Objective
Educational Leader

Indicator
Candidates engage in school improvement activities by partnering with administrators to help teachers learn and practice new ways of teaching.

Some teachers in our building don't know how to send an email attachment. Some have trouble navigating windows and folders. Some can't even double-click a file without renaming it.

For such teachers, technology is an onerous curse. Yet aren't computers supposed to help people? Shouldn't they be able to make teaching ... easier?

In order to help our struggling teachers grow in their skills, I started a series of after school technology workshops. To make sure teachers would find the workshops valuable, I first invited their input through an online survey on topics and meeting topics. Then I convinced our principal to fork over money for door prizes: a dozen 512MB USB flash drives, to be raffled off one at a time at the end of every workshop.

Based on teacher input, I scheduled the workshops for most Thursday afternoons from 2:15 - 3:15pm. We began with the most popular topics: building websites, using United Streaming, and creating webquests. Through the rest of this year we'll continue with PowerPoint, Google Docs, research databases, Turnitin.com, gradebook programs, blogging and podcasting.

Teachers are insanely busy, but turnout has been healthy, averaging five or six teachers per session (the top was nine). Moreover, several teachers who haven't been able to attend have asked for makeup sessions or individual lessons. Others catch me in the hallway to brag about how they're using what they've learned. As a result, many students are already benefitting from improved communication through class websites, and added motivation through streaming educational videos.

With lessons to plan, papers to grade and parents to contact, teachers' plates are extremely full. Expecting them both to master technology and to help their students do the same is nigh impossible. But by breaking computer skills down into digestible chunks and walking alongside teachers step by step as they experiment, I am slowly raising the technological -- and educational -- climate of my school.

Artifacts

Link: Tech Workshop Interest Online Survey
username: staff
password: staff

File: Tech Workshops Overview (PDF)

Link: United Streaming Workshop Notes

File: United Streaming Presentation (PDF)

Link: Webquest Workshop Notes

McDaniel College
Westminster, Maryland 21157-4390
410-848-7000