District Technology Training Plan 1

District Technology Training Plan~ James Madison Middle School

Antoinne Beidleman

EDTC 640

Dr.Shatto

October 24, 2017

 District Technology Training Plan 2

The School
The school I will analyze is my alma mater and one I work closely with today. James
Madison Middle School (Madison), a product of Prince George's County Public Schools
(PGCPS) in Maryland. PGCPS is the 3rd largest public school system in Maryland, servicing
predominately African American students. The school is comprised of 800 students ranging from
grades 6 to 8. There are not many documented students with learning disabilities. Madison is
known for being the “first middle school to begin the International Baccalaureate (IB) program”
(Sites.google.com, 2017) in the county.
The IB program is supposed to integrate a rigorous and highly flexible framework with
local educational requirements. The program and the teachers make sure students are challenged
and the critical thinking skills emphasized. Classroom observations indicate that instruction and
assessments are very rigorous. The amount of rigor that is exposed is unbelievable. The students
are really at an advantage because the teachers know the material very well and can influence
learning as well. However, there is very little technology implementation. Each teacher has a
SMART board installed in their classroom and teachers have access to Projectors, and Laptop
carts on request. Though the amount of rigor is significant, the usage of technology is minimal,
which is disadvantageous for students. With hard-pressed training, the tenured teachers can use
their rigor to their advantage and align technology with classroom instruction to increase
technology literacy.

Summary of Issues
The issues with James Madison Middle School (Madison) are the lack of resources used
the amount of experienced teachers who are not willing to integrate technology, and the lack of
administrative support with influence on technology. The International Baccalaureate
(IB) program prides itself on rigor and the teachers do well teaching students long-lasting skills
that will project them to the next level. The amount of resources that the county provides the
IB driven school is outstanding. There are not many students in the school and teachers can
appropriately rotate usage of high-tech equipment. However, the use of technology is
inconsistent. Students cannot possibly live up to the International Baccalaureate status without
using an influx of technology on a consistent basis. Students should be prepared to compete
globally, but with experienced teachers who are not technologically proficient, it is hard to
introduce a new style of teaching and learning. According to PGCPS Vision, Mission and Core
Values statement, “PGCPS will be a GREAT school system recognized for providing education
services which ensure that every student in our diverse school district graduates ready for college
and careers in a global society” (Www1.pgcps.org, 2017).The teachers are highly revered and
are mentors to incoming teachers. The foundation at Madison is set on rigorous academics and
the incoming follows the pattern because it works.
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Introducing a technology training plan will be challenging. There may be tension caused
by fear of change. The tenured teachers at Madison are united in their planning and their
structure. Nevertheless, we reside in a much more advanced era where technology literacy must
be the driving force of the classroom. The teachers at Madison use their SMART boards to
uncover the lesson plan for the day and to introduce the objectives. Once that 15 minute piece is
over, students are to utilize their hardcopy textbooks and the teacher begins the lesson.
Numerous observations over several years demonstrate little technology being reinforced or
implemented in the classroom on a consistent basis. There has not been uproar about academics
because students perform well on all levels and the Adequate Yearly Progress is passed every
year. Therefore, administration has turned a blind eye to technology and its influence in the
classroom. Administration has not been known for such implantation for a while. The current
foundation has been set and so strictly followed that it is necessary to implement a training plan
to facilitate change.

Technology Usage Survey

Discussion of Needs
The training plan will take place in the summer, three weeks prior to the start of school.
Teachers will be more adept to use their recently learned skill. Therefore, the training will need
to be strategic in its effort to committing to a timeframe. The main components learned will be
maximizing opportunity, technology implementation, and enhancing the learning experience.
James Madison Middle School (Madison) has an enormous amount of access to technology in
addition to the technology they currently possess. Students are able to attend elite workshops on
college readiness, explore world class museums, and attend symphonies at the Kennedy center
all for free. Thus, the students are culturally versed. Madison has a college ready library
equipped with all the tools to integrate technology in students’ lives. However, surveys of mentor
teachers indicated negative perceptions of technology use in the classroom and offense at having
to take a survey about technology. Thus, Madison needs a plan on how to maximize their
potential. The teachers are highly competent, but with a well-executed plan, teachers can use
their skills to their advantage and begin exposing students to a world of technology.
Professional Development (PD) will need to be mandated to accomplish the task.
Administration must be onboard with the vision and ready to denounce resistance and stagnation.
The teachers have been in a place of comfort for so long it will be difficult to train without the
full support of administration. The PD must be given in doses to avoid teachers feeling
overwhelmed. Thus, it will take more than a year to fully layout the training on becoming
technology literate. Resistance is to be expected. Therefore, the PD must be strategic and
student-focused. PD must address the need for teachers to be proficient with technology, student
inclusion, purpose, and personal benefit.
 District Technology Training Plan 4

Teachers must first understand why being technology literate is important. They also
must be made aware of the vital role they play in implementing technology in their lesson plans.
This stage of PD should take its course and teachers should not be rushed in ascertaining the new
information. If teachers come to grips on what technology can do for them first, the result of
implementation will be a smoother transition. The amount of learning gaps that can be decreased
will be life changing. For teachers to see other avenues of learning come together, it will ignite
creativity and possibly begin a new wave of technology for students a Madison. However, in
order for the goals to be met, training must be on a consistent basis. For the tenured teachers, I
would suggest quarterly to avoid digression. The students’ role is significant amongst others.
Students will be able to live up to the IB status with the technology infusion. Students will be
equipped for the next stage in their educational career with being technology literate. Students
learning technology in the middle years helps position their understanding. It allows students to
take responsibility for their learning, too. With the amount of open educational resources that are
available, students can find ways to demonstrate their understanding easily with technology
implementation.
The Audience
The Technology Training Plan is designed for teachers and administration. The teachers
at Madison have been there a plethora of years and so has the administration. As mentioned, the
teachers’ are very mature and set in their ways. They express entitlement in the smallest areas of
change. The district must play an active role with the PD layout. Teachers and administration
must understand the era of today and how students need technology to advance. Attitudes and
dispositions must be buried for students’ success. Teachers have proven their success with the
rigors amounts of instruction proven with the IB program for many years. It is time for them to
show their skills with technology advancement. Teachers will not understand how vital it is
without it being mandated and strictly enforced. Hence, administration must be trained as well to
see the significant amount of success students will achieve once technology is implemented.

Goals/Objectives
 Students to become technology literate
The plan is will reinforce student achievement from all spectrums. Teachers will be
tasked to become technology literate by using the SMART board so that their students
can inherit their skills.
 Student to be prepared for high school academics
Teachers will be responsible for using the SMART board on a consistent basis to help
advance students onto their next grade level.
 Student to share responsibility in the learning process
Teachers will be responsible for implementing technology, therefore students should
know their role as it relates to the teachers effort.
 Students to complete globally and live up to the International Baccalaureate status
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Teachers beginning to utilize the SMART board will position students in becoming
global competitors. Teachers will be able to maximize student’s potential and will see
their results in students work based in implementation.
 Teachers to maximize their potential in hopes of benefitting themselves as well as
students
 Teachers to step outside of their comfort zone and explore the unknown
 Teachers and administration to be held accountable to standards
 Teachers and administration to utilizes the resources provided in a proper and ethical
means
Content
All classrooms at Madison have SMART boards installed. Thus, I will develop a plan
designed to maximize this resource. The SMART board will help the experienced teachers align
their intellect with engaging and interactive activities. At least 10 teachers at the school indicate
that they do not know how to work their SMART board. Most teachers use it to display their
lesson and a video once a while. Upon completion of the workshops teachers will be able to
work more efficiently and keep up with the IB standards. The format of the PD workshops
described in this plan is hybrid. The hybrid format is a combination of mixed instruction.
Teachers will meet once a week for an extended amount of time while the rest of the work is
conducted online. In order to promote technology being used in the classroom consistently,
teachers would be responsible for completing their assignments and mock assignments for 4
hours a day. One day a week the teachers will be tested on their user ability.
Course Topic Description Target Audience Course Location

Maximizing Potential~ SMART There are SMART boards available in 6th-8th Teachers Hybrid
Board Addition every classroom. I want to begin
focusing on what we all can easily
access. I also want to focus on the
same product at the same time. Thus,
if questions arise we all can work
together to troubleshoot the issue.
Starting off with the SMART board
can provide assurance to those who are
not comfortable with using technology
in the classroom a lot quicker because
of its simplicity.
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SMART Board (Pen to Text) With every SMART board comes 6th-8th Teachers
(1day) Smart Pens which allow you to write
directly on the board. When teaching a
lesson, you have the option to save
your notes and classroom examples as
is or convert them to text. Theses
lesson then become documents and
you are able to save them. This is all
done from touch. There is also an
option to type with the virtual
keyboard. If you are more comfortable
typing the SMART board
automatically gives you the option.
However, when conducting lessons,
students have the opportunity to show
their work on the board. You can use
this time to individualize the lesson for
the student and share it with the
student with a tap.

SMART Board (Creating a One of the capabilities of the SMART 6th-8th Teachers Hybrid
Drive) board is the shared screen effect.
(1 day) Teachers are able to demonstrate skills
to the entire classroom from his/her
screen. In addition to this skills
obtained, teachers are able to share the
documents created and upload it to a
sharable file. Students are able to
create, edit, and share documents in
the file as well. The begging of a
learning community can be created.
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SMART Board (Innovative Kahoot is simple and engaging activity 6th-8th Teachers Hybrid
Testing) teachers and students can partake in.
This activity is guaranteed to spark
(1 day) interest in a topic. Students are able to
compete against each other. Teachers
have the opportunity to show the
results of the class or the individual on
the SMART board.

SMART Board (Collaborative Teachers will be able to draw 6th-8th Teachers

Group Work) diagrams, compare and contrast texts,
explore regions, and create storylines.
(1 day) The possibilities are endless with
collaborations. Student can work
together or independently to create and
complete each task. These tasks can be
speared throughout the year with this
one tool. Students are becoming
technology literate and will be able to
share and use their experience in their
next grade level.

Instructional Strategies
Each approach will be collaborative. The teachers will be apprehensive about learning the
new techniques to improve there already rigorous instruction. Therefore, I will pair teachers in
groups of two for dependence and accountability. I will utilize the SMART board throughout my
entire workshop. I want teachers to be able to ask questions while in the presentation. I also
want them to indicate their struggles with infusing technology in the lesson. I want the
opportunity to be used as a forum on why technology is difficult for them. The conversation has
not been had and teachers have done minimal to uphold standards. However, the disservice is to
our rising leaders and incoming teachers. There will be multiple games played including
“application discovery” one I created for a group of senior staff at my workplace to become more
technology literate.
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I will avoid large gaps of time throughout the presentation to keep teachers on track and
focused. The entire presentation will remain students first. As mentioned in the workshop plan,
the SMART board activities are able to be saved. I will send the topics discussed, examples
created, material learned to each teacher. The lesson is not to be at all rushed and if teachers
require additional professional development we will make sure it is schedule. I also propose
instructional coaches upon the completion of the workshop.

Technology Workshop Lesson Plan

Subject of the Day's workshop: Prerequisite Knowledge: The topics

Maximizing Potential covered assumes no previous experience

Today’s Content: In this training we will focus on using the resources we already
possess to implement technology in the classroom. In this session, we will also explore a
mobile application to supplement the power of using resources.
Today’s Objective:

Teachers will understand the importance of utilizing their skills in alignment with
technology to improve instruction.

Materials:
 SMART Board
 Handout
 Pens
 Cellphones
How will you teach the lesson? Each day an industry expert will come to provide their
expertise on the SMART board. Though we will be using one tool to integrate, I wanted
multiple perspectives from experienced educators to show teachers their range. Also, to
show how they can maximize the one tool. The expert on this day will explain the
significance of having a SMART board. They will also shed light on students
achievement based on usage.

Evaluation Strategies: The workshop will be one whole session. At the end teachers will
collaborate to introduce a new concept learned.

Subject of the Day's workshop: SMART Prerequisite Knowledge: The topics

Board (Pen to Text) covered assume no previous experience.

Today’s Content: Today, we will use the SMART Board discussed on day one.

Today’s Objective: Teachers will be able to see the functions that the SMART Pen
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possesses.

Materials:
 SMART Board
 SMART Pens
 Activities
How will you teach the lesson? The facilitator will first demonstrate a lesson using the
SMART Pen. The lesson will be focus on creative writing to keep things simple. The task
would be accessing the virtual keyboard, converting the writing to text.

Evaluation Strategies: Teachers will individually demonstrate their ability once the
presentation has been completed, one by one to indicate competency.

Subject of the Day's workshop: Prerequisite Knowledge: The topics

Innovative Testing covered assumes no previous experience

Today’s Content: Today we will explore a mobile application in addition to the SMART
Board.

Today’s Objective: Teachers will be able to align mobile applications in conjunction

with the SMART Board.

Additional Materials:

 SMART Board
 SMART Pen
 Mobile Device
 Kahoot Application~ Activity

How will you teach the lesson? The facilitator will create 10 different quizzes on the
Kahoot application. Teachers will be responsible for downloading the application prior to
the start of the session. Because of the amount of styles Kahoot offers, I want teachers to
see in real time how they can utilize the resource.

Evaluation Strategies: Teachers will work collaboratively and create their own Kahoot
assessments and share it.

Subject of the Day's workshop: Prerequisite Knowledge: Teachers should

know how to operate the basic component
Collaborative Group Work of the SMART Board.

Today’s Content: Teachers will work together to plan a lesson where students can work
collaboratively using the SMART board.
 District Technology Training Plan 10

Today’s Objective: Teacher will be able to create strategies to have students’ work
together.

Materials:

 SMART Board
 SMART Pen
 Mini Lesson Plan
 Google Earth Application

How will you teach the lesson? The facilitator will demonstrate a lesson using google
earth. Teachers will see how students can work together exploring different regions using
the SMART Pen. Identify certain aspects about the region, and assigning work on further
exploration

Evaluation Strategies: Teachers will take turns using google earth to explore regions for
themselves on the SMART Board.

Subject of the Day's workshop: Google Prerequisite Knowledge: Teacher should

Drive know how to operate the SMART Board
and SMART Pen.

Today’s Content: Teachers will explore Google’s hidden treasure, the sharable drive.

Today’s Objective: Teachers will be able to create, edit, and share documents to
enhance the learning experience.

Materials:
 SMART Board
 SMART Pen
 Google Account
 Google Drive
 Documents
 Laptops
How will you teach the lesson? The facilitator will close out the session by extending
the SMART Board features as it relates to sharing and saving of documents. Teachers
will be tasked to create sharable documents on the SMART board to demonstrate
understanding. The activities will include how teachers can share their screens and make
edits in front of the class. The facilitator will also share how teachers can tailor their
lesson to specific students.

Evaluation Strategies: Teachers will practice saving documents and creating

collaborative google drives as well was individual google drives. This task is to be
 District Technology Training Plan 11

completed individually.

Materials
 SMART Board and activities
 SMART Pens
 Laptops
 Handouts
 Open Space
 Google Drive
 Google Docs

Field Test
Before conducting the workshop for teachers, I would conduct a preliminary workshop
for administration, parents, and students (focus group). The workshop would be designed the
same and the feedback would be beneficial for myself as well as teachers. The focus group
would understand why there is a need for technology in the classroom and also influence the
teachers in implementing the skills learned in the workshop. The tools are already accessible,
with very little money spent on outside experts to explain the concept fully. The backing of these
parties will play a tremendous effect on teacher participation and willingness. If teachers see the
focus group taking responsibility of their learning, teachers will be intrigued to explore the
option.

Revision
The best revision is trial and error. Once I complete the field test, I will review the
feedback and incorporate the missing components. To make sure errors are corrected I would
propose conducting two sessions within the field test to receive the best results possible.

Workshop Evaluation
Evaluation link embedded

Summative Evaluation
The success of the plan will be solely based on the students’ first mentality. Once the
experienced teachers recognize the ultimate goal is about the ones we service, the plan will work.
The success is based on teacher’s mentality toward students and nothing more. Therefore, if we
are creating an atmosphere for student improvement, teachers have no choice but to submit to the
plan. The plan will reinforce their agenda as educators to promote student success. With success
comes sacrifice, and as educators, our egos’ must be set aside to advance students beyond their
circumstance. In doing so, we must maximize our potential and utilize the resources provided.
 District Technology Training Plan 12

Budget
The budget is seamless because the majority of the recourses have already been provided due to
the IB program funding. Therefore, this presentation will take advantage of its resources by
cutting cost.
Instructors Need Source Cost
SMART Boards The classrooms all obtain Free
SMART boards with being an
IB school. The funding was
already granted.
Laptops Each teacher is equipped with Free
a laptop.
Wireless Projectors All classrooms have projectors Free
installed.
Professional Development $30 an hour for teachers 5
hour days (40 Teachers)
Industry experts The experts will come from $50 an hour (6 Instructional
other SMART board equipped coordinators)
schools within the county that
also houses IB programs.
The time and skill will need to
be compensated.
Estimated Total Cost:
$31,500.00

Follow-up
Once the PD sessions have concluded, I will first gauge the teachers by sending out a
survey about the experience. Upon completion, I will follow-up with the administration to ensure
goals have been met. It is the administrations ultimate responsibility to guarantee teachers are
conducting the implementation. I also propose weekend workshops, quarterly, to answer
questions about the SMART board and to introduce new waves of technology and applications to
enhance the learning experience. I want to keep the momentum going as it relates to educating
the experienced teachers, so they will not become uninterested. Technology is known for
exciting the classroom environment, and with the follow-ups, the goal to ignite teachers to
produce the best learning experience possible.
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Works Citied
Anon, (2017). [online] Available at: https://kahoot.it/ [Accessed 23 Oct. 2017].

JMMS IB WORLD SCHOOL. (n.d.). Retrieved October 18, 2017, from

https://sites.google.com/a/pgcps.org/jmms-ib-world-school/home

Www1.pgcps.org. (2017). Vision, Mission and Core Values. [online] Available at:
http://www1.pgcps.org/interior.aspx?id=234035 [Accessed 23 Oct. 2017].