The partnership grant was awarded to Temple ISD and St. Mary’s Catholic School to provide computer training courses for teachers.
By the end of the next school year Luann Hughes, TISD director of technology, plans for all Temple teachers to take a technology course provided by Intel. The districts were one of 26 partnerships in the state to be awarded the grant out of about 90 applicants.
“I’m very excited about this grant, it’s a great opportunity to pay teachers for outside training,” Ms. Hughes said. “It matches really good with our bond and it’s a great way for them to use that new equipment and teach them 21st Century teaching skills.”
She said the training isn’t about how computer devices work, “It’s all about the content you are putting on them.”
A number of teachers at St. Mary’s Catholic School will also have the opportunity to take the training courses. Principal Dr. Ardelle Hamilton said St. Mary’s is just finding out about what this opportunity will mean to the school but they are very excited to be included.
“Anytime you can get more training and advance in what you do and how you do it is great,” she said.
The Intel classes show teachers how to teach children to use things like PowerPoint presentations, blogs, podcasts and Web sites in projects and day-to-day class activities.
Some of what the teachers will learn is integrating wikis into the coursework. A wiki is an Internet hub for information and provides links to sources of information. Hughes said some teachers have already received training in wiki creation.
One example is a class at Thornton Elementary where students took projects they made using PowerPoint and put them on the class wiki for everyone to access. An example can be found at http://thorntonintel.wikispaces.com.
Intel is providing the material and the training modules and a teacher can expect to spend 32 hours of professional development before completing the course.
Ms. Hughes said 85 percent of the district’s 600 teachers will complete the course in the initial year. She hopes everyone will complete the course by next school year.
kchandler@temple-telegram.com
