Middle School

Current Reality
Resource:
All full-time MS teachers are assigned a laptop to facilitate communication, grading, research, and document storage. Several classrooms have dedicated projectors, with the more available for temporary checkout.

Student computing needs are met by booking time in one of two Tech Labs, or checkout of the mobile laptop trolleys (iTrolleys). An additional set of laptops is available for use in the library. All of these resources are shared with the High School.

Education
The bulk of technology education takes place in the three, annual, quarter-long tech courses. Additionally, teachers increasingly incorporate ICT skills in creative and meaningful ways in the core curriculum. Some middle school teachers have been instrumental in integrating technology through the use of unitedstreaming and BrainPOP, two online resources. A few middle school teachers have also started to use Moodle, an online classroom management tool. Language teachers regularly use multimedia tools to teach Japanese and Spanish, and most of the core subject area teachers use computers in the library and tech labs plus iTrolley computers for research and classroom presentations. Spreadsheets, graphs and web pages are a regular assignment in grade 7 science classes.

Unfortunately, such integration is limited to teachers who feel comfortable handling the tech themselves, so not all students in the middle school receive equal exposure to the resources. To bridge that gap, the technology coordinator works with some teachers on integrated lessons. Such interactions have been generally successful, but are limited by availability of resources and planning time.
Recommendations
Integration
Beginning next school year, the stand-alone technology courses in the Middle School will be eliminated, and the tech curriculum will be integrated into the core courses. This will alleviate some of the pressure on the tech labs, as no class periods will be devoted solely to tech classes. On the other hand, this increases the need for wider availability of projectors, as integrating lessons will push more tech work into the classrooms.

Role of the ICT Education Specialist Two factors will also require change in the role of the MS ICT Education Specialist: the advent of the MYP program and the elimination of discrete technology courses. Adoption of the MYP will further push the tech program from a primarily application-based education to a design-based education. Without courses to teach, the specialist’s job will be to facilitate and track student progress in their understanding of the MYP's Design Cycle and the tools for working within it.

The specialist’s role in instruction should include:

1. Regular meetings with grade-levels to align technology lessons.
2. Suggestions of applications and resources appropriate to a teacher's unit of study.
3. Planning with the teacher for the teaching of the lesson.
4. Support / Co-teaching of lessons involving technology.
5. Support / Grading of final products on the technology rubric.

In terms of curriculum, the specialist would need to:

1. Maintain curriculum maps of technology education from grades six to eight.
2. Track scores of individual students in criteria of technology rubrics.
3. Track hours of technology study consistent with requirements of the MYP program.

Professional Development
In addition to receiving training and support in technology to be used in the classroom, teachers must be afforded time for specific needs related to:

1. ATLAS Rubicon
2. PowerSchool / Grade
3. MS Office (as AppleWorks is finally phased out)

Resources

1. Introduction of interactive whiteboard technology into classrooms.
2. Inclusion of projectors in every classroom (out of middle school budget).
3. Cycle for upgrade and replacement of digital media equipment (camcorders, digital still cameras, digital tablets, etc.).
4. Provide inservice to teachers on the use of turnitin.com

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