Final Project Outline

In an attempt to put our money where our collective mouths were, my 21st century colleagues and I had a desire to implement some of the technology we've been raving about and update/improve our school website. In an effort to "work smarter, not harder", rather than rewrite for this blog what what has already been written elsewhere, below is the text taken from our teams' Professional Improvement Plan, outlining our original goals: (Thank you, Kristy Johnson, for doing all this work!)

We will work as a team to create an update of the Morse Street School website that intends to communicate effectively with Morse Street families. We will exhibit leadership in our school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. We want the new MSS site to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students and parents using a variety of digital-age media and formats. It is our intent to collaborate with students, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. We hope that the "new and improved site" will facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Specifically, we plan to make improvements to the site making it more interactive. The site will model the currently possible uses of audio and video.

Originally, our plan was to develop a "mock-up" of the site, which would eventually go public. However, since this original plan was made, we've been informed that the new site for our school must be part of a district-wide "RSU5" site and there will be a committee formed to develop this. Well, no one said it would be easy. Our group has generated many good ideas already and have a working outline of things we'd like to include on the site, so our collective input to any new committee will be of value and we intend to carry on with our mock-up.

Items that we intend to include on the site are:

• General information about our school with an interactive site map.
• A link to our reading, writing, and math curriculum
• A link to the fine arts philosophies and activities
• A school calendar
• Newsletters
• Lunch menus
• Fundraisers
• PTC activities
• Volunteer opportunities
• Reminders for upcoming events
• A Principal's corner for communication
• Examples of student work that would showcase all learning areas