District Technology Teaching Plan

K i t c h e n s | 1
District Technology Training Plan

Prince Georges County Public Schools
Upper Marlboro, MD

Angela Kitchens
June 9, 2014
EDTC 640
University of Maryland University College
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Prince Georges County Public School District
Prince Georges County Public Schools (PGCPS) is the nations 19
th
largest school district,
has 205 schools, over 125,000 students and more than 23,000 employees. The district serves a
diverse student population from urban, suburban and rural communities within the DC Metropolitan
area. The county has a north and south side referred to as Northern PG County and Southern PG
County. There were 125,136 students enrolled in PGCPS during the 2013-2014 school year. The
population enrolled includes 5,641 pre-kindergarten students, 10,260 kindergarten students, 47,569
elementary students (grades1-5), 26,492 middle school students (grades 6-8), and 35,174 high school
students (grades 9-12). The following two charts show the percentage of students within a specific
race and a snapshot of how many students make up each race represented in the county (Prince
Georges County Public Schools, 2014).

Source: PGCPS Facts and Figures, 2013.

Chart B: Demographic Snapshot, PGCPS, SY2012-13
Student Subgroup Number Percent
Latino All Races 27,983 22.6%
Native American 636 0.5%
Asian 3,606 2.9%
African American 83,419 67.4%
Native Hawaiian/
Pacific Islander
265 0.2%
White 5,710 4.6%
Two or More Races 2,121 1.7%
Total 123,741 100.0%
Special Education
(SPED)
13,757 11.1%
Limited English
Proficient (LEP)
15,372 13.6%
FARMs 73,980 60%
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The county has 67 Title I schools and these schools are the schools that receive priority when
it comes to funding for technology. All schools in the district have computer labs that range from
having Dell Desktops to Mac Desktops. It is required for all classrooms within the county to have at
least two desktops for student use. The county acquired wireless access to all PGCPS schools during
the 2013-2014 school year. Outside of Title I schools, there has been a gradual increase in interactive
whiteboards, Chromebooks, and iPad carts within some schools. The county has begun a technology
refresh project that began in the 2011-2012 school year and continues to go on
(http://www1.pgcps.org/title1/index.aspx?id=190752). During this refresh, teachers and
administrative staff are provided with new laptops (Macbooks or Dells), and computer lab desktops
upgraded. Some schools within in the county are at different levels of technology integration based
on the technology devices theyre school has and funding for new technology (Prince Georges
County Public Schools, 2014). Schools in the county are being provided interactive whiteboards that
range from Promethean Boards to SMART Boards. Some of the Promethean Boards are being
phased out throughout the county and replaced with SMART Boards.
The Problems
The county recently held a mandatory professional development training to help familiarize
teachers with how to use technology to meet Common Core State Standards. A survey was displayed
that discussed how teachers are reluctant to incorporate various forms of technology within their
curriculum because they do not know how to use the technology. Almost all schools in the county
have SMART Boards and some of these interactive whiteboards are being used as overhead
projectors or not at all. Throughout the year, the technology department for the county is able to
perform on site trainings for schools that desire to learn about the SMART Board and SMART
Notebook lesson software. Unfortunately, due to the large size of our county some schools may not
be able to receive a training if there is limited technology staff. Furthermore, teachers are not aware
of trainings provided by the technology department on SMART Boards because they are not widely
advertised or promoted. A survey conducted indicated that teachers lack knowledge, training, or are
not comfortable with using the SMART Boards for instructional purposes.

The Needs
I constructed a brief survey that required five colleagues to answer questions pertaining to
technology use in their classroom/school (https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GSWKQWX). Once, I
K i t c h e n s | 4
received feedback from all of my colleagues, I found that most of these teachers had the same
concerns. The survey showed that the teachers are only somewhat comfortable with using
technology in the classroom and feel that there is a lack of knowledge and training related to the
various technologies within their school building. Furthermore, 60% of the teachers that took the
survey noted that their low comfortable levels with using their SMART Boards have made them opt
to use the whiteboard as an overhead projector or not at all. A common thread seen in the survey was
that teachers did not feel they had proper training, if any, on how to incorporate SMART Boards into
their curriculum.
The survey indicated that 40% of teachers are somewhat comfortable with using technology,
40% are not comfortable, and 20% are very comfortable with using technology in the classroom.
Also, the survey showed that the reasons for teachers not utilizing the technology in their classroom
was 50% have little no training, 20% lack interest in using the technology, and 30% have little
knowledge about incorporating technology into their curriculum. These numbers prove that there is a
major need for training on incorporating technology into instruction. Furthermore, trainings need to
be engaging to increase teachers interest in using the technology within their classroom. Since, most
classrooms and schools are supplied with SMART Boards; this is a technology that can be focused
on. Teachers have already been noted saying that they do not know how to create lessons for their
SMART Boards or even use them, so a training for the county on SMART Boards is needed to help
teachers being utilizing the benefits of their SMART Boards.
The needs of PGCPS in regards to SMART Boards are that teachers are not properly trained
to use SMART Boards for instructional purposes. Teachers are not aware of the software license for
SMART Notebook that the county has bought or do not know how to use the software to create
lessons. SMART Board training is only provided sporadically throughout the year and by request
from schools administration. There is no ongoing support for incorporating SMART Notebook
lessons or the effectiveness of lessons that teachers are using in their classrooms. The development
of the District Technology Training Plan will address these problems and needs.

The Audience
The audience for this training will consist of classroom based teachers across the county. This
includes any teacher that works inside the classroom with students at any given point. In PGCPS, the
teachers educational backgrounds range from having Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees.
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Over the past two years, the county has experienced an increase in retiring teachers and new
teachers. Although, there has been no survey to assess the recent increase in teachers retiring more
over the past two years, a common theme that is being seen across the county is these teachers do not
understand how to incorporate all the new technology into curriculum and feel overwhelmed with
meeting the demand of using technology in the classroom. Although, the training is geared towards
classroom based teachers, principals and other administrators are encouraged to attend the training to
see what the SMART Board and SMART Notebook lessons entail and how they can assess their
staffs effectiveness with using SMART Boards for meeting instructional goals and state standards.
The Goals/Objectives
o Teachers will learn the basics of SMART Notebook lesson software to create lessons for the
SMART Board.
o Teachers will learn how to present a SMART Notebook lesson.
o Teachers will learn how to create a SMART Notebook lesson.
o Teachers will learn how to share a SMART Notebook lesson with the rest of the district.
o Teachers will be able to create SMART Notebook lessons in different content areas.

Content
Title Target Audience Description
SMART Notebook Lesson
Basics Elementary K-5
K-5
th

Teachers
The K-5
th
grade teachers will learn information
about SMART Notebook Lessons and allow
teachers to familiarize themselves with SMART
Notebook software and hardware.
SMART Notebook
Lessons Elementary Math
K-2
K-2
nd

Teachers
The K-2
nd
grade teachers will learn to create
their own SMART Notebook lessons for Math.
SMART Notebook
Lessons Elementary
Reading/Language Arts
(RELA)K-2
K-2
nd

Teachers
The K-2
nd
their own SMART Notebook lessons for
Reading/Language Arts.
Elementary Math 3-5
3
rd
-5
th

Math Teachers
The 3
rd
-5
th
grade Math teachers will learn to
create their own SMART Notebook lessons for
Math.
Elementary
3
rd
-5
th

Reading/Language
Arts Teachers
The 3
rd
-5
th
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(RELA) 3-5
Elementary Related Arts
K-5
th

Specialists
Teachers will learn to create their own SMART
Notebook lessons for their content area.
Basics Middle School
6
th
-8
th

Teachers
The 6
th
-8
th
grade teachers will learn information
about SMART Notebook Lessons and allow
teachers to familiarize themselves with SMART
Notebook software and hardware.
SMART Notebook
Lessons Middle School
6
th
-8
th

Reading/Language
Arts Teachers
The 6
th
-8
th
their own SMART Notebook lessons for
SMART Notebook
Lessons Middle School
Math
6
th
-8
th

Math Teachers
The 6
th
-8
th
Math.
Middle School Science
6
th
-8
th

Science Teachers
The 6
th
-8
th
grade Science teachers will learn to
Science.
Middle School Related
Arts
6
th
-8
th

Social Studies
Teachers
The 6
th
-8
th
grade Social Studies teachers will
learn to create their own SMART Notebook
lessons for Social Studies.
Basics High School
9
th
-12
th

Teachers
The 9
th
-12
th
grade teachers will learn
information about SMART Notebook Lessons
and allow teachers to familiarize themselves
with SMART Notebook software and hardware.
SMART Notebook
Lessons High School
9
th
-12
th

Reading/Language
Arts Teachers
The 9
th
-12
th
grade RELA teachers will learn to
SMART Notebook
Lessons High School Math
9
th
-12
th

Math Teachers
The 9
th
-12
th
Math.
High School Science
9
th
-12
th

Science Teachers
The 9
th
-12
th
grade Science teachers will learn to
Science.
High School Social Studies
9
th
-12
th

Social Studies
Teachers
The 9
th
-12
th
grade Social Studies teachers will
learn to create their own SMART Notebook
lessons for Social Studies.
High School Specialists
9
th
-12
th

Specialists
Specialists (music, art, P.E., etc.) will create
SMART Notebook lessons related to their
content areas.

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Instructional Strategies
The main objective of the training is for teachers to familiarize and become confident with using
SMART Notebook software and hardware to create SMART lessons for instruction. In order to
reach this objective, I will have teachers engage in hands on lessons and activities. Each teacher
attending the training will go to a session that teaches them the basics of SMART Notebook lessons
are and how to present these lessons. I will teach material through lecture and incorporate having
teachers come up and demonstrate tasks and what Ive taught during the lessons. Teachers will
evaluate some SMART Notebook lessons that they find in the online database to assess their
effectiveness for teaching (the lesson can be effective or ineffective). The evaluation of lessons will
provide teachers the opportunity to determine which lessons theyve found are effective for meeting
Common Core State Standards and curriculum objectives and can be used for instruction.
Teachers will attend a content area training where they will create their own SMART Notebook
lessons in small groups. Incorporating a hands on method of teaching will help teachers become
comfortable with using the SMART Board and SMART Notebook software to create lessons for
different purposes. Teachers will be more likely to retain the knowledge they gain from this training
by being able to physically interact with what they are learning.

Lesson Plans for Five Day Workshop
Day 1-SMART Notebook Lesson and Hardware Basics AM Session-K-2
nd

Subject: SMART Notebook Lesson and Hardware Basics
Prerequisite: Basic Computer Skills
Content:
This lesson will introduce staff to set up procedures, hardware components, and how to use and
operate the interactive whiteboard. Installation and features of the Notebook software will be
introduced with emphasis on the on-line available resources.
Objectives:
-Teachers will be aware of a SMART Notebook Lesson and learn how to locate the online database.
-Teachers will assess previously created SMART Notebook Lessons for effectiveness and meeting
state standards.
-Teachers will learn the basics of how to create a SMART Notebook lesson.
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-Teachers will learn about the hardware of the SMART Board.
How will you teach the lesson?
Teachers will be engaged with the instructors throughout the lesson. During the lesson, I will model
how to locate the database in Notebook and how to open previously made lessons on the Promethean
Planet website. There will be a brief lecture on how to evaluate this type of lesson and then the
teachers will use a guide sheet to evaluate several lessons in small groups. There will be a brief
demonstration of how to create a SMART Notebook lesson and teachers from the audience will be
called to the front to help.
Additional Materials:
SMART Board
LCD Projector
Laptop-Use of SMART Notebook software and internet access
Microphone-for presenter
Evaluation Guide Sheet
Evaluation Strategies
1. During group work, the instructor will walk from group to group and observe and listen.
2. Evaluation sheets will be compared to completed lessons.
3. Teachers will also complete an exit slip stating the top two most important things they learned
from the days lesson.

Day 1 -Notebook Lesson PM Session: K-2
nd
Subject: SMART Notebook Content Lessons
Prerequisite: Basic Computer Skills, SMART Notebook Lesson Basics
Content:
Teachers will gain practice creating a SMART Board with their small groups and evaluate another
groups lesson.
Objectives:
-Teachers will learn how to create a new SMART Notebook lesson.
-Teachers will evaluate another groups lesson.
-Teachers will make adjustments to their lesson based on the evaluation.
-Teachers will learn how to submit their lessons to the online database.
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After my introduction , I will ask the teachers to break back into their small groups. Each group will
have no more than 4-5 members. Once the groups are established, each group will be given a topic
from their grade level curriculum and asked to create a lesson related to their topic. I will emphasize
that this is just practice with creating a lesson to test the skills theyve learned today. The groups will
be provided an hour and fifteen minutes to complete their lesson and once time is up, each group
will be assigned another groups lesson to evaluate. After the evaluations are complete, groups will
combine to share their feedback on each others lessons. If changes need to be made, groups will be
provided twenty minutes. Lastly, the teachers will learn how they can submit their lessons to the
online database.
SMART Boards one for each group to use during learning activities
LCD Projector-Used to display SMART lessons
Evaluation Guide Sheet- each participant will fill out and provide feedback on the days lesson

Day 1-SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session Math K-2
nd

Content:
Teachers will work in small groups by grade level to create a new SMART Notebook lesson for their
content area.
Objectives:
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-Teachers will submit their lessons to the online database.
online database.

Day 2-SMART Notebook Lesson AM Session 3
rd
-5
th
Basics
Subject: SMART Notebook Lesson Basics
Content:
Objectives:
state standards.
online database.
Additional Materials

Day 2-SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session 3
rd
-5
th
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

rd
-5
th
Math
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day 2-SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session Elementary Specialists
Content:
Teachers will work in small groups by to create a new SMART Notebook lesson for their content
area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day 3-SMART Notebook Lesson AM Session Basics Middle School
Content:
Objectives:
state standards.
online database.

Day 3-SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session Middle School Reading/Language Arts
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.


Day 3-SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session Middle School Math
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day 3-SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session Middle School Science
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day-3 SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session Middle School Social Studies
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day-3 SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session Middle School Specialists
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day-4 SMART Notebook Lesson AM Session 9
th
-12
th
Basics
Content:
Objectives:
state standards.
online database.
Additional Materials you will use and how you will use them.
from the days lesson about the session.

Day-4 SMART Notebook Lessons PM Session 9
th
-12
th
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day-4 SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session 9
th
-12
th
Math
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.

Day-4 SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session 9
th
-12
th
Science
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
online database.
Additional Materials you will use and how you will use them.

Day-4 SMART Notebook Lesson PM 9
th
12
th
Social Studies
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
After my introduction, I will ask the teachers to break back into their small groups. Each group will
online database.

th
-12
th
Specialists
Content:
content area.
Objectives:
The teachers will be in small groups by grade level, no more than 3-4 per group. They will be given
a lesson topic from the curriculum and create their own lesson. After one hour, they will exchange
lessons with another group and evaluate the other lesson. They will receive and give feedback and
then adjust the lesson they created. They will learn how to submit their lesson for addition to the
database.

Day 5-SMART Notebook Lesson PM Session K-12
th
Teachers
Content:
Teachers will use skills and knowledge of SMART Notebook to create a five day SMART lesson.
Objectives:
-Teachers will use the skills theyve acquired with creating SMART lessons.
-Teachers will construct a five day SMART lesson for a unit.
-Teachers will partner with another group and teach their lesson to that group.
-Teachers will provide feedback to a groups five day SMART lesson
The teachers will be work in the small groups theyve been in all week. They will work
together to select a unit of study in their content areas. I will explain to them that they will be using
the skills and knowledge theyve learned this week to create a five day lesson on a unit of study.
After one hour and fifteen minutes, each group will join with another. They will receive and give
feedback on each others lessons. They will learn how they submit their lesson for to the online
database.
1. The instructor will walk around to see who is using the different skills taught with SMART
Notebook to create the unit lessons.
3.Teachers will complete an evaluation of the training as a whole on the final day.

Materials
Daily Evaluation/Exit Ticket
Name:________________________________________________________________________
Name of Lesson: _______________________________________________________________
Date: ____________________________________________

1. What are the two important things you learned about the SMART Board today?

2. What are some of the features you used while creating your SMART lesson today?

3. What were some of the difficulties you had while creating your lesson? How did your group solve
these difficulties?

4. How confident are you that you will use todays lesson in your classroom? If youre not very
confident that you will, please explain.

5. Do you have any other feedback or suggestions you would like to give the instructor about todays
training?

Field Test
I will conduct a field test for the training at a school that has been identified as having
SMART Boards that are not used and majority of the teachers have no training. The level of
knowledge the teachers at this school have will vary which will provide me the opportunity of
testing the training to teachers with different levels of understanding SMART Notebook lessons. The
field test will be conducted in one day, and consist of teaching the SMART Notebook basics and
creating a lesson for a specific grade level or content area (depending on whether there is
departmentalization in the school). The teachers will be broken into small groups based on grade
level or content area after learning the basics of the SMART Notebook software to use their new
knowledge and skills to create a SMART lesson. Participants in the field test will provide feedback
on the instructional strategies they found most effective and the ones they found ineffective. I will
use the feedback to make proper adjustments to my lessons before doing the actual training.

Revision
The feedback I receive from the teachers that were part of the field test will help me address
where I need to make changes. I will use the feedback and suggestions the teachers provide about
each of the lessons to make revisions to the method of my training. Furthermore, I will use my
informal observations of whether teachers are able to create SMART lessons on their own after my
lessons or did they struggle and require a lot of assistance? This type of information will help me
decide whether I need to lengthen or change the format of my lesson to meet the goal of teachers
knowing how to create their own SMART lessons. Also, the feedback I receive and observations
will help me with knowing whether I will need support staff, more resources, or extend the period of
time the teachers work in small groups.

Evaluations
Over the course of the weeks training, teachers were required to fill out evaluation/exit
tickets before leaving the training. I will compile the feedback provided on these evaluations and
make a chart of the common threads seen in the teachers responses. I will use this chart to gather
data and assess how effective the training was in reaching my objectives. Also, on the last day of the
workshop, teachers will be given a survey to assess the effectiveness of the overall training. The
survey will be aimed at having teachers identify which parts of the lessons were most effective for
them and the probability of them creating more lessons throughout the school year to reach Common
Core State Standards and learning objectives for students.

Budget
Item Price Cost
Instructor $40 x 25 hours $1,000.00
Teacher Stipend $150 x 3,000 $450,000.00
Venue Henry G. Wise HS-Included $0.00
Equipment (SMART Board,
laptops, LCD projectors, etc.)
Provided by county $0.00
Interpreter for hearing
impaired
$30 x 25 hours $750.00
Total Cost $452,750.00

Follow Up
Once the training is completed, I will send out a survey to the technology chairpersons in
each school to assess whether they have observed teachers/other staff that attended the workshop
utilizing their new knowledge on SMART lessons in the classrooms. Also, the survey will ask the
technology chairs what strengths and weaknesses they are witnessing amongst the staff when using
the SMART boards for instruction. Another survey will be sent to the teachers that attended the
training to collect additional feedback on how effective their SMART board lessons have been and if
the training helped them reach their instructional goals with using their SMART Boards. The data
received from these surveys will be shared across the county to show the impact the training had on
teachers using their SMART Boards.

Resources
Kitchens, A. (2014). Technology Concerns Survey. Retrieved from
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GSWKQWX
Prince Georges County Public Schools. (2014). Fast Facts and Figures. Retrieved from
http://www1.pgcps.org/aboutpgcps/index.aspx?id=171727
Prince Georges County Public Schools. (2014). Title I Technology. Retrieved from
http://www1.pgcps.org/title1/index.aspx?id=190752

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