Project Five

Jon Wilson

November 21, 2016

Introduction

This semester has provided many challenges in learning how to develop a

professional development opportunity and writing a supporting grant to coincide with its

funding and implementation. As the course progressed, numerous assignments and

components were completed which aided in the process of designing our grants and helping

iron out the ideas for professional development. While no easy task, the different

components of this course were successful in helping develop an understanding of how the

grant writing process works as well as teaching necessary lessons in managing time, money,

leadership, and resources. As the semester progressed, we learned the significance of all of

these components in a professional development setting and how they work together to

help educators learn how to incorporate technology into their classrooms. The goal of

creating technology-rich schools and learning environments was fostered through the

activity components of this course and brought about a new wave of change to the local

school systems.

Summary

The need that I identified for my professional development concentrated on middle

school social studies classes in the Clarke County School District. These classrooms typically

underperformed in comparison to the rest of the state of Georgia in the College and Career

Readiness Performance Index (CCRPI) and are in desperate need of help in a socio-

economically challenging environment. In order to help these classes, I decided to focus my

professional development program in educating Clarke County teachers in a Bring Your

Own Device (BYOD) pedagogy to help engage their students with technology that they

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already have access to and an interest in. BYOD has been successfully implemented in

Newton County, the district in which I am employed, and has had great results. Because of

this, the Newton County instructional technology team was utilized in the development of

this project. All of this was done in an effort to help Clarke County middle school social

studies teachers reach their students, develop new teaching methods, and create a more

technologically diverse learning environment to aid teachers in meeting the needs of their

students.

The experience gained from this professional development opportunity has allowed

for me to see the workings of a school system and teacher development in a new way.

There are many needs that each school system can address through a number of different

means. Through this course, I learned the importance of identifying a need, choosing how

to best address it, and develop an infrastructure for a learning opportunity around the

situation. In developing the infrastructure, there were many issues that needed to be

solved, such as when and where the professional development would take place, how the

information would be disseminated, how the presenters and aides would be compensated,

and how follow-up sessions would be structured. It was a very eye-opening experience that

has crafted new leadership qualities for many in the class.

Reflections on Challenges

Creating a professional development presented many challenges that I had never

faced before. As Skophammer and Reed (2014) found in their research, many teachers

coming through educator pre-service programs did not receive adequate instructional

technology training as part of their courses. With this in mind, I realized that this meant

developing a learning opportunity for teachers that both educate them with the use of

various forms of technology in their classrooms as well as help them engage their students

in a difficult learning environment. Clarke County is a Title I school district, with over 90%

of Burney-Harris Lyons Middle Schools students qualifying for free or reduced lunch. This

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demonstrated a need for some sort of intervention involving technology, which BYOD

seemed perfect for.

Creating realistic goals and objectives also proved a challenge after a demonstrated

need, such as BYOD in middle school social studies classroom was identified. Deciding the

proper goals and the steps to reach them took time to develop as the exact needs and

starting points had to be assessed. Once it was determined that the teachers in the

demographic had little to no experience with BYOD pedagogy, the goals and objectives

reflected educating teachers with very limited knowledge of the subject. Shaping the

objectives to properly meet the goals took time and consideration as everything had to be

realistic and fit into the timetable proposed by the grant. Details could not be skipped

otherwise the participants would not gain a grasp on BYOD, but too much time could not be

taken or the professional development would not be done by the March end of the grant.

Finally, developing the experience of the professional development posed a major

challenge as so much information and experiences had to be built in but there was only a

small amount of actual face-to-face meeting available. The participating teachers had so

many needs that had to be addressed, it was critical to maximize every moment and not

waste any time. Teachers had to learn what BYOD is, how to manage their classroom using

BYOD, and the numerous resources and devices available as well as how to use the devices

and resources. All of the introductory and installment portions had to be done over the

course of five days in the summer while follow-up sessions during the school year needed to

focus on refining and reviewing participants actual implementation in their classrooms. With

so much that had to be done in such a short amount of time, I had to look at the times and

schedules and decide how to prioritize the subjects and make sure everyone got time

learning from the Newton tech team as well as having hands-on time with the materials and

resources. This was perhaps the most challenging portion of the project as needs and time

had to be analyzed for importance and maximization.

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 Reflections on Lessons Learned

Writing this grant proposal taught me many lessons regarding the evaluation of the

program and experience of a professional development. Opportunities such as these always

bring unexpected observations or results that otherwise would not have been discovered,

even if they were not the main focus of the study or professional development. Donovan,

Green, and Hartley (2010) aimed their study at finding if the use of laptops increased

student engagement, but along the way discovered that classroom management plans and

expectations needed to be heavily developed before the intended measure of their study

could be identified. When this professional development was first being designed, the

original intent of the program was to just bring new resources to teachers and demonstrate

how to best use them. As the program was developed, it became apparent that the teachers

involved needed more than just resources, but rather how to operate the devices, manage a

classroom, and learn what exactly a BYOD pedagogy entails.

In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the program, I had to take principles

learned throughout the course and apply it to the professional development. Through the

discussion posts as well as direct communication and advisement online session, the

evaluation of the program was shaped into its current format. Surveys were formed from

suggestions in discussion posts and the online meeting sessions which were designed to

gauge the effectiveness of the five summer workshop sessions as well as interview

questions to be conducted after in class observations. The effectiveness of the program is to

be gauged against teachers responses measuring their comfort level and perceived success

learning BYOD as well as in class observations conducted throughout the school year which

look to find the effectiveness of teachers using BYOD.

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 Reflections on the Value of Managing Resources

Resources are always at a premium when budgeting money for any type of program,

especially when government funds are involved. When the resources involved center around

technology and numerous types of devices, the emphasis on managing those resource come

at a premium. Reinhart, Thomas, and Toriskie (2011) found in their study that funds are

incredibly important to education as students who had more expendable money available to

them and had electronic devices were more likely to use them to engage in educational

purposes. With this in mind, it was important to build this professional development in a

manner that maximized its resources and the impact it could have on the educational

environment.

It was incredibly important to learn how to budget monetary resources, people, and

equipment as the grant needed precise totals on everything from personnel to boxed

lunches for staff so that everything can be accounted for in the budget. With a fixed limit in

mind for expenditures, it was important that everything be concise and properly labeled in

the budget summary. Personnel was the first decision that had to be made as the amount of

people involved, their roles, schedule, and amount they would be paid all had to be

factored. With such an extensive professional development task in place, it was important to

assign everyone a specific role within the scope of the project to make sure the limited

personnel were maximized. The roles which each person served also directly impacted their

pay and availability within the project. With a set budget amount, managing personnel

proved to be a challenge.

As far as balancing equipment resources, this proved to be one of the easier aspects.

With Clarke County providing the electronic resources for their teachers to utilize, there was

no need to budget or manage these particular assets. This brought value to the educational

experience of the course as it taught me how to use resources that are already available,

which saves money, rather than spending unnecessary money on outside equipment. I also

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learned that by allowing the participating teachers to use Clarke County resources, they

would be trained on the exact same devices they would be utilizing in their classrooms. This

allows for a familiarization to occur which will translate to a smoother implantation into the

classroom. This portion taught me a lot about the importance of utilizing and maximizing

the resources that are already available in order to help the participants as well as limiting

costs.

By managing people and resources, I was also managing money, which was difficult

at times. Everything needed to be precise in the budget summary and no detail was too

small. Every aspect of the project has a price tag associated with it, which means each

component pushed the budget a little closer to its maximum allowance. By learning to

manage other resources, the ability to manage money was also developed. Once I began

seeing the price tag associated with each aspect of the project, I was able to refine the

professional development in order to make it fit within the scope of the necessary budget

and maximize each portion. The value of managing monetary resources is a skill that

translates into nearly all aspects of life in and out of the classroom. It is particularly

important within the classroom and school setting as administrations and faculties push to

develop technology rich schools. Small budget schools can become technology rich through

effective use of their monetary resources as long as they budget and plan correctly. Since I

work in a setting which has to pinch pennies, this lesson was of great value.

Reflection on the Value of Leadership

In order to assume more leadership roles over the course of career and advance in

education, one must understand how to manage different situations, people, time, and

money. In the case of this professional development, a leadership position arose that met at

the intersection of technology and instruction. In this grant writing, I had to serve as the

leader in the development of an instructional technology professional development while

also leading in instructional practices for the social studies content area. While the two are

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intertwined together, they do serve different components of the classroom. The technology

portion is an area where many teachers struggle, as their training in college lacked an

emphasis on using digital resources in the classroom. As Hughes (2013) found, teachers

who were exposed to technology in their pre-service programs were much more likely to

successfully incorporate it in various ways into their curriculum. Assuming a leadership role

in educating teachers about BYOD and how to use technology is no feat to be taken lightly

as educational careers could be at stake. In assuming this leadership role and developing

this professional development, it puts ones career path on a trajectory for greater

leadership positions within the home school or district as many school systems hunt for

people who are capable of leading change to a technology-rich environment. Leading the

development from an instructional aspect was not as difficult as the teachers associated

with the project were all professionals in their fields and know the content as well as

anyone. This allowed for more time to be focused on resources rather than content and

leadership to be focused on areas of need. The teachers did not need a content leader, but

rather a technology leader in the program.

Leading and managing this professional development grant had a unique set of

challenges unlike any other task I had ever undertaken. It taught the value of having strong

leadership at the top to help teachers who wanted aid in the continued development of their

careers and students. Additionally, the management of such a large undertaking required a

clear and thorough plan that needed to be mapped out from the beginning and followed

carefully to ensure that all of the goals and objectives were achieved and participants came

away with a clear understanding of BYOD, how to implement and manage it in their

classrooms, and the numerous resources that are available to them. I learned that

managing means delegating tasks, such as allowing other members of the project to

assume leadership roles within their area of the grant to maximize the efficiency of the time

and resources. This is a key concept to understand in order to advance a career in an

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upward trajectory. Delegating powers to those around you allows for others to take

responsibility and pride in the activity and allows the overall leader to focus on the bigger

picture and goals. Like in a school, the principal may delegate the power of testing to an

assistant principal so that he or she may concentrate on the school day and the day to day

management of the school building and learning environment. Learning this lesson was key

in the writing of the grant and creating of the professional development.

Conclusion

There have not been any assignments in my grad school career that have pushed me

as far as this grant writing proposal. It has stretched me to my absolute limits, but I feel as

though I am a better student and educator for it. I am better prepared to understand the

impact of technology in our schools as well as how to utilize the resources available to me to

their fullest extent. Entering into this course, I had absolutely no experience writing a grant

proposal or having to develop a grant budget with justifications. Now that the course is

nearing completion, I have a much better understanding of the expectations surrounding

grant writing as well as the significance it plays in the educational world.

If presented with this same task today after having completed the course, there are

some things that I would do differently. Primarily, I would try to incorporate other content

areas into the professional development rather than just social studies. While social studies

is an area of need for Clarke County middle schools, the other main content areas are

struggling as well with many of the same issues. Rather than just limiting the target

audience to social studies, other subjects could be incorporated as the Newton tech team is

comprised of educators from all contents. Additionally, I would provide more concrete

structure for help during the school year as teachers actively incorporate BYOD in their

classrooms. This could be done by inviting administration from the schools as well as the

Clarke County instructional technology team to the workshops. This would allow for them to

be up to date on the latest developments and BYOD systems.

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 As this course draws to a close, the information learned from the grant writing

process will definitely be used in the future as I look to help transform my school into a

technology-rich environment. There are many small grants available for teachers to apply

for which provide training and resources to local schools. Very few teachers know about

these grants or how to apply, so by using the lessons learned in this course I should have an

advantage in acquiring funds for my classroom and school. Additionally, this class and

project taught me how to maximize the resources that are already made available to me so

that any grants obtained can go towards assets that are not currently owned by the school.

It is important to maximize what we already have so that grant money and professional

development focus can be centered on true needs to help build the learning environment.

Overall, this project and course have served as an opportunity to learn about a

process and valuable skill that other classes do not offer. The ability to write an effective

grant proposal is something anyone involved in education should know and understand.

With instructional technology resources and practices at a premium, it is important that all

possible revenue streams for resources and professional development be explored. As

students become increasing dependent on their personal technology devices, teachers must

find a way to engage them using resources students are interested in and familiar with.

Writing an effective grant puts educators in a position to meet the needs of their students

while advancing their own careers and making themselves more useful to the school and

district.

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 References

Donovan, L., Green, T., & Hartley, K. (2010). An examination of one-to-one computing in

the middle school: Does increased access bring about increased student

engagement. J. Educational Computing Research 42 (4)

Hughes, J. E. (2013). Descriptive indicators of future teachers technology integration in the

pk-12 classroom: Trends from a laptop-infused teacher educator program. J.

Educational Computing Research, 48 (4), 491-516

Reinhardt, J. M., Thomas, E., & Toriskie, J. M. (2011). K-12 teachers: Technology use and

the second level digital divide. Journal of Instructional Technology, 38 (4), 181-193

Skophammer, R., & Reed, P. A. (2014). Technological literacy courses in pre-service teacher

education. The Journal of Technology Studies, 68-80

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