Case+Study+Document


 * The More Things Stay the Same the More We Need to Change Them**

by (Dionne, Bob, Tammie, Sarah, Jaime)

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in the winter that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the flickering lights that struggled against the darkness. Mrs. Beasley had stayed up much later than she intended, but she just couldn't get those thoughts out of her head. The School Board Meeting was over and she was left holding the bag once again. Few of the programs she put on the computer network for remedial instruction and grading were being used by any of the teachers. Now she had to explain why that was and what she was going to do to change things. This was really unexpected because no one had said anything to her about this before the meeting took place. She thought to herself, "Things have got to change—but how?"

Mrs. Beasley quickly grabbed her iPad where she made some notes in question form. She figured she would step into the shoes of teachers,who were not using the programs and pose a series of questions that she would need to ponder and quickly get answered. First, who exactly is the audience for the programs? Is the program needed by all teachers? Next, why aren't more teachers using the programs? Third, what can I do to find out why so few teachers are using the programs, and what other alternatives are available to encourage teachers to use the programs? When do teachers have time to learn about the programs or use the programs? How can a meaningful professional development workshop be created to provide teachers with the knowledge to use the programs? Where will teachers meet for a professional development workshop since the next workshops are not scheduled until January 2011? Will teachers earn workshop pay for attending an unscheduled professional development workshop? How much will it cost to have an expert review the programs and fine tune any gray areas? After brainstorming for a bit, Mrs. Beasley said to herself, "I have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a winning strategy."

The following morning Mrs. Beasley arrived at school long before the rest of the staff. After Mr. Haines, the custodian, let her in the building, she sat down with her iPad and went to work. The first question she had written the night before was the easiest to answer. All teachers needed to be using the grading programs. This would allow them to efficiently harvest meaningful data. FastMath and Read 180 were implemented for teachers of students who were behind and in need of remediation. She knew she needed to find out why these teachers weren't taking advantage of the programs. She thought back to when these programs were put in place and tried to figure out what went wrong. She remembered that during training the initial staff developments for each of these initiative, many teachers were not aware that changes were coming and seemed a bit defensive and pessimistic. Had that mindset continued, and if so, how could she change it? Regardless, it was apparent that the top-down approach had failed. Could a more grassroots approach alleviate these problems. She immediately sat down and wrote two emails. One to all teachers, and the other to teachers of remedial math and reading students. She would get their input and opinions of the programs before deciding a course of action. As the day wore on, Mrs. Beasley's inbox slowly began to fill. Among the responses were several candid replies.

After finally getting home, Mrs. Beasley couldn’t stop thinking about what kind of responses to expect from the emails she sent out earlier. After dinner she finally looked at the emails and after going through each and every one of the replies three things stood out that the teachers really had a problem with. One issue was making time for the professional development workshops, another was what the workshops addressed and lastly, what would they gain taking time out of their schedules to attend the workshops. Mrs. Beasley thought these are all valid concerns and concerns that were not unreasonable and they deserved an answer. She decided she would sleep on it and really give it some thought. At 2:20 a.m. Ms. Beasley popped up out of her restless sleep and thought, “I got it”. She knew exactly how she wanted to address the concerns and decided to get up and construct the email right away. The email read, “For many I know time is definitely a factor so to address this we could work with the administrators to free up time during the week for teachers by using teaching assistants, parent volunteers or by taking advantage of regularly scheduled early days. The workshops may not appeal to everyone or everyone may not need the same workshop, so teachers should be able choose courses that address their specific interest, needs and fields. To address the idea of incentives, even if more pay couldn’t be negotiated there could be other incentives that would definitely benefit teachers in the long run like knowing you have job security, adding to your personal growth which could eventually lead to career advancement. The trainings will focus on learning strategies that will cater to your learning styles.” As Mrs. Beasley put the finishing touches on the email and click the send button, she thought there still may be some opposition and what if this lowers staff moral even more?

Throughout the next work day, there were far fewer responses to this latest email. Mrs. Beasley started to wonder if she was going about this the wrong way. And then an email popped up from Ms. Rieger. It read:

"Mrs. Beasley, It is great that you are trying to modify our staff development training so that it meets the needs of the teachers. A lot of time is wasted during staff development because it doesn't apply to many of the teachers present. Being able to choose which specific training to attend is a great idea. It will ensure that teachers aren't sitting through a training that is irrelevant to them. But what if there are two trainings being held at the same time that I want to attend? Does that mean I choose one and miss out on the other? My other concern is that I have an understanding of what most of the intervention programs do and how beneficial they can be to students, but what about best practice strategies? I don't need someone else to tell me how Fast Math works to get students proficient with their math facts, I need someone to tell me how I can incorporate this into my daily routine. When I only have two computers in the classroom and students spend 10 minutes on the computer for each session, how do I ensure that all students that need the intervention have a chance to be on the computer without missing out on the new lesson I am teaching? The school does a good job at giving us training about the programs available, but I think the missing component is best practice strategies. How can you get that into our staff development?

Thanks, Ms. Rieger"

This changed the way that Mrs. Beasley began to think about the problem. According to Ms. Rieger, the problem lies with best practice strategies rather than knowledge of the program. Mrs. Beasley decided to send out an email to the staff to see if they agreed that this was the main reason why they weren't using these programs. The response was unanimous, best practice strategies needed to be incorporated. So how do I do that?, thought Mrs. Beasley.

Mrs. Beasley thought and thought about the response that she received from the emails. She realized that planning for these workshops was going to take a lot more strategy than she expected. Not only would she have to ensure the training beneficial to all teachers but more importantly how would she instruct teachers to implement the programs with their students. Like Ms. Rieger said, she only has two computers in her classroom. That would definitely take some careful planning so that each student would get enough time without missing out on the new lesson. Mrs. Beasley realized that this is something that may be different in every classroom. Depending on the teaching style, the structure of computer time would vary from classroom to classroom. She decided that she needed to come up with more than one way to fit this in to the daily routine.

Mrs. Beasley sat down and began to make a list of ways to do this. The list began as follows: 1) Start with those students whose last names are at the beginning of the alphabet and go down the list. Each student will work with a partner. There will then be four different stages that the students complete in a given day. a) basic teacher instruction b) review of homework c) computer time d) classwork. These stages would be divided into time blocks and students would cycle through them. Depending on the number of students in the classroom, stage times would be adjusted accordingly. 2) Students would each have their own time on the computer during different times throughout the day. The rotation would cycle through the students and they would use the computer during their alloted time. 3) The students would work in larger groups to work on computers. Half of the students would use the computers while the other half completed a classwork assignment. The students using computers would each get a certain amount of time and then rotate. This would allow for each student to have a try but also to observe what the other students were doing. 4)......

Mrs. Beasley knew that this would be a complicated task but also something that needs to be done. She continued to brainstorm new ideas before sending out another email. Knowing the main concern here was what would benefit the students the most, she knew she had to approach this problem in many different directions.


 * Discussion Questions:**

1.) Based on my experience with technology, it tends to be geared to teachers that know very little about the technology and there is no differentiation between teachers' skill levels. How can the technology specialist ensure that all teachers are getting something out of these trainings when there is typically so little money in the budget for training sessions? If there can't be multiple different sessions occurring at the same time, what can be done to make sure the mandatory trainings fit the needs of all attending? **Sarah Brown**

2) Which forms of ICT (information and communication technologies) do you feel would be most useful in supporting the continuous professional development of all educators? **Tammie White**

3) Some of the most cited barriers to the adoption of ICT include - administrative support, infrastructure and accessibility, curriculum integration, attitudes and fears, and lack of technical support. How can these barriers be eliminated? **Dionne Griffith**

4) What are the most effective incentives to use when attempting to get buy in from teachers? **Dionne Griffith**

5) How can teachers be shown that new means of technology will benefit classroom learning even though it may mean changing their current instructional style and/or schedule?

Revisions: **The More Things Stay the Same the More We Need to Change Them **

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in the winter that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the flickering lights that struggled against the darkness. Mrs. Beasley had stayed up much later than she intended, but she just couldn't get those thoughts out of her head. The School Board Meeting was over and she was left holding the bag once again. Few of the programs she put on the computer network for remedial instruction and grading were being used by any of the teachers. Now she had to explain why that was and what she was going to do to change things. This was really unexpected because no one had said anything to her about this before the meeting took place. She thought to herself, "Things have got to change—but how?"

Mrs. Beasley quickly grabbed her iPad where she made some notes in question form. She figured she would step into the shoes of teachers who were not using the programs and pose a series of questions that she needed to ponder and quickly get answered. First, who exactly is the audience for these programs? Are the programs needed by all teachers? Next, why aren't more teachers using the programs? Third, what can I do to find out why so few teachers are using the programs? What, if any, alternatives are available to encourage teachers to use the programs? When do teachers have time to learn about the programs or use the programs? How can a meaningful professional development workshop be created to provide teachers with the knowledge to use the programs? Where and when will teachers meet for a professional development workshop since the next workshops are not scheduled until January 2011? Will teachers earn workshop pay for attending an unscheduled professional development workshop? How much will it cost to have an expert review the programs and fine tune any gray areas? After brainstorming for a bit, Mrs. Beasley said to herself, "I have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a winning strategy." The following morning Mrs. Beasley arrived at school long before the rest of the staff. After Mr. Haines, the custodian, let her in the building, she sat down with her iPad and went to work. The first question she had written the night before was the easiest to answer. All teachers needed to be using the grading programs. This would allow them to efficiently harvest meaningful data. Fast Math and Read 180 were implemented for teachers of students who were behind and in need of remediation. She knew she needed to find out why these teachers weren't taking advantage of the programs. She thought back to when these programs were put in place and tried to figure out what went wrong. She remembered that during training the initial staff developments for each of these initiatives, many teachers were not aware that changes were coming and seemed a bit defensive and pessimistic. Had that mindset continued, and if so, how could she change it? Regardless, it was apparent that the top-down approach had failed. Could a more grassroots approach alleviate these problems? She immediately sat down and wrote two emails, One to all teachers, and the other to teachers of remedial math and reading students. She would get their input and opinions of the programs before deciding a course of action. As the day wore on, Mrs. Beasley's inbox slowly began to fill. Among the responses were several candid replies.

After finally getting home, Mrs. Beasley didn't know what to expect from the emails she sent out earlier. After dinner she finally looked at her inbox. After going through each and every reply, three things stood out that the teachers really had a problem with. One issue was making time for the professional development workshops, another was what the workshops addressed and lastly, what would they gain taking time out of their schedules to attend the workshops. Mrs. Beasley thought these were all valid concerns that were not unreasonable and deserved an answer. She decided she would sleep on it and really give it some thought. At 2:20 a.m. Ms. Beasley popped up out of her restless sleep and thought, “I've got it”. She knew exactly how she wanted to address the concerns and decided to get up and construct the email right away. The email read, “For many of you time is definitely a factor, so to address this we could work with the administrators to find time during the week for teachers by using teaching assistants, parent volunteers or by taking advantage of regularly scheduled early days. The workshops may not appeal to everyone and everyone may not need the same workshop, so teachers should be able choose courses that address their specific interest, needs and fields. As for incentives, even if more pay couldn’t be negotiated there could be other incentives that would definitely benefit teachers in the long run like knowing you have job security and adding to your professional growth, which could lead to career advancement. The trainings will focus on learning strategies that will cater to your learning styles.” As Mrs. Beasley put the finishing touches on the email and click the send button, she thought there still may be some opposition and what if this lowers staff moral even more?

Throughout the next work day, there were far fewer responses to this latest email.  Mrs. Beasley started to wonder if she was going about this the wrong way. And then an email popped up from Ms. Rieger. It read: "Mrs. Beasley, It is great that you are trying to modify our staff development and training so that it better meets the needs of the teachers. A lot of time is wasted during staff development because it doesn't apply to many of the teachers present. Being able to choose which specific training to attend is a great idea. It will ensure that teachers aren't sitting through a training that is irrelevant to them. But what if there are two trainings being held at the same time that I want to attend? Does that mean I choose one and miss out on the other? My other concern is that I have an understanding of what most of the intervention programs do and how beneficial they can be to students, but what about best practice strategies? I don't need someone else to tell me how Fast Math works to get students proficient with their math facts; I need someone to tell me how I can incorporate this into my daily routine. When I only have two computers in the classroom and students spend 10 minutes on the computer for each session, how do I ensure that all students that need the intervention have a chance to be on the computer without missing out on the new lesson I am teaching? The school does a good job at giving us training about the programs available, but I think the missing component is best practice strategies. How can you include that into our staff development?

Thanks, Ms. Rieger"

This changed the way that Mrs. Beasley was thinking about the problem. According to Ms. Rieger, the problem lies with best practice strategies rather than knowledge of the program. Mrs. Beasley decided to send out an email to the staff to see if they agreed that this was the main reason why they weren't using these programs. The response was unanimous, best practice strategies needed to be incorporated. So how do I do that? thought Mrs. Beasley.

Mrs. Beasley thought and thought about the response that she received from the emails. She realized that planning for these workshops was going to take a lot more strategy than she expected. Not only would she have to ensure the training beneficial to all teachers but more importantly how would she instruct teachers to implement the programs with their students. Like Ms. Rieger said, she only has two computers in her classroom. That would definitely take some careful planning so that each student would get enough time without missing out on the new lesson. Mrs. Beasley realized that this is something that may be different in every classroom. Depending on the teaching style, the structure of computer time would vary from classroom to classroom. She decided that she needed to come up with more than one way to fit this in to the daily routine.

Mrs. Beasley sat down and began to make a list of ways to do this. The list began as follows:  1) Start with those students whose last names are at the beginning of the alphabet and go down the list. Each student will work with a partner. There will then be four different stages that the students complete in a given day.  a) Basic teacher instruction b) Review of homework  c) Computer time d) Class work.  These stages would be divided into time blocks and students would cycle through them. Depending on the number of students in the classroom, stage times would be adjusted accordingly.

2) Students would each have their own time on the computer during different times throughout the day. The rotation would cycle through the students and they would use the computer during their allotted time. 3) The students would work in larger groups to work on computers. Half of the students would use the computers while the other half completed a class work assignment. The students using computers would each get a certain amount of time and then rotate. This would allow for each student to have a try but also to observe what the other students were doing.

Mrs. Beasley knew that this would be a complicated task but also something that needed to be done. She continued to brainstorm new ideas before sending out another email. Knowing the main concern here was what would benefit the students the most. She knew she had to approach this problem in many different directions.

**Discussion Questions: **

1.) Based on my experience with technology, it tends to be geared to teachers that know very little about the technology and there is no differentiation between teachers' skill levels. How can the technology specialist ensure that all teachers are getting something out of these trainings when there is typically so little money in the budget for training sessions? If there can't be multiple different sessions occurring at the same time, what can be done to make sure the mandatory trainings fit the needs of all attending?

2) Which forms of ICT (information and communication technologies) do you feel would be most useful in supporting the continuous professional development of all educators?

3) Some of the most cited barriers to the adoption of ICT include - administrative support, infrastructure and accessibility, curriculum integration, attitudes and fears, and lack of technical support. How can these barriers be eliminated?

4) What are the most effective incentives to use when attempting to get buy in from teachers? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">5) How can teachers be shown that new means of technology will benefit classroom learning even though it may mean changing their current instructional style and/or schedule? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">6) We spend a good bit of time talking about changing tools in the classroom and what the best practices are for using those tools. Do you that our attack to professional development needs to be revised swell? Why or why not?  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">References  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Inbox retrieved August 18, 2010 from [|http://manual.cavecreek.com]  <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Storm retrieved August 18, 2010 from [|www.free-desktop-backgrounds.net]  Woman with ipad retrieved August 18, 2010 from __[|www.blogcdn.com]__ Woman Writing retrieved August 18, 2010 from [|www.softchalk.com]