Teachers Take Tech Skills to Higher Degree

OJAI —  Last year, Simi Valley teacher Jennifer Healy only turned on her classroom computer to send e-mail and type exams.

But when she returns to school in the fall, Healy plans to use the computer to design curriculum and to teach her students how to do Power Point presentations, Internet research and Web diagrams.

“So many teachers are intimidated by computers,” said Healy, who teaches seventh-grade English at Sinaloa Middle School. “But the world is full of technology, and the kids need to know how to use it.”

Along with about 200 Southern California educators, Healy just wrapped up a week in the Ojai Valley getting hands-on instruction in how to use computers in the classroom and how to improve her teaching skills through technology.

During each of the five-day “Teach the Teachers” seminars, educators live in dormitories at the Thacher School and attend numerous workshops. They listen to speakers and practice making spreadsheets and digital yearbooks.

They also work with experts on ways to create their own technology-based activities aligned with California’s new academic standards. And the teachers have some free time to enjoy the private boarding school’s facilities, which include a pool and tennis courts.

The workshops, which run during an eight-week period this summer, are managed by the Los Angeles County Office of Education and funded by a $6.1-million grant from Vons/Pavilions. The money covers lodging and meals for about 1,350 teachers from 14 Southern California counties this year, and paid for about 700 teachers to attend the seminars last year.

And as a special treat, this week’s teacher-training workshop concluded with a visit from Thacher alumnus Noah Wyle, who plays Dr. John Carter on the NBC television show “ER.”

“A lot of classrooms are wired to the Internet, but teachers often don’t know how to integrate it into the curriculum,” Wyle said. “So this is a perfect program.”

In Ventura County, nearly two-thirds of public school classrooms are connected to the Internet, according to data from the California Department of Education. And there is one computer for about eight children enrolled, about the same ratio as throughout the state.

Several years ago, Thacher started the Teach the Teachers program with only a few dozen local educators. But when the school received the Vons grant, the Teach the Teachers collaborative expanded the training program to reach thousands of educators throughout Southern California.

Teachers must apply to attend the workshop, and are selected based on leadership skills and knowledge of educational technology. In turn, they pledge to return to their schools and train at least 10 teachers. The seminar draws teachers from public, private and parochial schools.

Michael Mulligan, Thacher’s headmaster, said the workshop is a way for teachers to learn how to use computers as another tool for student learning, rather than just for information gathering. The workshop is critical, Mulligan said, because “students are coming in knowing more about technology than their teachers.”

On Mondays, the teachers each receive a laptop computer with Web access to use throughout the week. They also get an assignment: to create a lesson plan using the new technology. The due date: Friday.

Sandy Hindy, who teaches fifth grade at Oak Hills Elementary School in Oak Park, designed a project called “Name That Polygon.” She used a digital camera to take pictures of various shapes and put them together into a Power Point game. She plans to show her math students the computer presentation in the fall.

Hindy said she applied for Teach the Teachers because she felt technologically incompetent. “I’m not phobic,” she said. “But unless you really get some hands-on instruction in technology, you shy away from it.”

Simi Valley’s Healy created a lesson plan on autobiographical writing that she titled “All About Me.” Healy plans to have her students create computerized slide presentations about their lives, complete with text and photos.

“I’ve been to a lot of in-services,” Healy said. “But this one, by far, has been the most valuable. It’s made me feel very enthusiastic about starting school again.”

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For more information, check out the Web site: https://www.teachtheteachers.org/