Sticky+Notes

New Ideas • Technological help in buildings including “experts” who come in and work with small groups of students. • Institute chunks of each day (across classrooms) which are devoted to student-driven learning. • Curriculum to outline technology learning. • Have “higher” students come to assist in computer/tech projects. • Less pieces of work in portfolios, more emphasis in choosing work in portfolios. • Community grants to connect school tech and community so all are on one page. • Portfolio – Scan or photograph art projects and save products completed on computer to an individual student file on server or have each student carry a flash drive to follow them through school forms, etc. Filled out by teachers should all be done on PC so they can be saved into same place. I hate paper. Why have paper when you can have it saved? • Use big screen instead of laptops for teaching across continents. Size of presentation matters to youngster. • Pay teachers and Ed. Techs a lot more! • Find grants money to provide a building computer teacher to train the teacher to use the computer in their classroom. • Virtual classroom for students who can’t physically/mentally attend school. • Time, access, training. Guest speakers – Exposure to al not just a few. Days for ethics, mentors, citizenship. • Provide time, improve infrastructure, build new. • Create a district vision/goals for technology per grade to get us started. • Generate a shared vision – articulate goals and needs. • I could invite other grades of students to participate in mixed age projects which have similar focus but different products according to ability level. • Use Google Docs and books and do away with paper – saves an incredible amount of money. Laptops can be purchased with savings. • We already have the standards so let students choose how to showcase their learning. • Reassessment of academic expectations. • Technology a priority in our professional development. • Support/freedom to try new ideas (research-based of course) to meet goals (play to student strengths, for example). • Concrete plan that moves us from new to “school 2.0” of future. • Appropriateness taught at younger grades and shared with parents. • More specialized training for a few staff/building who can come back and be building level mentors. • Order less paper to force the use of other devices. • More targeted approach. • To hold kids more accountable: sign more detailed contract, fee, pay for if broken/damaged. • Teaming and swap groups for computer time connected with specific subject area taught with learning style. • Old stagnant teachers should retire. No one person in control of program. • Community fundraising for technology projects. • More collaborative administration. • Accountability for using laptop (user fee). • Combine tech support services at a single school site for an intensive period of time (weeks or months) to overcome training/troubleshooting barriers. • Take one tech skill and coordinate with all elementary schools (ex: Skype together). • Training in-service days (with limited material covered) and follow-up (smaller group and individual follow-up). • Serious consideration of stress management as tool for 21st century life. • Creative scheduling. • Cooperative teach.

Time • Online learning/sharing lab (Web site) run by team of teachers and students. • Share resources and staff among buildings. • More paid time for development/training (release/workshop/professional days). • Time to have hands on training of the technology available. • Giving us time to learn this new technology. • Have time for tech! • The curriculum is enhanced by using appropriate technologies. Figure out what technologies support your learner and use it. • Lack of understanding. More inservice and visits to techno-savvy classrooms with time to have things explained in service follow up. • More time to training. • More time to use technology. • Staff development that is meaningful and responsive to what teachers have asked to learn. • Create more time to learn and training. • Collaborative planning time. • Better planning of workshop/release days (staff input into these). • Time for staff to ask and answer questions about what is and is not working. • Allow teacher teams to create their own schedules – some are ready and willing to integrate at a higher level than others. • This district needs to have a weekly early-release and/or late start to allow teachers the time for small focus group training on technology apps. • I can ask my admin to give some time as a staff to share ideas and create a list. • Schedules that allow cross-grade blocks of time so older and younger kids can work together on projects (or more and less able kids). • Rethink schedule – music before/after school to free time, some flex time built in. • Time to plan/prepare and experiment with technology mediums. • Interest-based grouping to work on individualized learning plans. Use whatever technology that is required. • First period each day is tech time for teachers – study for kids – rotate coverage of kids (not end of day because people off task). • Giving more time to explore technology. Be creative in scheduling. • Match tech needs with goals at various levels • More computers in my room would not necessarily help. I need specific ideas to use now. Ex: Should I record students reading for portfolio evidence? • Time is a barrier. A solution to this might be to come up with a way to provide planning time for teachers to implement technology. • Need a person to digitize/download books on iPods. • Time for tech in-service – How about an hour after school bi-weekly or once-a-month? • Dedicate a team planning period to work on integrating knowledge etc. – someone who can help. • Online site to collaborate using wikis to share and plan with other teachers. • More tech support during school hours to digitize/edit/record/download audio books. • Use federal money of stimulus to leverage change. • Students to explain to public need. • Use workshop times to collaborate as building in small groups like sebasticook did during one workshop day.

Curriculum • Release time to focus on training to implement programs. • Administrators need to get on the same page with portfolio info passing from school to school. Digitize it/limit it. • Small group, unit-based workshops. • Start in the younger grades – it’s too late by high school. • Specified curriculum. • Defined curriculum guidelines for tech. • Form a technology curriculum committee to set specific goals for elementary grades and select software to facilitate these goals. • Re-think performance tasks – allow pilots. Re: Is it really important for all kids to write a RTL four times a year? Can we approach in a different way? • What’s working now? Middle school technology class very successful. This needs to be implemented in lower grades. • Team-teach once or twice a week with Kern (or more). • More money to buy computers – computer lab – tech teacher – implemented in lower grades. • Have a tech teacher available to work with small groups of students. • Restructure curriculum to allow time to be technologically creative instead of teaching to test scores and national standards. • Incorporate specific technological requirements within each subject curriculum with examples and how-tos. • Standards for technology. • Integration for staff training and technology done by students who excel in technology as graduation project. • Sharing of expertise of integrating technology into planning at each teacher meeting from one or more staff members. • Communicate shared knowledge willingly. • Start a curriculum for pre-K through 12 and schedule it into the regular day. Build on from each grade so they can be independent. • Start using early release and workshop days for development. No lecture, no other presentation – hands on planning! • Continuity through the district.

Community • District working toward the technology improvement. • Educate community so when budget comes up it can be passed. • Smaller class sizes leads to: better communication with parents/students, less reliance on traditional forms of assessment, more opportunity for student-directed exploration and learning. Substantially smaller class sizes and reducing emphasis on traditional means of accountability requires a radical change in public perception and political will regarding how education works. • Increase parental/community involvement. • Community relation informing them and reasons for supporting money for technology. • Create a working community business blog for networking and internship/job shadow opportunities. • Invite two businesses to come in to describe how a middle school student can help. • Through career pathways/job shadows/interviews get the community to understand how technology can be used in real world. • Tech speakers on Web based job opportunities/possibilities. Tech successes. • Invite teen guest speakers into classroom for talks on Web safety and smarts.

Rules & Regs • Review/amend rules/regs so as to not “police” students’ tech use, but instead to help teach them tech-decision making as many only learn that skill in school. • Hold students/parents accountable for contracts they sign.

Budget • A technology teacher who won’t take 5 students at a time to work with on something involving technology and give teachers follow up activities for classroom. • Qualified appropriate staffing for each building. • Ed tech a half hour each day in classroom that is very knowledgeable in technology ideas for kindergarten children’s use. • More money needed form federal level to equalize tech resources. • Start a portfolio online with the kids’ gmail accounts and catalogue two artworks per team. • Have ed tech go around to each classroom taking small groups for about 30 to 45 minutes, four times a week would be perfect once would be a start. • Explore more grant opportunities for funding for more equipment. • A consistent curriculum built around the tech people so that the district is consistent on both sides students and teachers learning same info. • Grants to fund more technology in classrooms and technology to support computer use in classroom. • Continual tech support if we come to a point we don’t know how to get to the next step. • More people like Klein & Keith who are knowledgeable and accessible. • To implement early learning in elementary schools. • Use resources we do have (such as Google) to learn the pieces of technology we want to learn. • More funding. • Financial: Virtual schools instead of physical schools? • Invite community leaders/parents/etc/ to presentations such as this – educate the community about the challenges we face. • Find ways to raise funds for the technology. • Parents and area businesses invited to a conference on 21st century tech needs so they understand what kids will need in future – where business is going. • Fund raising. • Grant money to help fund extra hands/equipment. • Provide funding and training – laptops for all students and staff k-12. • Update our server to enable all students to access Web at once. • Become more involved in writing grants (time to write grants). • Increase taxes! • Money needed – new ideas, corporations, grants, fund raising. • Technology grants. • Laptops for every student. • Review all opportunities for funding from PTAs to grants for individual school classrooms and groups. • Larger/more budget. • Grants, grants, grants! For resources. • Eliminate top-level administrative positions (streamline!) to fund purchase of working laptops for students. • Focus on the basic technology (hardware) needed in each classroom, then find corporate partners to fund them.

Access • Break down traditional barriers – grade levels, teach teaching across grade levels, etc. • More innovative projects at middle school level. • An instant and constant connection to the collective human knowledge database for everyone – aka The Borg. • More open access to technology. Not belonging to the select few. • Start small with computers. Have students become proficient at Word before moving on. • Encourage community acceptance, support, money. • Ask for help. Many around you are very capable in this area of technology. • Utilizing the library for tech needs. • Create policies to address new technology. • Tech person for every department. • Technology is advancing as a learning tool in the district. • Less restrictive computer filtering. • Have a computer lab with teacher! • Recruit community members to help/mentor teach teachers and students. • Go to the cable company, get towns involved to get cable access. • A central location where classes can easily Skype to access relevant information by videos as a group. • Providing us passwords to get through the filters. • Teachers are willing to move forward. Hands-on teaching the teachers. Don’t just give them ideas or Web sites to go to. Put them in a classroom, help them learn so they can help their students. • More accessibility. • Everyone must be on the same page district-wide. Better communication and time allowed to community. Look at the best use of your money spent.

Hardware • Spend more money on tech instead of books – texts online? • Make sure all students have individual laptops – I hope this happens. • Go to outside wireless companies. See how they could help us. • Tech support. • Purchase laptop for 5th and 6th graders. More computers from laps and carts to the elementary schools. • Choose a project to do and ask Kern to find/help himself tech support person. • Traveling computer stations. • Unblock social networking and teach how to self-filter. • We need to acquire enough equipment for each classroom and someone to help make sure it works correctly. • Information resource/supplement for student ideas. • Fixing computers: Use students tech clubs volunteers – adult corporations. • Technology has to work – wireless, printers/paper, power/battery, LCD projectors, cameras, DVD. • Maybe not buying “new” equipment but updating them so we can actually use them. • Write a proposal requesting my individual student needs in my classroom for technology equipment to achieve technology goals. • Shared equipment. • Redesign units to integrate ALL of the wonderful technology available to us at MSAD #48. • Build out infrastructure. • Laptops available to lower grades other than 7th and 8th. • Every class should have a projector installed in the classroom. • Provide the elementary schools with laptops on a cart. • Equipment: 1. Equip all classrooms in the same way with projectors, software, hardware. 2. …and then teach teachers how to integrate the use in their classroom to their content needs. Required. • Computers which all run the same program. • Smart boards! Keep kids attention. • More working computers. • More software that kids can run independently. • Making all computers compatible. • Mobile computer labs – multiple. • New computers (laptops) especially in elementary school. • Retrofit all school to keep up with the technology. • More computers for 5th and 6th grade. • Supply teachers with equipment necessary to implement changes. • Get a projector for each classroom. • Roaming computer labs at the elementary school level. Save space/no need for a lab/computers that work. • Smartboards for everybody. • LCD projectors/screens. • A schedule for availability of laptops to be used in rooms to be fair/equal for all. • Provide staff with time to get trained in areas they need training – choose something they need to learn – we’re all in different spots – take the fear away! • Teachers need to prove they are going forward with their knowledge. Accountability – even if it’s one new thing each month like learning to use Google docs or learning to Twitter or download digital images. What did I learn this month? • Provide laptop for each student. • One-to-one load computer/laptops gives ownership – less damage – has to be charged to working. • Improve network connectivity. • Tablet PCs. • Monitor program for each teacher. • Extreme expansion of server. • Update computer programs. • Use stimulus money for something durable like big screens in classroom. • Big screen for each room.

Professional Development • More time for teacher training in new skills. • Sharing ideas and teaching across the district. • Make technology workshops in state aware to staff. • Don’t be afraid of technology. Keep trying until you find something that works. • Displaying examples of student work of possible achievement. • Technology collaboration between colleagues. • Attend conferences apply new learning. • Find out each individual educator’s strengths/weaknesses and use them to build a community. • Offer more tech classes for teachers, Ed Tech and parents, starting with the basics (affordable). • Practical, hands-on workshops with follow-up. • One-on-one training. • More training of adults (parents and teachers) with technology. • More time during workshops for exposure having every teacher have the equipment to get hands-on exposure. • Staff training. • Computer tech and in classroom to help with resources. • More teacher education. • Grade level meetings for ideas. • What can individuals do? Get involved, ask questions, collaborate with others. • Have more in-service days to learn how to incorporate technology into numerous subjects. • Mentor program to help train to use technology efficiently. • Grant writing. • Take people that know information to teach others. • Build computers we have and fix/build using parts from others. • In-service workshops to create understanding. • Training for all different levels of tech know how – how to use equipment, how to implement it into the curriculum. • Tech training – more training, hands-on, offered for staff. Can offer on workshops days instead of after school so more can attend. • More support re: inservice and education for staff. • Ask us what we need for PD. • Time to work in small groups to develop and learn – never get this! • Commonality – Training should be more than using machines and programs. It should include strategies for computer literacy as in any other discipline. • Subject or concentration centered training (i.e.: language arts, fine arts). • Treat educators as professionals. • Use resources/knowledge of my teaching peers to help me learn new tech application. • Having departments specialize in different areas, then coming together to collaborate and educate each other in a smaller setting. • Help other teachers who need a hand implementing ideas. • Individuals can make a personal commitment to increasing their own knowledge use. • Technology person available in each building. • Getting help from in-district people with the know how. • Use staff to train staff on our half days – short, practical sessions teaching basic to advanced skills. • Training for teachers at grade level. • Teacher training to become more comfortable teaching technology at each grade level. • Develop a curriculum for pre-K to high school. • On-going staff training in the form of “on-call” tech people who can come and troubleshoot, problem solve, instruct as needed, on the spot so the training is specific to my needs. • Plan as a group/department/grade level for needs and make requests with follow-up conversations and consistent follow up with admin. • Training sessions on using programs. • Technology K-4 integration coordinator/teacher. • More integrated time from comp/tech person that is actually used. • Hands-on-hands professional development for technology programs. • Use local college of engineering in obtaining/designing cheaper technological equipment. • Individuals can be more open to change. • Have a “tech” group come and give ideas/techniques to schools (Judy Walters). • Share more with each other (teachers). • Develop standards by grade on what students are expected to know. • Actions to overcome barriers: Workshops available to teachers, educating the public to support dollars spent on technology. • Adult education – Self-motivate to educate on modern technology, don’t wait for the opportunity to come to you. Seek it out! • In-service to learn new tech techniques for teachers, students to create their work. • Computers for staff as well as teachers – up to date computers for support staff. Money to buy the technology. • Collaborative planning for incorporating technology into existing curriculum. • Training on new technologies. • Workshops that are more focused on practical application and not theory. • What actions can be put into place – separate committee on how to improve tech, from curriculum and find funding! • Provide more one-on-one instruction for teachers who struggle with technology. • Workshops with more one-on-one availability. • Individual, hands-on training for teachers on how to implement specific applications. • Training in our own buildings using the resources/equipment available (in our building). • Workshop time devoted to staff training, specifically focusing on tech training. Show us what’s available – what is out there to be used. • In-depth specific training on how and when to use technological programs and devices. • Individualized teacher and ed tech training. • When a teacher is planning a unit that is all on computer, give pre-training to ed techs and teachers so they can better help the student complete it. • Use the people you already have for workshops! We have the knowledge. • Use human capital more effectively. Outside experts are okay, but we are more apt to use our own resources. • Mentor-program with technology. People who are confident and proficient help others. • Take classes on technology or see another staff member to teach me/us. • Training of parents, students, teachers, ed techs. • Promote enrollment in the UMaine weeklong technology seminars in the summer. • In every school have an innovative computer technology person full-time to go into classrooms, work with teachers and students on projects, etc…and also have classes for teachers and students available after school to learn all the new things that are continually popping up. This position would be separate from the school’s computer teacher who already has a full load.