July 2004 — SETDA
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Tennessee: EdTech Launch Grant Enhances East Lincoln Elementary School's Learning Environment With Technology Resources
Today teachers at East Lincoln Elementary School, which serves grades K-5 in a low soci'economic neighborhood in Tullahoma, Tenn., see students motivated and engaged in technology-integrated projects. Yesterday, these same students struggled in nearly every aspect of school. Today teachers pull each other aside to proudly show off the projects in their students' electronic portfolios. Yesterday, these same teachers had very little computer experience. Today, families browse the school's new Web page, volunteer technical support and search the Internet during technology exploration nights. Yesterday, our families had limited access to computers. The litany could go on, for the changes at our school grew out of the belief that people with a vision create success when they have the opportunity and resources to achieve shared goals.
Our 2003 EdTech Launch grant provided the resources necessary to make a technology-enhanced learning environment flourish, but the physical resources were only the beginning. To arrive at a point where children are enthused and in wonder over the possibilities of technology took a tremendous amount of work on the part of every teacher in our school. And the excitement we now feel has brought about a new sense of hope for a brighter future.
Components for Success
Our rapid transformation began immediately upon the award notification of a Tennessee Department of Education EdTech Launch grant. With the active support of Ronny Murray, Tullahoma City Technology Coordinator, we quickly cleared the initial hurdle of purchasing and installing thousands of dollars of computer equipment. Our purchases were based on our plan to provide greater technology access to the students and families we serve. The overall design of our program took its shape from the outline designed by the Tennessee Department of Education. The program director included all of the necessary components for the successful development of an effective technology-integrated program into the state's plan for schools:
- An emphasis on professional development;
- The technology coach position;
- Training workshops for new coaches;
- A reflective journaling process;
- A provision of technical support; and
- Mentoring services.
Even the fact that the design calls on schools to individualize the project to accommodate for the needs of individual facilities is evidence of the plan's design quality. We received the framework and all of the necessary tools to achieve the desired result.
Job-Embedded Professional Development
In my role as East Lincoln's technology coach, I facilitate the design and implementation of the school's technology plan. This frees the teachers and administrators to focus completely on fulfilling their independent roles in developing a technology-enhanced learning environment. The coach training that I received through workshops provided by Jerry Bates and the Appalachian Technology in Education Consortium provided a strong foundation for how we implement our own professional development program.
Most of our professional development is job-embedded. We analyze previous instructional results and, based on those insights, modify what we do.
