Chair: Dr. Jessica Parker, Sonoma State University
Nancy Case-Rico, M.A., Sonoma State University
Katie von Husen, M.A., Coordinator of Educational Services, West Contra Costa USD
Introduction
As
Project Director of West Contra Costa Unified School District’s Teaching
American History grant, I am responsible for making sure that participating
secondary history teachers have quality professional development experiences
that deepen their content knowledge in history and improve standards-based
classroom instruction.[1]
Grant parameters are clear in that there are three significant components to
PD: college-level history content knowledge, standard-based pedagogy, and
technology integration. The first two components are ably handled by our team
from Sonoma State.
The
third component, however, is lagging behind. Part of the reason is that we
never hired a technology coordinator for the project and part is that the other
two components, are, frankly, of more pressing need for our teachers. Prior to
the 2010 Teaching American History Grant award, WCCUSD history teachers had not
received PD, except for textbook orientation, in the previous 10 years.
Additionally, some district history teachers do not have an academic background
in U.S. history, but, rather, subjects such as business, physical education, or
political science, so building content knowledge is crucial.
To compound
matters, past PD offerings that include educational technology have been
one-shot workshops with little context for project teachers and limited
follow-up. For example, a half-day workshop on the use of wikis at
the beginning of the project provided little traction for teachers to integrate
wikis in their own classrooms, or even to use for resource sharing among
colleagues. Consequently, project staff has not seen evidence of consistent
classroom implementation or teacher use of technology in standards-based
instruction.
Several
questions drive my research and planning in the process to create my cognate:
1.
What
are the best practices in technology-based professional development programs
geared toward secondary history teachers?
2.
Which
attitudes and beliefs are helpful for teachers learning new technology-related
skills and strategies, and then implementing those in the classroom? Are there
any attitudes and beliefs that serve as barriers for teachers?
3.
Where
do teacher needs (specifically, the WCCUSD secondary teachers participating in
the TAH program) for educational technology PD intersect with the California
Common Core Standards in English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social
Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects?
Therefore,
the goal of my cognate project is to create a professional development plan for
WCCUSD TAH participants that addresses teacher needs for instructional
technology integration in the CCSS-ready classroom. Once implemented, this plan
will improve teacher practice with instructional technology and will help
create district-level teacher capacity for technology integration. Furthermore,
some of the participating teachers will be tapped to become technology
integration mentors for the TAH program as well as at their sites. These key
features, improving instructional practice and developing mentors, will help
further the WCCUSD implementation plan for the CCSS.
The complete proposal is available here.
[1] Standards
include both California Content Standards for History/Social Science and
California Common Core Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in
History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
