New campaign to support tech tools for teaching

Hey all. I just got an e-mail message from Lynne Polcari over at the Foundation for Belmont Education. Lynne’s a B2 reader and wanted to make others who read this blog aware of an upcoming event on May 6th (Tuesday) at the Chenery Middle School. The goal here is to put SMART Board interactive white board technology (think “a wired chalk board for the 21st century”) in all Belmont’s grade 4-12 classrooms, as well as update the language lab at the high school.

Here’s the skinny (from the FBE’s letter):

Who: Foundation for Belmont Education and you!
What: T3 = Technology Tools for Teaching campaign
When: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 7:30 PM
Where: Chenery Middle School, 3rd Floor Staff Development
Contact: Lynne Polcari, VP of Fundraising, Foundation for Belmont Education

Details: The event on Tuesday is in support of T3 = Technology Tools for Teaching campaign, sponsored by the Foundation for Belmont Education. It will give town residents the chance to participate in an interactive demonstration of SMART Board technology. Four of Chenery’s technology pioneers will lead this evening’s events, providing mini-lessons drawn directly from the classroom. This is your chance to take a seat at a student’s desk and learn first-hand how SMART Board technology is engaging our students and motivating them to move beyond the boundaries of traditional approaches to learning.

SMART Board interactive white board

The T3 campaign is a system wide effort to transform Belmont classrooms by placing SMARTTM Board technology in each classroom grades 4 – 12 and updating the foreign language lab at Belmont High School. Many Belmont Public School teachers are already working with this cutting edge technology tool in their classrooms on a daily basis, but there are still many more who would like to have a classroom SMART Board and can not until we raise enough to make this important investment. SMART Boards are changing the way that teaching and learning are accomplished in our schools, making it easier to build the skills necessary for our children to succeed in the 21st century, access the world of digital information, and reach the wide diversity of students found in each classroom. Digital upgrades to the high school language lab will enable teachers to individualize instruction to an even greater degree, and add a wealth of world wide learning opportunities for our language students.

Come prepared to experience the power of T3: teachers teaching students; students teaching each other; and teachers teaching their peers. For more information about the Foundation and its long-standing program of enrichment grants for the Belmont schools, please see: www.fbe-belmont.org