AHS

This semester has been tougher to work on the plan. Several work sessions were cancelled due to conflicts with other things happening (Dr Balentine visit, Project EXCELL!, etc). For 2nd semester, I have been promised that the classes for 1st semester will be offered as well as the 2nd. I have recruited several other teachers who are versed in the 21st century skills/smart boards to help teach classes. We have divided the faculty into groups of beginners, intermediate, and advanced and will be working with those groups once a month to: a) Work on presentation skills (smart board, power point, etc) b) Work on critical thinking skills c) Integrate the 21st Century skills more into the course work (and probably having interesting discussions about this) As part of this initiative, Matt Haverty and I have been having discussions about the nuts and bolts of trying to build the 21st century skills. We are targeting the freshman program to start and focusing most of our energy there. The sophomore cluster has asked to join in to get more information for their programs. Overall, this year has been average. While we are working to integrate the 21st century skills, the classes for them for the entire faculty have been lacking. We hope to catch up during 2nd semester but may be biting off more than we think.
 * 1st Semester Report**

We did accomplish the goals of the plan but have not implemented them yet. With Project EXCELL! having a 21st Century Skills piece, the interest has been very high. We have been working with teachers to build a plan to have a 21st Century model in place for the Freshman House for the 08-09 school year. From there, we will build the usage with each successful year. We hope to have full implementation by 09-10. The classes were taught for Smart Boards, Mimio, and Clickers. Each month, teachers went to workshops to either learn to use these tools or gain more skills. We have also been meeting to incorporate the 21st Century Skills in the Freshman Houses. Overall, I would say our usage is average. We have some amazing users but we also have some people stuck in the 19th Century. The desire to learn more and use more is high and is getting higher every day. We are working on Written Communication and Presentation Skills. The English department has taken the rubrics created here and started to use them as part of the research papers written. The CTE staff is exploring the presentation skills for competitions like the State Fair, MESA, etc. The tools being used are primarily power point and excel. The plan is to work with the freshman houses to implement a project based learning curriculum for 08-09 and move that with the students through the next 4 years of schooling. At the same time, the students are being exposed to the ideas through their Social Studies and/or Science classes. Overall, the plan was moderately successful. While the plan is to work harder on the 21st Century Skills, I was unable to push as far as I would have liked. We are going to push them but starting primarily 08-09. Some teachers have a lot of knowledge, most have some knowledge. The SIP team is exploring how to take these ideas and get them to the faculty faster and get them integrated quicker. As part of the Technology training, we have split users into 3 groups: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Along with Matt Haverty, Carrie Bejarano, Carrie Hollman, and Kim Burrow, we are teaching classes based on skill level. Most people were appropriately placed based on a self survey. Only 4 had to be reassigned. The usage of technology and 21st Century Skills is most evident when talking to students who are in the middle of projects. Teachers are requiring more and more of them while lecturing less and less. Students feel more in charge of their own learning and are making some interesting projects (The best I've seen is "Huck Finn, 2007; The Movie")
 * 2nd Semester Report**
 * Implementing Your Technology Professional Development Plan**
 * Building Capacity**
 * Incorporating 21st Century Skills**
 * Evaluating Effectiveness**