Meet the Teacher: Jason Coleman

Jason Coleman of Cecil Township, instructional technology coach at , recently sat down with us to talk about his role in he district. A Woodland Hills graduate, he has been working in the district full-time since 1998.

What do your responsibilities entail?

I am out of the classroom now and my job is to work with the staff and students to improve and increase the use of technology in the regular curriculum. Where we are in this district with budgets and the changeover in administration a few years ago is that now we are gung-ho about this. We are in a transition where we are improving the infrastructure we have here. I am fixing a lot of things and wiring so that we can get to the point where I am in the classroom, co-teaching and bringing all kinds of stuff in to bring us into the 21st century.

What ways are you improving technology uses there?

We have been doing a lot of teleconferencing with schools around Allegheny County and we have a really interesting opportunity with our autistic support classroom who teleconferences with students in Ireland for a once a month meet and greet so kids can talk about things they are into socially and academically. It shows them the global community—they’re 3,000 miles away and things are different but they are the same. It’s important for special needs students as well and it’s been even more enjoyable for the adults. The kids can’t wait to see their friends over in Ireland and we are really trying to expand on that.

What is your goal with technology there?

Technology should be integrated. It should be what the kids are expecting. My colleagues in elementary and middle schools are trying all different kinds of things so when they come here, they will have high expectations. I want to make sure we are ahead of the curve so that when our junior high students get up here, we are giving them exactly what they had.

With our library, we want to turn that into a technology media center, where we can go in and do teleconferencing, distance learning, interact with groups and do all of the things teachers have always done—but this gives teachers more time with the students.