Local Demographics Community(s)/School

My critical issue is two-fold. One is to train the staff at my school in the use of technology so that they feel comfortable using it in day-today instruction. The second aspect of my issue will be furthered, in part by addressing the first, and that is to help the students at my school develop the necessary technology skills so that they can compete in today’s digital arena.

The Fond du Lac Ojibwe School is located on the Fond du Lac Reservation

…the Fond du Lac Reservation is located in Carlton and St. Louis counties adjacent to the City of Cloquet on the east, and 15 miles west of Duluth. The tribal headquarters is in Cloquet, Minnesota.

Cloquet MN DemographicsTotal Population 11,201

AGE

Number Pct

15 or younger 2,310 20.6

16-24 1,518 13.6

25-44 3,085 27.5

45-64 2,401 21.4

65+ 1,887 16.8

Male 5304 47.4

Female 5897 52.6

Average age (years) 38.42

Income and Education

Less than 9th grade: 5.70%9th-12th grade (nongrad): 10.80%High school graduate: 37%Some college: 24.70%Associate degree: 7.90%Bachelors degree: 9.40%Graduate/Professional: 4.60%High school or higher: 83.50%Bachelors or higher: 14%

Educational Achievement:(among people 25 years or older)

<$10,000  11%

$10,000-$14,999  7.9%

$15,000-$24,999  14.5%

$25,000-$34,999  12.5%

$35,000-$49,999  17%

$50,000-$74,999  21.6%

$75,000-$99,999  9.8%

$100,000-$149,999  5%

$150,000-$199,999  0.5%

$200,000+  0.2%

Unemployed  4.5%Below Poverty Line  9.1%Median Household Income: $38,134

Unemployment/Poverty

Household Income

Fond du Lac Reservation Demographics

Total Population 3728

SEX AND AGEMale........................................ 1926Female...................................... 1802Under 5 years ............................... 3 0 05 to 9 years ................................. 3 2 710 to 14 years ............................... 3 6 015 to 19 years ............................... 3 1 220 to 24 years ............................... 2 0 825 to 34 years ............................... 4 2 535 to 44 years ............................... 6 3 845 to 54 years ............................... 4 6 855 to 59 years ............................... 1 6 760 to 64 years ............................... 1 4 065 to 74 years ............................... 2 2 775 to 84 years ............................... 1 3 585 years and over............................ 2 1Median age (years)........................... 33.5

Income and EducationFamilies ................................ 1014 100.Less than $10,000............................ 6 8 6. 7$10,000 to $14,999........................... 7 0 6. 9$15,000 to $24,999........................... 1 2 2 12.$25,000 to $34,999........................... 1 2 0 1 1. 8

22.0 $35,000 to $49,999........................... 2 1 7 21.423.4 $50,000 to $74,999........................... 2 2 9 22.621.2 $75,000 to $99,999........................... 1 2 7 12.51 . 3 $100,000 to $149,999......................... 5 7 5. 6

$150,000 to $199,999......................... 4 0. 414.1 $200,000 or more ............................ -

Median family income (dollars)................. 43214 (X)

Per capita income (dollars) ................... 15551 (X)Median earnings (dollars):Male full-time, year-round workers.............. 34732 (X)

2 . 2 Female full-time, year-round workers ........... 24821 (X)

Number Percentbelow belowpoverty poverty

Subject level level

POVERTY STATUS IN 1999Families ................................ 1 1 6 1 1. 4

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTPopulation 25 years and over .......... 100.Less than 9th grade .......................... 1 1 69th to 12th grade, no diploma.................. 2 7 2High school graduate (includes equivalency)..... 8 8 2Some college, no degree...................... 5 8 3Associate degree............................. 1 8 1Bachelor’s degree ............................ 1 7 4Graduate or professional degree ............... 4 3

Percent high school graduate or higher ......... 82.8Percent bachelor’s degree or higher ............ 9 . 6

Demographics of Fond du Lac Ojibwe School

Grades Offered Grades KG - 12County Carlton County, MNTotal Students 229 students - 100% Native American% Male / % Female 53%  /  47%Students qualifying for free lunch 100%Students by Grade Kind - 22 students

Grade 1 - 22 studentsGrade 2 - 21 studentsGrade 3 - 13 studentsGrade 4 - 10 studentsGrade 5 - 9 studentsGrade 6 - 18 studentsGrade 7 - 13 studentsGrade 8 - 14 studentsGrade 9 - 18 studentsGrade 10 - 29 studentsGrade 11 - 19 studentsGrade 12 - 21 students

Fond Du Lac Ojibwe School

Total # of Teachers 313 Male / 29 Female# of Teachers with education above 4 years - 7Teachers by Grade Kind - 3 

Grade 1 - 2Grade 2 - 2Grade 3 - 2Grade 4 - 1Grade 5 - 2Grade 6 - 2Grade 7 thru 12 - 8Specialists - 3Special Ed. - 6

Teachers by Age Bracket 20-30 - 630-40 - 1440-50 - 450-60 - 6

Native American Teachers 6

It is interesting to note that while the SES demographics on the Fond du Lac Indian reservation and the city of Cloquet are similar in strata, those of the school are quite different. All of the students at the school all qualify for free lunches. It is important to note that a contributing factor to this statistic may be that not all of the students at the school live on the reservation. The school’s students come from as far away as fifty miles. Many of the school’s students live in the city of Duluth. Considering the SES status of these students, access outside of school to technology is an issue that must be considered.

A further comment of the demographics of the school’s students…

Regarding the interest of the staff in addressing the issue of integrating technology into the curriculum at the school—approximately 60 percent of the staff have been contacted in the last few days. When asked about the need for a training program, the majority agree that the need is there.

Total Number of Staff—61

…of that number 40 are directly involved with student

instruction…

Purpose (Technology Skill Training for Staff)

The purpose of the following study is to identify the technology training needs by the instructional staff at the Fond du Lac Ojibwe School with the aim of providing a multi-faceted set of pathways leading to the integration of technology into all aspects of content instruction. The means of identification used was a simple survey asking respondents to rate their technological proficiencies/abilities in using a variety of technological tools.

The Survey (adopted from Teacher Technology Survey

http://www.stmary.k12.la.us/technologysurvey2006-07.asp

I Need… I PercentMore time to learn to use software 100

More time to integrate technology into my curriculum 100

More training to use technology 100

More support from administration when it comes to my technology needs 100

More technical support to keep computers and software running 64

Access to more student computers 71More curriculum-based software 19

More reliable access to the internet for students 23

More opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on how to use technology in my discipline 100

Faster access to the internet 14

More interaction with my media specialist/instructional technology specialist for technology needs 92

Options for professional development in the areas of technology 100

Tools to help me stay current on new technological trends 71

More equipment to integrate technology in my classroom. 64

Help aligning the integration of technology with the implementation of state standards 94

Parents to support my efforts to integrate technology in the classroom 78

Needs and ChallengesThe survey revealed a clear consensus on the following needs:

More time to integrate technology into my curriculum

More training to use technology

More support from administration when it comes to my technology needs

More opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on how to use technology in my discipline

Additional challenges that must be considered…

A major obstacle in implementing a program of professional development aimed at increasing the use of technology in the classroom at this school is convincing the staff that it is indeed necessary. This obstacle can be overcome by demonstrating to the staff that they are stakeholders when it comes to reaping the benefits of integrating technology into their instruction.

Yet, the challenge in meeting the identified training needs is to develop a strategy that offers not only training, but real-life examples of how to implement that training in the classroom. In short, any effort made towards meeting the needs identified in the survey of the staff at Fond du Lac Ojibwe School in the area of training them on the use of technology in the classroom must consider the concerns outlined in the following:

From "Technology training for teachers: A better way" http://www.teachersnetwork.org/aboutus/eschool1.htm

"A national analysis in 2000 documented that: (1) 99 percent of all teachers are exposed to "professional development"; but (2) only a third report that professional development is connected to classroom applications and (3) more than a third of all teachers (35 percent) never get any peer-to-peer professional development help.5"

"Conventional professional development is expensive and widely derided by teachers as irrelevant, ineffective, too late, or too far removed from the reality of classrooms. But, without an alternative, people who care about adding technology to teaching are left to reconcile themselves to a melancholy reality: Conventional practice may not work very well, but what else is there?"

Strategies for Implementing Trainiing

• Identify leaders among teaching staff•Indentify possible peer mentors•Establish “perks” (perhaps monetary or early releases) for mentors (funding to come from existing professional development funding)•Present plan to administration that requires little or no additional funding•Develop accountability tool•Complete comprehensive inventory of hard and software resources—indentify needs

Technology Skill Training

For staff…The following is a draft of the schedule for weekly (2—½ hour sessions per week have been approved by the administration) technology instruction topics/subjects/practice sessions presented by the IT support department on the reservation set to begin in earnest at the beginning on 2010. Since this IT support is already funded by the reservation enlisting their services will not create an additional expenditure… Computers Don't ByteComputer/Printer TroubleshootingBeginning WordBeginning ExcelPractical Excel Switching from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2007 (students are using 2007) PowerPoint Presentations PublisherIt is important to note that I don’t see the above list as an end to the training issue; instead, I see IT as only the beginning. As I alluded to earlier, I have at least 26 students with technology skills that surpass those listed above. I believe that these students could be convinced to take on the responsibility of mentors to both staff and students…

What else is there?

My part in meeting the challenge of helping my students gain technology skills in the short term (aside from the general technology instruction offered in my classroom) comes in the formation of an afterschool technology club. I am pleased to say that I have been joined in my efforts by one of my colleagues. I have been able to secure funds that allow this club to meet twice a week. Together we challenge our students (26 so far) to explore the world outside of the community through virtual portals like those found on NASA’s website. The students are instructed in the use of various forms of software technology (i.e. Google Earth, Office Live, Microsoft’s PowerPoint and Movie Maker) to report their findings to the class. My colleague and I are working on a plan to present our students’ work to the entire school through some semblance of an art using technology gallery. We believe that the “Say IT the Digital Way” (name of the club) bug has a great potential of spreading school wide in the very near future.

If we’re right, and the “bug” is caught by many more students the staff at the school must be ready to treat it. To that end, I have identified two colleagues who are excited to become (compensated with extra-duty pay) technology mentors to their peers. We are working to encapsulate technology training for the staff at the school into a form that presents itself in short, fun, yet challenging, hands-on segments that will be used to encourage authentic discussion on “what works and what doesn’t” in the classroom. It is the hope of our newly formed technology committee that allowing for this type of discussion might serve to short-circuit bad/negative publicity connected to this much needed initiative.

The success of this training program will be measured near the end of the school year using the same survey that was used to indentify the initial training needs…

Microsoft Office LiveMicrosoft’s Office Live is one of the collaboration tools that will be used in the implementation of this training program.Click (on Demo) to watch video (make sure to return to the presentation when through).

Google DocsGoogle Docs is another great collaboration tool that will be used in this action plan…To see a demonstration click (make sure to return when you’re through)

Some digital teaching tools already in use in the after school programs…

Power Point in the classroom is used to introduce (and then reinforce) students (staff in the future) to the methods of making the software speak for the students… for more info click (make sure to return to this presentation when finished).

Another Goodie!

Microsoft’s Movie Maker software is just the ticket for tempting students into a world beyond still presentations like Power Point. Power Point may give them a voice, but Movie Maker helps them learn to sing! If you want to see a brief demonstration of the power of this software click (make sure to return to the presentation when you’re through)

ReferencesIndian Affairs Council: State of Minnesota. Retrieved October 7,2009 from:http://www.indianaffairs.state.mn.us/tribes_fonddulac.htmlUniversity of Minnesota Libraries—Minnesota: Reservations and Trust Areas--MN Part: Fond du Lac Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land, MN--WIhttp://govpubs.lib.umn.edu/census/profiles/280271125.pdfZip Skinny: Cloquet, MN. 55720 Retrieved October 8, 2009 from: http://www.zipskinny.com/index.php?zip=55720ePodunk the Power of Place. Retrieved October9, 2009 from:http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/popInfo.php?locIndex=20940Public School Review. Retrieved October 6, 2009 from:http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/91576Technology training for teachers: A better way http://www.teachersnetwork.org/aboutus/eschool1.htm

Technology training for teachers: A better way http://www.teachersnetwork.org/aboutus/eschool1.htm Just Use It: Rethinking Technology Training for K-12 Teachershttp://www.techlearning.com/article/4330How Teachers Learn Best http://fno.org/mar01/howlearn.html Information Technology Support Services at Fond du Lac Reservationhttp://www.fdlrez.com/MIS/main.htmMicrosoft Digital Literacy Traininghttp://www.microsoft.com/about/corporatecitizenship/citizenship/giving/programs/up/digitalliteracy/eng/Curriculum.mspxMicrosoft Office Livehttp://www.officelive.com/en-us/Power Point in the Classroomhttp://www.actden.com/pp2007/index.htm

References Cont…