with some help from another ITA Graduate and Technology Instructor, Khaleilei Kidau.
Unfortunately, the storm on May 22nd required us to cancel the original plan to visit the school as an ITA Ambassador team, including all student developers and more ITA staff members. Fortunately, ORE and ITA worked together to pivot the plan. On May 29th, one week later, AJ represented ITA and met with the 5th grade proposal writers. Students had a chance to play their own games and each other’s for the very first time. They also presented their proposal and final game to each other that Wednesday morning. Overall, it was a huge success for ITA and ORE!
“It was so awesome to hear kids complimenting each other’s games! There was a real sense of support among everyone for each other’s ideas and games.”
Ciara Rose, Librarian (ORE)
Please enjoy the games we have developed! Visit tinyurl.com/itaroadshow to browse through all the games created as a collaboration between ITA and ORE.
