Fairfield schools noted for computer use in classrooms

Seven staff members from the Fairfield school district led seminars for other educators at the Iowa Technology Education Connection Conference in Des Moines in October.

?Not only did we have seven people presenting, but staff from other districts wanted to attend our presentations,? Tina Breen, district technology specialist, told the school board Monday.

Fairfield Community School District carries a good reputation for integrating technology into curriculum, she said.

State educational standards, the Iowa Core, includes 21st Century Skills, which address preparing students while in school and to equip them for life and careers beyond school. The 21st Century Skills are geared toward learning and innovation, communication, information and technology; and life and career skills.

Technology education has shifted from just teaching how to use computers to using computers across many subjects to enhance student engagement, to provide experience in using technology and to prepare students to advance and keep current with technological changes.

Breen gave a view of elementary students? work with technology. Fairfield staff create class web pages and blogs, and students from kindergarten and up have created student blogs, where students write about something of interest about their day or classroom learning. Students can read one another?s blogs and leave comments, creating dialogs.

Breen also showed two more programs used at the elementary schools, VoiceThread, where a teacher can post directions and students use those directions to create a slide show for an assignment; and GlogsterEdu where students have created electronic posters.

An electronic poster can incorporate images, text, audio and video. The GlogsterEdu example shared with the school board Monday was a report worked on by a few students together about polar bears. It included photos of polar bears, some text and a video with students talking about polar bears.

Students love working with technology and getting to blog or be on camera and posted to the web, said Breen.

All school districts in Iowa are working to incorporate technology into their curriculums.

?Fairfield was well-represented at the technology conference,? said Breen, ?and it was a good chance to share the good things going on in our district.?

Fairfield staff that presented at the conference were:

? Tricia Slechta ? ?Web 2.0 Tools for the 21st Century Learner.?

? John Grunwald and Brandi Strickler ? ?Communicating with Parents in the 21st Century.? They shared how Facebook, blogging, Skype, and Sites are being used in the district to help meet parents? needs easily and efficiently.

? Shelley Carter, Brianna Thornton and Breen ? ?Communicate, Collaborate and Celebrate!? The staff showed technology used in the elementary.

? Tyler Miklo and Slechta ? ?Disengaged Students? How to Engage Students using Project Based Tools.?

District curriculum director Marci Dunlap talked at Monday?s school board meeting about integration of technology at Fairfield Middle School.

The 21st Century Skills requires schools to integrate technology into all subjects, she said.

?It?s about letting kids use the technology ? that?s their world,? said Dunlap. ?We cut a computer class for the budget last year. But we knew we?d be having technology incorporated across the curriculum.?

Dunlap said she kept teachers in mind as she wrote curriculum for use in the district that meets state requirements.

?If it doesn?t work for teachers, if they?re not using it [curriculum], it doesn?t matter how it?s written,? she said. ?I created click-on rubrics for benchmarks where teachers can evaluate students? work in the subject content, such as math or geography, as well as evaluate the use of technology. So teachers have a written curriculum with rubrics. Over the next years, I?ll make sure the curriculum is progressive, that it flows and grows at each level.?

In other district news:

? Fairfield High School Principal Aaron Becker said the first day of parent-teacher conferences has been adjusted to accommodate District 5 basketball. School will dismiss at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 21 and conferences will be 3-6:30 p.m. in individual classrooms instead of the Commons.

The regular parent-teacher conference schedule, 5-8 p.m. Feb. 23 will be in the Commons.

? Superintendent Art Sathoff met with career technology district staff to discuss the possibility of a regional Career Academy. To keep it focused on local needs and keep costs low, the strands Fairfield is considering are: business; business finance; health occupations; and industrial maintenance. Another meeting with superintendents from neighboring interested districts is Jan. 26.

? Sathoff plans to bring a recommendation in February to the board about the district establishing its own Christamore or KeBecca program.

? Sathoff will take part in a leaders? conference in Des Moines Jan. 29-30. Gov. Terry Bransted will address the conference about his recently introduced blueprint for education.

? FMS Associate Principal Matt Jones was appointed acting middle school principal and teacher Derek Philips, dean of students, for Principal Laura Atwood?s upcoming maternity leave.

? Becky Granneman and Lisa Greenig were hired as high school softball assistant co-coaches; Chris Lee was hired for strength coach/weight room supervisor for the spring season. He held this position in the fall.