July 2004 — SETDA
Print this article | Email this articleClick here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal
Tennessee: BEACONS Project Gets Blue Springs Elementary On the Road to True Technology Integration
"Looking around our school building, it's hard to imagine all the changes that have occurred in just one year." This comment by Blue Springs Elementary School Principal Sheena Newman is often ech'ed by the teachers, parents and students from this small, rural school in East Tennessee, which has about 195 students in grades K-5. It was just one year ago that we at Blue Springs embarked on a journey to transform our school into a model for technology integration. The BEACONS (Becoming Excited About Computers Offering New Strategies) Project was funded by a Tennessee EdTech competitive Launch grant. These funds have not only provided students the opportunity to learn with the best of tools, but have given the teachers the necessary training to use these tools effectively.
Increasing Tech Literacy for All
A key requirement of Tennessee's EdTech project is the creation of a technology coach position at each competitive grant winner's school. Too often, professional development is completed in a whole group setting, where teachers are given "one dose" of training and then expected to implement the new strategies on their own. This is why a technology coach is now available to give "just in time" training to teachers in real-life situations, thereby ensuring that these new strategies are likely to continue. As tech coach for Blue Springs, I have been designated as the "keeper of the flame" for our BEACONS Project. It is my responsibility to design, manage and implement strategies for technology integration. Our teachers are learning that technology is not a separate curriculum, but an appropriate and critical part of everyday learning. We have implemented a comprehensive professional development plan that includes after-school and summer workshops, visits to other schools to view examples of best practices, and attendance at regional and national technology conferences. By setting aside time in the school schedule for grade-level technology integration planning, we are able to design activities that address not only the core curriculum standards, but also incorporate ISTE's National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) as well.
And the results have been phenomenal. It has been extremely gratifying to see the increased levels of tech literacy for both students and teachers. Our teachers are realizing the power and potential of computers and the tremendous impact technology can have on student motivation and learning. It is routine to see a member of the student Technology Team defragmenting a hard drive or installing critical updates to Windows XP. This might not sound extraordinary until one discovers that these are 10-year-olds providing scheduled maintenance. In addition, Blue Springs has initiated a student-written newspaper in which reporters are given their assignments and press badges by a faculty sponsor. It then becomes their job to gather the news and manipulate text and photos into a page layout program. The newspaper, appropriately titled "The BEACON" is delivered to all students twice each month.
Parents of Blue Springs students have also benefited from the BEACONS Project. Classes are offered in how to use software that will not only improve their viability in the increasingly demanding job market, but also gives them skills that they can use to assist their children as well. A school Web site,
