More Money for More Time with Professional Development

Time is an ongoing challenge in 21st Century education. Despite all that has changed in schools, we remain tied to a 19th Century agrarian calendar. As as a result, time becomes an opponent in our quest to improve education.

Time may be at its most precious in relation to modern teacher professional development. Our school calendars, established generations ago, often provide scant time for teacher training, sometimes only four or five days.

Yet teacher professional development has never been more crucial as schools seek ways to alter and improve classroom instruction. In pursuit of more time for this activity, we shorten school days, having late starts, early dismissals, sometimes even entire days with no students. However, we do so with extreme reservations because we know one of the Correlates of the Effective Schools Research is to carefully guard student time on task (Lezotte, 1991).

As our local economies and our state tax bases slowly improve in the wake of the devastating recession of 2008 to 2015, we may be on the verge of an opportunity to improve education by creating more time for professional development. Most schools in the United States have been cash-strapped for nine years. As a result, teacher salaries have fallen behind, teachers have suffered, and the teacher shortage has approached critical levels in many instructional areas.

Now is the time to put more money toward teacher pay and include additional days as part of the package. This can be done at a local level by re-prioritizing our budgets, but it should also be a state initiative.

Some state legislators believe that fully funding their state's education formula does little to attract attention to themselves, advance their political clout, or garner votes in the next election. However, tying new dollars for teachers to additional time for professional development could be a stirring idea. We know teacher training has the potential to enhance student achievement. This would be using tax money directly for the purpose of  improving classroom instruction.

This will be an idea most teachers will support. Most teachers have never been afraid to put in additional time, and many are actively seeking ways to improve. Linking additional pay to time for school improvement could be a winning combination.

I urge us all to talk to our legislators about putting more money into education with the intent of purchasing additional days and ultimately improving education in the United States.

Image Credit: The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí, 1931, Museum of Modern Art, New York City

Every Educator Needs Two Blogs

My title suggests every teacher and administrator should maintain two blog sites on a regular basis. I know that's just not feasible for many. Perhaps when they were young, they were punished when they were naughty by having to write an essay. Now writing is a burden. That is all right. We all have our burdens to bear.

But for those educators who can and should write on a regular basis, I suggest it is time for them to embrace the social media known as the blog. The word Blog is a portmanteau for "web log". There are a number of free and high quality web sites that allow users to post blogs of all sorts on the internet. People around the world are discovering the benefits of reading blogs and the rewards of creating their own blogs.

I suggest educators should maintain and regularly update two separate blog sites--one directly connected with their professional duties and one for reflecting and sharing on professional practice.

The School Blog
In this day and age, a standard of competence for the profession is current and quality communication. The School Blog, as I call it, should be for the purposes of information. Write what is going on in your professional role. Keep your parents, students, and colleagues up-to-date. Jot anything from a sentence or two up to a few brief paragraphs on the latest and greatest news from your classroom or office.

I sometimes read school blogs where the writer felt compelled to write a lengthy treatise on educational philosophy. Not too many people want to read such an essay. The public wants relevant and late-breaking information, and they like brevity. So write a brief post on the students' science project for next week. Talk about how to help with homework. Post a simple, brief sentence for each of a few students who have distinguished themselves in class. This will make people want to return to your blog. They will learn what is truly going on.

The Professional Blog
The professional blog is the educator's chance to write and reflect on his or her professional practice. It can be a journal for the teacher or administrator to log weekly pursuits. Or it can be more topical. The blog can be an opportunity to think about our philosophy of education and how we bring it to action. By writing things down, we can think about our professional practice.

But this blog is for more than just the individual blogger. All of us in education are teachers at heart. We have colleagues who need information and ideas. They may even need mentoring and guidance. Let others benefit from your experience. Allow them the insight to see how you have met challenges, made mistakes, and ultimately succeeded. This is valuable. Share with others what you have learned.

Still some educators are skeptical. When I am sometimes asked where I find the time to blog, I reply that it is simply a new and essential part of the job. After all, there was a time when the job of a school administrator required research in the library and in periodicals and extensive postal correspondence with colleagues in order to make informed decisions. Now the information is more readily accessible and the correspondence is nearly instantaneous. That time from the old days can be re-channeled into new efforts today.

One more thing:
Blogging offers the opportunity for an audience and interaction. So what do you think? Are there other reasons to blog? Are there other types of blogs I have missed? Feel free to add your ideas for me, . . . and maybe someone else to find.

Now is the Time for Bold Leadership

America's public schools in the 21st Century have an unclear future. Never before in our nation's history have they been subjected to such scrutiny and ridicule. They are the targets of criticism from across the political spectrum, and their relevance is being questioned.

School leaders are caught in between, supporting their institutions and trying to make improvements. The challenge is to make change within systems where change is challenging.

Although our system is comfortable and remembered fondly by previous generations, bold change leaders are needed. Complaining about the absurdity of high stakes testing, penalties, and competition does not accomplish anything on behalf of our students.

I see some school administrators trying to polish the edges of our old system rather than leading their districts with bold initiatives. Now is the time for action. We need to embrace the concepts of 21st Century learning. We need to train our faculties in best practices and utilize the new research emerging on how the brain learns. We need to bring modern technologies to bear in accomplishing our aims. And we must move the system toward a new horizon.

When we make the necessary changes and improvements, the worth of public schools will be redeemed.

Good Employee Evaluation is not Formal Evaluation

It may very well be that maybe the best employee evaluations have no formal evaluation procedures at all. Performance improvement should be about relationships and communication rather than documents.

Right now there is a lot of national criticism of the education profession alleging that incompetents are allowed to continue practicing. There is growing public demand for more stringent evaluation procedures for educators, with the thinking that stronger evaluation systems will create stronger employees. So state legislatures are getting into the act and trying to define how evaluations should take place.

Let's face it: if it were possible for quality to be legislated, we would have done it years ago, and we would not be concerned with it now.

The problem with the concept of evaluation as it is defined by code and implemented in practice is that it inherently becomes a negative process. Supervisors must keep score on a secret tally sheet and reveal their findings at a given time when the summative evaluation takes place.

What is missing from this concept is the on-going communication and coaching that should be taking place between the evaluator and his or her charge. In the classrooms, instructors teach and communicate with students on a daily basis so those students will be successful by the conclusion of the class. On the sports field, coaches do not silently watch their athletes only to set an appointment to later review their mistakes. Teaching and coaching are dependent upon open and constant communication.

The key to making this system effective is to develop a climate of trust and open communication where all parties understand that everyone's goal is to make the school as effective and successful as possible for the students. Certainly there can be a place for an annual review. But let the annual performance conference be about setting challenging goals for the growth of each individual and setting up personal learning plans to help the educator achieve those goals.

Let's make evaluation about getting better rather than finding fault.

Image creator: David Castillo Dominici

http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=3062

Modeling the Five Tech Behaviors We Want from Teachers

Leadership in its most powerful form is leadership by example. If you are a leader of people, you know this. But it is hard work. It is easier to talk about what to do than to actually do it. However, you are reading this because you want to be the best that you can be. So lead out front, modeling the way you want others to follow.

Technology is the future for our students. We know we need our teachers engaging in it. So below are five technology behaviors you need to adopt (if you have not already) if you are to model the skills of a 21st Century leader.

1. Keep reading and stay current.

For years, monthly professional journals were our primary sources. Now we can find experts from all different fields, and they can all come directly to our homes or offices. We already know we have to keep reading to stay current. But now there are technology tools to help us in this endeavor.  First, learn to search online. That's easy. Next, develop a professional learning network (PLN) and watch their posts, follow the links they recommend. They probably posted it because they found it valuable. Finally, learn how to use an RSS feed. Instead of picking up the morning newspaper, click to your RSS reader. News sources and blog posts most relevant to you come directly to you. They find you.

2. Keep searching and find exciting resources.

While you are out there searching, share your information. Post sources the way you see others do in your PLN. You want your teachers bringing exciting thoughts to their classrooms, so you must bring exciting resources to your professional development activities.

3. Communicate and connect with parents and the public.

Share the news. Learn to post directly onto your school's web page. Don't wait for someone else to do it for you. This is the age of instant communication. Learn to create wiki pages to share news, and use blogs and message boards to get your news out.

4. Communicate and connect with peers.

I already mentioned the PLN. It is most powerful when it is online with professionals from around the world. To connect with them, you need social networking tools like Twitter (@DanielLFrazier) and LinkedIn (Daniel Frazier). Learn how to use these tools, and then more importantly, get in the habit of using them regularly.

5. Share and support the profession.

We do work every day because someone laid the foundation for us yesterday, last decade, or generations ago. We have a professional obligation to build upon their foundations and make things better for the next educator. The lessons we learn can be communicated without someone learning them the hard way--maybe the way we did. Share your thoughts, advice, and experiences where others can find them and learn from you.

If you follow these behaviors, you'll be setting an example as a 21st Century leader.

I know I left some things out. (Let's say it was intentional.) Please comment below and offer me your thoughts on what else should be part of this list.

There is Merit to Performance-based Pay for Teachers

Performance-based pay can change teacher performance in a school system. I have direct knowledge of a school that implemented a pay-for-performance system, and things changed.

Here's just one example: a teacher was disappointed in his pay raise and went into the principal to question it. The principal explained that the teacher was not actively participating in professional development. He was checking papers, inattentive, and largely disengaged whenever he was in attendance at school improvement activities. The teacher asked if he would fair better if he changed that. The principal replied positively, and the next year that teacher was a model participant in school improvement and professional development activities. The system worked.

Unfortunately, the system did not directly benefit student achievement as measured by standardized tests. All teachers are generally doing the best job they know how for their students regardless of their pay. They are not holding anything back until they get a bump in salary. Their duty is too important, and they know it.

However, the system that worked with the teacher mentioned above did not work with all. Another teacher asked why her raise was less than others, and it was explained to her that her habit of starting her teaching duties a full week after the students arrived in August was inhibiting her performance. She did not believe it, and she was sure it was unfair bias beyond her control that was holding her down.

And this leads into a big problem with performance-based pay. It is vulnerable to favoritism, cronyism, and politics. Teachers often perceive that some principals may have favorites on staff. Realistically, principals are humans who are receptive to friendships and kind gestures. There is also a valid danger that someone with political power within the school--maybe a relative on the school board--may receive more favorable reviews and better pay than others.

There is a vital key to ensuring that performance-based pay improves teacher performance in a school system. The pay system must be tied closely and specifically to the evaluation system, and the evaluation system must deal with very specific, objective performance standards. The more subjective the criteria, the more the system is open to bias, suspicions of favoritism, and failure.

1:1 Laptop Learning: Three Fundamental Principles

Laptop learning is about a fundamental change in instructional methodology for the 21st Century. It is about teaching students to be consumers and creators of knowledge as opposed to simply recipients. Schools that give their students this edge will help them to be successful in the 21st Century.

Some school have a vision for technology integration to be a springboard of a new methodology vaulting students ahead. Some of these school have invested money to put a laptop computer one-to-one in the hands of each and every student. For schools that are doing one-to-one computing, experience is showing there are three fundamentals which these one-to-one schools must address.

1. Student Usage. The success or failure of a one-to-one laptop program is entirely dependent upon how often and how effectively the computers are used in the classroom. If the laptops are not an integral part of instruction, an expensive resource is being squandered. And if the laptops are not being used effectively as 21st Century learning tools, they function no better than textbooks, three-ring binders, and pencils.
2. Teacher Comfort. Laptops will be used frequently and effectively when teachers are comfortable instructing with them. For many veteran educators, it is an entirely new methodology, unlike anything they have used previously in their careers. Teachers need to accept the machines and find ways to use them with students. They also have to develop a comfort level in accepting that the students may know the computers better than they do. They need to be prepared to let their students take the lead.
3. Professional Development. Teachers will feel comfortable teaching with laptops to the extent they are trained to instruct in the new methodology. If a school is prepared to invest a large sum of money in hardware and software, they must be prepared to invest not less than 10 to 20 percent of that amount initially into professional development for the teachers. And professional development cannot end with the first year. There needs to be on-going support in subsequent years as well.

Therefore the linchpin in the successful implementation of one-to-one laptop learning is the professional development of the faculty. It is easy to assume that teachers are already using computers, maybe in a laboratory setting, and they have computers they use regularly for planning and preparation. But those skills do not automatically transfer to one-to-one laptop instruction. Teacher development in the new methodology is key.

1-to-1 Laptops: 10 Lessons Learned

After a successful first year as a one-to-one laptop learning school for grades 4 through 12, we re-assessed what we had done well and the lessons we had learned before re-issuing our laptops to students for another year. Below are ten of the many lessons we learned in this new field of educational endeavor.

1. Screens are fragile. The laptop screens are more fragile than we realized. We had few problems, but the rigors of student life did result in some screen casualties. We simply continue to stress to students the incidents that have caused problems and how they can be avoided.

2. Maintain student care accountability. We had a soft rule that if a student damaged a computer, we would only re-issue a computer after any fine was paid. But it was our first year. Some damage was covered under warranty, and some was not. We were unsure what should result in a fine. In our zeal to get laptops back into the hands of the students, we were sometimes issuing fines after-the-fact. This resulted in a backlog of fines that we had to collect the following fall before re-issuing the laptops for another school year.

To do a better job, this year we intend to provide students with a loaner laptop for use only at school. When the fine is paid, the student may take the loaner home. If something later appears to be under warranty, we can always reimburse students for the fine.

3. The classroom arrangement changes. Teachers need to be more mobile. With laptops in the classroom, the guide on the side is more important than the sage on the stage. Teachers need to move around the classrooms to monitor what students are doing on their laptops. This means the teacher cannot just stand in front of the blackboard, and the arrangement of the desks may need to change to accommodate the movement.

4. Watch the power cords. Kids were terrific in caring for their laptops, but they were more cavalier when it came to caring for the power cords of the laptops. They are used to power cords and sometimes just grab the wire to pull the plug from its socket. Laptop power cords are not necessarily as durable as the cord for a lamp, and they are significantly more expensive. We continue to emphasize this to our students.

5. Teachers need not do technology every day. Some teachers, in their eagerness to be the most tech-savvy they can be, tried to make every lesson a laptop lesson. Simply put, not all lessons lend themselves to technology. Did you ever have a teacher who could absolutely captivate you with his/her story telling, and wouldn’t you like your kids to hear those same stories? Some of the best teaching can still be traditional teaching, and teachers should not overload themselves with their own high technology expectations for themselves.

6. Remove the clings. Our students were fantastic about caring for the appearance of their laptops and not using stickers, tape, or other adhesives on the laptop covers. Many took pride in their machines and purchased non-adhesive stickers (clings) to decorate their laptops. At the end of the year, we told students they could leave their stickers in place because they would each be re-issued the exact same machine in the fall. However, over the summer, some machines needed warranty work, and some pricey stickers were lost. This piqued some parents and kids. So at the end of the year, remove the clings.

7. Let the students lead. Many conscientious teachers feel they need to be the experts in the classroom. However, with this young tech generation going through the schools, teachers may never know the computers as well as the students. Teachers need to sometimes have the courage to say to the students, “Show me how this works.”

8. Watch the web usage. Although we had rules against students playing on-line games and watching silly kitten videos irrelevant to class, we were in no position to be the web police and constantly monitor what students were doing with their laptops during free time. This crimped our band width, and we had to work to make our access its most efficient. We did appeal to the kids to try to avoid during the day the videos that really gobbled up our band width.

9. Create tiers of access. Not all students are as responsible as others. In some cases, a student may violate a rule. In other cases, a parent may indicate that the student is distracted at home and unable to do school work. We created several tiers of access for the students. Our most responsible students have the fewest restrictions on their computers. It is a rewards system.

10. Emphasize professional development for teachers. We knew from what we researched up front that our whole one-to-one initiative hinged on professional development for teachers. We invested heavily in it, but we learned that the need does not really diminish over time. Ideas change. Web sites are added. Software changes. We learn. And we need to keep teaching our teachers how to get better.

O.K. Actually there are eleven lessons. The 11th we only learned after school got started this second year.

11. The new kids need to catch up. When we planned for our second year of one-to-one laptop instruction, we proceeded from the false assumption that kids are already tech-savvy and can catch on quickly. We created a boot camp for our new teachers. We learned we need a boot camp for the kids new to our school as well to help them get up to speed with the expectations of instructors.

21st Century Leaders Walk their Talk

I saw the following comment on a blog this past week: "I watch principals or superintendents who tweet or blog a lot, and often I wonder what they could be doing in their building instead of that."

This is a very legitimate question. Enviously, I feel the same sour grapes toward school administrators with low golf handicaps. I rationalize that my golf scores prove I am an administrator who spends his time in the building rather than on the links.

But seriously, this is somewhat similar to how I felt a little more than a year ago. Approaching 30 years of service in education, I felt that blogging and social networking were things the younger educators could practice. It did not seem relevant to my work.

Then in February 2010, I attended the National Conference on Education in Phoenix. Looking for ideas for moving my district forward in 21st Century technology, I focused my time on tech sessions. Multiple speakers agreed and reiterated this same point without collaborating: "To lead a high-tech, 21st Century school, a modern school administrator must first be that kind of learner." The best administrators lead by example. If a school exec wants his/her faculty accessing on-line resources and teaching with the latest instructional tools, that leader should be able to demonstrate those competencies we want teachers to utilize.

Twitter and social networking are part of the mix. They now provide a wealth of information and instant professional development to the aware school administrator. As for blogging, I see it as something school leaders who enjoy writing can do to give back to the profession. I occasionally have been asked why we let teachers miss class time to serve as officers in professional organizations or present at conferences. I always reply that it is a professional obligation. If we want the organizations and the conferences for the development of our teachers, then we need to contribute to the profession ourselves. Blogging is one more of those professional contributions.

And by the way, I often see my professional learning network tweeting and posting during evenings and on weekends.

We make time for what we think is important. (And it is important for me to get rid of my slice this spring.)

The Price is Right for Education Technology

If you are waiting to see what evolves in technology before implementing a major technology initiative in your school, your wait is over.

Technology has shown that the pace of change accelerates; it does not stabilize. (Maybe it is better stated your wait is futile.)

Likewise, if you are waiting for the price to drop because it is too expensive, you can stop waiting.

The price has already fallen to the point that makes technology initiatives affordable for schools. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the falling cost of a gigabyte of storage as noted by Ivan Smith (Boing Boing by David Isenberg):

YEAR — Price of a Gigabyte
1981 — $300,000
1987 — $50,000
1990 — $10,000
1994 — $1000
1997 — $100
2000 — $10
2004 — $1
2010 — $0.10

So where is the price headed? A goal of industry is for computers to cost . . . wait for it . . . one dollar!

This means computers will be everywhere: carried on our persons, mounted into tools, installed in furniture, and sewn into the fabric of our garments. It will also make computers disposable. Of course we are not talking about computers with full monitors and keyboards (assuming keyboards continue to exist). We are referring to microcomputers with specific and limited functions.

A skeptic may doubt that one dollar computers are achievable. But consider the musical greeting card--the card you open and plays a popular tune or even sings to you. A single such card has as much computer power as existed in the world in the 1950's.

The point is that now is the time to invest in technology. The initial outlay for purchasing will be buoyed over time by the falling costs of subsequent additions and updates. This calls for a short-term expenditure rather than a long-term investment with significant, recurring costs.

Of course times are hard and budgets are stressed to the breaking point in a manner unprecedented in the last 70 years. Our nation's economy is a mess, but over the next few years it will rebuild. Now is the time to use this crisis to begin restructuring. Schools should begin by redesigning student-centered classrooms emphasizing inquiry learning. They should start training teachers in an instructional methodology facilitated by technology. This should lead to integrating technology into instruction. Schools should next pilot laptop learning in select classes, providing students with the research tools to facilitate inquiry learning. Finally schools should lay out a plan for full one-to-one implementation.

Though expensive, education technology is affordable; though futuristic, it is contemporary; though extraneous, it is essential. The time is now.

A Threat to Iowa Technology Initiatives

This is a special blog. It relates to State Auditor David Vaudt and his investigation into schools: whether or not they are spending their current technology funds properly, if new restrictions should be placed on the funds, and if schools should be required to pay back from other funds for tech-related expenses already incurred.

First a little history from my perspective. When technology first began to emerge as a clear and future force in public education, the Iowa Legislature created a special fund in the early 1990's strictly earmarked only for technology acquisition and tech-related uses. With this special funding stream, Iowa schools had few concerns about how to pay for this new classroom component that we knew would be the future of education. Iowa soon became a classroom technology leader. Combined with our fiber-optic classroom network that was providing instant interchange in schools across the state, we became the envy of the nation.

However, at the same time, other funds became tighter in Iowa schools. When our nation's economy was booming in the late 1990's, Iowa schools were being under-funded. Budgets were not permitted to grow. Iowa teacher pay fell further and further behind the national average. Funds were stretched as far as possible to cover the gaps. Then following the tragedy of September 11, 2001, our nation's economy tanked. Iowa's special technology fund for schools was cut. Schools that had already obligated all other funds elsewhere had trouble funding technology. Iowa fell behind in technology as schools limped along by using the Apple IIe's we had purchased in the early 1990's.

Another foresightful tool created by the Iowa Legislature was the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (abbreviated PPEL and pronounced PEP-pul). It created a fund from local property tax to be used for equipment purchases of over $5,000. Educators asked legislators if that minimum threshold could be lowered, and the Iowa Legislature responded positively by dropping the minimum to $1,500 which could be used for either a single piece of technology or "a technology system." Now this "system" language was key because we all recognized the power and the future of networking computers. Wiring might not cost $1,500, but if it was part of a system, that was O.K.

We were fine for a short while, but the price of technology continued to drop. Computers no longer cost more than$1,500 apiece. Schools had a dilemma. They could buy computers as part of a system, but they could not afford to buy a stand-alone computer for a single classroom. Educators again returned to the Legislature, and legislators again were supportive. They lowered the minimum limit again, this time to only $500.

Somehow in this last correction, the key words of using PPEL for "a technology system" was erroneously left out of the language. The rule allows $500 for a single piece of equipment.

Now this is a problem because we educators have continued our past practice and recognize that our technology is most powerful as part of a unified tech system. We have continued to spend these funds quite appropriately in this way.

Now a decade into the 21st Century, schools are beginning to implement what we have known for considerable time is the future of education, i.e. students carrying ubiquitous portable learning devices, currently in the form of laptop computers. A few leading schools are implementing one-to-one laptop learning initiatives. We are lease-purchasing a number of laptops for a fixed-price for each computer over a four-year period. Included in the per-computer price are the network connections, the wiring, the system servers, the operating systems and software that come pre-loaded on the laptops, training for the staff, and the consultants and technicians necessary for installation and implementation.

This month Auditor Vaudt began questioning how schools are spending their PPEL funds. While purchasing their laptops, schools are also acquiring these other devices and services. He questions if schools should continue to be allowed to implement laptops learning initiatives using PPEL funds. He also questions if schools already with laptop initiatives should be required to refund their PPEL funds from their general funds.

Here's the bottom line. Schools are following a past practice that has been acceptable for nearly two decades. School leaders and school boards are operating in full view of the public and with overwhelming support by our parents and patrons. Does it make sense that any school should only be allowed to purchase computers but not the software that makes them run, the infrastructure that allows them to connect, or the training for staff that makes them effective?

This is a serious threat to the future of education in Iowa. Iowa schools are being asked to get by with less funding this year and the next two years. And we should. Times are hard. But now is not the time to place more restrictions on school budgets. Technology is the future of our society and our 21st Century workplace. Technology literacy is a 21st Century skill both by common understanding as well as under Iowa Code. Our laws and our rules should be promoting and propagating the integration of technology into our classrooms, not setting up road blocks.

Whether it is by rule interpretation or legislative action, Iowa schools need to be allowed to use their technology funds for either a single piece of equipment or a "technology system."

Teachers Must Let the Kids Lead with Computers

When the Sioux Central school board committed and voted in March 2010 to implement a one-to-one student laptop initiative in grades 4-12, the board turned to me as superintendent and said, "This has got to work! We cannot invest this much in tax dollars in this economy and tax climate for this to fail!"

I replied that it would work--that I had never seen such universal commitment on the part of an entire teaching faculty in my career. I said it cannot fail with this level of teacher commitment.

But for teachers to embrace this new methodology meant that all would have to change significantly in how they were delivering curriculum and directing students. One of the hardest aspects, we predicted, would be that the students would become competent with this new learning and these new machines at a much faster rate than the teachers. That's the nature of this generation. Teachers are used to being the experts--the sage on the stage. They have to be all right with the kids knowing more than them now.

I am happy to report this new instruction with a laptop for every single kid in our school, grades 4-12, is changing the way kids are learning. I am equally happy to report that our teachers are embracing this new instruction. Of course our teachers are on a continuum from the most comfortable and competent with new technology to those who face a challenge. However, some of our teachers least-skilled with computers are making some of the best uses of the laptops. I am delighted to say we have teachers who pose their essential questions and then turn the kids loose to find the answers on their own. The kids are sometimes finding answers and solving problems differently than teachers would have taught students in the past, but the work is getting done and the learning is taking place.

Key to this, we have to support our teachers taking risks and trying new things. We have to accept that teachers will make mistakes. They have to know the administration will trust them and support them, rather than second-guess them or chastise them. For one-to-one laptops to be effective, the teachers need to change the way they teach, and the administrators also need to change their oversight of the classrooms.

Importance of 1:1 Laptop Teacher Development

We will know our one-to-one student laptop learning initiative is effective if we see a high degree of time on task on the computers in the classroom. Student utilization in the classroom is dependent on the extent to which teachers have accepted this new methodology of teaching. And teacher acceptance is primarily dependent upon the professional training we provide for our faculty. The research and the experience of predecessor schools strongly suggest this linear relationship.

At Sioux Central, our laptops arrived for teachers around May 1 of last spring (2010). We immediately issued them to teachers and then began in-house training on how to use the new devices--the operating system, word processing, spreadsheets, etc. Fortunately, we had a handful of teachers who already owned Macintosh computers and were familiar with the operating system. We held weekly training meetings through the end of the year.

When the school year ended, we contracted with Apple Computers to provide two full days of training for our teachers. It was expensive, but it was a high-quality learning experience. Evaluations completed by our teachers after the training showed me some of the highest teacher marks I have seen in my career.

Our teachers kept their new laptops over the summer, learning more about the machines and developing their lesson plans for the fall. The week before the August teacher workshop began, we brought back Apple trainers for an encore of two more days of training. We took our teachers’ skills to an even high level as we focused on how to integrate technology into daily instruction.

When August workshop began, we emphasized technology in our training and provided our teachers with further skills on how to use our district web site for classroom instruction. So our teachers received a good, solid foundation of computer training before the students received their laptops and before the first day of class. I am happy to report that our faculty started working immediately, and we have been moving in greased grooves since.