7.+Capacity+and+Commitment+of+School+Building+to+Implement+Grant

The school and principal will be expected to support the 21st century team which includes the four teachers, the coach and a building administrator. In Phase One, the team members will need to participate in the required professional development (including but not limited to two or three full days via face-to-face). A minimum of 45 hours will be required for online coursework during the summer. Additional time may be needed for other professional development and working and planning with the team throughout the summer as necessary to complete assignments and develop the action plan. Participation in learning communities will provide support and learning opportunities as well. To demonstrate the school’s capacity and commitment, address the following: • Provide a summary of the activities that the school conducted to ensure the acceptance of and commitment to the requirements and goals of this grant; • Provide information regarding other support available for the teachers and coach such as dedicated personnel for staff development and technology support, release time for planning, common planning time, etc. for both the summer months and during the school year; • Provide information regarding ordering, setting up and supporting the new technology; • Provide information regarding how the district and school plan to support the team members in terms of time spent, access to computers and various Web 2.0 tools and sites for teachers, including but not limited to Teacher Tube, You Tube, Google apps, blog and wiki sites, during the summer months for their participation in the online course and during the school year; • Explain the school’s commitment to transforming teaching and learning to include a focus on 21st century skills.

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 * The activities the school conducted to ensure the acceptance of and commitment to the requirements and goals of the grant were, first, selecting a core group of teachers committed to moving into the 21st century by increasing their knowledge of technology and transforming their classrooms into 21st century technology-enabled learning environments. These members then attended meetings discussing the goals of this grant and how they will be used in the classroom. Teachers filled out a general survey explaining the grant, identified the members on the team, discussed professional development, and expressed their opinion on the goals, and the formulation of the plan that would be adopted for our school. A technology survey was sent out and completed by all teachers. Both district and school professional development meetings were conducted. Also, posters and flyers on the grant were used to give more information to fellow teachers, students, and the community. Other support available to the teachers and coach is Knowledge Works to assists us in presenting information to our fellow teachers and teachers from our nonpublic partner. We will also utilize our current technology support such as Sysops personnel, District technology support, and Western Reserve Public Media (WNEO, Channels __45/49).__ The team of teachers and the coach will have common planning time to discuss professional development for technology and how it will be integrated in the classrooms. The members will meet in the summer for workshops as well as any scheduled ARRA meetings and also to work on phase 2 of the grant and to complete on-line courses. The new technology will be set-up and supported by our sysops personnel, the coach, and technical support staff from our district Central Office. The school and district will support the team members by being given ** **1. ****The team members will be given release time during school hours. Each member will have a laptop and mp3 player for use on the project. All teachers will be registered on wiki sites. **