Create learning opportunities for teachers
 
Ideas from Chicago and Detroit:
 
Chicago teachers visit other schools for ideas about writing labs.
 
Detroit FAMS teachers meet to talk technology integration.
Resources from other areas:

Teachers involved in the design process of Co-NECT schools
http://www.co-nect.net/conect/co-metho.htm

Ford Academy of Manufacturing Sciences program helps teachers integrate technology
http://216.1.78.88/fams/

Teacher professionalism and constructivist pedagogies http://www.crito.uci.edu/tlc/findings/special_report2/
Develop relationships
Von Steuben Center teachers participated in the design of their lab by visiting other schools to see how they were set up.
Teachers were able to make informed decisions about integrating technology by learning from the experiences of other professionals in the field. Beginning these relationships during the design phase of the lab allowed Von Steuben to avoid potentially costly mistakes.
Promote teacher collaboration
In 1999, Murray-Wright High School became part of the Ford Academy of Manufacturing Sciences (FAMS) program.
The program not only promises to bring real-world, challenging content to students, but also brings more technology to the school in the form of 7-10 networked computers and participation in a distance learning program sponsored by Wayne State University. Murray-Wright was one of three in the area competing for the program, which has as its aim helping students prepare for the workplaces of the 21st century. Students start the program in tenth grade and continue through graduation.

Six teachers are teaching in the FAMS program, from the math, business, and English departments. Although each will teach his or her own section of the course, they plan to meet regularly to discuss the program and to ensure that it is meeting its goals. Among the more interesting student projects proposed are designing a business, creating Web pages, and building a model home.

Perhaps the most promising aspects of the FAMS project are the opportunities for teacher collaboration afforded by the program, breaking the isolation many teachers experience. The FAMS program meetings provide an opportunity for teachers to share successful strategies for integrating technology into project-based instruction and to build models of collaborative teaching that other teachers in the school could emulate. The FAMS teachers all have a common planning period to support their program.