Technology Plan
Click below to acess my school and district's technology plan, planning form, Jefferson County School Board policy, and student resource user agreement.
Technology Policies
School Population / District Setting
McFerran Preperatory Academy is located in a large urban city in Norther Kentucky. It is located downtown, close to low-income housing and businesses. Ninety eight percent of the population in my school recieves free and reduced services while in school. I teach second grade. My classroom consists currently of twenty students: eleven girls and nine boys. I have three ESL students, two ECE students and fifteen students without accomodations. There are two Caucasian students, three Latino-American students and fifteen African-American students.
My ECE students only require behavior accomodations, which I provide by small group work settings, behavior modification data sheets, and computer interventions provided by JCPS and teacher determined sites. The computers have headsets so that students can work independently to solve problems, or raise their hand if they need help.
My ESL students also use the teacher determined websites, with the addtion of Brainpop ESL, and an ESL teacher that will pull them out for an hour every day. The ESL and ECE teachers both have access to our second grade team lesson plans via the www.planbook.com website.
My ECE students only require behavior accomodations, which I provide by small group work settings, behavior modification data sheets, and computer interventions provided by JCPS and teacher determined sites. The computers have headsets so that students can work independently to solve problems, or raise their hand if they need help.
My ESL students also use the teacher determined websites, with the addtion of Brainpop ESL, and an ESL teacher that will pull them out for an hour every day. The ESL and ECE teachers both have access to our second grade team lesson plans via the www.planbook.com website.
Current Technology
Resources That Promote Student Inquiry-
McFerran has been provided a great deal of technology in order to ensure that students are exposed to technology every day. Many of our students come from a background that does not ensure exposure to technology. Educators have seen the way that education has been moving toward higher expectations of technological skills. Students and teachers at McFerran have every opportunity to use technology in their classroom instruction and lessons. The technology offered at McFerran is developmentally appropriate and allows students to explore, learn, gather and interpret new ideas. Teachers use technology to develop engaging and relevant lessons that demonstrate best practice to their students.
Below you will find a detailed inventory of what McFerran Elementary has available for students and staff.
Hardware Inventory-
see button below for a spreadsheet inventory
Every teacher and administrator has a laptop, and every classroom has between 2-5 computers in the room. We are equipped with a computer lab that has 28 computers. We have two Smartboard Slates, and two sets of Smartboard Clickers.
Software Inventory-
Microsoft Office programs, SuccessMaker, Study Island, Brainpop, Brainpop
Junior, Brainpop ESL, Reading A to Z, Accellerated Reader, Tumblebooks, and
Learning.com
School Website
Our school website can be viewed at http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Schools/Elementary/McFerran/Index.html. It contains information on our school policies, magnet program, activities, and contact information.
McFerran has been provided a great deal of technology in order to ensure that students are exposed to technology every day. Many of our students come from a background that does not ensure exposure to technology. Educators have seen the way that education has been moving toward higher expectations of technological skills. Students and teachers at McFerran have every opportunity to use technology in their classroom instruction and lessons. The technology offered at McFerran is developmentally appropriate and allows students to explore, learn, gather and interpret new ideas. Teachers use technology to develop engaging and relevant lessons that demonstrate best practice to their students.
Below you will find a detailed inventory of what McFerran Elementary has available for students and staff.
Hardware Inventory-
see button below for a spreadsheet inventory
Every teacher and administrator has a laptop, and every classroom has between 2-5 computers in the room. We are equipped with a computer lab that has 28 computers. We have two Smartboard Slates, and two sets of Smartboard Clickers.
Software Inventory-
Microsoft Office programs, SuccessMaker, Study Island, Brainpop, Brainpop
Junior, Brainpop ESL, Reading A to Z, Accellerated Reader, Tumblebooks, and
Learning.com
School Website
Our school website can be viewed at http://www.jefferson.k12.ky.us/Schools/Elementary/McFerran/Index.html. It contains information on our school policies, magnet program, activities, and contact information.
Technology Plan Goals for the Following Categories
This is the 2012-2013 Technology Vision for McFerran Elementary
Curriculum and Instructional Integration- We plan for teachers to ebed technology into the curriculum and instruction using projects and activities in technology classes, math, science, social studies, language arts, and related arts classes. Projects could include (but not limited to) Microsoft Office products, SMART Notebook, iPads, Smartboards, document cameras, audio enhancement systems, etc.
Student Technology Literacy- We plan to have students become more technology literate by utilizing Learning.com-EasyTech lessons, as well as, teacher designed lessons. We will also devise a STLP program to
further help our students with technology literacy.
Professional Development- We plan for teachers to enhance their technology integration by signing up for professional development through Technoversity and in after school trainings.
Utilization of Administrative Systems- We plan for teachers and administrators to use pdCentral to sign up for professional development, to use Infinite Campus for attendance, and staff to use Munis for budgeting. Teachers and administrators use CASCADE for assessment information, and utilize data from SucessMaker and Study Island to drive our instructional practices.
Student Technology Literacy- We plan to have students become more technology literate by utilizing Learning.com-EasyTech lessons, as well as, teacher designed lessons. We will also devise a STLP program to
further help our students with technology literacy.
Professional Development- We plan for teachers to enhance their technology integration by signing up for professional development through Technoversity and in after school trainings.
Utilization of Administrative Systems- We plan for teachers and administrators to use pdCentral to sign up for professional development, to use Infinite Campus for attendance, and staff to use Munis for budgeting. Teachers and administrators use CASCADE for assessment information, and utilize data from SucessMaker and Study Island to drive our instructional practices.
Technology Needs Assessment
McFerran seems to have a great deal of technology in the school. I would love to see tablets or iPads in the classrooms so that intervention or enrichment would not be limited to small group instruction and the 2-5 computers in the classrooms. I have found several free websites that will allow students to practice skills or explore information after completing their work. Another classmate also found an application that will allow the iPad to talk with the laptop the McFerran teachers use to work their smartboards. This would make it easier to manage the classroom by proximity.
Professional Development Needs Assessment
I would like to see teachers signing up for more Technoversity classes. I will be the technology teacher next year and I would like to create some web-based screen videos that will allow teachers to look up how to do certain things that I would consider basic. I plan on putting those on my website that I will share with the teachers.
Technology Benchmarks
As noted earlier, we are using Learning.com EasyTech lessons to allow students to continue to improve our scores. Our fifth graders are tested every year and McFerran students have routinely passed.
Staff
Communication
Teachers are expected to use email daily and respond as often as it is required. Parents are encouraged to email teachers and teachers are to reply in a timely matter. We also have weekly staff meetings where information is shared.
Training
Teachers have the opportunity to sign up for pd on pdCentral. There are several opportunities for teachers to select training on technology related curriculum. Technoversity is a year round option for teachers to further their knowledge in technology related
Sharing Innovative Ideas
We are a Professional Learning Community school (PLC). This means that we get an extra 40 minutes of time to meet with our teams to discuss data and decisions that affect our school. Sometimes administration determines what we are to talk about, and other times we share as a group.
We have team leaders that meet once a month, and then are to return to the teams to report what was discussed.
My second grade team utilizes a web program (www.planbook.com) to share our lesson plans with each other and other support staff. This has been received with great enthusiam by the English as a Second Language teachers and the Exceptional Child Education teachers. It has made it so that they can see the skills we are working on and can assist accordingly.
We have team leaders that meet once a month, and then are to return to the teams to report what was discussed.
My second grade team utilizes a web program (www.planbook.com) to share our lesson plans with each other and other support staff. This has been received with great enthusiam by the English as a Second Language teachers and the Exceptional Child Education teachers. It has made it so that they can see the skills we are working on and can assist accordingly.
What I do to Provide Students with Rich Resources
Digital tools help me to promote, support and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness. I spend time to design and adapt my lessons to promote student learning and creativity.I provide ample time for students to use and interacti with technology. I have listed them below.
1. Students use computers during guided reading as a center
2. Students use www.tenmarks.com to enrich or intervene mathematics concepts
3. Students use airliner and smartboard during instructional time
4. Students use www.xtramath.com to enrich and intervene mathematic concepts
5. Students use www.starfall.com for intervention purposes
6. I use discovery education, pinterest, brainpop junior, brainpop esl, and smartboard exchange to find interesting and engaging lessons, videos and activities to do for instruction
1. Students use computers during guided reading as a center
2. Students use www.tenmarks.com to enrich or intervene mathematics concepts
3. Students use airliner and smartboard during instructional time
4. Students use www.xtramath.com to enrich and intervene mathematic concepts
5. Students use www.starfall.com for intervention purposes
6. I use discovery education, pinterest, brainpop junior, brainpop esl, and smartboard exchange to find interesting and engaging lessons, videos and activities to do for instruction
How do we manage the hardware and software?
JCPS does not allow teachers to manage the wide area networks, but there is a School Technology Coordinator (STC) for each school.
The STC will install programs that she is allowed to by the JCPS policies. She also does an inventory twice a year (beginning of the year and end of the year). The JCPS main district will "push out" any new programs or software through weekly updates via the network. Teachers are expected to shut down computers once a week and restart them with the new updates taking effect upon log in.
Sometimes the STC will need to ensure that the teachers have done this, but the district will send her an email to which computers need to be updated.
Each teacher is an administrator for their own personal laptops, and that gives them the ability to download programs that they purchase or order through school monies. Teachers at McFerran have a spending allowance each year and can choose to purchase software with that money.
The STC will install programs that she is allowed to by the JCPS policies. She also does an inventory twice a year (beginning of the year and end of the year). The JCPS main district will "push out" any new programs or software through weekly updates via the network. Teachers are expected to shut down computers once a week and restart them with the new updates taking effect upon log in.
Sometimes the STC will need to ensure that the teachers have done this, but the district will send her an email to which computers need to be updated.
Each teacher is an administrator for their own personal laptops, and that gives them the ability to download programs that they purchase or order through school monies. Teachers at McFerran have a spending allowance each year and can choose to purchase software with that money.