Jim Leishman

Mr. Leishman is a Technology Integration Specialist with the Port Huron Area Schools. He has, and continues to create, valuable resources for teachers in all content areas. Such resources include curriculum, software, gadgets, and easy to use technology tips.

Background

Mr. Leishman has spent over twenty years in the instructional technology field, in both the corporate and educational community. His experiences have “run the gamut from training office staff in the new software package they implemented to running a training session for 120 teachers on their new grading system.” In addition to working as a technology integration specialist for the Port Huron Area School District, Jim has spent 11 years teaching at the K-8 level in the East China School District.

Work with Port Huron Area Schools

In his current positions Jim, and his two colleagues, provide excellent educational technology support for the Port Huron Area Schools. Jim provides individualized integration support for classroom teachers including personalized PSD, help with social media in the classroom, and onsite help with students when a classroom teacher is introducing a new technology tool in the classroom. He is always will to sit down and have a phone or Google Hangout with teachers who are exploring new ways of integrating technology in the classroom. To learn more about his work with Port Huron Schools, please feel free to visit check out the PHS Ed Tech Weebly.  With Port Huron Schools going 1:1 by the start of the 2017-18 school year, Jim has been a major contributor to the decision making process.  He is a great resource to seek out when it comes to advice as to what types of devices work with different grade levels and subjects, as well as when or if it is right to have these 1:1 devices assigned to students or having class sets.

Additional Work

In addition to working with the teachers and employees of Port Huron Schools, Jim has created and compiled a collection of resources and materials that ay teacher or district can use.  He actively blogs and posts materials that he discovers, has created presentations to use, shows how to integrate social media, resources for using Apple products in the classroom, and compiled a collection of curriculum resources for core classroom teachers.

Tomorrow's Innovations Blog

Mr. Leishman is always on the lookout for more technology and tips for educators and actively blogs about what he finds.  His “Tomorrow’s Innovations Blog” has extensive archive dating back to October 2015.   Topics that are covered range from VR in the classroom to coding to digital graphics that can be given to students in a variety of classes and grade levels.

PSD Presentations

In his endeavor to create and organize resources for teachers to use, Jim had created several pre-packaged presentations that districts (not just Port Huron Area School District) can use to help integrate technology into the classroom.  These presentations include: Social Media - Parents Helping Children & Teens, 50 Tech Tips in 50 Minutes, VR Field Trip Resources - Foreign Language, Digital Tools That Help Students Show What They Know, Middle School Art Technology Resources, and Elementary Art Virtual Field Trip Resources.  Of these resources, the 50 Tech Tips in 50 Minutes is a presentation that has resources that can be integrated right now into a teacher's lesson plans.

Social Media in the Classroom

Jim is a big advocate of using Social Media in the education world.  He has created resources for students, teachers, and parents that focus on what he calls the “Big 3”: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  His Weebly has links to resources that he has discovered for integrating each of these Social Media sites into the classroom.  These resources range from Facebook Live to image competition with Instagram.  In addition to integrating Social Media, he is also concerned with making sure students understand and learn about Digital Citizenship.

Apple in the Classroom

With many schools using iPads as part of their 1:1 programs finding good resources or applications to use can be a challenge.  Jim has created a collection of resources on numerous topics such as “50 Resources For Teaching With iPads” by TeachThought Staff, How iPads Function In Education, Preparing For iPad Deployment, The Best Apps For Teaching & Learning, iPad Utility & Function, and Ideas For Lessons.

Curriculum Resources

Finally, Jim has created an extensive list of curriculum aligned resources for teachers to access.  This collection is a great resource for teachers just starting to use STEM or STEM style classrooms and lesson plans.  Curriculum resources that he has compiled includes thirty-two websites that can be used for multiple levels of social studies teachers, twelve websites for math teachers, eight sites for english language arts classes, nine links for science teachers to use, and an additional six sites that work for multiple classes.  Included with each of the links is a brief description of what the website offers.  For social studies teachers, this set of resources is great, since it is difficult to find good and effective resources to use in the classroom.

For more information on Jim’s resources please feel free to explore his website.

Written by Andrew Lobb April, 2017