July 2004 — SETDA

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Tennessee: Technology Coaches in the Workplace: Professional Development Takes a New Spin in Tennessee

By Jerry Bates, Director of Applied School Technology, Tennessee Department of Education

To prepare for cooperative agreements between school districts, the Launch program embraces school mentorships. Therefore, those who have gone before help new grantees in any number of supporting roles, sharing effective practice in a form that classroom teachers can immediately access. What is so exciting is watching the web grow across the state. It is schools and local school districts that own their programs. Providing the catalyst for site-based programs that utilize and develop the expertise of teachers coaching teachers is the unique vision that characterizes what Tennessee has undertaken with its Title II, Part D competitive grant program.

And to think, this started with a few teachers taking a year or two away from regular classroom teaching duties in order to help their peers truly integrate technology in very ordinary, everyday ways. Technology coaches in Tennessee are making this happen, and the teachers they work with are amazed at how far they've come. But the children in these schools are the true beneficiaries. As one coach recently observed in a journal entry: "This year has taught me that as teachers we were making technology use way too hard. We may be unsure of technology but our students are not. If we will simply give them the opportunity for computer use, they will take it from there and need very little assistance from us."

Online Resource

The "Technology Coach Handbook" is a publication that the Appalachian Technology in Education Consortium developed as a result of their work with our technology coaches. It is designed to help technology coaches, technology resource teachers, curriculum integration specialists, technology coordinators and district instructional technologists integrate technology into K-12 curricula. The Handbook is available online at http://techcoach.memphis.edu.

Cite this Site

Jerry Bates, Director of Applied School Technology, Tennessee Department of Education, "Tennessee: Technology Coaches in the Workplace: Professional Development Takes a New Spin in Tennessee," T.H.E. Journal, 7/1/2004, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/16854

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