Building-wide Objectives:

The superintendent encouraged a multi-year district initiative to help support teachers as they integrated technology into their teaching “skills set.”

• In the first year of this initiative, our building objective was to have at least one teacher in each department use more advanced technology in the delivery of instruction in their classroom.
  • This objective was measured by informal observation by administrators and department coordinators.
    
    
• In the second year of the initiative, every teacher in the school was to include a goal of using more advanced technology in the delivery of instruction as part of their annual Professional Improvement Plans.
  • The objective was measured by informal observations by supervisors; formal observations were purposely not used in the second year in order to encourage teacher experimentation with the technology.
    
    
• In the third year of this multi-year plan, informal observations with feedback were conducted by the administrators, supervisors and department coordinators. Teachers had the option of using a technology lesson as their one formal observation for the year. In fact, many teachers were proud of their newly-acquired skills and wanted to show them off.
  • Supervisors formally observed numerous tenured and non-tenured faculty members using technology in the delivery of instruction.

Additional objectives to accomplish these building goals were included in the Library Media program objectives for this multi-year period.

Library Media Program Objectives:

The library media specialist was a central part of the goal-setting team for this project, and the objectives for the library media program easily flowed from the building objectives.

• In the first year the library media center housed and circulated several rolling “computer carts” each equipped with a network-ready laptop and data projector. The library was to become a central place from which to circulate this equipment to teachers in their classrooms, and they “signed up” to use these items on an as-needed basis. The library media specialist was to help instruct teachers in their successful use, and to work with the district technology specialist to help troubleshoot technological issues.
  • This objective was measured by equipment circulation statistics, by the number and nature of teacher inquiries, and via observation by the Principal.
    
    
• In the second year the library media center became the central location for a model “Smart Classroom,” and the central place for new technology training in the building. The library media specialist conducted numerous workshops for teachers in how to use the new equipment. A teaching station was designated in the library to house the Smart Board, data projector, laptop with cart, network connection for Internet capabilities, and seating around the Smart Board for 25 students. This model classroom helped make the technology teaching and learning possibilities more transparent to teachers who were experimenting or to passers-by who were curious to find out more.
  
  
• In the third year the library media specialist would provide leadership and support in bringing the new technology into individual classrooms. The principal and the library media specialist established a plan to identify four academic departments that would receive “Smart Classrooms” in their areas of the building. These departments were chosen based on the availability of at least one teacher who would make effective use of the available technology and serve as a model for others. In addition to circulating a Smart Board on wheels and three computer carts to the other departments during the third year, these four classrooms were equipped with a permanent version of this “Smart Classroom,” including a ceiling-mounted data projector.