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My critical issue is two-fold. One is to train the staff at my school in the use of technology so that they feel comfortable using it in day-today instruction. The second aspect of my issue will be furthered, in part by addressing the first, and that is to help the students at my school develop the necessary technology skills so that they can compete in today’s digital arena. Local Demographics Community(s)/School
The Fond du Lac Ojibwe School is located on the Fond du Lac Reservation …the Fond du Lac Reservation is located in Carlton and St. Louis counties adjacent to the City of Cloquet on the east, and 15 miles west of Duluth. The tribal headquarters is in Cloquet, Minnesota.
Cloquet MN Demographics Total Population 11,201
Fond du Lac Reservation Demographics Total Population 3728
A further comment of the demographics of the school’s students… It is interesting to note that while the SES demographics on the Fond du Lac Indian reservation and the city of Cloquet are similar in strata, those of the school are quite different. All of the students at the school all qualify for free lunches. It is important to note that a contributing factor to this statistic may be that not all of the students at the school live on the reservation. The school’s students come from as far away as fifty miles. Many of the school’s students live in the city of Duluth. Considering the SES status of these students, access outside of school to technology is an issue that must be considered.
Regarding the interest of the staff in addressing the issue of integrating technology into the curriculum at the school—approximately 60 percent of the staff have been contacted in the last few days. When asked about the need for a training program, the majority agree that the need is there.
Total Number of Staff—61 …of that number 40 are directly involved with student instruction…
Purpose (Technology Skill Training for Staff) The purpose of the following study is to identify the technology training needs by the instructional staff at the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School with the aim of providing a multi-faceted set of pathways leading to the integration of technology into all aspects of content instruction. The means of identification used was a simple survey asking respondents to rate their technological proficiencies/abilities in using a variety of technological tools.
The Survey (adopted from Teacher Technology Survey http://www.stmary.k12.la.us/technologysurvey2006-07.asp
Needs and Challenges • The survey revealed a clear consensus on the following needs: • More time to integrate technology into my curriculum • More training to use technology • More support from administration when it comes to my technology needs • More opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on how to use technology in my discipline
Additional challenges that must be considered… A major obstacle in implementing a program of professional development aimed at increasing the use of technology in the classroom at this school is convincing the staff that it is indeed necessary. This obstacle can be overcome by demonstrating to the staff that they are stakeholders when it comes to reaping the benefits of integrating technology into their instruction. Yet, the challenge in meeting the identified training needs is to develop a strategy that offers not only training, but real-life examples of how to implement that training in the classroom. In short, any effort made towards meeting the needs identified in the survey of the staff at Fond du Lac Ojibwe School in the area of training them on the use of technology in the classroom must consider the concerns outlined in the following:
From "Technology training for teachers: A better way" http://www.teachersnetwork.org/aboutus/eschool1.htm "A national analysis in 2000 documented that: (1) 99 percent of all teachers are exposed to "professional development"; but (2) only a third report that professional development is connected to classroom applications and (3) more than a third of all teachers (35 percent) never get any peer-to-peer professional development help.5" "Conventional professional development is expensive and widely derided by teachers as irrelevant, ineffective, too late, or too far removed from the reality of classrooms. But, without an alternative, people who care about adding technology to teaching are left to reconcile themselves to a melancholy reality: Conventional practice may not work very well, but what else is there?"
Strategies for Implementing Trainiing • Identify leaders among teaching staff • Indentify possible peer mentors • Establish “perks” (perhaps monetary or early releases) for mentors (funding to come from existing professional development funding) • Present plan to administration that requires little or no additional funding • Develop accountability tool • Complete comprehensive inventory of hard and software resources—indentify needs
For staff… The following is a draft of the schedule for weekly (2—½ hour sessions per week have been approved by the administration) technology instruction topics/subjects/practice sessions presented by the IT support department on the reservation set to begin in earnest at the beginning on 2010. Since this IT support is already funded by the reservation enlisting their services will not create an additional expenditure… Computers Don't ByteComputer/Printer TroubleshootingBeginning WordBeginning ExcelPractical ExcelSwitching from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2007 (students are using 2007) PowerPoint PresentationsPublisher It is important to note that I don’t see the above list as an end to the training issue; instead, I see IT as only the beginning. As I alluded to earlier, I have at least 26 students with technology skills that surpass those listed above. I believe that these students could be convinced to take on the responsibility of mentors to both staff and students…
What else is there? My part in meeting the challenge of helping my students gain technology skills in the short term (aside from the general technology instruction offered in my classroom) comes in the formation of an afterschool technology club. I am pleased to say that I have been joined in my efforts by one of my colleagues. I have been able to secure funds that allow this club to meet twice a week. Together we challenge our students (26 so far) to explore the world outside of the community through virtual portals like those found on NASA’s website. The students are instructed in the use of various forms of software technology (i.e. Google Earth, Office Live, Microsoft’s PowerPoint and Movie Maker) to report their findings to the class. My colleague and I are working on a plan to present our students’ work to the entire school through some semblance of an art using technology gallery. We believe that the “Say IT the Digital Way” (name of the club) bug has a great potential of spreading school wide in the very near future.
If we’re right, and the “bug” is caught by many more students the staff at the school must be ready to treat it. To that end, I have identified two colleagues who are excited to become (compensated with extra-duty pay) technology mentors to their peers. We are working to encapsulate technology training for the staff at the school into a form that presents itself in short, fun, yet challenging, hands-on segments that will be used to encourage authentic discussion on “what works and what doesn’t” in the classroom. It is the hope of our newly formed technology committee that allowing for this type of discussion might serve to short-circuit bad/negative publicity connected to this much needed initiative. • The success of this training program will be measured near the end of the school year using the same survey that was used to indentify the initial training needs…
Microsoft Office Live Microsoft’s Office Live is one of the collaboration tools that will be used in the implementation of this training program. Click (on Demo) to watch video (make sure to return to the presentation when through).
Google Docs Google Docs is another great collaboration tool that will be used in this action plan… To see a demonstration click (make sure to return when you’re through)
Some digital teaching tools already in use in the after school programs… Power Point in the classroom is used to introduce (and then reinforce) students (staff in the future) to the methods of making the software speak for the students… for more info click (make sure to return to this presentation when finished).
Another Goodie! Microsoft’s Movie Maker software is just the ticket for tempting students into a world beyond still presentations like Power Point. Power Point may give them a voice, but Movie Maker helps them learn to sing! If you want to see a brief demonstration of the power of this software click (make sure to return to the presentation when you’re through)
References Indian Affairs Council: State of Minnesota. Retrieved October 7,2009 from: http://www.indianaffairs.state.mn.us/tribes_fonddulac.html University of Minnesota Libraries—Minnesota: Reservations and Trust Areas--MN Part: Fond du Lac Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, MN--WI http://govpubs.lib.umn.edu/census/profiles/280271125.pdf Zip Skinny: Cloquet, MN. 55720 Retrieved October 8, 2009 from: http://www.zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=55720 ePodunk the Power of Place. Retrieved October9, 2009 from: http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/popInfo.php?locIndex=20940 Public School Review. Retrieved October 6, 2009 from: http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/91576 Technology training for teachers: A better way http://www.teachersnetwork.org/aboutus/eschool1.htm
References Cont… • Technology training for teachers: A better way http://www.teachersnetwork.org/aboutus/eschool1.htm • Just Use It: Rethinking Technology Training for K-12 Teachers • http://www.techlearning.com/article/4330 • How Teachers Learn Best • http://fno.org/mar01/howlearn.html • Information Technology Support Services at Fond du Lac Reservation • http://www.fdlrez.com/MIS/main.htm • Microsoft Digital Literacy Training • http://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/citizenship/giving/programs/up/digitalliteracy/eng/Curriculum.mspx • Microsoft Office Live http://www.officelive.com/en-us/ Power Point in the Classroom http://www.actden.com/pp2007/index.htm
