On Saturday, March 16, four of McKinna’s sixth grade students presented at the annual CUE Conference in Palm Springs. The CUE (Computer Using Educators) Conference is the place that California educators go to find out the latest information on cutting edge educational technology and best practices for its implementation in the classroom. This year attendance topped 4,000 for the first time since 2000. The Student Technology Showcase was held  from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in the lobby of the Palm Springs Convention Center.

     Students from all of the CTAP regions in California are chosen to present by their local chapters. McKinna was one of two Oxnard School District schools that presented this year. The other was Ritchen. Four McKinna students, Odalis H., Sophia T., Wendy R. and Ryan C. demonstrated their iCard projects. iCards are interactive vocabulary cards that are displayed on iPads and made using Keynote and iMovie. The vocabulary comes from selections in the Houghton Mifflin anthologies. Mr. Oy, one of McKinna’s sixth grade teachers, came up with the concept that involves researching the word of the internet, finding a picture that illustrates the word’s meaning, giving the definition in the student’s own words, and adding a synonym, antonym and sentence containing the word. The students then record this information that is accessed by the reader when they touch the card.