Russell Ladd may only be a junior at Seaholm High School, but he already has a long history designing Apple Apps with a strong foundation in education.
Collaborating with Deb Woodman, a second grade teacher at Harlan Elementary, Ladd recently developed and designed “Cards” to help her students practice spelling patterns.
Ladd has spent hundreds of hours since January 2012 developing this application. Cards was designed to transition the current BPS spelling curriculum, Words Their Way, from traditional paper worksheets to a modern digital format. The app was initially tested in Woodman’s classroom in October and interest in Cards soon spread throughout the rest of the school, prompting Ladd to install it on all of Harlan’s 52 iPads with the assistance of BPS technicians.
“It was extremely rewarding for me to physically stand in a classroom of kids who were so clearly engaged in learning from an app I created,” Ladd said.
Harlan teachers spent time with Ladd, learning how to input their data into the app and collaborate with colleagues. Now Cards is successfully being utilized by students in groups, pairs, and individually at Harlan. In addition, Cards is being used in other subject areas beyond spelling.
Ladd is self-taught and very serious about his work, researching, coding, and copywriting apps for educational forward-thinking purposes. He is in an Independent Study course in the Seaholm Business Technology Department that allows him to spend a part of his school day working on his projects. Learn more about Ladd’s work at grl5.com and click Cards for more information, pictures, and videos.
Birmingham Public Schools is committed to excellence in education, consistently ranking among the highest achieving school districts in the state. With optimal class sizes, high academic standards, a comprehensive curriculum, expansive extracurricular menu and nurturing environment built on a foundation of Character Education, our students have an advantage.
For more information about Birmingham Public Schools, visit www.birmingham.k12.mi.us.
Source: Birmingham Public Schools
