STSD Curriculum & Technology Update

Regular updates and musings on curriculum and technology in the Salisbury Township School District in Allentown, PA.

First Quarter Update

In this the first year of implementation for our district’s Technology & Learning Implementation Plan, we have taken some big steps toward achieving the goals as outlined in the plan. The purpose of this update is to share with you the district’s progress toward the goals of access, effective teaching and learning, professional development, information literacy and assessment/evaluation. What progress has been made?

• *District-wide wireless access
• *Six Smart Classrooms operating in elementary and middle schools
• *Classrooms for the Future Grant Implementation at the high school
• *LifeSmarts’ Beginnings at the high school
• *Videoconferencing
• *Information literacy discussion

This past summer, our five district buildings were outfitted with wireless network access. This was a significant step forward, laying the foundation for future progress toward our goal of access. By providing the entire district with wireless network access, flexibility of future plan implementation has been ensured. Limited network access is no longer an issue.

In conjunction with this upgrade to the network, we have been able to implement six “smart classrooms” throughout the elementary and middle levels. A “smart classroom” consists of five laptop computers, an interactive whiteboard and a multimedia projector. Three learning support classrooms (two 5th grade; one 6th grade) and three 6th grade classrooms have been outfitted with this technology. Simply providing access will not bring about necessary changes in the learning environment. With this in mind, the cohort of teachers has been meeting monthly to develop ideas surrounding change in their classrooms, share strategies and develop technology skills. These professional development opportunities will continue throughout the year. Participating teachers include Diane Kasaczun, Teri Bruns, Megan Pruner, David Beyer, Cathy Yurconic and Lynn Fuini-Hetten. Click here to view a video about the Smart Classrooms initiative.

In August, it was announced that the high school was the recipient of a state-funded Classrooms for the Future (CFF) grant in the amount of $166,000. The carefully crafted proposal, the result of some impressive collaboration between professional staff members, focused on developing connections between core content area subjects. The grant funding has provided the high school with 96 Macintosh student laptop computers, 19 Macintosh teacher laptop computers, 9 interactive whiteboards, 9 multimedia projectors, 5 digital video cameras, 3 digital cameras, and a new file server. Professional development is a significant piece of the grant’s implementation. Michele Honochick, high school library/media specialist, will be serving as the CFF Coach. Her primary responsibility will be to support the CFF teachers in their implementation of technology-rich, cross-curricular lessons in the content areas. In addition to receiving this professional support, participating teachers will complete 30 hours of professional development focused on changing the classroom learning environment for the 21st century learner. At this time, all equipment has been delivered and installation is expected to be completed prior to the December holiday break. Teachers and administrators are very excited about the possibilities brought by this increased access. Contingent upon state funding, additional resources will be available for the 2008-09 school year. Thank you to the following for their successful grant writing efforts! Cathie Meholic, RJ Stangherlin, Amy Reinert, Mary Agnew, Marge McGinty, Rick Marsico, Michele Honochick, Tom Smith, Chris Smith, Heather Morningstar, Louise Beauchemin and Randy Ziegenfuss.

The beginning of the school year brought a new integrated course to the high school – LifeSmarts. Bringing together content in Family & Consumer Science, Technology and Business, this course emphasizes real world applications supported by technology integration. Early activities enhanced the social aspects of learning with students participating in team building exercises supported by social uses of technology. Students have access to a mobile cart of 30 laptops, open-source software applications supporting activities such as concept mapping and podcasting, as well as student email access (through gaggle.net). The LifeSmarts teaching staff is comprised of Michele Cotugno, Frank Lane, and new Family & Consumer Science teacher, Holly Borthwick.

In October, several teachers participated in videoconferencing professional development from MAGPI through the University of Pennsylvania. The session, “Best Practices and Virtual Field Trips” provided our teachers with resources to find free and low-cost virtual field trips. Future professional development being offered by MAGPI includes, “Planning Interactive Videoconference Collaborations,” “Virtual Reality, Simulations and Gaming in Education,” as well as “Introduction to MAGPI.” Teachers who took advantage of this opportunity are planning on future uses of videoconference technology in Salisbury. Our students have or will be participating in these videoconferences: Virtual Knee Replacement Surgery; An Inconvenient Truth; Speak Out; Culture Clash; Titanic: Fortune and Fate; and Digital Film, Youth & Violence. Salisbury certainly has become a power user of videoconferencing technology!

Increased and improved access requires our students and staff to acquire new literacy skills. Librarians and administrators have begun discussions pertaining to information literacy, internet safety and computer ethics. You can visit the discussion board online. The work of this group will become increasingly more important as we continue to implement our plan.

As you can see from this summary, the district has made significant progress in several goal areas in a short period of time. Thank you to everyone, teacher and administrator, who has embraced the shift brought about by these developments. This is only the beginning. The plan outlines a vision, mission and beliefs that will not be achieved overnight. It is important for all of us to understand that this is a process that will take time. While we will continue to set high expectations for growth, we must also be mindful that shift is sometimes messy and unpredictable. Using the plan as a compass for the future, Salisbury is well on the way to transforming the teaching and learning environment for our students.

The complete Technology & Learning Implementation Plan can be accessed online.

Comments

It is very exciting to read again the advances that we are making in tranforming the teaching and learning that goes on in the district to align more to the 21st century.  Education has always been slow to change its ways and its nice to see that we are making some very significant advances.  It does still pain me, in light of what we know pedagogically, to have the state reduce success to mean the results of a single assessment.  I appreciate that at Salisbury we recognize what we need to do to get the students ready for that test as well as life in the 21st century and are trying to blend the two together.

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