NEED ADVICE FOR TECHNOLOGY MAGNET CURRICULUM

I have been hired by Donnie Bickham Middle School in Caddo Parish School Disctrict in Louisiana. The principal is wanting to make the school to have a technology magnet component. He has hired me to create a curriculum to be proposed to the school board. I am not going to try and reinvent the wheel since I know there are great technology programs already in existence. Can anyone point me to a good starting place? Some good resources, school districts, or school websites that already have a great technology track for Middle School Students?

We have plenty of equipment. Every classroom has a smartboard, projector, laptop, and ELMO. We have a math lab, ELA lab, technology lab, and a SPED lab with 35 computers each. Many class rooms have mini labs as well. We also have a 25 computer MAC lab and a 40 station IPOD lab. The school has 650 students and has about 45% minority.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Tags: Technology, computer, help, lab, magnet, middle, school

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Permalink Reply by Dale Ferrario on September 3, 2009 at 5:39pm

It sounds like a GREAT setup - I am sure lots of schools would be jealous of the equipment that you have.

I don't have a good suggestion for curriculum per se, but do want to tell you about the free website that we have that provides teens with a place to explore and create with technology. The site is called freshbrain.org. It is FREE to use. Our goal is to provide teens with an opportunity to explore the kinds of things that are interesting to them, to connect with others who have similar interests, to create with technology and to share what they have created.

This year we will focus on reaching out to schools to show how our platform can be an enhancement to the curriculum that they already have - a way to make it more fun and interesting and most importantly to provide the 21st century and technology skills that they so desparately need to be successful.

Let me know if you want to know more.

Dale