Readiness+of+School+Building+to+Participate

Readiness of School Building to Participate The students of Volney currently participate in a wide array of technological endeavors. Some take the technology class which introduces them to keyboarding, Word, EXCEL sheets, various spreadsheets and other document type programs. The students are also learning how to put pictures, sound, and video into travel brochures they create. The students enjoy acquiring new technology skills which develop critical thinking and media literacy abilities. Most Volney teachers incorporate United Streaming into their lessons to meet the various learning modalities, as well as providing pictures and sounds to accompany the topic. The school has flat screen TV's with surround sound in all the classrooms that serve at the means of communication for daily announcements. A student-directed morning announcement show is shown over the closed circuit channel. Students interested in the information media were able to tour our local news channels and have one of the local newscasters come and critique them during the announcements. A daily bulletin board is available to run important announcements of upcoming events, or to wish a student Happy Birthday. The Volney teachers are also excited about the new technological advances in the building and have embraced change. The staff of Volney is aware of the need for academic effectiveness and is working on this through a variety of technology enabled strategies. The staff currently utilizes Short Cycle Assessment programs such as Exam View, Scantron, New Century, and Immediate Feedback Clickers to determine the student’s critical thinking and problems solving abilities. After collecting and analyzing the data, Volney teachers have implemented technology based projects such as Power points, brochures, weekly/ monthly newsletters and newspapers. Presently, Volney uses technology on a daily basis. Teachers utilize the Home Notes website to daily update the parents on their child's current assignments and progress. ESIS is used daily to post grades, write reports and record attendance. Each classroom has the use of at least five computers with the addition of the availability of laptops and a computer lab. Promethean Boards are located in Math and Science classrooms throughout the building. The Volney teachers avail themselves of the Staff Development that is regularly offered to help teachers acquire the skills and obtain ideas needed to utilize the available technology.