Professional Documents
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Internship Proposal
Internship Proposal
Loyola University
Prof. Bal
Internship Proposal
Internship Goals:
For the English Department at Forest Park High School to become comfortable with the google
suite for education and be able to use it in a meaningful way in their instruction.
To demystify the use of technology in the classroom and support colleagues as they begin to
To provide a safe and comfortable space for department members to experiment with
To provide a model for scaling technology instruction and integration throughout the school as
Internship Objectives:
3.1 Candidates will be able to apply models of technology in school (such as SAMR, TPACK,
and/or TIM) to incorporate technology tools to improve teaching and learning.
3.2 Candidates will be able to demonstrate the ability to tackle challenging technical tasks.
4.2 Candidates will be able to use technology tools to collaborate with colleagues.
5.1 Candidates will be able to apply technology to facilitate a variety of effective assessment
and evaluation strategies.
5.2 Candidates will be able to use technology to collect assessment data, analyze it, and
improve student learning.
5.3 Candidates will be able to use technology to communicate assessment data with others.
6.1 Candidates will be able to model and promote strategies for achieving equitable access to
digital tools and resources.
7.1 Candidates will be able to model and build a positive school culture that supports the safe,
healthy and ethical use of technology.
8.1 Candidates will be able to apply models of change to understand the current situation of
technology innovation in a school.
8.2 Candidates will be able to plan for the future of technology in a school using models of
change.
13.2 Candidates will be able to determine and implement the best approaches to improving their
technology integration efforts through a continual process of self-evaluation and reflection.
18.1 Candidates will be able to locate a variety of technology resources, evaluate them for
classroom use, and assist colleagues with this process.
Internship Overview:
In 2010, Baltimore City Public Schools began to conduct research into how to revitalize
and improve the failing school infrastructure present throughout the city (About, 2017). The
culmination of that study led to the creation of “21st Century Schools Baltimore” which is a
multi-partner initiative with the mission to “build future-focused, adaptable, sustainable and
high-quality schools that inspire and support the educational success of Baltimore City Public
My school, due to significant problems with flooding, heating, cooling and lead
plumbing, was designated as a year 1 school, and is currently undergoing a 70 million dollar
renovation (Forest, 2017). This confluence of events means that our school population is going
to double next year and then we will enter our newly renovated building in the fall of 2018.
As a part of the renovation process and likely due to the incredible financial resources being
devoted to our school, we have been under intense scrutiny from our district and have also
been designated as a STEAM school starting school year 2018-2019. This means that school
year 2017-2018 is a crucial and powerful year for our school. We have added an ESOL program
and diversified our previously nearly homogenous school population, adding three new career
and technical pathways and working to re-engage a limping AP and Honors program.
Additionally, our principal is extremely focused on our school becoming a green school
and in addition to our LEED Silver designation, we will be highly encouraged to use digital and
electronic methods to assign, assess and design curricula as well as communicate with students
and other stakeholders. This focus is also reflected in the 2016-2020 Baltimore City Schools
Strategic Plan which says, “these new and renovated school buildings are designed to support
excellence in teaching and learning with flexible and adaptable space, learning areas designed
for interaction and collaboration, and technology equipped classrooms, enabling students to
meet today’s—and tomorrow’s—high standards” (Excellence, 2017). However, there has been
very little discussion of how that technology will be purchased or maintained or who will be
All of these factors mean that I am designing and completing my technology internship
After considering the limitations of my own abilities, the support of the administration
and the buy-in from stakeholders, as well as talking with Professor Marcovitz, I ultimately
decided to stay focused on a smaller, but still powerful level—that of my department. Given
where we are expected to go and our current access to technology and support for technology
innovation, this seemed the best place to leverage my skills and enthusiasm, the buy-in from
My specific innovation is the integration and use of cloud computing. We gained district-
wide access to the G Suite for Education this summer. Although we previously had access to
cloud computing technology via our district and Microsoft 365, most educators did not use this
platform. I would like to increase knowledge and use of cloud computing in general and within
my department, I would like to support and encourage the use of G Suite for Education in my
department.
conclusions:
to make tentative steps towards online computing via our collaborative planning. We
meetings and build competency and comfort in a safe, low-risk environment. I would
like to push our department to use G Suite for Education because the synchronous
editing features are unique to that suite of products and the long-term access and
stability of the platform is already proven. Additionally, this product can be used to
create, grade, and track assessments automatically which is a huge plus to busy
educators. We have started building comfort with the products by encouraging the
department to keep our weekly meeting notes/agenda in a google doc that can be seen,
edited, and accessed by everyone in the department. Some of our staff have some
experience with Google Docs so there is evidence to suggest that this level of
participation would not be deemed taxing and would be a nice way to highlight ways
2. Observability: The unique power of cloud computing lies in the fact that the results are
immediate. This allows for teachers to observe the power of immediate submission and
documents and presentations. One area where this could be a challenge for my
department is that they will not be able to observe the full power of cloud computing if
they do not try to create, send or receive assignments in this fashion. To make these
benefits more observable (at my suggestion), we have begun to deliver our collaborative
planning agendas via Google Document (which supports our green schools initiative as
well as our technology initiatives) and then use that document to function as our group
3. Relative Advantage: I think the advantages of receiving work digitally and being able to
grade and leave feedback digitally as well will be easily seen by my department. Since
read, review, score, and return. I know that being able to grade from anywhere and not
have to carry heavy bags of grading will be an advantage and most teachers also type
faster than they write so they will see the additional advantage of being able to leave
detailed feedback more quickly and efficiently. I also know that people in my
department are interested in how to leverage these technologies in their classrooms,
but don’t feel empowered or able to take the risks alone. Doing so with colleagues in a
safe, evaluation-free space will help them to take these risks and hopefully realize these
advantages.
staff already use and know the Microsoft products that they will be most likely to use so
the only complexities are in the digital interface, which they already have to navigate to
get to their email. In terms of the G Suite for Education products that I want to highlight,
there is some additional complexity, but I think their baseline familiarity with those
types of programs and Google will help. The only areas that are likely to prove complex
enough to need explicit teaching and modeling are Google Forms, Google Sheets (only
5. Compatibility: Because staff already use the traditional forms of the programs, this is
infinitely compatible with what they already do. They will be able to branch out and
experiment at their own pace while still using the technologies that they already know,
only online. I also think that because students have access to these features on their
mobile devices, they'll have additional compatibility in that respect. I also think that
increased technology integration and use supports the district and school initiatives that
because considering Ely’s Conditions within the larger school led me to believe that the
conditions did not exist to produce the desired change. With that knowledge, I then conducted
a survey within my department to assess the status of the eight conditions within my
department in regards to the change I hope to achieve. The table below outlines my
assessment of both the school and department in each of the eight areas. I initially conducted
these interviews in Spring of 2017 in conjunction with ET 680, although there are few changes
Dissatisfaction with Within the school, I would say that staff are All of my interviewees expressed
the status quo dissatisfied with either the access to technology dissatisfaction with the status quo in
and/or their training and ability to integrate terms of technology access and
technology within their department. Although availability and about half of them
dissatisfaction exists, there doesn’t seem to be expressed dissatisfaction with their
interest in trying to remedy knowledge gaps on current level of technology training and
personal initiative or without incentive. knowledge and/or wanted more
training and support in integrating
technology.
Knowledge and Most of the staff, more than half, cannot About half of respondents knew what
Skills Exist identify cloud computing. Although I think I cloud computing was and some could
have the knowledge and skills to support staff identify specific examples, but all
in this area, there is such an overwhelming indicated interest in further training,
diversity of skill levels and areas of interest that support and usage. Some teachers
I don’t think I could coherently create a asked for specific training in making
program that would meet the needs of the class websites, using class kick, or Sway.
staff. I have some of the knowledge and
skills, but I am not an expert at all of
the requested topics. I would have to
do some independent learning and
research to fully meet this condition. All
respondents have basic computer skills
and a working knowledge of Google.
The biggest concern in this area is that
respondents are at a variety of skill
levels and all have a range of
technology skills and supports that they
would like to improve on and/or
receive training for.
Resources are This is one area where there is a distinct lack. My department has six English teachers
available Although most staff have district issued laptops, and the lead teacher for the school. Of
they do not have administration rights meaning the seven of us, three teachers use
that they are not all updated or even personal Mac laptops, three of use
functioning. There are some desktops in district-provided PC laptops and one
classrooms, but newer teachers are teacher uses a personal PC laptop. Even
predominantly using their own personal though this is still a changing in terms
technology, many of them using Apple devices, of troubleshooting and support,
which I do not have extensive knowledge of and working with a small number of
some of which use different apps or resources. teachers, especially ones which have
After training, there is also a distinct lack of indicated that they are willing to work
technology access within our school. Right now beyond the normal work day if needed,
we have four or five mobile laptop carts (of 14- it will be easier to manage. Additionally,
30 laptops each) and 25 desktop computers to we will start by using cloud computing
service a student body of over 400. Three of the within our own department via
laptop carts are specifically and permanently collaborative planning and teachers will
devoted to the Math Department, but they be able to determine when to use it
have not been supervised or maintained and of within their classrooms. This also
the original fifty-sixty computers they received, negates the issues with trying to access
only about 15-20 are working and have keys. It's the wifi in large numbers. Although the
incredibly frustrating to me. They have daily access to technology within the
access to the computers, but do not use them classroom is still problematic, G Suite
and when they are used, they are not handled for Education is optimized for use on
appropriately. I have off-and-on access to mobile devices and we can leverage the
approximately 35 laptops, but they are ten 12(ish) laptops (mentioned in the
years old and we have only 14 chargers. They schoolwide assessment) that we have
will not let me buy chargers for the remaining access to via the department to
ones and there is an issue with the windows augment student mobile devices where
licenses as well. On a regular basis, I about 12 of necessary. The technology we are
these working. When I am using tech in my wanting to use (GAFE) is free and freely
classroom, it's a combination of these available and my time as a trainer
computers and students' phones. Of the would also be free and provided to
remaining computers (desktops and two carts), staff.
they are used for testing on a near-daily basis
and must be used in the library. In addition to At this point, my department is the
these concerns, we do not have sufficient second-most stable in the school. Of
ethernet ports and since the building we are in our seven staff members, we have only
is about to be closed, so they will not install one who is not going to return to the
them. All of the desktops in the library and all of school next year. This means that
the computer carts are on the wifi network-- efforts made this year can be improved
which routinely kicks people off (especially on next year and potentially be
frustrating when students are testing). At this significant by our fall 2018 return to
point, all laptop carts are reserved for testing renovated school.
until next school year. There will be PARCC,
HSA, Agile Mind or other testing every day until
final exams. Some technologies that staff want
training in or access to are free, but some are
not. Staff would have to determine which
resources they wanted to prioritize and if they
are willing to pay for those resources
themselves.
Beyond all of these factors, a key resource in
my school is teachers. We lose between 30 and
50 percent of our staff every year because of
poor personal management, new opportunities,
retirement, etc. It would be very intensive to
provide this introductory level of support and
training every single year.
Time is Available Although we do have monthly staff meetings, My department is close and often
they do not allow for technology training and chooses to meet and collaborate
support. I have spoken to our Vice Principal beyond the requirements of our school.
who wants to set up a series of voluntary, drop- On the survey provided, all respondents
in technology PDs weekly or bi-weekly. Right were willing to use our shared planning
now she wants me to do the bulk of them which time to do PD as required and several
means losing 20% of my teaching time during seemed excited by the opportunity.
the week, which is fairly significant. Because our This would also allow me to
planning periods are organized by department, differentiate between the cloud
there are no other departments with my computing that I am proposing to the
planning period so the only common time I department and the integration of
could offer training would be during lunch. The some of their other technology
staff members most interested and/or willing to requests/desires (class kick, weebly,
do this sort of work during a working lunch are etc.).
the ones who need less support. For those staff
members who need more support, they resent
attending weekly collaborative planning
meetings and would be likely to resent working
lunches as well.
Rewards or Other than the training itself or the benefits to Half of the respondents said they would
Incentives Exist for the students, I am unable to provide large-scale like food/snacks as incentives. Three
Participants: incentives to staff and administration has people specifically mentioned that
already indicated that they would not or could gaining better training or resources
not do so. I can do small incentives (candy, etc), would be sufficient incentive, two
but they are not likely to be sufficient to meet people mentioned student
the demand to actually incentivize staff. Those achievement as sufficient motivation.
staff members are already incentivized by One person said that other than
student achievement or engagement concerns student learning, money would be nice.
seek me out individually to get that support Although I cannot pay for their time or
already. provide large-scale incentives often,
with only seven people I could offer
things like pizza during a working lunch
or other more achievable incentives.
Additionally my department tends hold
each other accountable through
positive peer pressure which I think
would sufficient even if there wasn’t
already significant interest in learning
and applying these skills.
Participation is Although the administration would be vocally The only person interviewed who was
Expected and supportive of participation and it would be not interested in more training or
Encouraged: verbally expected and encouraged, experience creating a department mission/vision is
says that they will not take the required steps not going to be with our department
to make participation possible (class coverage, after May. The others seemed excited
incentives, resources, time, etc.). Also, the way about the idea of organizing around a
that administration supports initiatives like common departmental goal that
these tends to become punitive quickly which included technology integration. All
means that the union gets involved and respondents were interested or willing
initiatives are shut down “because the teachers to use a planning period to attend PD
complained”, although that is not a complete although one person asked that they be
examination of the factors involved. allowed to use their technology to
Additionally, staff have been burn out by support their own learning of the
routine announcements of initiatives, areas of material. We are going to be a STEAM
focus, programs, etc. with little or no school in two years and there is
scaffolding, no follow-through and no support. significant pressure to begin to
Anything that is introduced through or transition and include more technology
supported by administration is seen as likely to integration ASAP. Our departmental
be abandoned or used only as a tool to punish culture is overwhelmingly supportive
teachers. Even amongst the most engaged and encouraging and I think that
teachers, there is a very jaded and cynical view increases interest in initiatives like this
towards these efforts. one. Our department also has
demonstrated a fidelity and
commitment to implementing,
assessing and maintaining efforts,
particularly those involved with student
achievement. This increases
departmental buy-in to further
initiatives.
Commitment by Although there is a district and school level Everyone is committed to the goal of
Those Who Are commitment to technology integration in increasing our technology integration
Involved: advance of our STEAM school status, there is no and meaningful technology usage and
plan for how to leverage that commitment into everyone is committed to being
actual progress. Additionally, although verbal prepared to be a STEAM school by
commitments would be made, experience and 2018. All members of the department
evidence suggest that would be the extent of indicated a willingness and
the commitment. commitment to achieve this goal. In
fact, the problem for me was that
wanted almost too much at once, but
the small scale of our department
means that I can manage those
additional request more meaningfully.
Leadership is The de facto leader in the school and definitely The lead teacher in our school is in my
Evident: the person that is trusted by all members of department and has already committed
staff to actually accomplish something is our to being my partner in this effort. I feel
lead teacher. Our administration has not shown confident that with the help of our lead
adequate leadership and in fact often shows teacher I could effectively support the
failure to lead. There is also a desire to department in most of the areas that
micromanage any/every initiative to the point were requested and I have already
of collapse. become the de facto technology leader
in the school. They already look to me
for leadership on this issue and ask for
tutorials and support in these areas. I
will need more training and support in
some areas because I am not fully
aware or experienced with all the
technology they want to use or use
more effectively i.e. the interactive
projectors. Also, the scope of our
project is an advantage in this case
because it is likely to fly under the radar
of the administration which will allow it
to unfold unimpeded and with more
likelihood of success.
ACOT stages.
I know that the risk of working with a small group is that there will be a lack of sufficient
spillover into the larger school community and/or an insufficient cumulative growth in the
ACOT stages and Perceived Attributes in terms of observability. I think, however, that my plan
avoids this risk for two key reasons. One is that the entire English Department is committed to
this initiative meaning that even though there isn’t a large percentage of staff involvement,
every single student in the school will be impacted since every student must take at least one
English course per year. This is significant because within our department we will be able to
track implementation and progress of our innovation and therefore each consecutive year we
will be able to build on the foundation that we can guarantee was laid.
Also, our students push us to be better, faster, more effective. If I am giving a quiz, they
tell me that, “Mr. Corral uses Kahoot! in Biology and that’s better”, for example. Our students
will drive the interest and dissemination of our innovation throughout our school environment.
And, finally, although in an ideal world all educators would use technology in innovative and
powerful ways to inspire, motivate and drive students to achievement, the ultimate goal is in
the student’s achievement. I know that I cannot enforce universal interest or buy-in across my
staff, but my department already has that and we can leverage that to reach all of our students
in the best and most meaningful ways possible—which achieves our ultimate goal anyway.
Internship Plan:
I began parts of this internship by working with my department last spring to create a vision and mission
that reflects our beliefs and priorities about our work with students and the place of technology in that
work. We worked on this across several collaborative planning periods and eventually settled on a
mutually agreed upon mission and vision statement. This year, because we added several new people to
our new department, we went back over the mission and vision statement and reached a new
consensus. The plan below for the internship is related to realizing that mission and vision in our
department. For each of the presentations I give, I will record a screencast or video that presents the
information so that attendees can access these resources outside of the meeting and/or it will be
available to other staff members. These will be hosted on my website and will provide an additional
support and modeling for how to incorporate technology in the classroom. This will also help as we
Teachers will
provide examples
of docs and slides
used primarily as
instructional tools
as well as
examples of docs
and slides as well
as student-created
or student-
collaborated docs
and slides.
The goal is to introduce Teachers will be able to Jessica Stith February Teachers will The instructor
staff to the advantages create a google form in 2018 provide examples
of google forms as order to collect data from of google forms
survey and assessment its participants. used primarily as
tools. (Forms) an assessment or
survey to help
Teachers will create at
guide future
least one auto-grading
instruction.
form for use in class as an
exit slip, drill, quiz or other
formative assessment. Staff will share
their experiences
implementing a
form and will also
provide feedback
to the instructor
via a form.
The goal is introduce Teachers will be able to Jessica Stith March 2018 Teachers will The instructor
staff to Sheets and to create a google sheet in Darrin Brozene provide examples
highlight the key order to turn the data into a of sheets as
Darrin Brozene,
differences between graph. student tools as
Lead Teacher
sheets and excel. well as data
collection and
Teachers will work as a
assessment.
The goal is also for staff department to create a
to be able to create and common data tracking tool
maintain data tracking and use it to track standard
tools using sheets that data throughout the school
they will use and year.
update throughout the
17-18 school year.
(Sheets)
The goal is for the The department will work Jessica Stith April and The department The instructor
department and together to create a Marissa Adkins May 2018 will have a The department
individual teachers to Departmental Site functional website (peer feedback
feel comfortable showcasing their vision that unifies the and support)
creating and and mission, providing department and
maintaining a website resource for various provides links and
as well as considering student projects and support for
different ways that sites reference tools, and link to students.
can be used for the individual sites of
instruction or teachers.
assessment. (Sites)
Teachers will be able to The teachers will be able Jessica Stith By the end Teachers will be Assessment of the
incorporate all of the to incorporate all of the Darrin Brozene of April able to articulate Instructor and
skills that they have previous apps together in 2018 how and why they evaluation of the
learned into a unified order to host an entire created their unit, plan will be
product. (Complete class unit on their website how students used reviewed at the
Integration) and linked to the that unit and November PD
departmental website. student data and days. Adjustments
assessment was and additional PD
submitted and topics/foci will be
tracked using the determined then.
tools.
Teachers will receive Teachers will indicate Jessica Stith By June Teachers will All parties will be
ongoing training and where/how they want (Others as 2018 demonstrate their surveyed and
support in G Suite as additional training which be appropriate) comfort and results will be
they move from entry to provided monthly growth through an used to determine
adoption and throughout the school year increase in next steps for the
adaptation on the in a collaborative planning student use of G growth of the
ACOT model. period. Suite tools and the English
by tracking Department and
student any required
achievement data changes to the
through the use of format prior to the
G Suite use of this model
in a new
department.
My current plan to map my progress through the internship is to complete a reflection once a
month, after providing the most recent training and reviewing the products/feedback that
result from that training. I tentatively have decided to complete these reflections by the first of
each month.
References
http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/cms/lib/MD01001351/Centricity/Domain/10215/
2015StrategicPlan_Final.pdf
Forest Park High School. (2017, May 04). Retrieved April 16, 2017, from http://baltimore
21stcenturyschools.org/schools/103
Note: Much of this proposal is adopted from course work completed in Spring of 2017 in ET 680