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By Joanne M. Haas
Thanks to an innovative technology training program
for teachers, some La Crosse parents receive daily computer-generated
reports – complete with photographs – documenting their children’s
classwork.
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"Everyone in this group is committed to making technology a tool in their teaching" --Catherine Beyers |
“Incredible things have happened,” said Catherine
Beyers, library media center director at La Crosse’s Southern Bluffs
Elementary School. She is also the driving force behind the district’s
2-year-old annual course aimed at showing teachers how technology can
be a valuable instructional aid. The course was developed and is taught
by district staff.
And so far, the course, which doubled in enrollment
this past August, has succeeded in providing educators with meaningful
and doable ways to change their methods to include more technology.
“Everyone in this group is committed to making
technology a tool in their teaching,” Beyers said. “So it’s
not just for technology’s sake.”
Rather, Beyers said, it’s technology to enhance
teaching.
For example, kindergarten and elementary children take digital photographs
of their class activities. Those photos are then downloaded into computers,
which are used by the children and teachers to write about what was accomplished
that day.
“The teachers are sending that home so parents
have immediate information about what their children did that day,”
Beyers said of the daily printouts, which are especially appreciated by
parents of special education students. “So many kids lack language.
They just do not talk. So now parents are able to see what their child
did.”
This type of activity is what Beyers had in mind when
she first suggested the district add the course to the menu of staff development
choices. Beyers has not only witnessed an increase in teachers’ use
of technology since the district started offering the late summer course,
but she has also observed teachers helping teachers or teaming with each
other on joint projects.
“We wanted people to work together and to create
something that they could use with their children in the fall sometime,”
Beyers said of the course’s goals. “I was so frustrated with
the way we were offering staff development.”
So Beyers, with the help and support of some of her
colleagues in the district and at Viterbo University, set out to bring
the district’s teachers into the current technological age while
offering affordable college credits at the same time.
Tom Ward, the district’s supervisor of information
technology, described his role in this course as “to provide the
resources and reap all the benefits.”
Ward credits Beyers and her colleagues with the success
of the 25-hour course, taught for one week in August just prior to the
start of the school year. The course is funded through Ward’s department
for a total cost of $3,500. Thanks to an agreement with Viterbo, teachers
also can earn two graduate credits for a total cost of $150.
“I think it is really good for our teachers ...
and our kids,” Ward said. “It is well thought of, and enrollment
has been growing in leaps and bounds.”
The first year, 24 enrolled in the course taught by Beyers and other media specialists, district technology integrators, teacher assistants and classroom teachers. This past August, 61 enrolled.
Most of those who enrolled were elementary teachers
and nearly all were La Crosse district teachers.
The La Crosse district has about 7,500 students and
650 teachers.
“What I wanted to provide was just-in-time instruction
with a really good teacher-to-student ratio,” Beyers said. The course
offered a ratio of 6-to-1 the first summer and 10-to1 this past summer.
“And I wanted it to be a cheap (college) credit.”
Teachers were told to bring two units they hoped to
teach in the fall. A variety of mini-workshops were offered as part of
the weeklong course, but Beyers said mostly it was instruction upon demand.
Teachers received a best-practices notebook, detailing already-developed
successful projects.
“They don’t want to re-create the wheel here,”
Beyers said, adding the course participants were grouped by grade and
subject area. The first day of the week was spent on standards and copyright
before participants moved into use of the technology.
“We planned to do it right before the school year
begins when people are anxious to come back to school,” Beyers said
of scheduling the course. “So when they (teachers) did come back
to school, they were really chomping to get going.”
Beyers, a former teacher who joined the district as
a media specialist in 1983, also has been on the district’s staff
development council for 12 years. “So I’ve had an opportunity
to talk about how we do staff development, what works and what doesn’t.”
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"I'm a classroom teacher, and things were bounced off me -- what do classroom tecahers really need?" --Sue Kuhn |
One of the people who has been in some of those discussions
with Beyers is 3rd-grade teacher Sue Kuhn, who helped teach the course
this past August.
“I’m a classroom teacher, and things were
bounced off me — what do classroom teachers really need?” Kuhn
said. “The use of technology in the classroom is pretty much limited
to what you know about it.”
Kuhn uses the Internet in her classrom, as well as in
the school’s computer lab. But not all the La Crosse teachers use
technology.
“We have one teacher who will not have a computer
in her classroom. She is a fantastic teacher. ... That’s why the
kids change teachers every year,” Kuhn said. “Some teachers
just don’t want to do it.”
Kuhn said part of the problem is teachers must respond
to constantly changing curriculums and therefore are left with only so
much time and energy to devote to learning more skills. Plus, sometimes
teachers plan to use the digital cameras or computers only to encounter
equipment problems. Still, Kuhn has witnessed more teachers using technology
and teaming on projects after taking the class.
Instructional designer Lisa Altreuter, in her second
year with the district, also helped teach the August course. “I worked
with them on Kid Pix, Studio Deluxe, the Internet and Claris Works,”
Altreuter said. “We had teachers from all levels.”
Like her colleagues, Altreuter also has witnessed and
helped teachers who have completed the technology course use their new-found
skills in the classroom.
“We encourage collaboration,” Altreuter said
of teacher teamwork on integrating technology.
Altreuter said the course was changed last summer since
there were so many repeaters from the first year, looking to add even
more skills.
Beyers echoed Altreuter’s comments and said if
the popularity of the course continues to grow, they may have to offer
it for two weeks and change the content even more.
The La Crosse program, from the outside looking in,
appears to do what the state’s TEACH program has struggled to accomplish
– train a lot of teachers to integrate technology. The state’s
Technology for Educational Achievement in Wisconsin program, known as
TEACH, has come under some criticism by professionals and state officials.
Most agree the 4-year-old TEACH program has had its
share of success – ensuring high-speed Internet access statewide
while providing more class choices and distance learning sessions.
Others, however, contend TEACH has yet to adequately
train teachers in the use of technology in the classroom. Beyers is among
those who question the effectiveness of an ongoing TEACH program, which
seeks to train teachers by showing videotapes of other classrooms.
While quick to commend the La Crosse teachers involved
in the project, Beyers said the La Crosse district opted to try a different
approach – the August technology class.
Meanwhile, the state is auditing the TEACH program,
which was initiated by former Governor Tommy Thompson. His overall goal
was to put all students on a level playing field when it comes to the
always-changing world of technology. As state auditors complete their
check of TEACH, due sometime in the coming weeks or months, some school
districts may be interested in trying La Crosse’s successful model.
Altreuter helped deliver a presentation on the district’s
course at the Wisconsin Educational Media Association conference.
“We had quite a few questions about the summer
classes,” she said, adding outside interest may grow as more people
seek to hone their technology skills.
“I’m going to work myself right out of a job,”
Altreuter said with a smile.
Posted December 5, 2001