Staff Development Plan For Granite City High School
Shannan Muskopf

Mission Statement

The staff and administrators will effectively integrate technology for educational and administrative purposes. This technology will aid the teachers in classroom instruction, classroom efficiency, and supplement lessons. The goal is to improve student achievement in core subject area and create an atmosphere were students can take an active role in their own learning. In order to achieve this goal, the staff must be trained and guided in the process of integrating this technology.

Overview

Staff development will occur in two phases, the first phase will utilize inservices directed toward familiarizing the staff with basic computer operation and programs. Training will be voluntary and based on individual needs. The second phase will focus on mentoring, where one member of each department will be solicited as the department technology mentor to aid and guide that department in the successful integration of the technology. Mentors will also serve on a school wide technology committee that will assess and address technology needs. Mentoring will be a continuous, long range process, inservices will be offered periodically through the contract year.

Needs assessment tools have revealed that there is a wide range of needs within the staff, some are very comfortable with using a computer, whereas others lack rudimentary skills. Workshops will provide basic training to teachers in areas they feel they need improvement. Mentors will provide a support system for teachers to apply what they have learned and successfully integrate it into their instruction. Studies have shown that one period of training and instruction is not enough to successfully integrate new technology, an ongoing support network will be necessary to achieve technology goals.

Mentors will be solicited from each department, and will be responsible for their departments staff development. Departmentalizing would work best at the school due to geographic layout, each department is sectioned off into one area of a very large school. Having department mentors will minimize the hardship on the mentors to communicate with their teams. Also, each department will have different needs. For instance, the english department may be more concerned with the use of the internet to do research, whereas the science department may be more concerned with implementing computer based laboratories.

Also, in a large school, many teachers feel overwhelmed by the amount of beauracracy involved in addressing their computer needs. For instance, they may want a particular program to go along with a lesson, but do not know how to go about getting the program, setting it up in the computer lab and using the computer lab. Department mentors will be responsible for bridging the gap between the administration and general staff.

Policy on Training

Training that occurs outside of contract hours will be fairly compensated, inservice workshops will otherwise be offered during contract in-service days. Rewards and incentives will be offered for the participation in training which could include, recertification points, certificates of participation, and compensation or release time. District shall provide funding for inservices, and training. Funding can be supported by the Goals 2000 grant.

Target Areas

Inservices will be provided to support the following technology areas, when possible, knowledgeable staff will direct these workshops.

-Microsoft Word
-Gradequick
-Web Page Design
-Computer Troubleshooting
-Powerpoint
-Internet Research
-Basic computer operation, Microsoft Windows
-Microsoft Excel
-Media Incorporation (vcrs, digital cameras, laserdiscs)
-Internet lessons

The goal of the mentor is to serve as a facilitator to the successful integration of technology over a long period of time. Mentors will be solicited from the various departments to oversee individuals in their department and help teachers incorporate technology into their lessons and improve their classroom efficiency. Mentors will receive release time for these duties, and be compensated for extra hours spent in their own training. Dismissal from study hall duties should give the mentors extra time during the day to circulate and check up on their departments.

Mentor Duties

Mentors will circulate through their department and assess computer needs, any questions or technological problems that cannot be fixed by the mentor will be reported to the district technological staff.

Mentors will become “experts” in basic computer usage. They will receive the necessary training to operate and troubleshoot computers, so that any problems that occur in their department can likely be solved immediately rather than being reported to the district tech staff (reported problems often take weeks to solve). Any major problems that can not be solved immediately will be reported to the tech staff.

Mentors will provide suggestions and resources to teachers. Resources could include internet lesson plans, suggestions on using programs, catalogs and ordering forms for teachers to obtain programs. Mentors will also encourage the use of technology to supplement lesson plans, suggest ways to improve classroom effieciency by introducing teachers to programs such as Gradequick, Powerpoint, and Microsoft Word

Mentors will provide a “bridge” between teachers and administrators and the district technology staff. They will be responsible for reporting major problems, obtaining and installing software, mediating computer lab time and addressing department needs.

Mentors will also be responsible for scouting resources. Internet lesson plans and programs that will fit with the teacher’s established curriculum. Resources should be class specific, for instance a chemistry teacher that would like an internet lesson on the periodic table could be given the web site addresses for various periodic table lessons. Biology teachers wanting virtual frog dissections could also be given internet sites as a starting point.

Mentors will be responsible for assessing the needs of their departments and monitoring the successful integration of technology. Needs assessments adminstered in survey or interview form to determine what areas need improvement.



Sample Technology Plan for the Integration of Gradequick

Purpose: To improve the efficiency of classroom teachers by integrating a program that can easily track grades and attendance.
Staff: All departments, voluntary
Location: Computer lab
Instructor: Knowledgeable staff, volunteers
Funding: None, workshop held on contract in-service days, hosted by volunteer staff

1. Mentors will survey staff in their department and determine how many are using the program, how many want to use the program, and how many have no interest whatsoever. Mentors will also assess the number of teachers using alternate programs for grade tracking.

2. Mentors will encourage teachers not using the program to learn it by offering examples of how it can improve efficiency, and suggest they attend the workshop.

3. Mentors will install the program onto the computers of teachers who have agreed to participate.

4. Workshops will be held on inservice days, teachers not familiar with the program will be encouraged to attend the workshop. Workshops will include a hands-on practice session, and participants will receive printed guides on the use of the software.

5. After the workshop, mentors will communicate with their teams to help them get started, and will continue to check up on the teams to ensure that no major problems have occurred.

6. Mentors will evaluate the number of teachers in the department who have successfully integrated the technology. A survey will be used to determine how well teachers are using the program and what their opinions about the program are.