Our Apple Badging Program began during the 2020 school year as a way to encourage both students and staff to explore creativity through Apple apps. Each badge represented a skill or project completed in Pages, Keynote, Numbers, GarageBand, iMovie, Clips, Camera, and Classroom/Schoolwork.
When we returned from remote learning in 2022, we took time to reflect on the program’s strengths and challenges. We refined the structure and shifted the badges to focus on Digital Citizenship alongside our core creativity apps such as Keynote, Numbers, Pages, Clips, GarageBand, iMovie, and Classroom. Additionally we added a building wide badge board.
In 2023, we made another important shift. We redesigned the badges around the Everyone Can Create guides to provide teachers with stronger support, clearer direction, and ready-to-use ideas. Our Apple Coaching Team even handpicked ECC lessons to better support staff who were hesitant about integrating technology into their instruction. We also created a building Padlet and Badging Doorplates to celebrate each class’s progress. It became a wonderful way for our school community to showcase our Apple EDU skills and earned badges!
Then in 2024, we evolved the program again to reflect the spirit of Everyone Can Create while incorporating our building’s Core Values program. The coaching team curated ECC lessons that aligned with our Core Values and would help both students and teachers be successful.
Since California Avenue School has earned recognition as an Apple Distinguished School twice, our badging program has continued to be a meaningful way to sustain the excitement of Apple learning across our building.
This year, we decided to extend our Core Values program even further by pairing it with Apple EDU skills and the structure of the Apple Teacher Portfolio program. We felt the Apple Teacher Portfolio offered excellent lesson examples and support for staff, helping them use their iPads in new and meaningful ways. And since many were already using these lessons, it created a natural pathway for teachers to work toward earning their Apple Teacher Portfolio Certification—all while continuing to empower students to create, collaborate, and showcase their learning through authentic, engaging, technology-rich experiences.
What began as an app-based badging system now integrates our Core Values, ECC lessons, and the Apple Teacher Portfolio. Our program keeps excitement high for Apple learning while supporting creativity across our school community, continuing the Apple EDU magic even beyond our Apple Distinguished recognition.
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