CASE STUDY “ IMPLEMENTING A SCHOOL WIDE INITIATIVE”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1999 • New curriculum has been introduced• Teachers are bitter from recent attacks by

provincial government on quality of education

o School facts• 910 students gr. 9 – 12(OAC)• Composite school – integrated class to strong

university bound students• Enrolment dropping ( smallest incoming gr. 9

class)o New principal

GOAL SETTING PROCESS( FIRST STAFF MEETING)

What do I value about teaching at CSS?

What do I want the community to say about CSS in the year 2005?

What goals are achievable this year?

What goals should we strive for over the next 5 years?

Admin Team

NNDSB End Statements

SCHOOL FOCUS & GOALSChippewa would be recognised as

“the best school” in the North Bay area.

To achieve this recognition 3 goals were formulated

YEAR 1 GOAL STATEMENTS

1. The positive implementation of SS reforms at the grade 9 level so that all students and teachers will experience success at the grade 10 level

2. Establishment of a plan of action for consistent positive discipline and attendance expectations.

3. The building and strengthening of relationships with various constituents that will lead to an enhanced image of the school

YEAR 2 GOAL STATEMENTS

1. Students and staff in all curriculum areas in Grade 9 will use computer technology to enhance student learning

2. All curriculum areas will develop strategies to maximize student success in grade 9

3. All staff will participate in activities that enhance Chippewa SS reputation for excellence in the community

“STUDENTS AND STAFF IN ALL CURRICULUM AREAS IN GRADE 9 WILL USE COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE STUDENT LEARNING”

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Yr. 1 Applied for & won provincial grant from OKNL

to be a lighthouse school $800, 000 worth of computer equipment and

support material was given to the school Custodian & secretarial strike meant school

ran for 4 days without support staff, school was closed for 2 weeks with staff & OAC students coming to school.

PREPARING STUDENTS TO LIVE, LEARN AND WORK SUCCESSFULLY IN TODAY’S KNOWLEDGE BASED, DIGITAL SOCIETY.

CENTRE FOR EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS Canada is close to achieving universal access to ICT At home 9 out of 10 young Canadians has a

computer, 7 out of 10 has internet access. Teachers can no longer ignore the impact of

technology on their students life SS students regularly use the computer to obtain

information from the internet and to communicate with others

the main school related activity is word processing students used computers for playing games less than 1/3 used computers to help learn school

material.

To do so will require high-performance learning of academic content using 21st Century skills and tools. Developing ICT skills and utilizing the potential of the computer as a tool will ensure that students are confident and ready to embrace the changing world around them.

THE SCHOOL AS A HIGH PERFORMANCE LEARNING ORGANIZATION

High performance learning of academic content

21st Century skills and tools

Q. DO OUR STUDENTS HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TO USE A RANGE OF TECHNOLOGIES TO SUPPORT THEIR LEARNING?”

What types of technology in our school supports thinking and learning?

[Moving from the simple to the complex] for example simple repetitious math

problems to complex graphing geometry sketch pad) program using data collected on a graphing calculator

21st Century Skills & Tools

What applications of technology can be a springboard to a real world context for student learning?

[Moving from artificial to real world context]

e.g. diagrams of skeletons to 3D skeletal movement or monitoring heart rate while exercising and translating that data into the development of a high performance workout program.

21st Century Skills & Tools

What instructional approaches work most effectively with which applications of technology – and to what effect?

[from drill to building ideas from the ground up (constructivist learning)]

Drill is straight memory work and in some cases little understanding of the concept e.g. multiplication tables

when students build concepts from the ground up they are forced to think critically, identify and seek pertinent information and solve problems as they arise

computers enable students to experience and negotiate complex systems in math & science thus allowing students to build for themselves

makes the computer an ideal educational tool.21st Century Skills & Tools

FROM CURRICULUM DOCUMENT TO THE CLASSROOM full of references to a variety of ICT skills most teachers agonized over how they will

cover the content in the documents teaching computer skills in the teachers’

eyes is really not the job of a subject teacher. many teachers were scared that their lack of

familiarity with computers would mean that the students know more than they do – what a scary thought!

Reality - many students do know more about the computer but the teacher is the expert on the content that needs to be taught.

WHAT DOES THE RESEARCH SAY

Technology can enable the development of critical thinking skills when students use technology presentation and communication tools to present, publish and share results of projects.

Cradler,J,McNabb, M,Freeman, Mand Burchett,R.(2002) How does technology influence student learning? Learning and Leading with Technology,29(8), 46-49

TEACHING TECHNOLOGY AND USING TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE SUBJECT MATTER ARE TWO DIFFERENT PROPOSITIONS!

1. TEACHING TECHNOLOGY SKILLS IS TEACHING TECHNOLOGY AS A CURRICULUM ITEM JUST LIKE SCIENCE, ENGLISH ETC.2. EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY IS USING TECHNOLOGY TO TEACH THE CURRICULUM. 3. THESE DIFFERENCES ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE THEY CAN COEXIST IN A SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT.

WHERE ARE OUR COURSES ON THIS CONTINUUM?

DevelopingTechnologyCapacity

ClassroomResourceTool for learning

Focus on learningAnd discoveryUsing the computer

Hardwaresoftware

SeatsComputers

???!!! EurekaMultimedia Activities

HOW TO GET TO EUREKA?????

A committee of teachers, a parent, a student, IT co coordinator and myself as principal spent a the better part of a year determining what IT skills were needed by students and how could all subject areas reinforce these skills in their classes.

All grade 9 students are encouraged to take BTT 10 which prepares students to understand, use, and control technology

In other words it is a technology education course many of us felt that this course was not enough

and that the students had to be exposed to ICT skills on many different occasions so that they would be able to confidently use ICT to enhance their learning and be well prepared for the workforce

THE CSS BTT COURSE (2000)

the entire course was available on the web site

course moving beyond technology education to education technology

The site was interactive and updated nightly

Students who were sick or absent could stay caught up with the days work.

SCHOOL PLAN

Belief statement - in addition to taking BTT all Grade 9 students would have numerous opportunities to practice their ICT skills in a variety of classes

Plan - to incorporate ICT skills into each grade 9 course

Each grade 9 teacher would be responsible for supporting the development of ICT skills and their use in learning a particular subject skill or content.

Identify the skills that would be required by the workplace or post secondary institution

List was vetted with a variety of different groups, employers, university, college, parents

Once the proposed skill list was completed – question how would these skills be practiced by the students?

Belief : the more practice using the skill the more comfortable the student is using that skill on a regular basis

If a variety of activities were developed ready for teacher use then students would have many opportunities to practice these skills and hopefully at the end of the year experience some mastery

Cognizant of the fact that the project was not to be for academic students only – applied level & school to work students should also have an opportunity to practice these skills.

WHAT &HOW

GRADE 9 ICT SKILLS

Library Research Skills

Locate & Use (read, view, listen, run…)

Find books through library search station

Use online mapsUse Print

reference

Family Studies Science (applied &

academic) Nutrients (Module 2) Chemical Elements

(Module 2) Reproductive technologies

(Module 2) Renewable Energy Sources

(Module 2)

GRADE 9 ICT SKILLSCONTINUED Word Processing File management:

create, open, save, preview, print

Use CSS style guide to prepare works cited page and in-text citations

English Myth Project

(Module 2)

GRADE 9 ICT SKILLSCONTINUED Spreadsheets Data Entry Formatting Formulas [data

manipulation] Graphing/Charting Extensions

Math Airfares (Module

2)

GRADE 9 ICT SKILLSCONTINUED Desktop

Publishing Flyer

Geography Ecozones Or Park Project

(Module 2)

GRADE 9 ICT SKILLSCONTINUED Web Design Launch a web page

editor (e.g.. Front Page, Express, Netscape, Composer…)

French Ma Page Web

(Module 2)

GRADE 9 ICT SKILLSCONTINUED Online Safety,

Security and Privacy

Use the school library web page to access and use online encyclopaedias, Electric Library, and pre-selected sites about online safety, security & privacy

Physical Education

Online Safety, Security & Privacy Module 2)

GRADE 9 ICT SKILLSCONTINUED Fundamentals –

(using H drives, logins, user names)

Network – How we connect

All students in a one period workshop, drive maintenance Orientation in September by Network Manager Fundamentals

(Module 3)

The committee felt that we could not stop after gr. 9 because there were additional skills that needed practice so we began to develop a list for gr. 10 as well as a set of ready to use assignments.

SUMMARY OF PROCESS Identified school goal Formulated a committee of committed people &

sceptics – teacher was chair Researched topic Brainstormed what was needed for Chippewa SS Identified strengths in area at school Identified work that was already completed or being

worked on in the board Identified gaps between vision & reality Divided up the gaps Kept staff & parents informed Determined a plan of action for the next school year

HOW SUCCESSFUL WAS THIS PROJECT?

Qualitatively, parents and students speak highly of the opportunities presented at the school.

Teachers came on board and modeled good ICT practices in their class

Our students and staff were invited to other schools to give workshops

Our model was presented at numerous workshops province wide

Students were switching schools to take CSS courses

RESOURCES

www.techlearning.com www.thejournal.com www.bpinews.com/edu/pages/etn.htm www.tltgroup.org http://tc.unl.edu/cansorge/lowthreshold www.umuc.edu/virtualteaching

RESEARCH ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND TECHNOLOGY Center for Applied Research in Educational

Technology (CARET) www.iste.org/standards www.iste.org/L&L Centre for Education Statistics – Information

Bulletin 2002.19a Journal of staff development, Winter 2003,

Vol.24 Number 1