Ellen and the EdTech Lens

I taught for five years, then left the classroom to do education photography and to write curriculum and children’s books. Over the last five years I focused my abilities and efforts on creating K-5 life science content. I went to the rainforest with my son, Steven, a videographer. With the help of a few select educators and media creators, we created Rainforest Journey. It is a media-rich, NGSS-aligned collection of lessons, units, primary sources, activities, and assessments. My offerings on TpT have been drawn from this collection.

My approach to teaching is to combine various strategies to engage students. When engaged, students’ attention, curiosity, and imaginations are stirred and they learn. I strive to engage students with high-quality media and good writing. I also work to increase engagement by relating science concepts to the real world as much as possible. Authentic photographs and videos help make the real-world connection. They also open a window to places and things students have not encountered before. Human interest helps engagement, as well. Rainforest Journey includes scientist interviews; photos of people, including children, on rainforest trails; and a primary source journal of our real trip to the rainforest. Literacy is the bedrock of learning so making the words shine is as important as making the photographs compelling. Engage. Enrich. Read. Create.

I have published 18 children's books. Selected titles have received distinctions and awards from the following organizations: Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College National Council of Social Studies Skipping Stones School Library Journal American Booksellers Pick of the Lists Not an award, but this is a Rainforest Journey review from the National Science Teachers Association: http://www.nsta.org/recommends/ViewProduct.aspx?ProductID=22746

B.S. Elementary Education SUNY College at Oswego M.S. Curriculum and Instruction SUNY College at Cortland Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Educational Media and Technology from Boston University

All of my experiences (teacher, writer, photographer, parent, perpetual student) combine to fuel my passion for creating curriculum, books, and media to inspire curiosity and a love of learning. FELLOW TEACHERS: A shoutout to the super teacher working with me: Jean Smith. She tests content, and helps with writing assessments, editing, uploading content, and writing SM posts. FELLOW MEDIA CREATORS: All text and some media in this TpT store is credited to me, Ellen Senisi. My work is supplemented with photographs and videos from the following creative and talented individuals: Steven Senisi, Thomas Marent, Michel Roggo, and Jeff Cremer. Check out their work on their websites and be awed! REGARDING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: All content in the ETL store has been registered with the United States Copyright Office. Most is covered in the registration TX 8-394-516, with a few items registered later. Contributions from select media creators are named above. They have been recompensed and are named as owners of their work in the USCO registration.