Jean Pesce EDET 650, Fall 2013 Internship Proposal Schofield Middle School New Staff Orientation Program

m August 27, 2013 After working on various projects in educational technology, many interesting applications have come to mind for my teaching environment. Using the skills I have learned, I plan to create an orientation program for new teachers as we have had a large turn-over in the past three years. The Aiken County Public School District provides a general orientation and a district-assigned mentor for new employees but this lacks the detailed information and relationship necessary for operating efficiently within each school. After experiencing the situation first-hand, sympathetic colleagues offer helpful tidbits to these rookies who may very well be seasoned professionals but that information is: not comprehensive; not able to be easily referenced; and not always available in a timely manner. An orientation program that is available on the school website for new staff members would address these issues at the convenience of the viewer. My vision for the Orientation Program is a centralized repository for resources and historical background of Schofield Middle School. Access would be available for all staff but particularly useful to newcomers. An audio-video walk through of the school building and grounds would be accompanied with historical information and friendly suggested. Explanations and diagrams of how common areas like the Library/Media Center are organized and the procedures for use by individual teachers or classes would be invaluable for long-range lesson plans. Although education is going digital, many schools like ours still operate in paper which is why providing video demonstrations on the use of all current copy machines and where the needed supplies are stored is a compassionate gesture to include. Sure to be appreciated are electronic documents of the complicated scheduling and limited availability at various times and to specific populations of electronic equipment contained in three rooms, and on six or more carts. Since the technology has arrived at various times and rates, the most difficult part of this task will be consolidating all the information for the first time for teachers although this is surely available through some records in the school. Besides the physical operations at Schofield, basic information would be useful to a new teacher. For instance, they will be required to follow all policies and procedures in place. These documents are provided naturally through the school and district but are usually not consolidated in one source which is always accessible for reference. Therefore, either an electronic collection of copied documents or a list linked to the originals would be a convenient tool to use in school or from elsewhere. Other information that would be useful would be informal backgrounds on personnel and the local community for coordinating teaching or just social connections. The technology in my school is directed under several staff members. This includes Mike House, Technology Specialist for my school, and Terri Booth, Lead Web Administrator for the district. In my building, Steve Smith is the Media Specialist and Tray Nelson, the webmaster. These are the experts who could oversee my work on the Schofield Middle School New Staff Orientation Program as I perfect my skills in educational technology.