PART A - Description of Need or Opportunity

The educational need I am seeking to address is providing staff training for my fellow elementary staff members. Our district and PTO have generously purchased software and hardware technology items for teachers to use in our classrooms and computer lab. Unfortunately, in order to get them to teachers quickly training did not accompany these items. SMARTboards, document cameras, laptops, and enrichment software is available, but each staff member has a different comfort level with using it. I want to provide concise training opportunities targeted to meet the needs of individual teachers in my building. I want to ensure these tools do not sit around collecting dust or cause unnecessary stress and frustration. Especially given that the state of Michigan has adopted the Common Core State Standards and beginning in the spring of 2015 students will be taking standardized tests using a computer. I want to ensure teachers are comfortable teaching their students how to use technology for learning.

My plan is to create Technology Tuesday training sessions where I can share tips for using various technologies and answer questions teachers have. I will be able to walk them through strategies step by step and help trouble-shoot if there is a problem. I am also planning on creating screencasts for teachers who are unable to attend the training to view on their own time. In order to have a central location for sharing resources, screencasts, links, and how-to guides I created a website (using Google Sites). This website will serve as a place where information can be shared and updated as needed. A once a week training session (one hour after school) will allow me to address a different topic each week and gather ideas for future training sessions. I am hoping this approach will have real impact because teachers will be able to ask someone in the building when they have questions instead of first going to an outside source.

I will be hosting Technology Tuesday sessions beginning this week and my plan is to continue throughout the school year. Each week the hour session will focus on a different type of technology or issue teachers are having implementing technology in the classroom.  For example, I distributed a paper survey to gain an idea of what topics teachers are interested in learning more about and I received many responses. Topics I will be offering training sessions for include: building assessments in Study Island, using Reading Eggs to differentiate reading instruction, basic features of the SMARTboard, creating lessons in SMART software, creating a class website, and using Microsoft Word and PowerPoint (2010).

I used Google to search for articles and resources associated with my topic. I have always personally been interested in incorporating technology into the curriculum I teach. Therefore, I have many websites bookmarked that have helped me teach myself how to use various technology resources. One of my favorite sites is a wiki listing cool Web 2.0 tools that are free for teachers to use in the classroom. This is a site I have used personally and I believe other teachers in my building would enjoy using it. I also love the revised Bloom's graph for technology applications provided by Kathy Schrock on her technology guide website. I want to show teachers that they can enhance their CURRENT curriculum using technology in a way that will make it engaging for students, but not overwhelming for teachers.  Another great resources for teachers is the 21 Things for the 21st Century Educator website. The tools teachers need to be successful with technology integration are available, but finding them can be time consuming. I am hoping that by creating a website where multiple sources of information are available will help encourage teachers to use more types of technology in their classrooms. A final web-based resources is the 4Teachers page about using technology.
In searching for articles I came across a powerful video entitled "Pay Attention" that uses data and quotes from students to convey the importance of utilizing student's knowledge about technology in the classroom instead of asking them to 'power down' when they enter school. In addition, I read several articles about how to effectively prepare teachers to use technology in the classroom. The line from James Efaw's article that sums up my project is "The first key is to develop a faculty's comfort level with technology."  That is exaclty what I am hoping to accomplish with my training sessions. Another common theme with the articles was the recommendation of peer training. Just as students sometimes learn best from each other, teachers also benefit from seeing successful examples of how other teachers have used technology in their rooms. I am hoping that by sharing my experiences and resources more teachers will feel confident trying projects in their classrooms.

I plan to implement my technology training for interested teachers each Tuesday for the remainder of this course. Topics were chosen based on the survey results from my colleagues. The format of the trainings is for me to administer a pre-and post assessment to participants for a given technology. During each training session I will show the basic features of the technology, give teachers time to explore and create a resource for their classroom, and finally answer any questions they have. I will be creating screencasts of the session for those unable to attend. Based on the feedback I receive from staff members from the trainings to be held in the coming weeks I will be choosing topics for future trainings to take place after this course has concluded. The content of the trainings will be based on the needs of the staff members in our building.
I will know whether or not I am successful through the use of pre and post surveys given to staff members at the training sessions. Additionally, I will be asking staff members to share with me photos or artifacts from student projects completed in their classrooms. I am looking forward to helping all of the staff members in my building gain confidence in using the technology tools provided for us. 

References:

Article 1
Article 2
Article 3