Berks Schools Embrace “Classrooms for the Future”High-tech teaching tools engage students in their lessons

February 19, 2009

Ready or not, the classrooms for the future are ontheir way.

Berks County school districts are ready. Very ready.

Classrooms for the Future (CFF) is one of severalinitiatives created by the Rendell administration toensure that Pennsylvania’s high school graduates are, asthe CFF Web site says, “ready for college and careers inthe global economy, [and]… highly skilled and betterprepared than ever before.”

Part of the Common-wealth’s $491 million 2008-09education budget, CFF“changes the way teachers teachand students learn inPennsylvania by putting laptopson student desks in core classesand providing teachers withintensive training so that theycan effectively use the power ofthe Internet to engage theTechnology Generation andmake learning come alive,” theCFF Web site states.

School districts may applyfor CFF grants to help pay forthe new technology – laptopsand computer-driven, Internet-connected whiteboards – and15 of Berks County’s 18 publicschool districts have done soover the past three years. A total of $4,377,905 in grant monies has gone to equiptheir English, math, science, and social studies classrooms(the “core classes” mentioned above).

Coaches Help Teachers Learn the Technology

In addition, every year it applies for and wins a grant,a district receives a $30,000 stipend to hire a half-timetechnology coach to help train teachers on how to inte-grate CFF into their classroom curricula.

The CFF coaches go through an intensive four-and-a-half-day training on 21st century teaching and learningstrategies. Coaches also attend at least 12 additional daysof professional development during the school year,which are a blend of virtual and face-to-face trainings ona variety of technology and instructional topics.

The BCIU’s Dr. Robert Lipton, technical trainingprojects manager, Educational Technology Services, acts

as a mentor (more specifically, the Technology IntegrationMentor or TIM), to the districts’ CFF coaches.

“I support the coaches as they help teachers bring thenew technology into their classrooms,” Dr. Lipton said.

Dr. Lipton’s assistance includes ensuring that schoolsfollow CFF regulations as they deliver the technology andlessons to their students, coordinating the delivery of CFF

Teacher Ann Schmidt and students in her United States history class at Conrad Weiser High School uselaptop computers to contribute to a wiki (a user-edited collection of information) about immigrationand the U.S. citizenship exam.

February 19, 2009

services from approved vendors, and coordinating the set upof training sessions for the coaches, such as the required pro-fessional development days mentioned above.

In fact, the BCIU will be hosting a CFF TeacherCollaboration Day on April 14, during which teachers andCFF coaches from several school districts will come to River’sChase for a day of professional development. “We’ll share ourbest practices with each other,” Dr. Lipton said. “It will begreat to get everyone together to learn and network.”

Enthusiastic Coaches Are Essential

“The CFF coach is the key to the success of the pro-gram,” said Steve Corcoran, director of technology for theTulpehocken Area School District.

Indeed. Cathi Witmer, the CFF coach for Conrad WeiserHigh School, is a true believer in the power of technology totransform education. A business teacher for 12 years prior totaking on her new duties, Witmer said she’s already seenteachers’ interest and excitement in the new technology grow.Student engagement in the classroom also has increased, sheadded.

“It’s certainly helped students connect their educationwith their everyday lives,” she said.

The CFF program initially focuses on learning the neweducational technology as teachers and students alikebecome familiar with the new tools. In a few months, oncethe novelty is gone, CFF technology becomes a familiar toolas teachers integrate the technology into the curricula. Forexample, science students could go through an interactivelesson plan in which they are astronauts on a NASA missionanalyzing jet propulsion forces and cargo load requirementsto outmaneuver a meteorite.

Another Tool in a Teacher’s Toolkit

“I’ve been teaching long enough to know this is justanother tool,” said Peggy Manbeck, a Conrad Weiser scienceteacher who has been in the classroom for 30 years and whostarted teaching with CFF technology in the spring of 2008.“However, since students today are so comfortable with thistechnology – computers and the Internet are a huge part oftheir day-to-day lives – they’ll retain what they learn moreeasily. They’ll be more engaged in the classroom, and themore I can engage them, the more they’ll learn.”

The Pennsylvania Department of Education conducts whatit calls a Pennsylvania Technology Inventory (PATI) each yearto see what kinds of changes have come about as a result oftechnology. The PATI also explores educators’ views on theimpact of technology on student achievement.

According to PDE’s Web site, the PATI inventory for the2006-07 school year (the first year CFF grants were availableto the state’s school districts) found that “administratorsresponded overwhelming[ly] that technology is having a posi-tive impact on student achievement in the areas of readingand literacy (83 percent) and mathematics (also 83 percent).Lower positive response rates were provided for science (49percent) and social studies (41 percent).”

“Our high school students are poised to enter the globalmarketplace or to continue their education beyond K-12,”said Dave Schmaldienst, a second-year CFF coach with theOley Valley School District. “It is our obligation and duty toprepare our students for competition in an ever-flatteningworld. I believe that the CFF program has helped level thatplaying field.”

For more information on the BCIU’s participation inClassrooms for the Future, contact Dr. Robert Lipton at 610-987-8481 or at roblip@berksiu.org.

CFF Coach Cathi Witmer, left, and Sandy Grajewski, teacher, work with9th-grade students in a science class at Conrad Weiser High School.Laptops and high-speed access to the Internet enable the students to useimages and data from satellites to augment their study of planet Earth.