Wilmington Middle School
Technology Use Plan
I Vision Statement
Our vision at Wilmington Middle School is that all students will be provided with a rich technological environment in their classrooms for the purpose of enhancing and strengthening their basic skills, creativity, problem-solving, and school-to work/career skills. Students will be provided with appropriate technology to utilize multi-media applications for "hands-on" experiences and projects. These technologies will assist students to improve their problem-solving skills across the curriculum. They will have access to information through the Internet to improve research and library skills. Students will have the opportunity to be life-long learners, create meaning, and to express that meaning.
The long-term vision is to create a community of learners that are connected to each other, sharing resources and collaborating in new ways. Teachers will become competent users of technology in order to model their creative use, and ultimately empower students to use technology.
II Mission Statement
Through the use of technology Wilmington Middle School Stakeholders are committed to increase success in accessing, processing and presenting information in a way that accomplishes our curriculum and instructional objectives and supports student achievement, creativity, problem-solving ability, and effective communication. An additional goal is to determine how to best utilize technology as a means of increasing staff and parent knowledge in order to assist students in accomplishing our vision.
For this purpose, the school will develop a school based intranet system through which students, teachers, support staff and administrators will be able to communicate with each other throughout the day.
We will incorporate technology as a natural part of education through an integrated, comprehensive framework to govern acquisition, application, and evaluation of technological resources to ensure that all students will have the opportunity to develop lifelong learning skills necessary to be productive citizens in an information-driven, global society.
By using technology as a tool, the students can:
• Expand their knowledge base.
• Improve their critical-thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Access, analyze, evaluate, and communicate information in expedient and efficient formats.
• Work ethically, independently, and collaboratively with a diverse and changing population.
III Planning
Primarily through our Technology Committee, we will determine the needs and requirements of the technology implementation at WMS. In coordination with our school plan and analysis of staff surveys, we will determine which curricular areas to focus on for our students, how instruction will be carried out, and methods of evaluating progress. Similar planning will occur in determining staff needs and methods of implementation. The Technology Committee shall be composed of members of each of the curricular areas, the Technology Resource Teacher, the technician and the administrator in charge. This committee will be responsible for scheduling the use of the technology center, making recommendations on technology requests that come to the coordinating councils, assisting in staff development, assessing resources, assisting in the writing of grants, establishing timelines, and updating the Technology use Plan every year.
Technology will support WMS’ educational vision and strive to accomplish the following goals:
• provide and support a challenging curriculum
• support learning programs for all students
• enhance home-school-community collaboration and communication.
There are many ways to use technology in the school. The most common method is a stationary computer lab setting, where students and teachers leave their regular classrooms and move to the lab for a short period of time. Our school is presently using this method by all the departments. Generally students work individually with computer-aided instruction programs, or word processing to produce reports or to publish work.
Another more mobile method of using technology, presently used by teachers at our school, is deploying a roving mini lab through the use portables laptops. A teacher checks out the laptops to use in their classroom for a particular project and for a specified amount of time.
The most advantageous deployment of technology requires that classrooms be equipped with immediate access to computers and the necessary software.
The Technology Committee proposes that WMS should have the following goals for equipping the classrooms with technology.
1. Each classroom will have a minimum of eight (3) computers. As of this academic year (2007-2008), every classroom has at least one desktop computer and one printer.
2. All classrooms and all offices are wired with Internet connection and all classrooms are connected to the school server to allow for communication within the classroom teachers.
3. Each teacher will have a laptop computer than can be taken home to use it for classroom management and lesson preparation.
4. The school has a school based intranet system through which students, teachers, support staff and administrators will be able to communicate with each other throughout the day.
5. The Accepted Use Policy will be included in the registration packet and every student will have a signed permission to access the Internet in file.
IV Instructional Objectives
All computer skills and activities need to be integrated into the regular instructional program appropriate to the content area. We recognize that computers present an ideal vehicle for individualized and small group activities addressing the needs of both students significantly below grade level - with additional practice and remediation in a non-judgmental, positive environment- and providing those students with exceptional ability the opportunity to develop their talents to the utmost.
English/Language Arts
Students will be motivated by using available technology to create stories, poems, letters, journal entries, video productions, songwriting, and multimedia projects. We expect student achievement to improve on school-designed and standardized tests in the areas of spelling, grammar, usage, sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation, and other measurable sectors of the Language Arts continuum. Comprehension and other reading-related skills will be enhanced and reinforced as students utilize appropriate software designed for that purpose.
Mathematics
Students will use the Accelerated Math program to help them master math objectives. This program generates unlimited practice assignments tailored to each student and it gives them immediate, individualized feedback showing them the mistakes by automatically scoring all assignment and tests. It helps each individual student to practice the precise skills necessary to move ahead at their own pace. This program is aligned with the California Math Standards.
Students will also use Understanding Math; a computer assisted learning software as a review or introduction to the math concepts. This program allows students to practice the precise skills necessary to move ahead at their own pace.
Art
Students will use appropriate drawing/painting programs to create and design projects. They will also learn how to do web design.
Science
Through the implementation of the IMaST Grant, the Science and Math classes will receive an infusion of technology and resources that will bring integration of these core subjects through technology use. Students will have access to Student Response Systems, laptops and web access through e-mail and other resources.
Other areas of the curriculum, such as Music, and History, will be addressed as our school determines its goals and objectives for the use of educational technology. We expect strong integration of the curriculum subjects with technology as our program expands.
V Professional Development
To be effective over the long term, professional development needs to be ongoing, based on real work and collaborative. Teacher training should model the constructivist approach that hopefully will be used in the classroom. This means that teachers will be taught in the same way they will teach their students.
Teams of teachers and students should attend training sessions so that they can support each other when they return to their classrooms. In this way, the teacher has a core group of students ready to help implement the technology in the classroom. The staff development program needs to provide follow-ups. Teachers need to go back to their classroom and practice what they have learned and then be able to return and share their lessons and experiences with the other colleagues.
VI Conclusion
Our goals for education are built on the long-held belief that technology can assist in developing critical thinking skills that foster problem-solving, communications, and sharing information. These skills are needed to prepare children for living and working in the 21st century. These skills are the impetus for building communities of learners.
It will take more than just acknowledging the need for technology to foster the concept of communities of learners. It means that a commitment must be made to continuously focus on the vision and move along with the speed of technology. It means that the school community needs to participate in educational reform through alliances with other educational institutions of higher education, business community, and policy makers. We need to be able to access the technology products and provide the knowledge. Categorical funds, state and federal funds and grants must be continuously sought and appropriated to make this vision a reality. Every classroom must be secured to effectively house a minimum of eight to ten computers and other technological equipment.
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