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September 10-14
Click
on images to enlarge
9/11
Students watch as television brings us the news of "Attack
on America" 
Teachers
attend an in-depth E-Class training session 
The
Student Technology Committee members help condition laptop batteries 
Ms.
Monroe, our Principal, joins students in celebration of our equipment
arriving 
Stephen
Marvin speaks in faculty meeting about visiting classrooms and gathering
baseline data 
Teacher
training materials on integrating Word and PowerPoint into the
curriculum arrive 
Portfolios
for each teacher are being assembled 
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Technology
Infusion Efforts
The technology of television and communication
never played a more important role in all our lives as it did this
week. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 will forever be etched in our
memory. As news of the devastating events in New York City and
Washington began to surface at our school, our students and teachers
watched and listened to the news accounts of the high jacking and
plane crashes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in
Pennsylvania in astonishment, as did the world. There was grief
and sadness and numbness; it continues. It was a very difficult week to concentrate and
focus. Because our students are grades 9-12, they are able to
imagine the impact this will have on our country even though no one
really knows at this time. Everyone found it difficult to carry on as normal.
In fact, we all knew "normal" had changed. Within
the confusion and turmoil that left us vividly and realistically tied to
history this week, twenty-five of our teachers attended an after-school training session
which dealt with using the menus and commands of the E-Grades program so
many had struggled with the last four weeks. The session
focused on customizing the progress reports which were due by the end of
the week. This training extended beyond the training
held in the previous weeks. Earlier training had been on opening files, importing
rosters, and entering assignments and grades. This was more
in-depth training covering commands which customized reports and
categorized data for students and parents to decipher what learning
goals had been covered and how well students had mastered them.
Being able to go more in depth with helping teachers learn this phase of
our technology requirements was different than we experienced before
being awarded this grant. This time the training occurred at the
time it was needed, and the learning we derived from it will thus be
more profitable. It definitely fit into our plan of basic skills
training and even went beyond that. Our
Student Technology Committee was also organized this week, and our
student body overwhelmingly got involved. Students were
recommended by teachers and students volunteered who are technologically
savvy. Many of them have already been involved in helping our
teachers infuse technology in the classroom even prior to our grant
award. Now, however, they are even more excited to help. A
total of 25 students are willing to be an advisory group to helping
better utilize our technology resources for classroom learning. We
have a partnership of students and teachers with a common goal, and our
students and teachers are anxious to get started. Many
other events this week also impacted how technology is being infused
into our school. Our fifty wireless laptop computers
arrived. Unpacking them and conditioning the batteries was a goal
we accomplished. The magnitude of seeing them sitting out in our
library was chilling. The Student Technology Committee helped with
this endeavor. Our teacher training materials also arrived.
Several teachers came by the training room and wanted to check them out
even before their training group meets. As the laptops and
materials surrounded me, I also more realistically realize the magnitude
of the responsibility I have in helping our teachers. It is not a
responsibility I take lightly. Our
Site Researcher, Stephen Marvin, also spoke to our faculty this week to
discuss the evaluation process and to gather baseline data. Our
teachers were briefed on details of the last month regarding the
implementation of the grant and given their training group
assignments. Departmental mentors were also reintroduced, and it
was emphasized they were there to help. I encouraged teachers to
use e-mail to correspond with me more often both in defining their
training needs and to give me feedback on the impact of all their
technology learning. I also
worked on continuing to put together documentation for each teacher's
portfolio for training. These portfolios include technology skill
indicators and performance tasks, disks, templates, and information
about on-line sources for finding lesson plans. Teacher
Coaching Progress Indicators, Attitudinal Shifts, and Celebrations of
Accomplishment
This week our grant made possible small-group training
which helped teachers become more comfortable with using software for
student evaluation purposes. In terms of progress indicators, our
ability to distribute documentation to students and parents in the form
of well-organized student progress reports was a significant school-wide
confidence booster. In the past, only a few technologically savvy
teachers were able to do that. Without the more in-depth training
this grant provided, our teachers would not have felt comfortable
producing these reports, and it would have added to the frustration we
all experience in using "new" technology. We felt we
were better prepared to fulfill our requirements with using technology
than other schools in our district that did not have this
training. Many of us realize this is needed in every school.
It is evident that with the service and support of
"just-in-time" training for our teachers, they are beginning
to possess a more confident approach to using technology. As
technology coach, it was rewarding to hear comments from teachers about
their comfort level with the E-grades program. Even our "veteran"
teachers who have been reluctant to use technology in the past have
success stories upon which to build further learning. Although it
is apparent comments of frustration exist, each small hurdle we are able
to jump builds upon the confidence a teacher needs to move to the next
step. Several teachers on our faculty have jumped many
hurdles. One teacher who was very reluctant (and expressed to me
she was considering retirement when informed of our grant) told me she
was now helping her colleague with producing student reports. We
are just big kids when it comes to learning excitement. Management
Challenges
Now that our equipment has arrived, we are dealing
with new security issues around the training room. Because we
sought computing mobility, we now also seek to provide the security
needed to make sure our laptops do not "walk away."
Other management issues this week involved finalizing and e-mailing our
benchmarks. Our Assistant Principal and curriculum specialist, Dr.
Cathy Toombs, helped in that endeavor. Another management
challenge issue was dealing with all the walking I am doing. I am
going to have to invest in more comfortable shoes. I am all over
the building several times during the day. As
we ended this week continuing to be reminded of the horror at the
devastation in New York and Washington, we proudly wear our flags and
appreciate our freedom a lot more. Our hearts are heavy for the
victims and their families. |
