Kristi Druvenga

Druvenga’s winning program, “Technology Titans: Stomping Out Bullying!,” is designed to decrease acts of bullying. There are about 160,000 children that miss school every day out of a fear of being bullied. Third-grade students will create anti-bullying Public Service Announcements (PSAs) using Apple’s iMovie or an online movie making website such as Littlebirdtales.com or Storybird.com to persuade others to take a stand against bullying. The completed PSAs will be presented to the entire student body (approximately 300 students) and will be posted on the classroom webpage, student blogs and classroom Facebook page. The requirements of the project include researching bullying facts and forms of bullying, strategies for taking a stand against bullying, the impact of bullying and resources and advice for students who experience bullying. The process starts with students creating storyboards with graphic organizers. They then write informative texts to examine topics and convey ideas clearly. Introducing and developing topics along the way helps to stimulate the way the stories are developed. This process also helps students with their writing skills. Adults help to guide the stories and edit the final products. At the end of the project, students can publish and post their work for family and friends over the Internet. Druvenga resides in Oelwein.