TECHNOLOGY PLAN Whitney Hodge

Description of district/schools technology policies:

The district has an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) that staff and students sign each year. The policy can be found here: http://www.jefferson.kyschools.us/schools/Elementary/Layne/images/otherart/jcpsStudentaup.pdf

Analysis of Classroom:
o Student Populations and socio-economic status/factors
Frost Middle School is located off Dixie Highway in Louisville Kentucky (Jefferson County School District). We are and have been the lowest performing school in JCPS for some time now. Four years ago I was apart of the turn around effort in hopes to change the status of the school. A new principal was assigned to the school, new assistant principals, and all teachers had to re-interview for their jobs. During the 2011-2012 school year, 396 school suspensions were reported. This amount decreased in the 2012-2013 school year with 275 suspensions, but we were still the highest in the district. Although we have worked hard and changed a lot, we are still not performing where we need to. Next school year (2014-20115) Frost Middle School will no longer be a middle school. Instead it will be called Valley 6th Grade Prep Academy, where only 6th grade students will attend. The 7th and 8th graders will be moved to Valley High School in a separate wing. Right now, there are a lot of changes being made in and out of our building. I dont really consider Frost to be diverse as most of our students come from the same type of socioeconomics background and there are primarily only 2 races in our school. 90.7% of our students are on free and reduce lunch. Housing only about 496 students, 53% of are black and 41% are white. We currently do not have an acting principal. Instead we have a interim principal, 2 assistant principals, 2 counselors, a host of office staff, about 25 teachers, 1 youth service coordinator, and 5 special support staff persons. Our students come to us with many issues that are out of our control. Having to teach these at-risks students becomes a task when we must first consider there emotions and extra baggage they bring with them.

o Pros and cons of technology resources

We currently have limited amounts of technology resources that can be used/checked out including: 2 computer labs, 2 laptop carts and clickers. Only about 5 of our classrooms have Smart Boards and we have one Smart Board that can be check out. The main issue that I have encountered thus far is that the resources are always in use. I could have a fabulous project I want to implement using the computers but more than likely the labs will already be taken and carts already in use. This is mainly because we have whats called an intervention period where classes go to the computer lab were we use Compass

Learning to help catch the students up a grade. I have also noticed that when I do get the computer lab or carts, some computers are broke or we have a hard time connecting to the Internet.

o Adaptive/assistive hardware and software that assist students with special needs
With us being a very small school, we dont have a lot of students with special needs that would need adaptive or assistive hardware. Most teachers use their SMART Boards and Smart slates on a daily basis. This is beneficial for all students because the SMART Board has many animated features that take learning to a different level. Brainpop ESL and Study Island are two resources that are mostly used during our intervention period. During this period, teachers are to plan individual lessons/activities to meet that individual need of the student. Brainpop ESL is very interactive with games, activities, worksheets, and explanations. Lastly is Read Write Gold. This is currently installed on every computer in both labs and also the laptops. Read Write Gold reads the text on the screen aloud for the students. This year we only have one visually impaired student. Two district vision specialists come in twice a weeks to assist this student.

o Technology resources that affirm diversity and address cultural and language differences
As mentioned above, with us having a small enrollment of students at our school, we also do not have much diversity within the building. The resource that is used most is Brainpop ESL. This helps teach English as a second language to our students. After viewing the different resources that my classmates listed, there are some resources I would like to learn about that affirm diversity. My favorite of them all is: Newsela. This is a wonderful way for students to learn and build their reading comprehension with news that is relevant. It includes articles that are written and multiple levels of text complexity so that it can be tailored to any student, quizzes are provided to test reading comprehension, and many other perks that enhance student learning. Another website I found helpful was: http://www.colorincolorado.org/. As soon as you log onto the site, it looks fun, interactive, and something that would definitely attract students. The site is user friendly for educators, administrators, librarians, and for families. It connects to the Common Core, you can search by topics, and you can even view the site in Spanish. Again, if we were a school with more ESL students, this would definitely be my top pick.

o School or classroom management strategies

For teachers to use the computer labs or any technology resources, they must first sign up. Sign up sheets are located in our teacher area (copy/resource room) and is managed by the Librarian who is also the School Technology Coordinator. If the laptop cart is checked out, a key is given to the teacher that morning and must be returned that afternoon before leaving school. Both students and teachers have a policy or agreement that we must go by which is linked above (AUP). Unfortunately, there are no school wide rules to follow when using technology in the building. Most teachers come up with their own rules/expectations. For an example, CHAMPs is heavily used throughout our school by many of the teachers. When my students enter the computer lab, use the laptops or clickers, or any other technology in the building we go over the CHAMPs expectations. I honestly allow the students to come up with these expectations. CHAMPs stands for: what should the conversation level be, what do you do when you need help, what is the activity taking place, is there any

movement, and what does participation look like? After the students help me come up with the expectations, they are posted on the board/screen while we are using the technology as a reminder of what they should/should not be doing.

o Wide area networks (WAN) for school districts

All JCPS computer network comes from a server from Frankfort through landlines and wireless networks in the building. This is how our computers are updated and how some hardware is installed and updated. Our School Technology Coordinator can also install and maintain programs. She has more rights and access than anyone in the building and it is her responsibility for making sure the school is upto-date with any updates on technology. When it comes to troubleshooting and preventive maintenance on school technology infrastructure, our STC can fix about 70% of the issues. When she cant fix them they go to our technician at the district level. If the situation is more complicated, a heat ticket will be put in for the district to handle. They normally respond in a timely manner. Sometimes they will come directly to the school and other times they can fix it remotely.

o Analysis of Needs
As of right now, not every classroom in our building has a SMART board. With us making a big transition next year and turning into a 6th grade academy, SMART boards are needed in every classroom. This is something we have already ordered and they should be installed sometime in May. This was taken out of our Title 1/PLA budget that we get annually. A program we are currently not taking advantage of is Type to Learn. This is a free program that the district has already paid for every school to have a use. I have been teaching at Frost for 4 years now and we have not taking advantage of this program. I remember when I was in middle and high school, we had a mandatory typing class that we had to take each year. This has a lot to do with why I can currently type without looking at the keys and am very fluent with the computer in general. Unfortunately, I cant say the same for our students. Many of them can barely type, have to look at the keys when they type, type with two fingers, or it takes them an entire class period to type one to two paragraphs. This is an issue that will only get worst as they move to high school and eventually college for some. This program can definitely help 100% of our students free of cost. This is something I have already recommended to our STC and she is currently working to have this next year at the academy.