Building
the Hanau Model School Partnership
The
three-year Hanau Model School Partnership had its kick-off
in September
1995. In the first year we established the partnership,
conducted
a ground-level assessment, developed a planning committee,
and then
created the project's two-year implementation plan. During
Years
2 (1996–97) and 3 (1997–98), we implemented that
plan,
spelling out the hardware, software, and connectivity
plans for
the four-school cluster. We also detailed plans for an
ongoing community-based
group to oversee implementation, a comprehensive
professional development
plan (including on-site support from a curriculum-focused
"educational
technologist"), and a broad-based research and evaluation
plan.
The mathematics work was one of the pillars of the
professional
development work.
My
mathematics work with teachers in Hanau (13 elementary and
one middle
school) was a long-term process. It included summer
workshops for
participating teachers in Years 2 and 3, follow-up
classroom visits
and consultations, focus group meetings, consultation with
the on-site
educational technologist who met periodically with the
focus group,
informal support through e-mail correspondence,
collaborative "demonstration"
and co-teaching lessons, and adaptations to the adopted
curriculum.
We combined these efforts with work from all professional
levels
of the DoDEA system—principals, the school-based
educational
technologist, and content specialists from district and
headquarters
levels—to support our efforts helping teachers make
discerning
decisions about their use of electronic graphing tools in
the classroom.
The
following is a brief chronology of my work to support the
technology
in elementary mathematics program in the Hanau Schools:
Year
One—Needs assessment (review of the DoDEA mathematics
and technology
programs, materials, and plans for professional
development); consultation
with district and headquarters math specialists; materials
development
(creation of MathLand Technology Framework, writing of
grade-specific
recommendations for tool use in elementary mathematics).
Year
Two—Introductory summer workshop; ongoing work with
teachers
(research and informal support, and consultation to
educational
technologist); piloting of co-teaching model; collection
of student
work
Year
Three—Continuation of above activities, including
full implementation
of co-teaching model; broadening teacher participation
(consultation,
classroom visits, after-school introductory and update
workshops);
plans for "scaling up" of professional development
approaches across
Hessen district.
Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for Technology
in Education).
All rights reserved.
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