Case+Study+Document

The More Things Stay the Same the More We Need to Change Them



By

Excellent Elementaries (Crystal, Kelly, and Alison)

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasion﻿al intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in the winter that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the flickering lights that struggled against the darkness. Mrs. Lopez had stayed up much later than she intended, but she just couldn't get those thoughts out of her head. The school faculty meeting was over and she was left holding the bag once again. She has a degree in Educational Technology yet that didn't translate much into the kind of transfer that the principal and other administrators expected from her. Few of the programs she recommended be put on the computer network for remedial instruction and grading were being used by any of the other teachers in the elementary grades and what is worse, she was being looked to for leadership in changing this situation. Now she had to figure out why that was and what she was going to do to change things. This was really unexpected because no one had said anything to her about this before the meeting took place. She thought to herself, "Things have got to change—but how?"

Mrs. Lopez started creating a list of programs that the district had available, but teachers weren’t utilizing. SchoolMax Grading System, interactive whiteboards, student response systems, and Study Island were just a few that she added to the list. “Why aren’t the teachers using these programs? Are they aware of how engaging they are for the students? What about the many ways they can be incorporated into the instruction?” she thought to herself. Mrs. Lopez decided that she had to make teachers see the value in these programs. She began scribbling away.

Mrs. Lopez started making a list of the beneficial uses that these programs could offer her staff and students, especially the Student Response Systems. In her list, she included things like motivational factors, captivating the audience, and interactivity. She was going to call a staff meeting to try and get everyone on board. She began thinking about the Student Response Systems and how great this device was. She couldn't believe that nobody was using them in the entire school. Mrs. Lopez then put together a mock assessment that she would give to her staff using the Student Response System.

Things were shaping up. She decided to turn to academic resources with merit and show the staff how to make small changes. Taking a research based approach, she created a slide show presentation to attach to the staff meeting email that included information and resources on how to use the SRS, Examples, challenges and small steps for change, a blog link and major benefits the program provides to teachers(...Take attendance and to rapidly grade in-class quizzes) click here to see useful info on SRS, []. The materials on this website were also printed out and given to the department heads and each staff member prior to the meeting. She decided to make it easy for teachers to start small changes and knew this may provide responses to teachers with reasons for challenging the benefits or who have very little technology experience such as have never used Microsoft Word before. Furthermore, she realized the opportunities to provide trainings to staff were easy and could be done monthly during planning periods or at the end of the day or even during staff development days. During the staff meeting she would survey the technology being used in the classroom in a formal way and then design multiple trainings led by staff based on the results of the survey. What began as a problem for Mrs. Lopez turned into a challenge. She was courageous, good with resources, and academically fit to meet the challenge. The staff was going to play a key role in the success of making small changes; there is something that can be done.

After the SRS staff meeting she would share the overview of quarterly technology trainings for staff and by staff that were leveled to meet their skills. Mrs. Lopez is serious and ready to drum up participation and interest and also ask for volunteers or a small team to give one to two hours a month and create and update a blog for resources and current technology materials for staff. For example, a media specialist can manage software reviews sent in or given to save time on locating and using quality resources in the classroom.

 Also, a quarterly scheduled guest list of local vendors will be invited to present a new district approved resource each semester. She met many at the State of MD International Reading Council Conference (SoMirac) and would be inviting one to set up a district approved display and present new resources, such as Media Enhanced Books, each quarter. The vendors from Pettis Education would get the first fax to present, the district approved, Ground Breaking Media Enhanced Books by Weigl publishing. Staff will explore these resources that come with video, audio, web links, activities, key words, slide show and a quiz and share their feedback and interest in adding them to their classrooms. By involving staff in decision making and planning, staff participation and integration will increase. By the end of the meeting over 80 percent of the staff will have had an opportunity to learn about and exchange resources as well as hear about a plan to build support for making small changes.

Questions: 1. What were some of the topics that teachers were blogging about?

The teachers used the blogs to discuss lesson ideas for incorporating the technology into their classroom. They also posted questions or troubleshooting problems. Also, blogs are used to share experiences with current technology materials such as the clickers or other software and technology resources used such as Microsoft live@edu.

2. How do you think the staff would respond to Mrs. Lopez's approach? Do you think she could have done anything else to rally up support?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think Mrs. Lopez did a nice job getting the staff to realize they should be using more technology in their teaching. She provided them with research articles and a video that helped them see the benefits of using technology with their students. She also modeled some of the technology that she wanted them to be using like blogs and Student Response Systems. She got the staff involved and made them a part of the process for change, which is really critical when it comes to changing the way people do things.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The approach is an opportunity to provide staff with first steps to make changes and access resources on how to integrate technology into their classrooms. With ongoing trainings offered during the school year, and easy to access resources such as a staff blog, staff can access resources and learn why " Technology has become an indispensable tool in the education of today's students." Alan November

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. How will the staff participate in meaningful ways to solve the problem that has been identified? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Could additional tech support trainings from the instructional technology district resource office and local vendor presentations on groundbreaking technology resources enhance the current plan?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Various trainings and monthly meetings as well as interactive opportunities such as the blog and decision making on adding new technology are a few ways staff will participate to solve the problem. Yes, Vendor presentations and District IT trainings in using the district hardware and software would the staff by introducing them to up to date resources for improving efficiency and productivity during the school day.