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If You Build It...They Will Come

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There are nineteen middle schools in the Fulton County Schools District, but Ronald E. McNair Middle School has one of the most innovative learning spaces in the United States. The building literally has classes with no walls to foster collaboration between teachers and students, and multiple presentation spaces for students to share their ideas with a variety of audiences. Additionally, all of the students bring either an iPad or cellphone to use during the instruction each day. Considering that McNair is a school that typically uses traditional pedagogy,  how will the teachers fathom the idea of an open space where students are encouraged to use devices? Will the teachers receive support?

inside mcnair middle schoolFulton declares personalize learning as one of the fibers of its instructional creed, and the school district has galvanized the best resources to support McNair make the transition from traditional pedagogy to a more personalized approach. Although McNair students and teachers moved into the new building in the middle of the school year, they have adapted to the obvious idea that teaching and learning will need to look differently in the new space. Fulton County has enlisted the efforts of Kennesaw State University iTeach to assist teachers with understanding the endless possibilities of their space and one-to-one devices.

In order to increase the bandwidth of support for McNair, multiple teachers have shared their summer with three Instructional Technology Specialists from iTeach to gather more knowledge about personalized learning, develop a plan for ways to collaborate with peers, and acquire methods to help others embrace a new way of teaching. After receiving summer training, the teachers will begin the 2016-2017 school year equipped to implement personalized learning strategies and help others along the way. The future looks amazingly bright for McNair, the building is here and a change has come. ​

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Tierra Reed, Ed.S.
Instructional Technology Specialist
Kennesaw State University iTeach

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