Montgomery+School

__**Montgomery School - 2009-2010**__ **PLP Team Members (a.k.a __P__owerful __L__ady __P__ioneers!)**  //Yoon Soo Lim - Lower & Middle School Music// //Joan Miles - 3rd Grade// //Heather Schelhorn - Middle School Social Studies// //Lynn Vessey - Middle School Math//

=**Project Focus** =
 * Create a //Virtual Faculty Room// to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and the exploration of technological tools. **

**The Problem** ==** Time is a huge issue. After a full day of teaching, we find very little time to meet and learn from one another. We would like to create a space or a forum where our faculty can visit frequently to share and find out what we are creating with students. **==

**Objectives**

**Our objectives are to facilitate an accessible forum for**

 * **encouraging active dialogue**
 * **showcasing classroom successes**
 * **exposing faculty and staff to new and current innovations in technology**
 * **encouraging individual exploration**
 * **problem solving/trouble shooting**
 * **retrieving shared school materials from remote locations**

**Networked Design**
 * The MontgomeryForum Wiki will be created allowing all faculty and staff to become actively engaged in exploring new ideas. To promote ownership and active participation, editing rights will be given to all faculty and staff.**

**Set the Context**

Up until this point, there was no centralized venue for sharing of individual's experiences and expertise. This forum provides a venue for effective communication of ideas and resources.
**Proposal**

We propose to create this space to address the absence of a centralized location for informal learning among colleagues.
**Evaluation**

Our ideas under consideration include:

 * **a suggestion box**
 * **monitor Wiki statistics**
 * **periodic feedback through surveys or small group discussions**
 * **a visitor counter**

**Timeline**
 * **Spring, 2010 - create Wiki space**
 * **Late spring, 2010 - present MontgomeryForum Wiki to administration and get approval**
 * **End of year meetings, 2010 - present MontgomeryForum Wiki to faculty and staff**
 * **Beginning of summer, 2010 - allow faculty and staff to explore and populate the Forum**
 * **September, 2010 - begin monitoring the space**
 * **Early 2011 - first feedback**

Come Visit Us: http://montgomeryforum.wikispaces.com/

__**Montgomery School - 2008-2009**__
Team Members Kami Mulzet- //Middle School English// Louise Vinueza- //Art// Linda Simpson- //6th grade Social Studies and Math// Pam Clay- //2nd grade// Denise Kelly- //Coordinator of Technology Integration// //Pre-K through 5th grade, Team leader// Cindy London- //4th grade, Fellow//


 * The Montgomery School PLP team has been working on a project to inform our parents about the value of using Web 2.0 capabilities. Educating our parent population has become a priority in order to garner their support for the use of 21st Century learning tools in the classroom. We plan to empower our entire school community with the knowledge necessary to encourage our children/students to become global citizens. How will we accomplish this?**


 * I. Faculty In-service Days**
 * A. First meeting was held on February 13, 2009 //(see link for the page sent to the administration that explains the nature of our in- service. This same message was conveyed during the in-service to the faculty//** []**//)//**
 * B. Share one Web 2.0 tool at each of our bi-weekly faculty meetings (this is on-**
 * going)**
 * C. Offer Web 2.0 workshops throughout the summer**
 * D. Dedicate one day during opening faculty meetings in August**


 * II. Parent Forums**
 * A. We plan to hold a forum before the end of this school year. (highly**
 * ambitious goal!)**
 * B. Will hold a parent forum each September to inform parents of our technology**
 * ambitions.**
 * C. In conjunction with each forum, we will introduce our 21st Century Learning**
 * Wiki. This will keep all community members informed of the tools we are**
 * using as well as the objectives behind the use of these tools. preparingforthefuturenow.wikispaces.com It is currently under construction, but please take a peek.**
 * D. Parent workshops through out the school year so they can feel connected to**
 * the very same tools their children are using.**


 * Our PLP group is committed to bringing our entire school with us on our 21st Century Learning journey. If the stakeholders are involved, our success should be assured. We have already started tearing down the walls of our classrooms one small step at a time. One fourth grade class has Skyped with a family in Jordan. Our Kindergarten classes are preparing to Skype with new friends in the Denver, Colorado area. Even our Kindergarten children are on their way to becoming global citizens. For them, Web 2.0 will just be a way of life.**


 * Please take a peek at our wiki funwithnature.wikispaces.com At first, this wiki was dedicated to our chick hatching project, but eventually this will be dedicated to all our science happenings at school. One small step at a time!**