Week 5 Reflection Paper

Many of the courses that I took in my undergraduate studies to become a teacher revolved around the use of technology in the classroom. I loved hearing about all of the ways that teachers were incorporating technology into their instruction and looked forward to having a classroom of my own where I could implement many of the ideas that I had learned. However, I was quite surprised to find how many of the tools that I had learned about in those classes were not available at my school.
Going into this course I really expected it to be more about the development of technology policy than about technology itself. However, I was happy to find out, after week one and throughout the remaining weeks, that the course was really about the technologies that should be used in classrooms that many schools seem to be afraid of. This was a really refreshing viewpoint to come from an educational institution.
One of the main goals that I had for the course was to learn at least five new technologies that I could personally put to use on my campus. I can say that after reading the articles, blogs, presentations, round-table discussions, video conferences, and discussion board posts, I can come up with a lot more than five new technologies. Blogging, teacher-created web-sites, podcasts, wikis, and video uploads and all ideas that I have brought to different teachers in my building who have the hardware at their disposal but who weren’t sure how to put it to use. If I had to pick one goal that I was not able to reach it would be to change the district policy on blogging and podcasting. Although some teachers still use these tools, they are against school policy. I can say, however, that I brought this issue up with the Superintendent of our school (Dr. Wanda Bamberg) and she has asked me to put together a list of websites that would need un-blocked and some research that shows that these are indeed educational tools. Thanks to many of the readings done in week 3 and 4 I am fully confident in my ability to get the policy changed sometime next semester.
I felt that I was successful in carrying out the assignments for the class. While they were time-consuming I felt that they all dealt with very relevant issues and were therefore interesting. I really enjoyed the assignment for week three (and four) which required me to talk with various people on my campus and in my district about technology. I really doubt that I would have had the meaningful and insightful conversations that I had if it were not for the class.
One of the better interviews that I conducted for the work done in weeks three and four was held with the technology specialists at my campus as well as the technology director for the district who happened to be on campus that day. We ended up talking a lot about blogging and the benefits that blogging could have on students performance in classes ranging from English to science. As it stands right now, (and this conversation happened before the one that took place with Dr. Bamberg) all sites that are used for blogging or contain blogs are blocked by the district. The policy is in place due to the fear that school districts have of being held accountable for what students may read or see on a website accessed from school. However, that argument is, to me, the same as saying the students should not be permitted to breathe the air at school as there could be contaminants in the air. There is simply no way to control everything that students see when they are on the internet. What the students are missing out on educationally far outweighs the results of our efforts to “save” them from seeing something negative online.
One of the readings from week one pointed out that students tend to write more and better when they do so on a computer versus on paper. I conducted an interview with the teacher who runs our virtual school computer lab and she said the same thing. She told me that she has been amazed at the increase in both the student interest level as well as the productivity when writing on the computer has been an option. This fact, coupled with the interest students show in seeing their own words appear on the internet to be read by everyone, is reason enough to unblock sites that allow teachers to set up free blogs for their classes. It is always an uphill battle to get students interested in what we are teaching in our classrooms. If we find a tool that could help peak that interest level then why are we not utilizing it?
If a student wants to find something bad on the internet they are going to find a way to do just that. I would say that blogging sites should be one of the least of our concerns when it comes to monitoring the internet. Aside from it’s use in the classroom, blogging could also offer stakeholders in the community such as parents and business owners a quick and easy opportunity to voice their opinions about matters concerning them and the school. Parent and community involvement is always a goal at our campus and offering them a quick and easy way to communicate their feelings could really strengthen the ties that the school has with them.

Week 4 Flow Chart

Flow Chart for Week 4 Assignment:

Professional Development Planning

Based on the data and lessons learned from the about the campus technology needs from the week 3 research paper I can say, without question, that the greatest staff development need that the campus has is making sure that we are providing staff development for teachers when they receive a new technology in their room. Far too often a new technology is installed in a classroom and it is then left to the teacher to figure out how to use it.

Even if a teacher does figure out how to use a newly-installed technology, chances are they are not using it to its fullest potential. Schools are always trying to do what they can to make sure that each dollar is stretched as far as it can and this is an easy and cost-efficient way to ensure that the money that is spent on technologies goes as far as possible towards the goal of enhancing technologies. The technology specialists needs to work in close coordination with the principal to plan out staff developments based on the calendar of purchases of new technologies dictated by the needs of the various departments in the school.

STaR Chart Presentation

The information in the presentation includes a summary of the STaR Chart and a summary of the data collected from MacArthur Senior High School's campus.

Texas Long Range Plan for Technology: Educator Preparation and Development

One of the areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006 – 2020 is Educator Preparation and Development. This area is, in my opinion, more important than the others. Technology has influenced our society in a very huge way, particularly in the past couple of decades. The influence of technology can also be seen in our schools, though to a lesser extent.

We are at a critical juncture now, where the practices that have stood the test of time are being matched with cutting edge technologies. One of the main challenges that schools face in this area is providing adequate staff development. This is proving to be a difficult task due in large part to the varying degrees of support that teachers need. A campus wants to provide the staff with all of the training and support that they need but while a session on how to use Microsoft Word to create worksheets may cater to the needs of one group of teachers, that same session may bore a more technologically savvy group.

One trend that is highly visible in this area is the technology training that in included in educator preparation classes at the college level. As a huge number of “baby boomer” educators move into retirement state and federal guidelines such as the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology are helping to ensure that the young educators taking their place are adequately trained and prepared to make the shift from traditional schooling to 21^st century education.

This change is apparent is nearly any campus across the state. Step into most classrooms and you will be greeted by one or more computers, smart boards, digital projectors, powerpoint presentations, teacher created websites, etc…

While we are on the right track I feel that so much more must be done to ensure that the students who attend these campuses are getting a well-rounded education with a strong technology understanding. Schools need to devote more time and resources to ensure that they are keeping up to date on the latest trends and keep up with the latest technology. Schools also need to take the time to ensure that the technology that they have on campus is being put to the very best use possible. Much of this boils down to training teachers on the capabilities of the available technology on a given campus. This training cannot be general but needs to be, instead, individualized to the extent possible to ensure that the individual teacher’s needs are met. The 21^st century job market demands that those who enter it have at the very least a basic understanding of how to use technology and we owe it to our students, and the society we serve, to ensure that this happens.

Pre-K Plan

• The Pre-K Technology Applications TEKS seemed to be designed in order to allow children to explore fundamental functions of various computer and other technologies. They also allow the children to engage in various activities dealing with technology as well as becoming more secure about using technological devices. For many students in schools across Texas, this will be their first experience in dealing with a wide array of technology and, more importantly, will be exposed to more and more technology in years to come. Students should come to realize that technology can be a very fun and engaging way to take in information during the learning process.

• The Technology Applications TEKS are designed in a way that they are built upon one another. They scaffolding effect can come to be trusted by educators in a way where one level feels comfortable teaching students something new that builds upon something that was taught in years past. The ability to build upon pre-existing knowledge saves time and energy and keeps the students engaged by not having to re-cover concepts that have been already covered. By allowing the students to start using computers and learning software at an early age such as Pre-K, this allows the elementary teachers more time for instruction. By the time that students have reached the secondary level they should be learning aspects of technology that could help them in their careers. For example,
(5) Information acquisition. The student acquires electronic information in a variety of formats, with appropriate supervision. The student is expected to:
(A) acquire information in and knowledge about electronic formats including text, audio, video, and graphics;
could be helpful or meaningful to students pursuing any number of career fields or in college. This information, though, could not be taught to a student who has no basic understanding of how a computer works or, for that matter, how the technology works that was used in order to record the text, audio, or video.

Long-Range Plan for Technology

Before starting this class, I was unaware of the Long-Range Plan for Technology that the state of Texas has implemented just a couple of years ago. The most important aspect of the Long-Range Plan that will most benefit me as an instructional leader is the different viewpoints that it gives. It is easy to see things from only one perspective as a teacher and I appreciate that the plan talks about the impact and expectations of not only educators but of leaders, students, community and board members, as well as the state.

The section on teacher voices was also really interesting to read. The charts that showed how many teachers used technology at home and such offered insight into the growing need for staff development geared towards technology integration. It was good to read about the surveys about how teachers felt about certain aspects of technology. I also think that it is really important to stay informed as to the current trends of technology in schools to make sure you are giving your students an opportunity to make the most out of the available technology on the campus. This too comes back to making sure that the staff is both enthusiastic and educated about the possible benefits of technology.

EDLD Week 1 Post

I feel that my main strength in terms of technology use is my familiarity with a wide array of technologies and an understanding of how useful they can be in the educational process. I feel that a lot of times educators shy away from the use of technology because it is not how they were taught to teach. However, growing up in the midst of technology and having used it all of my life has given me the chance to fully understand its place in our society and on my campus. My familiarity with technology is probably a good explanation for the breakdown of the first assessment.

The Technology Applications Inventory tells me that my technology foundation and ability to acquire information using technology are my strong points. Solving problems using technology is an area where I could use staff development. While my score in the communication section of the assessment was not bad, I feel that I should have scored higher and will seek ways to improve in that area.

The SETDA survey, more than anything else, opened my eyes to the expectations of the state of Texas in regard to technology use in the classroom. I tool the teacher survey and was surprised how often I was answering that what I was doing wasn’t really meeting the expectation. My classroom has only 2 student computers and those don’t really run that well. I feel that I could do a lot more with my students if I had more technology to use but realize that fiscal constraints make that nearly impossible.