District Administration - April 2012 - (Page 35)

the executive director of curriculum so that we can compare notes, because he looks at it from a different eye than I do. We always give the schools feedback on what we’ve seen, and what the outstanding works were, and where areas of improvement might be. What’s Mooresville’s main source of professional development? Smith: Each other. When we started, we had some outside help. But we figured out really quickly that nobody was doing what we needed, so we started doing our own. That’s one of the major roles of our tech facilitators—professional development. Most of the time, they are in the handholding mode. They go in with a certain teacher, and they help that teacher create a lesson or a unit that utilizes the tools and resources available. In addition, our school system and our school board have been very attentive to the fact of our teachers being trained, so we actually have 10 early release days built into our school calendar. When I started, we only had six. Another thing is what we call a summer institute. It’s voluntary, but teachers can come in for two days in the summer. We try to design it in ways that meet their needs. That’s different for different teachers and different grade levels. They get a small stipend, and we don’t require them to come, but they show up. Do they not have a lot more pride, though, in the fact that they own what they are teaching? Smith: Absolutely. You know, success breeds success, and people want to do better. The blogosphere is still buzzing about the Apple iBooks and textbooks going online, and comments have been made about how these initiatives are not necessarily reforming the way curriculum is delivered. Smith: Yes. That’s a small part of it. In Mooresville, we haven’t purchased a textbook in over four years. The one exception is high school AP classes, but we don’t have a choice in that one. That’s what the College Board says. I do believe that the homegrown stuff is good. We use a lot of supplemental resources; some we pay for, and some are free online. But things like Discovery Education or iCurio, which is the new product by netTrekker—things like these are good resources that we know have been vetted and applied to the standard course of study. But then, honestly, part of the transformation for us was teachers going through the process of rewriting their lessons to meet the digital needs of our kids and our environment. I think there’s inherent value in that. Somebody else can do it for you and you can grab it, but really, going through that thought process of changing your own teaching strategies in your own environment is much better. I think any one of our teachers would tell you that they are a better teacher today than they were four years ago. But it’s also been the hardest thing that I think they’ve ever done. For me as a CTO, it’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Appeal to your students with a proven brand and healthy choices No franchise fee for schools!* ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Very affordable start up cost Flexible floor plans Healthy meal choices Par WITH tner SU Simple operation In Y BWAY CAFE OUR TERI Breakfast options A! available Interested in having a SUBWAY ® restaurant in your school? Contact Chuck deNicolo 800.888.4848 x1732 DeNicolo_C@subway.com www.subway.com SUBWAY® is a registered trademark of Doctor’s Associates Inc. ©2012 Doctor’s Associates Inc. SUBWAY® is the #1 restaurant chain in total restaurant count with more locations than anyone else in the Quick Service Restaurant industry. *Franchise Fee currently waived for K-12 locations www.DistrictAdministration.com April 2012 35 http://www.subway.com http://www.subway.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2012

District Administration - April 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Special Ed Update
Facilities Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Robust and Safe BYOD
Success Breeds Success
Funding Building Projects in a Tough Economy
Widening Participation to an IB Education
Why All the Chatter about #EdChat?
Supervisor’s Opinion
Going Mobile
New Directions
Crisis Response
Student Counsel
Product Focus
Online Edge

District Administration - April 2012