Final+Report

=**Arlington Traditional School Final Report**  = ** Impact on Instruction **** (300 words max) - Please describe specific examples of how your instructional practices have changed over the course of your involvement with HP Technology for Teaching. Describe/provide the evidence you have of those changes based on the data that you collected to measure changes in instructional practice. (Examples include: reflections, teacher logs and journals, self-assessments, a review of your portfolio items, etc.) When possible and applicable, include charts, graphs, quotes, etc **. ** Impact on Student Learning **** (300 work max) - **** Please describe the impact on student learning and experience in your classes. Provide both general summary statements and specific examples that can help others understand what the change looked like and what it meant for student learning. ** Your information //should// include: · Pre- and post-assessment of students in TfT classrooms and comparison classes; and //might// include: · Scoring of student work from both of these classrooms; · Classroom observations; · Student surveys; · Other. ** Our results are based on student observation, test scores and student attitude surveys. We found that there was a marked increase in students’ science enjoyment. 80% of students initially said they like to learn about science. At the end of the grant, this number increased to 91%. (Reference first names only, and what grade level/subject area they were in).**
 * General Information **
 * School Name: **Arlington** **Traditional School**
 * Project Title: **World Outside My Window: Using Technology to Facilitate the Investigation of Seasonal Changes and Life Processes**
 * Project Summary – **This project was** ** a **** collaboration **** between three second grade teachers, one first grade teacher and the Instructional Technology Coordinator (ITC). Through group planning we will designed inquiry based hands-on science lessons that incorporated reading, writing, and Science Standards of Learning. All participants have seen an increased use of technology to support their teaching and learning. **
 * Your Project Web: **http://atshpgrant.wikispaces.com/**
 * Lead Teacher First Name: **Heather**
 * Lead Teacher Last Name: **Hurley**
 * Lead Teacher Address: **855 N. Edison Street****, Arlington, VA 22205**
 * I am more comfortable with the Science curriculum and with technology. I feel more confident and organized with my instruction. I thought the Professional Development courses and books were an integral part of this project.
 * My instructional practices have greatly improved because of this grant. I have used technology much more than ever before in my class. The PBS class offered great inquiry based instructional practices that I have incorporated in my lessons.
 * I have used technology to assess my students more this year than I have in the past. Using online quizzes to assess and using publishing software to have students create projects as a culminating assignment have been very helpful. It also gives the students a resource to use to "create" something, other than just using paper and pencil. There are many different formats that they can choose from (cards, posters, banners, fliers, etc.) My teaching has become more interactive and students are much more focused and attentive during direct instruction.
 * I integrate technology more readily in all lessons, particularly science. I am more likely to look for appropriate streaming videos to enhance a lesson, as well as using more technology to assess student learning. For example I created more quizzes/tests on Discovery Learning than I did last year. Last year I only created one science test on line, this year I created two and now I have a total of three online tests. I really learned a lot about Life Science from the PBS course, and it made me more comfortable with the material I had to teach.
 * Technology has become an integral part of everyone’s teaching. I am finally seeing the seamless integration that I’ve been looking for. This is directly related to the teachers having constant access to the technology.
 * The use of the Smart Board has allowed my students to become more interactive with my unit on seasonal changes. They were enthusiastic about taking pictures and recording their observations on the tablet. They used Kid Pix to illustrate the seasons and wrote about each season as well. Last year I didn’t use the computer lab as much as this year. We were able to play games on my portaportal site as a class.
 * The students are so comfortable with the technology more than any other class I have taught. They have also learned the Science: Living Systems units in a more active and fun way through the use of the technology. By adding butterflies, butterfly garden, design briefs, computer lab, HP materials, the students have grown exponentially.
 * I notice my students taking charge more and wanting to "teach" other students using the SMARTBoard. I will sometimes have my kids take a math problem and go up and teach it to the class. My students now look at the technology as a "tool" and not a "toy." At first, they were all so excited and everything was a game to them. Now, they take it more seriously and understand its purpose in the classroom. They know when it is appropriate to use the SMARTBoard, when to switch to a new blank screen, and when it is appropriate to add a picture, graph, etc. I also think having things presented to the students visually more often has had a positive impact on student learning.
 * Impact on Student Learning **** (300 word max) - What evidence do you have of that impact? Include data summaries and analysis of the data you have collected to measure impact on student learning. When possible and applicable, include charts, graphs, quotes, etc.
 * The students are more engaged in science learning. This year I created a review lesson using “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The kids were so excited about it. For every correct question, the students cheered and applauded them like they were really winning money. There were no rewards for the activity except for personal achievement. After the review, they took the assessment online. 17 out of 22 students got a B or higher, with 14 of those 17 getting A’s. Compared with my students last year, where only 8 students got A’s, and the rest of the scores were spread across B’s, C’s, and some D’s. The difference between this year’s science teaching and last year’s science teaching was the integration of more technology, more hands-on and interactive experiences. I believe that has been a major impact on my students’ learning. I’ve also noticed more conversation among my students regarding the science lessons. This did not happen last year.
 * In first grade I decided to evaluate my students through classroom observations, the use of an ongoing AIMS activity called ”My Tree”, and another activity called “Fall Leaves”. I also used student journals to evaluate their knowledge of the ongoing unit of seasonal changes.
 * I’ve seen increased student comfort level and knowledge of technology. Students are able to troubleshoot more now then in the previous year. I have fewer student requests for help then in the past from the grant classrooms. I’ve not seen this decrease from non grant classes.
 * Student Quotes** **(150 word max) –Please ask your students to describe the impact that the project had on their learning. Include some of your favorite student quotes

“I liked using the camera to take pictures of the tree” – Valeria – grade 1 “I liked using the tablet to write the observations of the tree”- Matthew – grade 1

“I think the animal posters helped me. I got to learn more about that animal by doing research on it. It was fun by doing the posters but we also learned!” –Annette – grade 2 “I loved using the SmartBoard and taking pictures with the camera. My mom doesn’t always let me use ours!” - grade 2 “I liked using the SmartBoard (with the LCD projector and the lap top) in class because now we don’t need to find a piece of chalk!” –An-Ya – grade 2 "Having a SMART board in the room made science more interesting."—Skylar – grade 2 "It was fun doing our animal posters because we got to work with partners and do our work on the computers."—Julie – grade 2

At our Open House at the beginning of the school year, we used all the materials to help us in our presentation and we talked to the parents about it. Also, we presented at our Science and Technology Night in March. This presentation gave parents insight into what we do with the materials and the children on a regular basis: use the SmartBoard, PhotoStory, Power Point, etc. Second grade teachers also presented at a county inservice on what they’ve done around the butterfly life cycle. We wrote an article for the county newsletter and our school newsletter. We will be presenting to the staff at our June staff meeting.
 * Other Outcomes** **(150 word max) - Please describe any unexpected outcomes from this project (positive or negative):**
 * Team building was a positive outcome that I didn’t necessarily expect. My team works well together, but this project added a new dimension to it.
 * I worked with three second grade teachers that are technology literate. I feel that I was able to learn from them. I felt “obligated” to pull my weight even though at times, I was very overwhelmed. I am happy with what I have learned but I want to learn more.
 * The technology is a great resource to use when you need to answer those "teachable moment" type questions. I also agree that working with my teammates and the first grade teacher, along with our ITC, was a positive experience in which I learned a lot.
 * The technology permeated all areas of my teaching. Since it was in my classroom and readily available I used it for Language arts, daily editing, math, social studies, and reading.
 * Project Challenges** **(200 word max) - What stumbling blocks or challenges did you encounter and how did you overcome them? What “words of wisdom” would you share with other educators who would like to replicate your project?**
 * Part of my lesson was taking pictures of the changes of a tree outside our class. The children were so excited to take the picture every other week but there weren’t too many changes in the tree during the winter. They found it hard to journal the observations.
 * We had some problems with the soil for our Butterfly Garden. This was solved by a parent who owns a contracting business. This garden helped us to teach about Plants and Butterflies in a real life environment.
 * Time was a challenge. Time to create lessons and projects.
 * Time and patience. For others I would say remember to take a deep breath and realize that everything is not going to work perfectly all the time. It's okay to let the students see that you have to struggle sometimes too when the SMARTboard won't do what you expected it too. Or the camera isn't fully charged like you thought. I'm really looking forward to expanding on what I've learned this year into next year.
 * Finding time to meet with teachers. Assessment has improved but still needs work. Pace yourselves and make adjustments as you go. It’ll all come together in the end.
 * Project Visibility** **(200 word max) - How have you communicated the project and its results of this project to others? Include presentations about the project conducted on campus, at conferences, and/or any publications. Please be sure to describe any recognition that your project has received or ways in which your team and/or students have shown the grant-related work to others on your campus, in your community, or beyond.**

· If your team is selected as a high-performing team, is there one team member who commits to travel to San Antonio from June 29 to July 1 to present a poster session about the team’s work and to participate in special HP events on the afternoon and evening of June 30? □ No · If so, please provide the following information for that person: · Presenter name: **Heather Hurley** · Affiliation (School): **Arlington** **Traditional School** · Email: **heather_hurley@apsva.us** · State: **VA** · Please provide the following information for your team’s poster session. This will be included in the conference program book and web page, should your team be selected to present: · Poster title: **Outside My Window: Using Technology to Investigate Seasonal Change** · Poster description: **View** ** inquiry based hands-on science lessons that were ** ** a collaboration between three second grade teachers, one first grade teacher and the Instructional Technology Coordinator (ITC). **  · Audience grade level (check the option that best describes the audience   · that will learn from your poster session): □ 3-5  □ PK-5 □ 6-8  □ 6-12   □ 9-12  □ PK-12 □ Community College/University □ All · NETS - Will your presentation address any of the following ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Students, Teachers, or Administrators? Choose any/all selections that apply. o NETS-S □ 4 – Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making □ 6 – Technology Operations and Concepts o NETS-T □ 5 – Productivity and Professional Practice □ 6 – Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues o NETS-A □ 3 – Productivity and Professional Practice □ 4 – Support, Management, and Operations □ 5 – Assessment and Evaluation □ 6 – Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues ** Administrator Statement - This section should be completed by the Administrator who has been working with your team in 2007-08. ** Administrator Contact Information · Salutation: **Mrs**. · First Name: **Donna** · Last Name: **Honeywell** · Title: **Assistant Principal**
 * Information for NECC if your team is selected to be part of the HP Technology for Teaching Showcase: **
 * X Yes **
 * X PK-2 **
 * X 1 – Creativity and Innovation **
 * X 2 – Communication and Collaboration **
 * X 3 – Research and Information Fluency **
 * X 5 – Digital Citizenship **
 * X 1 – Technology Operations and Concepts **
 * X 2 – Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences **
 * X 3 – Teaching, Learning, and the Curriculum **
 * X 4 – Assessment and Evaluation **
 * X 1 – Leadership and Vision **
 * X 2 – Learning and Teaching **
 * (300 word max) Please review the team’s final reflections on the impact of the grant as written above and describe any significant outcomes of the team’s work from your perspective. ** **If applicable, how do these outcomes relate to your school’s goals for technology integration?**

The teachers at Arlington Traditional School who participated in the HP grant initiative benefited from the opportunity to have the training and resources. We had a cross-grade level team and collaborated with other schools. The integration of technology has become a natural tool in the classroom for them and they are very comfortable using it after the training. Teachers engaged students in many quality experiences as a result of the resources provided by the grant and report that interest in science is increased. Overall this experience has been positive - both personally and professionally for teachers and especially for students. Teachers are reflective, creative, innovative and students seem motivated to think about their lessons in a problem solving way. Students report things like “it was fun doing our animal posters because we got to work with partners,” “I liked using the tablet to write the observations of the tree,” and “I liked using the camera to take pictures.” The grant enabled teachers to build excitement for science inquiry and for using technology and hands-on strategies with students. They reported that using the tools was motivating and creative. Teachers thoroughly enjoyed working in collaboration with the other school staff and liked sharing their new knowledge and skills with their grade level partners. The grant assisted the teachers with Arlington Public Schools’ 2005 – 2011 Strategic Plan, Goals 1, 2 and 3. Goal 1, Rising Achievement is to //“Ensure rising achievement for all students on standardized tests and other measures of performance that go beyond state and federal standards.”// Goal 2, Eliminate the Gap states that we must //“Eliminate gaps in achievement among identified groups (Asian, Black, Hispanic, and low-income students, students with disabilities, and English language learners).”// Goal 3, Responsive Education states that we should, //“Prepare each student to succeed in a diverse, changing world through instruction and other school experiences responsive to each student’s talents, interests, and challenges.” // = =