Elementary+Planning+Pages


 * CHANCE OF A LIFETIME - Planning Page

All of this can be found on our [|Google Site]

Stage 1 of Planning: Getting our ideas organized**

Project focus:

Professional Development:

1. The problem or question. What is the problem (or opportunity) you wish to address with your project? Describe what you wish to change, for example, aspects of content (e.g. test scores), process (e.g. ability to collaborate), climate (e.g. morale), or tech use (e.g. embedded use of technology in instruction). Be as specific as possible in describing what you want to change.

CSH-We want to find ways for our staff to connect, share and collaborate with each other. Connections with other staff members and with people outside of our district; although the Ning site will only be for FHSD staff, we can share information about people outside the district so others can connect with them. Share ideas, resources, thoughts regarding teaching. Collaborate on district and world wide projects. This Ning could connect with other online environments. DW - (all of CSH comments - plus) Implementation of Web 2.0 tools, collaboration on a social network (NING), sharing ideas about ways to implement technology to ENHANCE INSTRUCTION. Pulling in new ideas from outside sources and continuing to learn and grow in the ever changing world of technology. How do we keep the momentum going so the NING doesn't lose its luster after a period of time? New and fresh ideas?

LL-As far as morale we want to shift teachers thinking that this is "one more thing" but rather something that will enhance their instruction.

KT- All of the above, also- help our staff view technology as a natural part of instruction, which should be embedded in everyday life rather than taught in isolation. Collaborate, Collaborate, Collaborate!!! (Then Collaborate some more!) Build those PLN's. CAH- great ideas, all! Exposing participants to ideas (philosophies) of 21st century learning and teaching as well as the tools. Regarding collaboration, I think the key is encouraging collaboration among all in the district which will lead to further collaboration with others outside the district. Also, allowing participants to collaborate and participate at their own pace - baby steps or leaps and bounds.

2. Objectives and Assessment Develop objectives and authentic assessments for determining what you want learners (adults or students) to be able to know and do after the project and how you will determine they have indeed mastered the objectives your project laid out.

CSH-Objectives would be for FHSD staff to learn the power of networking to grow professionally. To understand the dynamics of a shared learning community; Assessing the learning will be evident in the growth of the Ning site. DW - FHSD staff spends time exploring a variety of tools that could enhance their instruction (just like we did). Get in and get involved with it make meaning out of these tools. Take their understanding of these tools and begin to incorporate them into the classroom to enhance instruction. Assessment piece - basically a performance task of utilizing these tools to improve instruction and sharing out/reflecting on the benefits of the tools to instruction.

KT- Ditto :-)

LL= The FHSD Staff will allow the instructional goals to drive the use of the technological tool that will best meet their needs. CAH- sounds good so far

3. Networked Design Then think about how you will design your project so participants can share, connect, collaborate, or move to some type of collective action. CSH-We have spent the past three years building capacity in our teachers to become leaders in this district. The Ning site will enable staff to share all of the wonderful things happening in our district, encourage each other's growth and collaborate with each other on projects across grade levels and content areas. As we build capacity in people, we can have those people share their talents, skills with others as guest experts.

DW - LOVE the idea of a NING site. But how do we keep it going strong?

CAH - find out what people want to learn about (survey?), have people contribute their expertise, make sure they know it's a collaborative and make them feel comfortable contributing, advertise!! make it known to all that it's available Check out this article on "stickiness" Still on stickiness - I read a pretty good article by Steve Hargadon on "...Building Effective Social Networks". He talks about some things he learned in his impromptu session at Educon and I think they really relate to what we will be trying to do with our project. I especially think #4 is relevant, with #s 2 and 3 being important considerations as well.

KT - It's a great way to link (bridge "cadre's past" to "cadre's present". That way we are also continuing Tablet development as well.

4. Set the Context What have others done (at your institution or elsewhere) to address this problem? Do some research as a team to see what others have done. Get ideas. Divi up different research roles to individual team members.

CSH-Tablet project, summer workshops, PLP, building share sessions, in-services. DW - YES!!!! We have the set up, we just need to put the right people in place to make it happen!

KT- Yes! (Are we the right people? :o) ) CAH - We are some of the right people, but I think there are many more people in and out of our district that we can/should get on board. Giving ownership to participants (investing authority in them), recognizing that everyone's contribution is integral in the project, surveying needs and resources, being transparent with the aims of the project - having clear goals, - all these are important in promoting collaboration and are things done in the TABLET and PLP projects.

5. Proposal How will you plan to solve the problem or answer the question? Describe what you will do to address the problem/opportunity described earlier. Are you doing anything differently than others have attempted? Why or why not? Why do you propose that your approach will succeed better than prior attempts or will work better with your students or faculty?

CSH-Contact Steve Hargadon to see if he would do an elluminate session with us to talk about what makes Classroom 2.0 so successful. Contact some of the people we've met through the PLP to see if they would be guest facilitators for online workshops. We need to consider what makes a site "sticky" and how to best go about publicizing our site and how to sustain it. DW - I really like this idea of contacting Steve Hargadon to help us understand what made good, GREAT!

KT- I also think we should introduce this at the end of the Tablet project each year and at the start of each school year to every buildings staff, we could enlist the help of the e-coaches to help facilitate and encourage/support their staff.

LL=bring administration on board. They can provide the time and make it a buiding goal as well. CAH - Do a summer workshop on this!

6. Evaluation How will you determine the success and effectiveness of your solution and the impact of your project? Do you plan to determine pre and post results? How will you know that the behavior of your students/faculty has changed/improved? Note: You may not be able to obtain your results by the end of your year. However, you should have a plan in place to evaluate your project and report on the results. The idea is to develop a solid plan to share with others. If you implement this year or next is entirely up to you. When possible make this an action research project.

KT - Maybe this could be a "unit" during a week in the Tablet project? Maybe Cary would be willing to have it at the start of the year as a weekly reading/posting assignment? Then we can monitor how many visitors/patrons we have during the year. LL=survey staff CAH - I like the idea of surveying staff. Encourage participants to post/share their experiences, reflections, etc. Participation on the site in and of itself will provide some idea of success.

7. Timeline How will your project progress? Indicate the dates of project initiation and completion for each step of your design, implementation, and evaluation. DW - Let's use the sidebar to mark important dates. We can use the countdown feature.

8. Documentation How will you document your progress along the way? Will you share in your team group room in NING? Will you create a collaborative blog? A wiki? A Google Doc? Choose one and then everyone will use the document to make the process transparent.

CSH-We've already created this Google Doc page for us to document our progress. KT- I like this format as well. Are we also going to still have our group (Chance of a Lifetime) on the PLP site, or what happens with this after this year?

HBH- I'm REALLY glad we're meeting this week AND having an Elluminate session. I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around this project. I understand the big picture but need help processing the individual pieces. Will be able to add more after we meet.

There have been many Elluminate Sessions and face to face meetings to begin work on our site - notes can be found on the [|Google Site] from our discussions. //Brainstorming://** Content for site Name of site Contributors to site Roll out Evaluation of site Presentation of site
 * Stage 2 of Planning:

Face to Face meetings regarding creation of site (asthetics) Addition of Instructional content Opening it up to selected teachers/administrators for additional content additions Opening it up to Cadres 1,2, and 3 for additional content and feedback
 * //Finalizing of Ideas and creation of site://**

April 15th Sharing session Team Dani Watkins Celeste Hopkins Hannah Hill Kendra Trout Laura Lilly Cary Harrod
 * Stage 3 of Planning - getting ready to present:**

Background Information/Problem (Dani) The majority of FHSD staff members have participated in the T.A.B.L.E.T. Project which has provided them with the opportunity to become more comfortable and fluent with technology, as well as bring awareness to the plethora of tools available to support and enhance learning. Unfortunately, once T.A.B.L.E.T. members have completed the year long program, there are very few professional development opportunities to support teachers in continuing to develop their understanding of how to use technology to transform their professional practice and seamlessly incorporate it into their teaching to improve student learning.

Big Ideas (Dani) (Borrowed from Sheryl Nussbaum Beach) · Improving people is the key to improving schools. · Significant school improvement will impact teaching and learning. · Focus on learning, rather than teaching. · You can't give to your students what you do not own yourself first. · Reculturation is key to schools remaining relevant in the lives of its students.

Essential Questions (Celeste) In what ways can we promote and facilitate opportunities for elementary and middle school teachers to connect with each other for the purpose of jointly developing better instructional practices?

How do we make it more efficient for teachers to contribute and access the community’s knowledge and practices?

How do we develop a culture where teachers freely interact and learn together?

How do we sustain our efforts to build a community of practice?

Enduring Understandings (Celeste) Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better.

Professional learning communities are essential to continuous learning and development. Members of the community build relationships that enable them to learn from each other by sharing tools, experiences, stories, ways of addressing recurring problems and who are committed to jointly developing better instructional practices. The focus is on student learning. Teacher Outcomes (Laura) · Teacher wills connect with other teachers throughout the district for the purposes of collaboration and professionally developing themselves. · Teachers will have a place where they can share ideas, resources and best practices with other district teachers. · Teachers will have a central place to be informed of district professional development opportunities offered by district personnel, as well as outside experts. · Teachers will have a place to discover ways in which to connect their students with students from around the world. · Teachers will feel a sense of community.

Evidence of Learning (Hannah) We will be able to assess evidence of learning in the following ways:

· Periodically administer a survey to interested staff to determine wants and needs. · Make the LoTi instrument available to interested staff. · Track number of people on the site. Highlight grade level, subject areas. · Track number of people who attend PD sessions announced on site. · Share PLNs on the site. · Highlight collaborations occurring in the district. · Create a rubric to evaluate the conversations, sharing and learning.

Proposal (Kendra) We believe a natural “next step” for our district is the creation of a central portal where FHSD teachers, grades K-8, have opportunities to “meet” for the purpose of jointly improving instructional practice to impact student learning. Of particular interest is the concept of utilizing technology to break down the barriers that prevent schools from realizing significant school improvement, namely the lack of time for meaningful collective inquiry to occur within the school day. Our portal will encourage connection, reflection, collaboration and action to significantly transform our beliefs about teaching and learning. FHSD CLC URL:

Invitation to Private Beta:

We are excited to invite you to a private Beta of the Collaborative Learning Connection (CLC), a place for all K-8 Forest Hills Staff to share, connect and learn from each other as we journey into the 21st century. This site was created by a group of passionate FHSD teachers who wanted to create meaningful dialogue about something we all care about…teaching and learning. As we consider the enormous changes occurring all around us in education, it is our hope to create a "hothouse in which innovative ideas germinate, new methods are shared and new communities of practice take root." We imagine a space that encourages people to ask timely questions, connect across grade/content/schools and develop better instructional practices that focus on the learning. The site is in its infancy stage; we’re hoping you will assist us in generating content of interest to your colleagues. We will officially “unveil” CLC to the K-8 community in May. Thanks! Quote: []

Preparing for May 8 presentation - Unveiling of our site!
 * Final Planning Stages:**