Fayetteville School is the only school in the state and the only K-12 school chosen along with 25 other schools in the nation to attend a forum at Microsoft headquarters in Washington state at the end of September.The forum will equip the teachers with tools that will combine traditional teaching methods with new technology.
Funded by Wachovia and Microsoft, the grant is not one of much monetary value but one that trains the teachers on how to use blogs, smart boards, conduct podcasts and use Wikispaces.
The grant will cover all expenses associated with travel and accommodations.
Fayetteville principal Dr. Patsy Lagan said the importance of this forum is that her school is K-12 and this technology allows them to easily bridge the gap between the grades.
“It also allows the older students to sort of tutor the younger ones with the use of new technology,” she said.
The forum will also provide organizational tools to utilize, and teach other students and teachers how to get the most from the technology available to them.
All this began as an initiative of the Alabama Best Practices Center’s 21st Century Learning Project, which provides access to various learning materials and tools, and accessibility to the grants available through the program.
Last year, the school decided to do a project on global warming that was so successful between the grade levels that all students began adding to the project.
“We realized we had hit on something. Here is a way we can reach our kids — any grade level student,” Lagan said.
Once the project was over, the end result was PowerPoint presentations put on by all grade levels. The completed projects were part of the application used for the grant to attend the forum.
“It was chosen for uniqueness and because they already thought we were on our way to being better teachers,” Lagan said.
The global warming project also led to the development of a S.W.A.T. — Students Willing to Assist with Technology — team and they started reaching younger students than the teacher’s tech team had been able to.
“Technology is not the message, but rather the method,” said Jennifer Barnett, a social studies and drama teacher who is going to Washington for the forum.
Technical advances such as smart boards — an interactive replacement for chalkboards — and projectors that show whatever is on the laptop and allows a more comprehensive look at the lesson are commonly used at Fayetteville School. The new equipment operates much like the old projectors, but they don’t use transparencies, they just plug in and are ready to go.
Utilizing these advances has allowed the school to have cross-trained teachers who now teach all grades. Generally, in the past, most teachers only taught one grade level at a time.
Teachers use the Wikispaces, an interactive computer database, to keep notes from class for a specific day and also provide additional information, quiz study guides and study suggestions. The students also have the capability of adding input to the space. Some students have even created their own spaces.
According to a press release from Microsoft, at the forum teachers will be expected to:
o Network with other educators
o Share challenges and best practices
o Establish ongoing relationships with attendees and with Microsoft
“You receive intense training. Some of the tools are incredible, and when you see something of value, you just go for it,” Barnett said of the upcoming forum.
“I am extremely proud of the work these teachers have done,” said Lagan. “We hope we learn things at this seminar that we can bring back to students.”
