Technology Action Plan

Part 1: Development of Organizational Chart Integrating Technology

The Action Plan was designed and developed from interviews conducted with Mr. James Spivey Assistant Technology Director of Denison I.S. D. and Shonda Cannon Curriculum coordinator at Denison High School.





Superintendent, Dr. Henry Scott– To lead, guide, and direct every member of the administrative, instructional, and support services teams in setting and achieving the highest standards of excellence in educational programs and operating systems.
Technology Coordinator, Mr. Dickie Deel- To lead, guide, and direct every member of the administrative, instructional, and support services teams in setting and achieving the highest standards of excellence in educational programs and operating systems.
Director of Instruction, Ms. Jeri Bone- To help improve the technology implementation and training to provide access for teachers and students to information, procedures, and tools that improve learning and administrative management.
Assistant Director of Technology- Mr. James Spivey - provides technology support for curriculum areas through implementation of technology TEKS and support of staff as they integrate technology into instruction. Mr. Spivey is also hands on in relations with staff and helps as needed when technical emergencies arise at Denison High School.
Technology Assistants, - There are three of these individuals that help in a variety of ways. These ways include but are not limited to installation, maintenance, and support of the district's computing systems, networks, and data communications technologies, including hardware and software.
LRC Technology Coordinators- Each campus has a Learning Resource Center which includes computers specifically designed for research and learning (library). Each Learning Resource Center director also serves the important role of scheduling the proper use of computers.
Classroom Teachers – Implement technology TEKS and support students as they integrate technology into the learning process. This includes demonstration of proper ethical use of computers.
Campus Principal- Each Campus Principal must make sure that learning is taking place in the most effective way. This means the technology plan must be followed. Collaboration in teacher team meetings to emphasize proper use of these technology tools is imperative for the campus leader. It may be necessary at times for the principal to reinforce the use of technology by his own modeling and full utilizing technology resources in his own staff development when he or she has center stage. Show the world you can teach and old dog new tricks.


Part two: Professional Development Planning:

Denison Independent School District is committed to developing, facilitating, and providing different models of professional development. In my discussion with high school curriculum coordinator Shonda Canon she stated “One big professional development push for our district this summer is going to be the integration of SmartBoard lessons and games into our curriculum. It is one thing that we have been given the grant money to buy them, but another thing altogether to integrate and use them in the most effective manners!” A combination of on-line “just-in-time” resource and the peer teaching model will be implemented to guide the staff in integrating technology into all facets of teaching and learning, management and planning.
Every classroom in our district has at least 1computer, and a ceiling mounted projector. Many classrooms also have a SmartBoard (95% by school year end) and a document camera. Each of these tools delivers instruction. Teachers use these tools to enrich instruction by integrating Discovery Education United Streaming videos, educational websites, Smartboard on-line interactive lessons, PLC team lessons from our group district and school shared and group drives. Interactive lessons that speak to specific content to reinforce the main ideas and concepts in a variety of ways are like gold nuggets for our staff to help improve and differentiate learning in the classroom. Student computers and lab computers are also used to deliver individual instruction. These are found mostly on the Learning Resource Center and our own computer labs. Teachers can schedule time for their whole classes as needed for their students. We are a PLC and we realize that shared knowledge and experiences equal the power to improve learning. We value highly our shared knowledge bases and it is exciting to see them grow as teacher exchange and implement these new ideas to help learning in their classrooms. We have integrated Smartboard technology in classrooms of deemed highest needs (Math and Science) but soon will have Smartboards in over 95% of our classrooms. The Smartboards are still being installed and most rooms at the high school have an active SmartBoard. These technology tools were installed before many teachers were fully trained on how to use them. I was fortunate enough last Spring to attend the first introductory SmartBoard training on our campus. Over the last few months we have had several professional development trainings(mainly in our PLC subject area team groups) for staff to become more advanced with the use and integration of technology lessons using the new equipment and to ask questions that have arose over the use of the Smartboards. Our staff is continually working together to discover new uses and websites found available to enhance the use of this technology.








Part 3: Planning for Action

The Technology Action Plan at Denison ISD will be assessed by a systematic ongoing process. All aspects of the plan will be evaluated formally four times each year:
September………………………………..2009, 2010, 2011 December………………………………...2009, 2010, 2011 March…………………………………….2010, 2011, 2012 June………………………………………2010, 2011, 2012
A subcommittee of the technology committee will be responsible for the ongoing evaluation and will utilize whatever resources deemed necessary in the process. The type of evaluation, and the detail, will depend on the part of the plan being evaluated. The intention of the evaluation will be to make decisions on the impact that technology has on the learning process for all students. A report will be given to the Superintendent and the Board of Trustees after each formal evaluation occurs.
The Texas STaR Chart, has been developed around the four key areas of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, 1996-1210: Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Administration and Support Services, and Infrastructure for Technology. The Denison ISD’s STaR Chart results will be used to help Denison ISD assess its progress toward meeting the goals of the Long Range Plan for Technology. The STaR chart will also be used to compare Denison ISD’s results with other Texas districts. By using the STaR chart as a monitoring tool, Denison ISD will be able to accurately assess technical growth on an annual basis.
Our subject area teacher teams will be the main impetus of feedback to determine success of our technology plan and growth in the area of teacher professional development. In our PLC team meetings there is most always an administrator (either assistant principal, principal, curriculum coordinator) to help act as liaison and provide necessary input to each meeting. If it is deemed necessary the campus principal can monitor staff by using walk-through, lesson plans and PDAS evaluations to check and recheck on the implementation and uses of new technology. This will allow administrators to make sure the district and campus improvement plans are being met by implementing and utilizing the Smartboard technology in the classrooms to increase student learning by the addition of new hands-on technology. Student assessments will also be used to determine the affects of the new technology and the benefits gained from the implementation. Benchmark assessment will be given throughout the year, at least one assessment per six weeks, to determine the areas and levels of improvement in student learning.