Wilson

Wilson K-5

Implementing My Technology Professional Development Plan – I initiated an every Friday lunch meeting for second, third and forth grades. During this time available teachers meet in one of the rooms with a SmartBoard. We share and discuss tips and tricks or sites. A local minister with a degree in technology volunteers at the class. I invited him to attend our meetings on Fridays to add his expertise.

Building Capacity – Teachers were questioned about their expertise and asked to share their talents. We set up a common server so that teachers add lessons, ideas and other information to share with the staff. SmartBoard lessons, sheets scanned for Smartboard use and other materials are all entered on this server.

Implementing Technology Professional Development Plan In the middle school I have been providing information, tools and roundtable sessions to increase teacher’s knowledge and use of technology. Our tech specialist, Scott Marshall, has been a great partner in helping accomplish this. We have been creating and sharing documents created by us or other tech coaches. We have also set up a server folder to make this information readily available. I provided a SMARTBoard roundtable one afternoon after school in December. This was attended by 8 people. In October we were successfully migrated to Windows XP. Administration is realizing the importance of technology training for our teachers. They have given us a training day in February. They have also provided AFT coverage for teachers who need to leave school at the end of the day to attend technology classes at Wetmore. Building Capacity Wilson received a large donation through an individual donor and PTO to purchase SMARTboards. Chris Gutierrez created an application for teachers to apply for a SMARTboard. The applications were reviewed by a technology committee and administration. We received approximately 8 in the middle school and about the same amount in the elementary school. They are just finishing up the installation in February 2008.
 * Wilson Middle School**

21st Century Learning Skills Teachers are continuing to incorporate 21st Century Learning Skills into their classrooms. Students are doing a variety of projects. In my science class they participated in an online discussion forum with other students across the globe in conjunction with the International Polar Year. They also created video podcasts about space exploration. In a 6th grade math class they created SMART notebook lessons to teach their peers about different math concepts. In 7th grade English they are doing webquests and creating online posters with SMART notebook. In 7th & 8th grade humanities classes students created radio shows doing audio podcasts of various topics in history. The 7th & 8th grade Roots & Shoots group have been creating Public Service Announcements and communicating projects in a group Wiki.

Evaluating Effectiveness As new SMARTBoards are being put into the school, there is a great deal of excitement among the teachers and students. The teachers that have attended the district training are hitting the ground running and taking advantage of SMART notebook as soon as they get their boards. Additional training is scheduled for February at Wilson during our Tuesday meetings.

Jan Horetski 4-22-2008

 §     ** Implementing your Technology Professional Development Plan **  ·     Did you accomplish your goal? How did you do that? My goal was to train teachers to use smartboards both in the lab and in the classroom and to createlessons to share. I set up Friday lunch times to share activities and ideas used on the SmartBoard. I asked Ben - a volunteer that uses lots of technology - to give assistance or add ideas. Teachers asked him questions and if we couldn't answer them, he would come back the following week with the answers.  ·     How did you reach your audience? I talked to the teachers that have the same lunch time as I have - 2nd, 3rd, and 4th.  ·     What was the impact of your activities? Many questions and problems were solved at the sessions. There was a core of about 8 teachers that met. The tech lunch was moved to once or twice a month and Ben came monthly. We were all able to share our activities and many things were saved on the server for all to use.  §     ** Building Capacity **  ·     What specific things did you do to build capacity at your site? I talked about "expertise" at the meetings and sent out an e-mail to teachers. I specified the names of team member that could help each other.  ·     Share the level of technology competence at your site Our level of competence ranges from very little use of technology to extensive expertise. I do feel that the pendulum is swinging toward the "more use" side.  §     ** Incorporating 21st century learning skills and tools **  ·     List the major 21st century learning skills your students are using and being assessed on My students are asked to make choices and decisions daily. I have interactive activities that are based on Bloom's Taxonomy. We have a class blog for sharing, communicating and discussion of many class projects and concepts.  ·     List the major 21st century learning tools your students are using and being assessed on Technology is the major tool students are using and being assessed on. Blogging - both at home and at school, Interactive homework assignments and PowerPoint presentations for assessments are some of the activities we use to prepare students.  ·     What are the strengths in 21st century learning at your site? What do you need to focus on next? Some of the strengths are teacher buy in and the number of SmartBoards to help with the excitement for 21st century learning. More teachers are personally becoming aware of the skills and needs of the students. We need to continue to focus on helping teachers with lessons and offering time for them to develop lessons for their classrooms. Slowly - teachers are beginning to see technology as a tool rather than an added "chore". We need to foster this thinking and support teachers at all levels.  §     ** Evaluating Effectiveness (from your PD plan)

**  ·     What impact did your professional development have on student achievement? Students and parents are amazed at the technology level in our class. Students prepared several PowerPoint presentations as assessments for themes in our class. SmartBoard activities were a daily occurrence in our class and students took every opportunity to share this knowledge with their parents.  ·     How did you meet the learners (teachers) needs through differentiation? My lessons and activities for my classroom are based on Blooms, Multiple Intelligences and need. Differentiation is written into each lesson.  ·     List the specific indicators of success in terms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that your professional development had on the staff and students at your site. I have seen excitement in teachers that thought they could not do technology. Many more teachers are coming to me asking for hints. The discussions about the server and teachers sharing are evident as well. Teachers are taking classes to get ready to get a smartboard. That is really exciting!! **Wilson** **Middle School** **Building Capacity**
 * Implementing Technology Professional Development Plan **
 * SMARTBoard literacy was increased through a roundtable, a beginning SMARTBoard class and by making information available through the server. We started a technology committee at our school of K-8 teachers, a vice-principal and tech specialists. This committee works on building capacity, problem solving, and future plans.
 * We built capacity by adding 9 SMARTBoard since the beginning of the school year in the middle school. This was possible through 21st century grant and generous donations to our school from a private donor and PTO. We have also made projectors readily available in other rooms and many teachers are using those with SMART notebook to prepare for a future SMARTBoard.
 * 21st Century Skills **
 * 21st century skills to enhance student learning are being accomplished through SMARTBoards and more projector use by teachers and students. The impact is that the teachers and students are becoming more comfortable and more creative with the technology. I’ve noticed students automatically pulling up SMART notebook now on computers in my room to use in many applications. They are also excited about downloading it at home. More teachers in the middle school are incorporating podcasts, webquests and having students do their own lessons or presentations for the class on SMART notebook. I think we need to get more teachers sharing their creative ideas with each other across the grade levels and across the subjects. Next year our administration is talking about having all 6,7, & 8th grade teachers on the same lunch schedule. I hope we can implement a technology roundtable type lunch once a month to have teachers share things informally like elementary does.
 * Evaluating Effectiveness **
 * The teachers that are taking advantage of the information and training offered through the district and through our school have been very happy with it. They are moving forward with ideas and lessons and applications. Next year we have talked about being able to offer a more differentiated approach to training and after school meetings at our site so that teachers can concentrate on areas of interest. This will hopefully facilitate more technology training opportunities.