United+Friends+School



My Name is Caronne Taylor Bloom. I am the school's Teacher-Librarian, 5th grade Math Teacher, and Technology Coordinator. We are a small Independent Quaker School Serving Preschool through eighth grade. This is an exciting year for all of us at UFS in the area of technology. In addition to participating in this year's PLP Consortium, our Middle School has undergone significant renovation this year including new student spaces, a laptop program, and access to interactive white boards in all of their core subjects. This last spring I took a class entitled, //Wikis, Blogs, and other Web Publishing tools//. It was my first introduction to the power of Web 2.0 tools. My goal for participating in this consortium is to implement their use in authentic and valuable ways with my students and colleagues.

Hi! I'm Daphne Naudascher and I teach 6th-8th grade Language Arts at UFS. I also help to manage our school web site and Facebook page. I'm looking forward to learning about and implementing the exciting Web 2.0 tools. Sorry, I don't have a photo to upload.

Hi my name is Louis Herbst. This is my 5th year teaching at United Friends School. I teach Middle School Social Studies, 6th grade math, PE for our whole school and am the director of our after school and summer camp programs.

Hi! My name is Margaret. I teach music of all types. That's it. OK...I love to learn how things work and be able to fix them, I love to play games, my students think I am a lunatic, and I live in a barn. Really.

Hi! I'm Carol, late as always. I teach a 4th/5th grade class. I am a self-titled life long learner. I am very excited about getting to know Web 2.0 technology better and developing my students as learners ready to meet what the 21st century throws at them.

Team UFS - United Friends School ‍ Caronne Taylor Bloom, Daphne Naudascher, Carol Robinson, Margaret Smith, Louis Herbst, and Kathy Leber ‍ ‍Abstract -  The team’s purpose is to increase our faculty’s knowledge and develop their understanding of technology use in the classroom. We created a faculty Ning to introduce 21st Century learning concepts to our community. Over the course of the next five years, we will use this Ning for both communication and collaboration. Using survey data, we determined measurable goals for the staff that will be addressed through the Ning use and in-service training. In May 2012, and again in May 2013, we will re-administer the survey to assess our success in reaching our first-year goals.

‍ Problem, Issue, or Possibility We observed a disparity of technology use in classrooms, which was confirmed by our survey data. This led us to ask these guiding questions:

What are the benefits of becoming 21st Century learners/teachers?

What are the steps to introducing pedagogical shifts in education?

How can we support other teachers in their professional development using technology?  ‍ ‍Objectives and Assessment  Objective 1 - All teachers will participate in the professional learning community (UFS Ning) on a weekly basis. Assessment - Frequency of participation in discussions, responses to blog posts, blog and/or forum writing.

Objective 2 - Provide a framework for success with teacher participation on the Ning. Assessment - Assessment will be done by looking at Ning use, casual observation of teacher comfort level, and re-evaluating classroom technology use in May 2012.

‍Implementation Plan YEAR 1 : Developing a Comfort Level & Creating Frequency of Use August - In-service Ning kickoff and mentor/mentee assignment September - Each teacher sets up his/her “My page” and joins groups of interest within the Ning. October - Participate in weekly Forum Discussions. November - Professional Development @ Wednesday faculty meeting November - May - Participate in a discussion, respond to a blog, share w/ the group. The goal is to do one of these actions each week of the month and then have one week off. June - Re-administer survey to all faculty to measure growth.

YEAR 2: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Incorporating (at least) One Web 2.0 tool into Each Classroom September - Professional Development focusing on Web 2.0 tools TBD Oct. - May- Ning use continues and includes last year’s Forums as well as classroom blogs and ongoing faculty discussions. Teachers will develop at least eight lessons over this time period that incorporate Web 2.0 tools. June - Re-administer survey to all faculty to measure growth.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">YEAR 3: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> The Ning becomes a Primary Source of Communication All Year - Teachers post to the Ning and discuss as readily (or more) as we now use email. Web 2.0 tools are used at least monthly in each classroom.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">YEAR 4: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Develop a School-Wide Tech Curriculum

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">YEAR 5 <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Implement a School-Wide Tech Curriculum

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">‍Evaluation and Results <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Evaluation will be done formally by measuring change in the results of our survey. (The survey will be re-administered in May 2012 and May 2013. Informal evaluation will be done through conversation and observation, watching teachers become more comfortable and proficient with use of the UFS Ning in particular and Web 2.0 tools in general. (We hope.) By June 2016 we hope to see that the faculty, as a whole, is comfortable using the Ning as a means of communication and collaboration, Web 2.0 tools are in regular use in all classrooms, and a PK-8th grade technology curriculum is in place. This year provided all six of us with many learning opportunities. We have all added to our Web 2.0 “tool kits,” both personally and professionally. We are trying to clarify our goals for the faculty so that we can begin planning our Ning rollout before the 2011-2012 school year. ‍ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">‍Artifacts and Documentation <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Student Prezis Blogs - teachers -studentsWeb pages Tech tools Language Arts Standards Forums Animoto Wikis Monopoly spreadsheets Audiobooks RSS feeds UFSPLP.NING Survey from SurveyMonkey <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">[|musictheory.net] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">[|noteflight.com] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Live binder