Technology & Learning - January 2008 - (Page 26)

Teachers at Empire High School developed a digital curriculum driven by state standards, built around its laptop program. thinking and be more independent learners,” continues Lee. The school did look into coursespecific, prepackaged digital resources but didn’t find anything that met its needs. Instead, the school found that teachers and administrators could create the content based on state standards, and the result was a new approach to instruction. Professional Development Professional development technically began before the school was completed. Lee interviewed candidates with an eye toward those with high standards, a vision, and a gift for working with kids. Technology skills were not high on the priority list. Before the school doors opened, Lee established a base curriculum by working for eight months with a group of nine in-district hires. With regular meetings and communication, the group calendared state standards by quarters, and then matched them up with a range of customized resources. This group was charged with mentoring others who came onboard. Vail’s district calendar includes a 26 | www.techlearning.com short eight-week summer, with all staff required to work the week before school starts in late July. Much of this preschool week was also devoted to finding and developing additional curriculum resources— primarily from multiple online resources. One exception to the in-house resource development is the school’s subscription to the online databases offered by ABCCLIO. The history publisher offers multimedia databases, reference information, and teacher resources to schools in history, geography, and social studies, and has become the main component of Empire’s social studies curriculum. In math, teachers also use the McDougal Littell CDs to create assignments. But for most disciplines, they employ a multitude of free online resources. With most of the professional development done in-house, time was set aside as needs arose. “We talked a lot, and the administration was highly involved in classrooms from the beginning,” Lee says, “so we really knew how it was going and when it was time to attack a problem or give people a break.” Going Forward As more and more resources become available online, both Federoff and Lee expect curricular materials to improve and hope that vendors will begin to use the model set by ABCCLIO, which offers educators catalogued resources rather than canned lesson plans. “Bits and pieces are critical to this metaphor,” Federoff says. “I don’t want the whole package. Think of iTunes. I want one song on side two, not the whole album.” He also looks forward to a day when the hardware will be smaller and more durable. Federoff is very much a realist, recognizing that technology alone cannot transform education and that it’s a challenge to get past preconceived notions of how high schools should run. Of getting Empire up and running, he says, “I knew there was more that I couldn’t see. I think we’re a little closer. I can see a little further now.” Tom McHale is an educator in New Jersey. Toolbox ABC-CLIO www.abc-clio.com Adobe Education www.adobe.com/education/k12/index .html Apple Education www.apple.com/education/k12/ Empire High School www.empirehighschool.net/cindex.php McDougal Littell www.mcdougallittell.com/ml/ PowerSchool (Pearson) www.powerschool.com/ Vail School District www.vail.k12.az.us/ http://www.abc-clio.com http://www.adobe.com/education/k12/index.html http://www.apple.com/education/k12/ http://www.empirehighschool.net/cindex.php http://www.mcdougallittell.com/ml/ http://www.powerschool.com/ http://www.vail.k12.az.us/ http://www.techlearning.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - January 2008

Technology & Learning - January 2008 Contents Editor's Desk News & Trends Product Guide Reviews Cover Story: Ten Top Tech Trends ERP Makes a Comeback Tossing Out Textbooks LOY Profile Series Higher Ed How To Bottom Line What's New Emerging Tech

Technology & Learning - January 2008

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