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We were able to equip seven rooms, which included a Promethean Board, Mobile Laptop Lab, and a Laptop for each teacher. For our first year, we chose our Social Studies department, which makes up the seven CFF teachers. We were awarded the grant at the end of August, so our school year began with the anticipation and excitement of the arrival of our equipment and the apprehension of treading on unknown territory. Our equipment did arrive right before Christmas break, which was the official beginning of our CFF journey. Up until that point, it had been planning, but now the ball was rolling.
 * Classrooms for the Future at BHS  **The Classrooms for the Future (CFF) initiative has been awarding money to Pennsylvania school districts for three years now. This year was the first year Burrell was awarded the grant. We received approx. $107,000 to purchase technology equipment for our faculty and students. For more information on Pennsylvania's Classrooms for the Future initiative and other technology programs, visit the [|Pennsylvania Department of Education's Education Hub] website.

On January 2nd, we scheduled our equipment installation. Although this was over Christmas Break, it worked out nicely because on the most intense day of the installation, we did not have any students. The equipment was fully installed and ready to be delivered to each teacher in about two school weeks.

The next step was rolling out the mobile laptop labs (which we lovingly call COWs) to all seven CFF classrooms. It was decided that we would give each student an orientation on the laptops. One classroom was rolled out a day for over two weeks. The Technology Coach came into each class and explained the privilege and responsibility of the equipment and the consequences for abuse of the equipment. Overall, the students took very well to the technology and within a day or two of the roll-out, teachers were up and running and using the laptops on a regular basis.

Students in almost all of the social studies classes use laptops at least weekly and in most classrooms more often. These laptops allow students to become actively engaged in their own learning. They allow teachers to become faciliators and guides on the side, which some experts say is a more effective way of teaching for today's "technologically wired" student. The Promethean Boards also allow for interactive presentations that foster immediate assessment, as well as active learning. Our demonstrations and video of our transformation are just small samples of the success that we have had with taking our classrooms from 1.0 to 2.0! In addition to all the equipment we recieved, we also received a professional development series, which is open to anyone within our district. We rolled out the course to 31 teachers at the high school. This opportunity was an added bonus because the course focuses around the need to change in a 21st Century classroom. For more information on LSI's eMEDDED LEARNING series, please check out their website at [|http://www.embeddedlearning.com].

This shift in education is a slow but important process. We are educating students for jobs that do not even exist yet.We have to change to keep up with an ever-changing world. We are pleased that not only our CFF teachers have embraced this change, but also several other teachers around the district. We hope that with the continued support from the state, community, and district, we will be able to keep the wheels of change moving. Shift happens and we want to be there!


 * Site Links: ||  ||   ||
 * Overview of CFF ||  ||   ||
 * Coach's Comments ||  ||   ||
 * Demonstrations: || Podcasting and Audacity with Mr. Pounds || [[image:audacity.jpg width="44" height="51" link="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/"]] ||
 * || Inspiration with Mrs. Anthony || [[image:inspiration.jpg width="44" height="50" link="http://www.inspiration.com/"]] ||
 * || Google Earth with Mrs. Kariotis || [[image:google_earth_logo.png width="40" height="36" link="http://earth.google.com/"]] ||
 * || ActivBoard and ActivExpressions with Mrs. Lovic || [[image:promethan.JPG width="71" height="41" link="http://www.prometheanplanet.com/"]] ||
 * || Now Playing - Featured CFF Videos ||  ||