THE NATIONAL TEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTE

(NTTI) is committed to putting the power of technology into the hands of enthusiastic and well-prepared educators. By partnering two of education’s most valuable resources—teachers and technology—NTTI seeks to serve as a catalyst for lasting change and reform.

A LITTLE HISTORY…

Public television’s original mandate was use the medium’s undeniable power to inspire and inform—to teach. Thirteen/WNET, public television’s flagship station in New York, created the NTTI to help educators creatively and effectively use public television’s wealth of instructional programming and telecommunications resources. By strengthening teachers’ skills and professionalism, the Institute enables educators

• to put these tools to work,
• to design innovative lessons and methods, and
• to mentor and train colleagues back in their schools and districts.

WVPT’S NTTI

Since 1993, over 2000 educators from all 23 school divisions in our viewing area have attended WVPT’s NTTI. The Institute consists of a series of training events across three days. Focus is on integrating technology into the curricula, whether math, science, English, social studies, fine arts, character education, or other content area. Financial support from the Shenandoah Valley Technology Consortium Ed Tech Grant has enabled WVPT’s NTTI to have such an expansive focus.

Important overarching educational goals at the Institute include:

• increasing young people’s interest and proficiency in content areas, and
• keeping classroom teachers, technology resource teachers, and other technology and media specialists in stride with rapid advances in the field of technology.

Critical thinking and problem-solving exercises are central to NTTI’s active learning pedagogy. Teachers learn:

• to direct student attention before viewing video materials, using the Internet, or conducting a hands-on exercise
• to select appropriate video sequences for focus; and
• to pause the video to elaborate on ideas, promote analysis and discourse, and elicit student response

This methodology is modeled in the training sessions to demonstrate how to apply and to incorporate them into the teachers’ own media-rich lessons.

NTTI FORMAT

At WVPT the Institute consists of a series of training events where:

(1) Master Teachers develop interdisciplinary technology-based lessons for the Institute’s CD and presentations.

 (2) Teachers from across the service area participate in Institute workshop sessions. Participants work intensively with specific grade level Master Teacher teams and with instructional technology resources. Master Teachers demonstrate their lessons and help guide teacher participants through the development of their own technology-based lessons.

(3) Participants receive hands-on training in telecommunications, the Internet and a choice of other technologies including probeware, interactive white board, video microscope, classroom presentation equipment, digital publishing, Web page creation and more.

 (4) In addition to direct training, each participant receives an NTTI lesson CD, technology practice time, and additional classroom materials from the print and technology resource rooms.

DOE Endorses NTTI

The Virginia Department of Education staff has been an integral part of the planning and implementation process for NTTI in Virginia and has provided written endorsements. On page 4 of its Technology Standards for Instructional Personnel, the DOE states that NTTI is an Institute which should help to meet “the requirements defined in standards numbered 3, 5, and especially 7. Institutes include specific technology training classes that address Internet applications, productivity, and items included in the remaining training standards.”

NTTI INFORMATION

For more information about the National Teacher Training Institute, contact:

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Site Manager

WVPT-TV

298 Port Republic Road

Harrisonburg, VA  22801