Effective staff development focuses on the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required of teachers, administrators, and other school personnel so that all students may learn and perform at high levels. (NSDC, 1997. What is Staff Development Anyway?)

 Let us help you meet the mandates of No Child Left Behind. We provide training for:

• Balanced Literacy

• Literacy through Content Area Reading and Writing

• Document Based Questions (Preparing for the SS Assessments)

• Social Studies Exit Projects

• Integrating Technology into the Classroom

• Problem Solving Strategies in Mathematics

• Project-Based Learning

• Student Publishing in the Classroom

• Multiple Intelligences

• Cooperative Learning and Classroom Management

• Creating and Using Graphic Organizers

• Listening Strategies and Preparing for the ELA

Our VISION
Our vision is to provide educators with customized, quality staff development and teaching materials.

Our MISSION
Our mission is to create an environment that engages teachers and children in practical real-world projects that harness the power of technology toward the fulfillment of educational goals. This is based on the premise that we learn when we do.

Our STAFF DEVELOPERS
Our staff developers are former teachers, administrators, and curriculum and technology directors with years of classroom experience. We bring our commitment and expertise into your school, directly into your classroom!  

We share our professional experience, expertise, and resources to encourage growth, change, and excellence within various school communities throughout the United States. We provide individual staff members, departments, and schools with assessments, analysis, recommendations, and customized staff development programs that assist

them in attaining their highest levels of competence.

Our staff developers' experiences include presenting at national conferences, writing several online staff development courses, and developing and writing  standards-driven, curriculum based projects for such companies as World Book, Immersive Education, Steck-Vaughn, and Teacher Created Materials.

Our STAFF DEVELOPMENT INCLUDES

• Planning

Effective staff development is not possible without effective planning. Effective planning not only involves the administration of the school, but the participants as well. Our staff developers begin with a planning session with the principal and participating teachers to ensure that the overall goals of the school are met and that the training is relevant to the teachers' everyday classroom experiences. Various options are explored and a customized program is developed.

• Mentoring

Research demonstrates that we learn best when we are actively engaged in meaningful, relevant, real-world activities. Through a project-based approach, our staff developers work with teachers and students in the classroom modeling lessons, demonstrating how to address standards, teaching curriculum, generating student products that demonstrate learning, and integrating technology into everyday classroom activities.

Research also demonstrates that we should learn what we need to know when we need to know it. Teachers learn the skills they need in real-time and in the context of their daily lesson. Through carefully crafted projects and activities, teachers become engaged in meaningful and  relevant professional development directly related to their everyday teaching.

• Workshops

Workshops are an effective tool for professional development when the workshops actively engage the participants in meaningful activities. TechKNOW workshops include lively presentations of relevant materials and hands-on activities that teachers can bring back to their classrooms for immediate use.

• Conferences

TechKNOW has the expertise, experience, and staff to conduct full or half day conferences to meet the needs of a school or school district.

Here is what some of the participants who attended workshops led by our staff developers had to say:

"Each class has given me the opportunity to take my teaching to another level that will allow my students to grow."

"The presentations were outstanding! They were all informative, presented in a very practical, easy to understand format. I would love to have all of these projects for my district."

"I have been teaching math for 33 years. This is the best presentation I have ever seen!"

"I would like to participate in more workshops like this!"

"Terrific!! Marvelous!! Thank you so very much! It was well worth the $40.00 cab ride here!"

Whether you need help in planning, developing, and/or implementing an effective professional development program, TechKNOW Associates has the expertise, experience, and staff to get the job done. For more information and pricing, call Ben Sender at 1 (800) 917-9940 or email him at bsender@techknowassociates.com

Reasearch-Based Links

• Jean Piaget - Cognitive Development
• John Dewey
• Jerome Bruner, The Process of Education
• Lev Vygostsky
• Constructivism
• Center for Occupation Research and Development: Project-Based Learning
• Center for Applies Research in Educational Technology
• International Society for Technology in Education: Project-Based Learning
• A Review of Project-Based Learning (pdf - 124K)

• The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001
• USDOE No Child Left Behind
• Leadership and the New Technologies: Professional Development
• Reinventing Schools
• Leadership and the New Technologies: Professional Development
• Reinventing Schools
• TECHNOS QUARTERLY: Computers Make Kids Smarter - Right?
• National Foundation for the Improvement of Education:  Project-Based Learning and Information Technologies
• National Foundation for the Improvement of Education:  Professional Development and Information Technologies
• What is high quality professional development? The more you know, the more you will want TechKNOW Associates to be your professional development company! For the complete article, click here.
• The Link to Higher Scores
• Learning, Technology and Education Reform in the Knowledge Age