The purpose of this grant program is to provide seed funding to districts to adopt "best technology classroom practices and programs" that will have an impact on the districts. These projects and programs are effective models of teaching that integrate technology into the local curriculum and align with the state's learning standards.
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Stephen McKenna
Maura Reilly
781-982-2180 |
Project Title: All Students Can Learn: Demonstrations Using Digital Portfolios
Project Overview:
Designated third and fourth grade classes at the Woodsdale Elementary School in Abington will participate in a pilot project based on the work done by Linda Schaye at the Harrington School in Lexington. This project includes the use of digital portfolios targeting the English Language Arts Curriculum Framework for Woodsdale's grade 3 and 4 inclusive settings. Learning standards, identified through recent MCAS results as relative weaknesses, will be the primary focus. A goal of this project is to teach students to reflect on and assess their own learning while enhancing the communication of student progress to parents. In addition, teachers will further their ability to integrate technology into the curriculum through work with a laptop computer, digital camera, digital camcorder, and presentation software.
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Martha Ntiforo
413-549-9871
Paul Oh
413-549-1507 |
Project Title: Becoming a Project MEET School
Project Overview:
A team of four teachers representing a range of grade levels will work closely with the technology coordinator at Marks Meadow School to adopt the practices of Project MEET. This will involve the adoption of Good Models of Teaching with Technology (GMOTT). The team will meet monthly and will create effective lessons in a variety of content areas. These lessons will incorporate the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and Learning Standards and will be shared with other members of the Marks Meadow staff. The purchase of a mobile laptop lab will facilitate the sharing of model lessons.
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Peter Kravitz
413-549-9701 |
Project Title: Providing Access to the Regular Education Curriculum
Project Overview:
The project will help provide a fully accessible environment in the regular classroom at Amherst Regional High School, providing all students equal access to information and expression of knowledge. Teachers and paraprofessionals in all subject areas will have access to the hardware, software and training necessary to adapt instruction, materials and assessments within their own classrooms. The regular education and special education staffs will be invited to participate in professional development programs that focus on technical aspects of the hardware and software that will be available, best teaching practices, and understanding of special education/504 regulations.
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Mike Hayes
413-549-9828 |
Project Title: Creating Digital Portfolios of Exhibitions
Project Overview:
The "Creating Digital Portfolios of Exhibitions" project is designed for eighth grade students and will be a part of an integration project that involves English, mathematics, social studies, science, drama, art, music, a research class, and a computer class. Students will learn to present exhibitions of their learning through the creation of digital portfolios. Students will use software (e.g., Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) to create text and visuals. In addition, they will use digital cameras and videos to capture components of the process and presentation. The digital portfolio of their learning will allow students increased opportunities for reflection and growth throughout the year. In addition, these digital portfolios will be easily passed on with students to the high school.
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Kay Tessier
508-231-1220 or
508-881-0175 |
Project Title: The Writing Toolbox
Project Overview:
The Warren Elementary School will adopt "Not Just Tools: Solutions," Mendon-Upton's successful project designed to improve student writing. The model integrates the use of AlphaSmart keyboards into the John Collins Writing Program. We expect that the combination of using the structured John Collins approach to process writing and student access to portable word processors in the classroom during instructional time--to input, edit, revise, and publish their writing--will be a winning combination to improve our students' writing skills.
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Terry Kuhlmann
781-275-6804 |
Project Title: Wetland Environmental Technology Team (WETT)
Project Overview:
The Wetland Environment Technology Team (WETT) grant is a K-2 initiative to utilize the wetland that exists on the grounds of the Davis School in Bedford, MA as a basis for enhancing a standards-based curriculum incorporating earth, life, and the physical sciences. The Davis team is adopting the Westford Public Schools' Lighthouse Grant, "Microworlds: Magnifying Those Magnificent, Mesmerizing Microbes." We will be working with a fifth grade class who will mentor the students at Davis and receive training in the relevant technology from their teacher. It is our goal to improve the K-2 science curriculum by providing hands-on experience in a real-world environment. Using the wetland area as an outdoor classroom, teachers will spend the first year of the project investigating the pond habitat and receiving training in environmental science from the Audubon Society and other environmental education agencies. From these experiences, we will create a developmentally appropriate lesson plans for each grade level, with the goal of developing the children's inquiry skills.
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Janet Tortora
781-275-6804 x3108 |
Project Title: WIT- Anytime, Anywhere for All Students (A3)
Project Overview:
The Bedford Public Schools has adopted the model of Mobile Writing Labs used at the Bancroft School in Andover. Our analysis of the MCAS scores has shown a need to improve our students' performance on the Open Response Questions. The Bedford WIT (Writing Integrates Technology) Team which is comprised of classroom teachers from K-5, and the technology coordinators at the Lane and Davis Schools will pilot the usage of AlphaSmarts to promote cross curriculum writing. The Andover teachers will train our teachers in the use of the AlphaSmarts and will model lessons for Bedford's teachers. Andover students will visit with Bedford students and train them in the use of AlphaSmarts. The findings of this pilot project will be disseminated to other Bedford teachers and incorporated into Bedford's curriculum.
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Paul Mara
508-869-2837 x109 |
Project Title: Adopting Best Technology Practices: YTE Model
Project Overview:
The Berlin-Boylston Students as Technology Leaders Program is an Instructional Technology course designed for students in grades 10 through 12. The program will help provide the desperately needed technical support for the three schools in the district, while also providing students with the technological and entrepreneurial skills that will lead them to success in our emerging world economy. The program will accomplish this by training high school students in industry standard areas including A+ Certification and networking essentials. Students will also be trained in the basics of computer support or help desk. Students will also develop their own lesson plans for various technologies that are currently available in our district. The students will then provide training for their peers as well for teachers and support staff. All students in the program will be required to perform a community service component which may include the above mentioned technical training, providing technical support for the two elementary schools, supporting a school or district Web page. Students in the program will be encouraged to take the A+ Certification exam. Students will receive guidance and support from their instructor, the district technology coordinator, adult mentors, and guest lecturers.
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Maddy August
978-922-0401 |
Project Title: The Help Desk at Beverly High School: A Creative and Cost Effective Approach to Technical Support
Project Overview:
Beverly High School will develop a technical Help Desk staffed by students in grades 10 - 12 who have successfully completed our A+ (computer repair) class. The Help Desk will become the hands-on internship component of our new Students as Technology Leaders program. It will complement the A+ curriculum, providing students with the opportunity to gain practical technical experience using the skills they learned in class. Students will perform a variety of tasks from routine maintenance procedures to troubleshooting technical problems to building computer systems from components. Students working with a faculty coordinator will manage the Help Desk using automated tools such as an interactive Web site and database software. The task of managing a Help Desk requires effective communication and project management skills. By participating in the Help Desk students can develop these important business assets in a practical environment. In order to achieve professional standards, SaTL students will apply for positions on the Help Desk and be accepted on the basis of class work and demonstrated responsibility. We are adopting Palmer High School's Help Desk program.
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Judy Miller
978-922-0401 |
Project Title: Boosting Curriculum Adrenaline with VES
Project Overview:
The Beverly Public Schools will adopt Masconomet Middle School's innovative model for incorporating the use of VES into the curriculum. Mary Mahoney, a grade seven English teacher at Masconomet Middle School successfully piloted an interdisciplinary unit with her students this year using VES as a tool for on-line student/teacher interaction and collaboration. Ms. Mahoney will initially work with a pilot group of elementary and secondary Beverly teachers who will develop and implement VES projects for their classes. Grade eight social studies teachers from the Masconomet Middle School will also participate in this project by implementing a unit with grade eight teachers who are part of the Beverly pilot group. Ms. Mahoney will also offer a graduate level course titled "Boosting Curriculum Adrenaline with VES" to all Beverly teachers on how to harness the power of VES to strengthen and enhance curriculum. Teachers who are part of the pilot group will assist Ms. Mahoney with these classes so that they can teach future course for the Beverly district and sustain the project beyond the scope of the grant.
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Kristen Eichleay
617-635-9079 |
Project Title: I Can Write Right! Writing Across the Curriculum with Co:Writer
Project Overview:
The Boston Public Schools' Access Technology Center at Emmanuel College will provide a professional development model helping teachers to support struggling writers at the 3rd to 5th grades across a variety of classroom settings, e.g., resource, substantially separate special education, inclusive, and bilingual. This project replicates a professional development and curriculum integration model used successfully in Schaumberg Township, Illinois and Fairfax County, Virginia to increase student performance in writing across the curriculum. This project will piggyback onto the district's Office of Instructional Technology's highly successful AlphaSmart portable word-processor project, which is supporting the district-wide literacy initiative, Writer's Workshop, and other required classroom writing activities. Teachers who were trained in year one of the programs will have the opportunity to apply to this extension project. The Co:Writer training will assist teachers in assessing which students are appropriate candidates for the use of Co:Writer word prediction software, which is now available for use on the AlphaSmarts, and allow them to try out the software with students.
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Candyce S. Wainwright
978-887-2856 |
Project Title: A Celebration of Ourselves: Our Heritage, Our Cultures, and Our Heroes
Project Overview:
Harry Lee Cole School will partner with Masconomet Regional School District for the incorporation of video techniques in the grades one and two Social Studies Curriculum. Specialists from Masconomet will conduct detailed workshops on how to use iMovie, a video production tool. They will provide additional assistance through e-mail and on-site consultations throughout the year. Cole teachers and classes will work with digital video cameras, microphones, audio CDs, and VCRs to create video productions. These projects will strengthen curricular goals as defined by the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Frameworks. Finally, we will develop a team of Cole experts to disseminate what we have learned to other schools within our district and administrative union.
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Anne Thompson
508-580-7568 |
Project Title: See It, Say It, Write It, Lighthouse Adoption Grant
Project Overview:
The Whitman Elementary School will adopt a Lighthouse grant developed by Bridgewater Public Schools that integrates technology into curriculum. Designed for students in grades K-3, this project is based on research in the area of language development, which supports the benefits of life experiences and multi-modality approaches to concepts that are translated into writing. The school has aligned AlphaSmarts with the John Collins writing process and will incorporate digital equipment, audio-visual equipment, and software that will capture students' interactive learning experiences and will provide motivation for oral and written responses. The adoptive model uses digital cameras to capture learning experiences, freeze frames them and uses the photos for developmental writing prompts. The AlphaSmart technology will be used as part of the writing process approach to bring primary level children through the continuum of spoken to written language development. Software applications will enhance learning of vocabulary, language patterns, comprehension, critical thinking, and writing conventions. The Scott Foresman Benchmark Tests and Reading Section of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills will be analyzed to determine progress.
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Joan L. Tuttle
781-270-1781 |
Project Title: Turn Up the HEAT
Project Overview:
The Health Education and Technology (HEAT) grant is an adoption of the Fitchburg Health and Physical Education technology model. We will use the Marshall Simonds Middle School Physical Education curriculum for grades six, seven and eight. The program will focus on improving cardiovascular fitness by monitoring heart rates during physical activity. This monitoring will help students determine fitness levels and improve their awareness of exertion. A personal assessment of actual time spent with increased heart rate in the target heart rate zone will be produced. We are creating a cardiovascular fitness center. We will use computer-assisted Global Positioning System devices to enhance the orienteering activity while assessing the students' cardiovascular fitness using heart rate monitors. The assessment technology will include Fitnessgram software, heart rate monitors, personal digital assistants for tracking and recording student progress on a daily basis, a digital camera, a digital video camera, and a multimedia projector. The Cardiovascular Fitness Center will be available to all students, staff, and members of the community.
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Nancy Barker
508-866-6219 |
Project Title: Writing to Learn, Learning to Write
Project Overview:
The grades 3-5 multi-age classrooms in the Carver Elementary School are adopting the Brockton Whitman Elementary Schools adoption grant to establish AlphaSmart publishing centers. The Governor John Carver Elementary School is currently working to improve student achievement in the area of writing through the John Collins writing program. The John Collins Writing Program promotes daily writing across the curriculum. With the use of AlphaSmarts, technology will be integrated through all stages of the writing process. The goal is to increase fluency and clarity, and provide strategies for revision.
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Pamela Borgeson
508-866-6297 |
Project Title: Online Curriculum Enhancement
Project Overview:
Teachers will be provided with professional development workshops on the utilization of free online services such as VES. Teachers will also be offered a workshop on using the Internet and creating WebQuests to enhance their curriculum. Teachers will access and integrate the online services, which provide Internet hard drive space, free Web-page space, e-mail, and links to external Web resources for enhancing their curriculum. High school teachers will participate in designing their own Web pages. The Web pages will include WebQuests, online assignments with rubrics, projects, and links to helpful external Web resources that the students can utilize. Teachers will observe existing Web-based curriculum models as well as work to design original projects. Teachers will be provided with a four-part workshop on creating WebQuests and Internet curriculum design. During the workshop, we will also collaborate with Christine Rowan and the teachers in Milton (source of adoption grant) to observe and discuss their online projects and resources. Teachers will come up with a Webquest plan and rubric as well as a list of resources. Students in Advanced Office 97 will be paired up with a teacher to develop a Web. Participating teachers will act as technology mentors to their own departments.
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Dr. Reza Namin
978-777-8932 x 271 |
Project Title: VES Adoption as a Conduit for Professional Development
Project Overview:
Danvers Public Schools is adopting the Massachusetts Virtual Education Space (VES) as the primary entry portal to the Internet for all district educators. VES will also serve as the conduit for district-wide technology professional development in collaboration with Winchendon Public Schools' staff. The project will train teachers to use the Internet to produce curriculum-focused instructional units such as lesson plans and assignments.
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Patricia Roberts
781-934-7650 x 258 |
Project Title: Developing Effective Models of Classroom Instruction using Internet Technology
Project Overview:
Duxbury Public Schools will integrate technology into classroom instruction, empowering all its teachers K-12 to develop Internet-based curriculum units. Our school district will implement this project in the Alden School for grades three and four, and broaden the scope to include all other schools in the district. Using VES provides a common platform for Duxbury's educators to discover, create and share instructional units that are focused on the alignment of the Duxbury curriculum with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Anticipated outcomes include increased use of technology to enhance curriculum-based classroom instruction, increased participation in district technology professional development, and improved technology literacy for educators district-wide.
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