private schools-allison robertson

It is possible to work hard but still miss the point.

Strageties for funding Goal 1, Professional Development

TCEA Convene 2011

The greatest need for First Baptist School in the short term is professional development.  While this is available on line, few of the teachers have made it a priority to learn how to use technology effectively on their own.   Possibly by seeing the bigger picture by attending events where the thrill of learning more effective ways to teach is palpable, teachers can catch a vision.  Another effective method is to build learning communities for professional development. The most effective method, in my opinion, is to do for the teacher what we are trying to do for the students:  create a personalized learning experience for on-demand, as-needed instruction that allows people to explore something they are truly, passionately interested in. The initial funding requires a redirection of in-service time and a person who can guide teachers as learners to the power of technology in support of learning.

          As a society of opportunity, education--practical or esoteric--is highly valued in the United States.  There are many organizations and individuals who are motivated by personal generosity and by tax benefits to support educational endeavors.  One organization that has been well-publicized for its efficient matching of donors with educational needs is DonorsChoose.org.   I have personally registered a need on behalf of my school and we received donations of supplies from individuals and corporations.  The process is very user-friendly and allows feedback on the effectiveness of the donation. 

While DonorsChoose.org works only in support of public schools, there are other lesser known direct donation groups.  There is an Office of Non-Public Education as a part of the Department of Education that works to ensure all schools, even private religious schools have the support they need to accomplish federal initiatives like No Child Left Behind.  Dell helps all schools connect with grants through a calendar.

Austin, Texas

Intel, Apple and Google also support all schools with professional development courses on-line.  TCEA has many professional development opportunities offered through webinars, TechEdge magzine, and its annual convention.  South by Southwest and ISTE also offer on-line participation and wikis so that educators can benefit from current research in technology in the classroom without necessarily attending the events.

Held this week (March 6-8, 2012) in Austin, Texas, here is what the SXSWedu  event claims:

"SXSWedu seeks to converge the wide variety of stakeholders who share an interest in 21st Century innovation and best practices. Our attendees represent not only education professionals including teachers, administrators and university professors, but also business, industry and policy leaders who all share a keen interest in modernizing teaching and learning." 
This partnership between schools, business and higher education is pivotal in gathering resources.
 

Strategies for management Goal 1, Professional Development

      One reason students in general do not see the value of education as it is now, a collection of facts and figures, is that information has become readily available.  The new goal for education should be to train students to think rather than merely to impart information.  The best practice is to create opportunities for the teachers themselves to experience this type of learning so that they can recreate it for students.  The professional development needs to be job-embedded as it would be in other careers, supported with on-going reflection. My experiences with the on-line community has been very inclusive and inviting.  Once connected, the effort may be self-perpetuating and require no further funding or management beyond the routine check in with staff by administrators.   I notice that many members of cohort 4 report enjoying the discussion groups on-line because it helps us feel more connected.  Teachers work independently and contact with others who are doing similar work is limited.  By building a network of teachers that are available quickly for advice, support and assistance, teachers can learn the value of learning communities and help students learn to connect in this way as well.

Strategies for funding:  Ongoing Technology Needs

The second greatest need for First Baptist School is long-term funding for technology equality.   

In my personal experience as a public school teacher, there has not been such a divide between any student populations greater than the current one:  the technology haves and have-nots.  While most social networking sites are intuitive and few need help learning to use the Internet for entertainment; for working purposes, many of my students are technologically illiterate.  This is exacerbated by the popular myth that "all teens are tech-savvy."  I know a student who carries a cell phone--he has even had it taken up by his teacher during class.  Upon closer inspection, this phone has no battery and no service; he did not want his friends to know that he did not have a phone.  Other families are rejecting technology precocity as developmentally inappropriate and, in reaction, these families limit child use of technology in favor of tree-climbing and bike-riding.  As the economy continues to tighten, luxuries like technology upgrades or school issued one-to-one devices for students seem out of reach. It is a pressing need to consider how to fund and manage on-going technology needs for hardware, software, subscriptions and professional development.   One solution is an education foundation.  Another avenue is the Department of Education's Office of Non-Public Education (2011) which fosters the maximum participation of non-public school students and teachers in federal education programs and initiatives.

Strategies for managing: Ongoing Technology Needs
     The parent organization of First Baptist School is First Baptist Church Caldwell.  This is a very democratic organization and changes are normally suggested and considered by committees then presented to the staff and the organization as a whole at monthly meetings.  Changing the funding of the school from tuition and faith donations to a system that generates either an annual income or, better, a pool of money that is held in reserve as technology needs arise is a dramatic shift away from the faith-based philosophy that the school thrives on.  Money in excess of the current operation funds for this year is given to other organizations.  For the school to hold a significant amount of money in reserve (between 5 and 10 thousand dollars) to fund future technology needs, there would need to be a committee recommendation, staff investigation and a vote of the membership.  It may be preferable to create an educational foundation, separate from the school (McCormick, 2001).  Expanding school partnerships is another strategy for managing ongoing technology needs (Culbertson, 2005).




So now what?


Required Procedures to implement strategies
    Funding and Management of Professional Development
1.  Present a professional development plan to the school administrator and steering committee.
2. With approval, pursue professional development opportunities by using staff in-service time to help build personal learning networks for the teachers.
3. Support staff with brown-bag lunches and on-line reflection logs  where teachers discuss technology integration step by step to benefit from successes and failures of others.
4.  Build technology skill base of teachers by providing one to one hands on training.  This will taper off over time as teachers learn how to learn in a digital environment.  Require a digital/physical product from each experience that is included in the teacher's personal portfolio and ask the teacher to write a reflection about the experience.  

Start small, build on past successes and celebrate each step:

This is an example of how teachers can use digital images and editing to spark student engagement.

• As many teachers are familiar with Facebook, introduce Edmodo as a social networking site for sharing work and ideas among students and with other teachers.  This is a great place to build a learning network.
• As all teachers are comfortable with word processing as indicated on the Shannon/Cooper survey, introduce publishing and digital storytelling with Storybird.  This is an easy entry point to teaching digital citizenship and the power of comments to shape a learning experience.
• While most teachers can take photos, some lack skills to capture and edit digital images.  This basic skill, once mastered, greatly enhances technology integration and capitalizes on the creativity of teachers to reach students visually and allows others to "see what you mean."
• During the Shannon/Cooper survey, all teachers indicated they knew how to email.  Building on these communication skills, teachers need to move from a one-to-one or/one-to-a-few people-I-already-know communication to benefiting from publicly search-able communications like blogs, wikis, and Twitter.  In this way they can benefit from the power of "all of us" and find a network of people learning what they are passionate about.

    Funding and Management of Ongoing Technology Needs
1.  Present a technology plan to the committee for review.
2.   With approval, the next steps to generate support and funding including writing grants, starting a drive to collect Box Tops for Education, private donations from Donors Chose, possible creation of a School Foundation, and by actively seeking partnerships with local businesses and the area institutions of higher education,  can be initiated.   A venue that generates revenue or  annual fundraiser can be explored and planned.  Members of the school's technology committee can supervise grant writing/fundraising by interested parents, community members, former students and others who are concerned about technology equality in the schools.
3.  Funds generated are set aside for the purpose of upgrading and replacing technology hardware and subscriptions a few assets at a time rather than a complete replacement as was required this year with the new building and lab.
4.  Asset tags need to be attached to existing resources to better track usage and age for best placement schedule and to keep it in working order.
5.  The media teacher will be assigned the duty of affixing the tags to equipment and for taking an annual inventory. Recommendations for replacement/repairs will be made to the committee who will oversee the fund.
6.      a. The classroom teachers will be trained and then assigned the responsibility troubleshooting common problems with hardware on their own.
         b. The teachers will also be responsible for submitting a portfolio of student products that demonstrates use of technology in their classrooms.  These portfolios could be digital images, a reflection log, links to student products on-line, a short documentary video of the "I made it" night projects from start to finish, etc.
        c. Staff should celebrate accomplishments by making monthly presentations of their portfolios to date at staff meetings and sharing them on the digital display case in the entryway.

References

Culbertson, K. (2005) SUPPLEMENTING ANNUAL SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGETS: PARTNERSHIPS,    FUNDRAISERS, FOUNDATIONS, AND LOCAL SUPPORT VENUES Retrieved March 17 ,2012 from http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6117/m1/1/high_res_d/dissertation.pdf

McCormick, D.H., Bauer, D.G., & Ferguson, D.E. (2001). Creating foundations for American schools. Gaithersburg, MA: Aspen Publishers.

US Department of Education (2011). The office  of non-public education.  retrieved March 17, 2012 from http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oii/nonpublic/postcard.pdf

Funding

Federal Education Budget News
http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/news.html
E-Rate
http://tpesc.esc12.net/erate/default.html
inancial Integrity Rating System of Texas (FIRST)
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3864&menu_id=645
TEA Grant Resources
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147487920&menu_id=951
Technology Grants Resources:
http://technologygrantnews.com/grant-index-by-type/educational-technology-grants.html