October 2004

Greendale Takes Systemic Approach to Teaching IT & L Standards

The Greendale School District is taking a systemic approach to teaching Wisconsin Information Technology Literacy Standards to all students across the district. Systemic in that standards are taught to all students in grade level units. Two years ago the program started with all fifth grade classes. Last year, all of the sixth grade teachers worked collaboratively to create a curriculum integration unit on historical fiction. This year seventh grade teachers will create a unit that meets standards and builds on the work of the previous grades. The long term plan is to have every grade level through eighth grade do a unit that integrates the IT & L Standards into a core curricular area.

"This project was important in three different ways. First, it addressed the equity issue for what types of instructional technology experiences the students received. Next, the project definitely increased teacher expertise and willingness to infuse various technologies into existing units. Finally, since we get a lot of new students from Open Enrollment and from the private schools at 6th grade, this project made it possible to 'even the playing field' of what Greendale students were expected to know in technology and built capacity for theses students to do well on the new technology project next year.

The staff took a project that at first seemed like an add-on to an already busy curricular load, and infused it into an exiting reading unit that benefited students in the areas of technological competencies and presentation skills," Steven Lodes, Principal Greendale Middle School.

Early in the year, a consultant from The Stephens Group met with lab assistants who helped with the project the prior year, the middle school principal, the middle school librarian and the director of technology for the district. This helped determine what went well, what things did not go as anticipated, and what advice they had for the sixth grade teachers.

Teachers were provided time during their late start dates (days when students come later so teachers can have staff development time) to collaborate with their grade level peers to develop lessons and assessment pieces that integrated Wisconsin Information Technology Standards. Teachers used the Understanding by Design Framework created by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe to design their unit. The school principal, the director of technology, the middle school librarian and a couple of seventh grade representatives, who will be doing the project at their grade level this year, also attended the planning sessions. A consultant from The Stephens Group facilitated these sessions.

Once the teachers had decided on their essential questions, the next planning sessions were devoted to exploring technology options that would serve as appropriate tools to meet standards and deliver content. After trying various options, the group decided to use Inspiration to help students organize their thoughts and to use AppleWorks slide show to present their work. Students worked in pairs to research and design slides that showed differences between current society and the time period of the novel they were reading. Teachers also used some of their planning sessions to look for web sites that pertained to the historical novel their class was studying. The lab assistant book marked these sites and the library media specialists assisted classes with the research process. In the future, the group may also consider adding TimeLiner software to help students develop chronological thinking skills and understandings.

After the projects were completed, teachers met after school to debrief each other. They used a laptop and LCD projector to show each other student work.

The collaboration between students was very positive. Students were motivated, and teachers observed that when students worked on their projects students were very focused. They also observed improved student confidence. Some students even did research on their own, above and beyond the project.

Some of the student comments on their written reflections included:

“When I first started doing this project, I thought it would be boring. Little did I know this would be one of my highlights of 6th grade.”

“The slide show my partner and I worked on turned out to be well put together. At first I thought it would be hard planning it out and finding the information. It turned out easier and more fun finding graphics and interesting facts. When we presented we had things to work on, but we did well. When everyone else presented I also learned more facts.”

“This project that we had to do was a really great experience. It thought it was really fun. I'm glad we had to do this project. I learned a lot about shopping in the pioneer times. It was fun working with a partner so we could share ideas. I wasn't nervous about sharing the slide show with the class. I usually don't like sharing, but last year we had to, so that helped. The slide show was easier because we already worked with AppleWorks in computers. I hope next year we can do this again.”

Teachers reported that students gained deeper knowledge about the time period of their novel than the background knowledge they typically receive. Students had more personal connections with the literature they were reading and better understanding of the vocabulary. Students also gained a more empathetic understanding of the issues in their historical novels.

At-risk students completed the project, which is often not true of other assignments. This may have been because students were not allowed to add design elements until the content was finished.

Students went beyond technical expectations and could do more than teachers thought they could do with technology. Students helped one another troubleshoot technical problems. Some classes dabbled with adding audio and video clips to their presentations. In the planning stages of the project, teachers had concerns about the amount of time this unit would take for the amount of curriculum they had to cover. At the end of the project, they felt students did not read as much as they would have without the project, but the trade off was worth it. The student benefited by gaining deeper insights and student learning around their novels. "It's rewarding to see students engaged in their learning. When they analyze and synthesize information for presentation purposes, content is retained so much better. I'm looking forward to the students building on these information and technology skills when they are in seventh grade,” Sandy Speare, Library Media Specialist at Greendale Middle School.

One class had a history expert helping them. Students wrote questions for the Civil War history expert and got answers back. They presented the information to the class and became the class “expert on the subject”. Their research led them to find a Civil War Medal of Honor recipient buried in Milwaukee. The research was added to a web site http://www.cwsmma.com.

The Milwaukee Journal also wrote an article about their research project. 

Some classes completed a planning sheet or storyboard for the project. This was helpful in organizing their work. Teachers also reported that the use of Inspiration helped in organizing information. Staff and students are starting to talk about the use of design elements to enhance communication in their presentations.

Teachers also reported the units could not have been successful without the continued support they received from the Library Media Specialist and the Lab Manager.

Next year the district hopes to expand grade level integration units to two other grade levels. The lab specialist will develop a standard form to help with storyboarding and planning of the multimedia presentation. A CD of examples of student work was created to show to students in following years. One of the ways teachers intend to use the CD is to help students examine how different layouts and design features impact communication of the content in a presentation. They will use the examples to discuss with students what elements were good about a presentation and what could be improved. The lab manager will also create a drop box for completed work on the network to decrease down time when loading programs. The district has also purchased more mobile labs to make technology more accessible for other projects.

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