This morning's first session after the keynote was Developing 21st Century Skills in School and District Leaders with Christopher Corallo, who had a family emergency and was not present, so his two colleagues Adam Garry, and Debra Roethke presented in his absence.
These three individuals were from Henrico County Public School in Virginia, who happened to be one of the first districts in the US to go with a 1:1 initiative!
website: http://staffdev.henrico.k12.va.us
Adam and Debra shared that in order to go to a 1:1 initiative, your district MUST train parents, staff, and students after the 1:1 kickoff!
21st Century skills were needed, but the staff had to decide what does the 21st Century classroom look like? Where do we want to go? So they met with teachers, technology staff, parents, administrators, etc. and discussed what they wanted to do, and where everyone wanted to go...and of course everyone had their own different ideas, which made it tough! They decided to totally reinvent the wheel, and didn't just stick with the ISTE standards.
They developed a TIP Chart (Technology Integration Progression Chart) to help develop a common language for teachers, community members, and school leaders so everyone knew what was important and needed. They used this TIP Chart to guide their growth and data for professional development needs for staff.
The district found it imperative that the IT (Instructional Technology specialist in the district) go out to the schools and meet with principals and media person to look at technology lessons of the teachers/staff. After watching a lesson, the IT person would then meet with the administrator to discuss what went well in the lesson, as well as guide what may need to be improved upon, using the TIP Chart as a tool during their discussion.
They also found that the instruction had to be differentiated between schools. The TIP Chart was a 'suggestion' tool, but each school varied the tool to meet their needs as a staff. They wanted their schools to become more 'alike', so they had meetings to introduce a new 6 year plan, with 21st Century skills embedded in the district goals and TIP Chart, and made it a 'leadership academy'.
In the Leadership Academy, there were classes held throughout the year for staff to improve their 21st Century skills. They used iTunes University to do online podcasts for learners to get the professional development information when they were unable to attend. In addition, they came up with a professional development plan and put it online so staff could go in and search by date what they wanted/missed at meetings. They also set up a blog with these varying plans, so staff could provide suggestions for potential growth.
Each school had different plans going, and administrators and staff could go in and search for what other schools were doing with reading, or writing, or whatever, and use those same ideas for their own purposes, if they met the needs of their student body. Staff members were mandated to share at least 4 lesson plans a year to show how they were using the TIP Chart to teach their 21st Century lessons.
Although this was a slow process, it has been a great learning experience for the entire district!
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