Staff Development

Technology and trends and the various applications to education have been instrumental components in our staff development days and ongoing changes to our culture at my school. As the administrator in charge of staff development, I put a survey out to the staff at the beginning of the school year regarding topics for professional development. Technology and the various applications was clearly a majority favorite. Our departments all use Edusoft in order to disaggregate data and fine tune their dept. pacing calendars. Webgrades is a fan favorite of the parents (and the students) in order to best maintain a pulse on their student's progress.

I plan on sharing the video clip, "A Vision of Student's Today" to our staff along with providing a technology website handout. The ideal theme of 'create experiences and not lectures' is fast becoming a culture change at our school and it is exciting to see all teachers embrace the idea of technology applications in their classrooms.

In order to get a greater perspective on technology and school culture, I have agreed to create an online survey through Kwik Survey for the teachers, parents and students. The survey will ask specific questions about technology but will also reference general aspects of the school. The survey will be posted on our website and all stakeholders will have easy access. I am looking forward to the results of such a survey and hope it will enlighten everyone and assist in future decisions.