The overall aim of the technology program is to provide the teachers and support staff of the Atwater Elementary School District with the skills and abilities to utilize computers and related technologies with confidence for their own purposes. This will enable teachers to integrate technology into the curriculum, use technology in the course of teaching to advance student learning, and to feel confident enough in their own abilities to allow and encourage student use of computers.

During the school year of 2007 - 2008, one college credit courses in conjunction with Fresno Pacific University is being planned. The course will be taught by the District Technology Coordinator with assistance from district teachers with expertise in specific subject matter.

A series of workshops has been planned for this school year. The workshops are designed to provide teachers with an introduction to various applications and concepts in an intimate setting. These workshops are scheduled every Monday after school for a minimum of one hour, and do not conclude until the participants are ready to be done. For a schedule of workshops planned this year: http://www.aesd.edu/staffdevtopics.htm

Another component of training is workshops during professional collaboration time for individual schools. Seven of the eight schools in the district have an early release day for professional collaboration time. This affords the site technology coordinators with time to offer training at their sites as needs arise. The District Technology Coordinator is available to assist in these sessions. These sessions are scheduled at the request of the site principal.

Another avenue for staff development is educational technology meetings. At these meetings, the site technology coordinators and the District Technology Coordinator develop policies and standards for technology in the district, determine the direction of staff development, and share problems and solutions at each site. At each meeting software is shared and discussed. Possible ways to incorporate the software into the curriculum are discussed and these ideas are shared with other teachers in the district. The District Technology Coordinator reports on the meetings he attends at the County Schools Office where he learns about technology happenings in the County and the State.

A final component of staff development in the Atwater Elementary School District is one-on-one training with teachers at their request.

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  This page was last updated on 12/18/07.