Purpose

Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! We recently passed a bond and our students and teachers will all have more technology at their finger tips! This is an exciting time to be a teacher, however it is also very challenging. How do we ever keep up?

The purpose of this website is to provide a unique online professional development experience for our staff (teachers, support staff, administrators and coaches). The outcomes based activities are fairly quick, self explanatory and easy to follow. In addition, the game-like atmosphere is fun and there is built in support! Cool... Way cool!

Our thoughts are that if teachers know how to use technology and not be afraid to learn something new, they will use technology as a tool to better prepare our children for the future.

In addition, we are attempting to model for teachers how they can use technology with their students! It is a process and we are all learning as we go!

Did you know that districts are now required to report to the federal government personnel skilled in technology in their district? That was the survey that we filled out in October of 2010 which was created by the REMC-RITS group collaboration. I am not sure about you, but some things on that survey were pretty overwhelming. Well, guess what? We get to take that survey again this year. However, we will be better prepared if we implement new training and on-going Professional Development. If we look at that survey, and our own district needs, this ongoing training opportunity will improve how we respond on the survey AND help meet the needs of our students! If we use the technology, so that it becomes part of the way we think and teach, then students will also use it more efficiently and effectively as well.

Basically what we are doing is connecting our PD to the reality of actually teaching in the classroom! Our community believes this technology will make a difference for our kids, they have given us a lot of “moola” to have our children excel. We need to commit to integrating technology in the way we teach to offer our students a glimpse of the 21st century. Technology integration can no longer be an option or even a governmental mandate. It is our ethical responsibility to educate the next generation of learners. We want __ALL students__ in __ALL classrooms__ to be successful now and in the future. Let's hear it for our kids!!!