1.  How School Administrators Can Support Technology Integration

2.  Susan Horowitz › Principal, Ford Middle School › Susan_horowitz@allenisd.org Susan_horowitz@allenisd.org › @swhorowitz › @fmsmustangs

3.  Allen, Texas  ~873 students  7 th and 8 th grades  ~30% economically disadvantaged http://allenisd.org/for dms

4.  We will share our experience of moving a very traditional campus to a campus with a digital campus culture.  You will leave this session recognizing that your school is “ok” where it is as long as it does not stay there because you have received at least one idea to add to your plan of action for moving your own campus to one with a digital culture.

5. Remediation was the order of business. Before, after, during, Prime Time, Recognized school for seven years Very low commended rates Passing was the order of business Teachers stood in the hall and yelled at kids to go to class Lunches were assigned seats and whistles were blown for attention Planning periods were seen as relief time for teachers- no common planning Lap top carts that were locked up in the computer tech’s office. Two week requirement for check out or use of labs. Students were not allowed to use cell phones for any reason. We took them up and charged a fine. WIFI Access was poor. Students were only allowed to use desktops for programs for remediation. Teachers were reluctant to use technology devices. And it goes on…

6.  “….new learning standards for students so that they will have the values and the capabilities to live, learn, and earn in a free society surrounded by a world that is truly global, connected, and increasingly competitive in scope and character.”  “Learning should be specified to the “profound level,” that is, students are able to apply their learning to new situations, to synthesize, solve problems, create knowledge, and cultivate and utilize the full range of their capabilities.”  “When competent, caring teachers provide properly designed learning experiences in inspiring social environments, all students will engage and can meet or exceed a reasonable variance to the standards.”  “Guidance should be given to teachers’ daily work so they can make the content standards clear and compelling to their students for each unit of focus.”  -Creating a New Vision for Public Education in Texas

7. Careful what you fuel! Know what stokes your engine!

8. Within an environment dedicated to community and collaboration, Ford faculty and staff use rigorous and engaging instructional strategies along with frequent, common assessments to guarantee student learning and mastery across all core and elective objectives.

9.  Definitions and Common Understandings :  Teachers work together as members of collaborative teams. The members of each team work interdependently to achieve common goals.  Each team is provided with time to meet and uses that time to engage in collective inquiry on questions specifically linked to gains in student achievement.  Each team adopts and observes protocols that clarify how members will fulfill their responsibilities to the team.  Each team is asked to generate and submit products, which result from their discussion of critical questions.  Assumptions:  If the adults who are responsible for student learning truly create time for collaboration, then they will become more reflective about their daily instruction.  If teachers set regular time aside for discussing/planning their craft, then they will become accountable to one another for the instruction done in their classrooms. 

10.  Definitions and common Understandings:  The First Teach- Tier 1- The instruction that occurs in the general education class.  Robust and Rigorous- Rigorous does not mean more and harder  Rather it means engaging and based upon conceptual understandings rather than minute pieces of data.  Includes strategies that are highly effective and proven- eg Best Practices, Marzano’s 9, GLAD, SIOP, Problem Based.  Assumptions:  If Collaborative dialogues focus on data from common assessments of critical objectives, then classroom teachers must be the most effective in their selections of instructional strategies for the first teach.  If teachers utilize the most effective instructional strategies for the first teach then, the need for intervention will be minimal and should be focused upon the critical objectives.  If the need for intervention is minimal and focused upon the critical objectives, then students should flow in and out of the intervention setting as critical objectives are mastered.

11.  Definitions and common understandings:  The manner in which an educator determines if learning has occurred.  Can be formal or informal; summative or formative; multiple choice, performance based or written.  The educator collects data on all types of assessment in order to improve the instruction in the classroom. Instructional decisions are most often made in a collaborative setting with other educators.  Intervention occurs when the student is unable to show mastery of the objective 80% of the time. Assessments match the rigor of the curriculum and encourages students to challenge their own understandings through the use of Bloom’s taxonomy.  Assumptions:  If teachers want to know if students are learning in their classrooms then, they must be doing continual assessment.  If student learning is our goal, then we must assure that our assessments truly match the stated objectives.  If teachers are accountable to one another for the instruction in all classrooms, then the collaborative dialogues must focus on the results of common assessments based upon critical objectives.

12.  Definitions and common understandings:  A school exists within a ready made community.  Members of the Ford community include teachers, students, parents, administrators, community leaders, community members.  Each member of the community has a personal stake in the effectiveness of the learning at the school.  Assumptions:  Parents and families believe they are doing what is best for their children.  Communication within and without the school community is essential for the school’s success.  The front office of the school is the hub of the school community. This is the snapshot of the school that most members of the community use to make generalizations and assumptions about the school.  Every interaction a community member has with a school employee must be congenial and productive.  Teachers must make the first communiqué to parents. Teachers are the case manager for students learning. 

13.  Creating Cognitive Dissonance  Establishing the “Call of Duty”  Be a Futurist  Lead by Example

15.  ZITE  3 Tech Ninjas  Twitter  ISTE  ASCD  Anything and everything

16.  Know the lynch pins  Be a Proton- Stay Positive  Temper your time with the naysayers- › We tend to focus on the most difficult 5-10%. › Change our focus to those who are positive.  Reward those who move.  Reward those who fail. They tried.

17. Tradition does not create legal entitlement!

18.  Devices are instructional materials  Ask the learners- both adult and student  Technology and Devices › One to one or BYOD  Build in Contingencies $$ Avoid the “Grandmother’s China Syndrome”

21.  Ubiquitous, invisible, essential  Teach them to use it for good and not for evil! › Direct teach › Don’t ban it *Eric Sheninger, Digital Leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times.

22.  Be careful of inertia- Don’t fuel the wrong fire  95% rule  Intervention rather than Remediation  Learning focused- Not a teacher centered event  Depth of Knowledge  High quality assessment- Avoid Googleness

23.  Flipped learning  Flipped mastery- The Real Work  Learning management system  Use of BYOD

24.  PLCs  Technology Club  Faculty meetings › Focus on ingenuity › QR Code faculty meetings › Flipped Faculty meetings

25.  A new urgency  Parental embracement  Student empowerment  Teacher success

26. http://www.allenisd.org/fordms

27.  The final frontier

29.  Every core classroom has 20+devices  Teachers are looking for ways for students to use BYOD  Flipped mastery in Science  Teachers are sharing in faculty meetings  STEM activities between a science and a math teacher  Intervention and accelerated learning is the topic of PLCs.  Core teachers are looking to other departments for instructional leadership.