PROFESSIONAL LEARNING TEAM REPORT
2010-2011
Keywords (for database searching)
21 century skills, technology, glogster, powerpoint, microsoft word, presentation skillsContact Information
Name / School / Grade Level or SubjectErin O’Bryan / Chenery / 6th Grd ELA & SS
Rebecca Bourke / Chenery / 6th Grd ELA & SS
Erin Hereford / Chenery / Foreign Language
Leon Dyer / Chenery / Tech Ed
Michelle Connors / Chenery / 8th Grd English
Sue Zmijewski / Chenery / 8th Grd Social Studies
Beth Manca / Chenery / Foreign Language
Katie Metter / Chenery / 8th Grd ELA & SS
Marlene Gonzalves / Chenery / 8th Grd ELA & SS
Guiding Theme
Acquisition of 21st Century SkillsInquiry Question
“How do we explicitly teach models and strategies in order to increase student proficiency in communicating effectively and producing quality products using various technologies?”Process
1. Gather and examine examples of student work for Word, Powerpoint, and Glogster2. Identify skills students need to communicate effectively and produce quality products using these various technologies.
3. Prioritize the skills in which students are lacking and the skills in which students should be proficient
4. Create a preliminary “Criteria for Success” checklist to communicate expectations to students.
5. Create a post-assessment specific to each type of technology and subject matter.
6. Develop lessons/models to teach the expected skills.
7. Between PLT meetings, teach the lessons for the targeted skills.
8. Administer the post-assessment and analyze data.
Findings
¨ Students were more aware of the presentation of their work when provided with the checklist.¨ This year’s products were of a higher quality than those of previous years when the checklist was not provided.
¨ Significant classroom time was taken from content and standards that are MCAS assessable in order to teach the skill needed to be proficient
¨ Accessing technology was a challenge due to increased class sizes and demand in the building which affects equity of student learning experience
Recommendations / Next Steps
¨ Share checklist with teachers to provide consistency across classes and grade levels¨ Possible extensions include creating checklist for other types of technology ie podcasts, Voicethreads, and Animoto