CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Oct. 29, 2012 – More Southern California schools and districts are making Mimio Interactive Teaching Technologies a standard component in creating first-rate learning environments, facilitating differentiated instruction and preparing students to successfully meet the challenges of excelling in the 21st century workplace. During the month of September alone, more than 70 classrooms at Home Gardens Academy and Cesar Chavez Academy in Corona-Norco Unified School District (USD) as well as Mission Hills Elementary and Cypress School of the Arts in Hesperia USD incorporated Mimio products into their teaching practices.
With the addition of the institutions cited above, a total of 34 private schools and 26 districts across the region, including Los Angeles Unified School District (USD), San Diego USD, Orange USD, Etiwanda USD, and Murietta Valley USD, have committed to teaching with Mimio.
Mimio was born by way of some very creative thinkers at MIT, in 1997, who were dedicated to making learning more engaging for students with technology that enabled teachers to do what they do best, teach. As Mimio has grown, numerous breakthrough innovations have emerged through the collaboration between world-class engineers and top educators looking to set significant new standards for the industry.
"We are passionate about two things – helping teachers truly engage today's 'iGeneration' students and helping students excel. Our passion comes to life by delivering the best interactive learning environments in each and every academic classroom, be it language arts, math, science or history," said Manny Perez, Mimio's General Manager. "What we are witnessing with the rapid adoption of Mimio products across Southern California and around the state is that K-12 administrators and teachers are committed to reaching students with tools and resources that are both relevant and motivating."
As a global leader in developing interactive teaching technologies and instructional software, MimioClassroom products include the MimioTeach™ interactive whiteboard, which converts any dry erase board into a fully-interactive whiteboard; MimioVote™ assessment; MimioView™ document camera; MimioPad™ wireless pen tablet; and MimioCapture™ ink recorder. Each MimioTeach comes pre-packaged with the award-winning MimioStudio™ classroom software, which is compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems, and is available in 33 languages, so teachers around the world can generate localized activities. In addition, Mimio also recently launched MimioReading™ software suite that provides schools with one-of-a-kind supplemental reading programs for individual, group and full classroom instruction.
Educators at Cole Canyon Elementary School in Murietta Valley USD initiated a pilot program with the MimioTeach interactive whiteboard last year after Principal Mike Marble recognized that the technologies students enjoy outside school make it more difficult to capture their attention with conventional teaching tools like textbooks and overhead projectors.
"Cole Canyon teachers do an excellent job in helping out students excel academically. Yet, teaching today has to be more hands-on, integrated and thematic instead of worksheet and drill-oriented," said Marble. "This solution has given our teachers a way to step out of the traditional role of just 'instructing' and into one where they are facilitators to the learning process and students are active participants."
California educators aren't alone in embracing the use of interactive teaching technologies in the classroom. In a report, "K-12 Tech Tools and Trend 2012, publishing forecast firm Simba Information revealed that interactive whiteboards are used in nearly 30 percent of K-12 classroom for at least 5.1 hours a day. The publisher also noted that interactive whiteboards have the most penetration of any recent tech device, with an average usage of more than 70 percent in all major subject areas in elementary schools.
"I regularly use technology as a motivational tool, as a way to differentiate and quickly and accurately assess students' understanding of the standards, and to hold each student accountable for their own learning," said Angela Helmer, third-grade teacher, Todd Elementary in Corona-Norco USD. "I have students completing touch-screen monitor computer-based learning activities, other are dancing their way through their learning on a dance mat, while others are at the front of the room using the Mimio interactive whiteboard with the interactive pen to work on a kinesthetically-based vocabulary lesson."
For Nancy Jones, a second-grade teacher at Todd Elementary, the power comes from MimioVotes. "The responders have been so easy to use and have really kept the kids engaged in the learning process. I love having the instant feedback of their understanding of the concept taught because it allows me to move on or to clarify any confusion. The students even discuss why a student may have picked an incorrect answer."
Cole Canyon third-grade teacher Anne Hess added, "I believe I'm a better teacher since adding MimioTeach to my classroom. The possibilities for making my lesson more creative and engaging are absolutely limitless, and this interactive technology has made me feel more connected to my students. The very morning it arrived, I literally pulled it out of the box, plugged it into my computer and projector, and I was ready to start teaching."
Perez added, "These educators, like so many of their peers around the country, use the MimioClassroom comprehensive suite because it has an outstanding reputation for offering quality, easy-to-use products supported by terrific professional development tools. These interactive teaching technologies are helping students across all grades and subjects build the skills necessary to succeed in today's knowledge-based, technology-enabled society."
About Mimio Mimio is a global leader in interactive teaching technologies that offer a better way to learn and an empowering way to teach. As part of Newell Rubbermaid's global portfolio of leading brands, Mimio designs innovative, affordable educational technologies and solutions to increase effectiveness and engagement in K-12 classrooms. For more information, visit mimio.com. Follow Mimio on Twitter @MimioTechnology and "Like" us on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Mimio.Technology.
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http://www.simbainformation.com/Technology-Tools-Trends-6871098
