Walter+Aseltine

Watching growth in the use of technology is an exciting thing! We have seen changes, growth and a lot of learning take place in our building. Prior to this year, our computer lab shared space with the library. The teachers on our staff wanted to do more teaching of computer skills and the setting was not condusive to teaching classes. So, a request was made to move the computer lab into a classroom that was no longer being used. We were very excited to move into our new computer lab after Christmas! The lab has a set of twenty-four student computers, plus a teacher computer hooked to a SMARTBoard. The lab is very busy. We started to work on a scope and sequence for computer skills, but this project was discontinued when it looked like it might be taken over by other members of the divison. When the project was not completed this year, we decided as a staff that we would make this a project for next year. We will start working on this during our professional development days in August. SMARTBoard usage is continuing to grow in our school. Most classrooms are equipped with SMARTBoards and teachers are using them on a regular basis. In the fall, the Lead Teacher gave SMARTBoard inservices to those who were interested. Tech time has become a regular item on our staff meeting agendas. This is led by the Lead Teacher. Now that we have a SMARTBoard in our meeting room, we are better able to give staff members short technology lessons and share tips during our meetings. We are just in the process of getting our pilot classroom ready for wireless technology. This is very exciting for us. We have decided to have two classrooms work together and share the technology. These classrooms will be buddy classrooms in various projects. One of the teachers involved is our 21st Century teacher and the other is the Lead Teacher from this year.