School and District Improvements

What plans does your school building or district have for improvement over the next several years? 

I am leading my campus in a technology boot camp this following year. We identified that our teachers are most in need of professional development in ways to integrate technology into the classroom. So my principal and I sat down to create a plan that was not only beneficial for the teachers but also easy to implement and motivating for the teachers. Let's face it....if it is not easy and exciting....people will not do it. So we decided to create a plan of teaching a new technology tool at the beginning of each month and then allowing the teachers to play and come up with their best example of that technology in use to submit into a contest. We will highlight the best examples each month and share with the staff to collaborate on ideas. With this new structure of technology PD, we are also developing a technology committee to help distribute information and handle any problems or questions within each grade level. 

District plans involve a different focus in technology. Up until now the district sponsored one teacher at each campus to assume the role of the Technology Integration Coach. However this role has been reserved for the 3-5 grade teachers. Unfortunately this has left a huge gap in the technology PD for teachers of K-2 grades. I am very happy to say that in this upcoming school year the district is going to pilot a program where K-2 teachers will also have a technology coach at each campus. I have been very vocal about my opinions on the K-2 teacher being left out of this great technology PD so I would like to think that I played an important part in this decision.

How will they collect data to inform the process or measure the effectiveness of the plan? 

At my campus level, I will be able to monitor the effectiveness of the plan through observations and surveys. As more technology is integrated into the curriculum, I will be able to observe that student artifacts and projects that are displayed throughout our hallways. I would also like to send an online survey, like surveymonkey, to the teachers at the conclusion of the school year to get anonymous feedback from the teachers. 

For the district, many different levels of administration will be able to have a say in the effectiveness of the new TIC role on their campus. Principals meet on a monthly basis to discuss current programs within the campus. Also, the TIC's themselves will be able to express the effectiveness of the program at each individual school to the Technology coordinators. 

Where do you see the future of assessment in your classroom, school or district? 

For my classroom, I see much more authentic and performance assessments being implemented within our curriculum. Technology will play a major role in this as more things are available to us (teachers) each year. Just this year, our kindergarten and first grade classrooms received projectors and webcams. This opens up a new range of projects that can be used now that we have access to the technology. Also, we have gained Classpads in each classroom. This will actually put the learning into the hands of the students. Talk about hands-on learning!!!