Thinking About Learning

Well, we’ve been back in school for several weeks.  Our SMART Boards have all been hung (well, all but one), we now have a telephone in every class, and we have 16 new teachers.  In spite of the hectic nature of school re-opening, I’ve sensed a higher level of enthusiasm this year.  Our new teachers are all excited to be here and are pleased with the wonderful technology resources we have.   Teachers who were actively engaged in technology integration last year have been eager to jump in this year.  I’ve already started 4 classes on student blogs, introduced Open Mind 2 to a 3rd grade class, modeled a lesson on communities with several second grade classes, and I’m getting ready to begin a project with one of our MAC Grant winning teachers.

One of the things that I had to do the first week of school was the formulation of an Instructional Technology Integration Leadership Plan for this year.  Here are my goals:

Goal 1 (Collaboration) To work collaboratively with faculty and staff to plan specific ways technology can be used to enhance the teaching and learning processes.

Strategy 1: Meet at least once every semester with each grade level
for collaborative planning to become aware of their instructional goals and to offer suggestions of ways technology can be used for instruction and assessment.

Strategy 2: Meet monthly with computer lab assistants to assist them in planning meaningful instructional activities for classes who come to computer lab for related arts. In order to foster the development of 21^st Century skills, computer lab activities will incorporate essential technology skills from a school-wide list of grade by grade expectations and will support grade level common units of study.

Strategy 3: Meet weekly with 5^th grade ELA teachers and the literacy coach to participate in weekly lesson planning. This pilot project is an effort to foster a more intensive collaboration with a team of teachers and another coach.

Goal 2 (Training) To provide meaningful professional development based on teacher and grade level needs that will both strengthen instruction and broaden teachers’ technological expertise.

Strategy 1: Conduct monthly staff development sessions with each grade level during a designated planning period. These sessions will be tailored to meet the needs specifically expressed by each team.

Strategy 2: Conduct regular after school optional staff development sessions to improve teachers’ knowledge and comfort level in the use of equipment, software, and Web 2.0 applications and to share technology-enhanced instructional strategies.

Strategy 3: Continue one-on-one training as needed, especially with the 16 new teachers.

Goal 3 (Modeling/Teaming) To increase the level of technology integration in our school by working individually with faculty and staff to model and co-teach technology-enhanced lessons.

Strategy 1: Model or co-teach at least once in every kindergarten and first grade classroom.

Strategy 2: Model or co-teach at least 1 lesson per month in both computer labs.

Strategy 3: Encourage and support teachers in the use of student blogs.

Strategy 4: Encourage teachers in the use of project-based learning through project idea suggestions that address curriculum standards and by team teaching to conduct projects as needed.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 11:55 am and is filed under Blogging, Classroom Reflections, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.