The King Philip Middle School Technology Committee
How we got started, by Jeannie Pascon
Our committee began as a CSI Series (Curriculum and Staff Improvement) with three afternoons of intensive planning under the guidance of Dr. Marijke Kehrhahn from the University of Connecticut. Our school received a Gates Foundation Grant through the Connecticut Association of Schools to assist us with the endeavor we had before us. Dr. Kehrhahn guided us through the selection of our vision, mission, and goals and helped us to launch a very "committed" committee, intent on assisting our fellow staff with the use of technology in the classroom and providing timely, relative professional development opportunities.
The stars seemed to be aligned just right for us as we headed off on our journey to create a technologically literate school population:
The blessing of the Gates Foundation Grant,
CSI time to come together as a committee for the first time,
An extremely supportive principal, Mary Hourdequin, and
A group of people who were all very interested in educational technology yet came from very different levels of experience and knowledge in using it.
After our three days working together, the question of whom would take on the role of chairperson was before us. Muriel Gaynor and I agreed to co-chair the committee, a partnership that has worked out beautifully. We set up our schedule of twice a month meetings. That is pretty "committed" in terms of school committees. We also set up the very important "Snack Calendar." (Those who have popped in to join us for a meeting now and again seem to think it is our snacks that make us such a successful group... watch out for Donna's chocolate covered strawberries!)
Our recipe for success includes that last important factor... our team members come from a wide range of technological backgrounds. Our team is comprised of several people who have masters degrees in educational technology and one or two who are working on it. We also have people who need a lot of hand holding when it comes to using the computer for their own productivity, let alone using it as an instructional tool. This last group is probably our most important. They keep the rest of us grounded. When we get into tehno-geeky speak, they bring us back to reality and spoken English. They point out to us what the average teacher needs for support and training. They ask the questions we might not consider.
We began with an online technology survey for staff, TagLit, which gave us much needed information on our starting point. We had, as could be expected, a very diverse staff. It helped us to level our technology offerings so that we could offer sessions that appealed to both high-tech and low-tech teachers.
Now, after three school years together, I look back at our successes:
Building-level afternoon CSI programs that are well attended and applauded by our staff... teachers teaching teachers.
We survey staff up front to allow them some input as to what we will offer.
We provide leveled course offerings.
Each program includes a mix of "hands-on" and demonstration sessions.
We solicit both committee and other staff to host sessions.
We repeat the more popular offerings, twice in the same day or later on at another CSI.
When applicable, we allow time for "playing" with a new technology so that teachers can apply learned skills on their own projects.
We developed a "mentor list" so teachers will know who to turn to for help with specific software and hardware.
We planned, developed, and launched the all-new King Philip website (some pages are still under construction) and comprehensive library site full of fantastic resources for students and staff.
We have a special section of our website for teachers creating their own home pages. This was a new experience for our district and required meetings with the IT department, the development of a teacher template by Scott Baker, and a rather strict "Protocol for Posting" that teachers need to complete before they are given access to post pages on their own. We have a few already up and running and several others in the works.
One of our labs is used for my two specific classes 6 out of 9 periods a day, and is often booked for the 3 free periods by other teachers. The other lab is booked solid months in advance. We piloted the WebEvent Calendar system for the district so that teachers are able to see what is available any time, from school or home, and can email our calendar guru, Muriel.
We've won two several fabulous grants:
The Foundation for West Hartford Public Schools awarded us a grant to get an "e-beam" which we turned into an interactive white board with a little extra funding. This board is a shared school resource and very sought after.
The WHPS Lighthouse Grant has given us a cart full of Alpha Smarts to be used for typing papers to free up lab space for advanced publishing, multi-media productions, and Internet access.
The Foundation for West Hartford Public Schools has made it possible for us to purchase several more SmartBoards and a software program for lab management that can't be lived without.
We are very proud of how far we have come in such a short time.
=) jp