Learning & Leading Through Technology

Administrators practice what they preach by:

Growing effective technology leaders is like growing anything else—it takes nurturing and support.

• Participating in monthly technology trainings focused on ways they can use technology to communicate with students, parents, and staff

Administrators model technology
use for their faculty and staff regularly
by blogging, creating online newslet-
ters, and building collaborative digital
staff handbooks. The support of ad-
ministrators has been key in leading
teachers to change their classroom
practices.
year of tiered PD, teachers at the lower
levels participated in trainings focused
on instructional uses of their interac-
tive whiteboards, document cameras,
and free web tools, along with other
resources available to all teachers in
NCCS. At the same time, teachers
with advanced tech skills worked to
build a districtwide database of in-
structional technology resources,
including lesson plans, tip sheets,
and student work samples.
to share the district’s journey
with iPads ( ipadsinschool.blogspot.
com), presenting monthly 10-minute
technology PD sessions called Tech
Tens in staff meetings, and facilitating
four instructional technology train-
ings per year.

• Increasing the efficiency of everyday administrative tasks

• Collaborating with other educators through technology

Supporting Each Other

Tech Team members also record their efforts in a contact log to document the vital role they play in the district. A year after we formed the Tech Team, the district expanded the team to include all iPad pilot teachers across the district. This expansion was necessary due to the growing needs of teachers and the increasing amount of technology in classrooms.

Identifying Teacher Needs

In an effort to provide relevant PD and better meet the needs of teachers across the district, we surveyed all certified staff at the end of the

The expansion of technology within the district and the widely varied skill and comfort levels with tech integration made it increasingly difficult to meet the needs of all of our teachers.

2009–10 school year. We developed the survey according to five levels of technology integration adapted for

NCCS from a neighboring school district and aligned with the North

As more teachers began incorporating technology into learning and teaching, the need for continued support via trainings, collaborative planning, and co-teaching grew. From this need, we selected a cadre of teachers from applicants across the district to become instructional technology leaders.

Carolina teacher evaluation protocol. Through the survey, teachers reported their knowledge and use of technology tools and processes.

Based on the applications, technology use in the classroom, and leadership abilities, we selected one teacher per school to form the NCCS

We used the survey results to classify teachers’ tech use as Not Demonstrated, Developing, Proficient,

Tech Team, a group whose goal is to provide ongoing support and modeling for teachers within their schools and across the district. The Tech

Growing effective technology leaders is like growing anything else—it takes nurturing and support. Because we were asking them to take on additional responsibilities and embrace a new leadership role, we equipped members of the Tech Team with PD, both within the district and at the North Carolina Technology in Education Society ( www.ncties.org) conference. We also provided these teachers with additional technology for their classrooms so they could continue to grow and model technology integration for other educators.

Learning Together

Accomplished, or Distinguished.

The purpose of this leveling system was to provide differentiated PD targeted at teachers’ strengths and areas for improvement.

Team strives to move away from an expert-focused learning model to one that relies on teachers and school resources.

The year following the survey, we required all teachers to participate in differentiated PD. We grouped teachers in the Not Demonstrated, Developing, and Proficient categories for trainings, and we grouped teachers identified as Accomplished and Distinguished together. During the first

NCCS Tech Team members model effective technology integration and provide ongoing tech support, such as follow-up training, resource sharing, collaborative planning, and assistance with tech tools, to teachers in their buildings. Other responsibilities include contributing to a common blog

To make our technology goals a reality, NCCS designed and implemented Digital Days—two full days of differentiated instructional technology PD. All NCCS educators, including classroom teachers, instructional support staff, and administrators, were required to attend sessions on both days, as outlined in the district strategic plan. We also invited faculty from a nearby university and educators from neighboring school districts.