Texas S Ta R Chart
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Sunday, November 29, 2009
Educator Preparation in Technology
Of the 4 areas in the long-range plan for technology and the STaR Chart, I chose to talk about the area of educator preparation. The reason is because, on a broader spectrum, this is the one area that is either not making much progress or the people taking the survey do not feel like it is. The vision and goals of this area aim for the teachers and other educators to reach an acceptable level of preparedness to teach and incorporate their subject matter with technology. Several of my other readings over the last couple of weeks have really focused on how the older generations are not familiar with technology and can be very resistant to changing education to embrace the use of it. The plan aims to have teachers graduate from educator preparation programs and exit them with a greater knowledge of how to incorporate technology into their classrooms. Knowing how, obviously, does not cut it though. The greater goal is not only to educate them, but to have them integrate that technology into their classes and across all curriculum.
On my particular campus, our progress in this area has actually been quite good. 3 years ago we scored only 50% of the total possible points, and are now at 75%, moving from developing tech status to advanced tech. This is in contrast to the statewide progress though. During the 3 year period for the whole state, the early tech and developing tech status numbers increased while the advanced and target tech statuses decreased significantly. This means that more teachers on more campuses are seeing themselves as less prepared for technology usage in their schools. The national consensus seems to be the same as well with 55% of teachers feeling only average in regards to their knowledge of technology usage.
The trends seem to point towards a regression in this area as a state and perhaps nationally. As far as my particular campus goes, we are improving or at least the teachers feel like they are more prepared. Hopefully these trends continue for my school. However, in order to ensure that these increases in confidence continue, I would recommend that the skills specialists and administration on campus provide opportunities and resources for incorporating technology in the classrooms. The lack of funding and current technology are definitely the greatest deficit on our campus. Statewide and nationally I think we are going to need the same things. Increased funding is going to be necessary for initial educator preparation programs as well as providing them with the technology in their classrooms so they can both incorporate it into their lessons as well as experiment with it and both become familiar with it and see how it can best be used to benefit their students.
On my particular campus, our progress in this area has actually been quite good. 3 years ago we scored only 50% of the total possible points, and are now at 75%, moving from developing tech status to advanced tech. This is in contrast to the statewide progress though. During the 3 year period for the whole state, the early tech and developing tech status numbers increased while the advanced and target tech statuses decreased significantly. This means that more teachers on more campuses are seeing themselves as less prepared for technology usage in their schools. The national consensus seems to be the same as well with 55% of teachers feeling only average in regards to their knowledge of technology usage.
The trends seem to point towards a regression in this area as a state and perhaps nationally. As far as my particular campus goes, we are improving or at least the teachers feel like they are more prepared. Hopefully these trends continue for my school. However, in order to ensure that these increases in confidence continue, I would recommend that the skills specialists and administration on campus provide opportunities and resources for incorporating technology in the classrooms. The lack of funding and current technology are definitely the greatest deficit on our campus. Statewide and nationally I think we are going to need the same things. Increased funding is going to be necessary for initial educator preparation programs as well as providing them with the technology in their classrooms so they can both incorporate it into their lessons as well as experiment with it and both become familiar with it and see how it can best be used to benefit their students.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Technology Applications TEKS
Pre-K TEKS: The Pre-K TEKS are designed to effectively familiarize the children with computers, software, and the simple functions and controls of their various components. Children learn how to insert and use CD's with a computer, how to navigate using a mouse, to become familiar with the vocabulary and terminology associated with computer usage, create writings and drawings, and learn information through interaction with technology.
These TEKS initially seem too simple, however, I am always surprised by the lack of familiarity that some of my current students have with computers. These Pre-K TEKS will help prepare students for performance in future grades. Knowing and becoming more acquainted with the simple functions and vocabulary dealing with computers will make their future interactions with technology easier, more effective, and they will be able to progress faster and produce higher quality products using technology. They will also pave the way for greater technological literacy and be able to assess and analyze information found using electronic resources.
The technology TEKS are said to be dynamic and contribute to what is known as a spiral or scaffolding curriculum. This type of curriculum is one that builds upon itself and gives the student many different opportunities for learning and demonstrating their mastery of what has been learned. An example of a series of TEKS that does this can be seen in the following:
The student is expected to:
(a) demonstrate proficiency in the use of a mouse, keyboard, scanner, recorder, disc, video, and digital camera by creating files
(b) use digital keyboarding standards
(c) use strategies when digitally capturing files to conserve memory and retain the image integrity
(d) differentiate among audio input
In this short series of TEKS, you can see how a student would have multiple opportunities to show mastery of the different functions with a keyboard, capturing and using different file types, and integrating various sources of technology.
These TEKS initially seem too simple, however, I am always surprised by the lack of familiarity that some of my current students have with computers. These Pre-K TEKS will help prepare students for performance in future grades. Knowing and becoming more acquainted with the simple functions and vocabulary dealing with computers will make their future interactions with technology easier, more effective, and they will be able to progress faster and produce higher quality products using technology. They will also pave the way for greater technological literacy and be able to assess and analyze information found using electronic resources.
The technology TEKS are said to be dynamic and contribute to what is known as a spiral or scaffolding curriculum. This type of curriculum is one that builds upon itself and gives the student many different opportunities for learning and demonstrating their mastery of what has been learned. An example of a series of TEKS that does this can be seen in the following:
The student is expected to:
(a) demonstrate proficiency in the use of a mouse, keyboard, scanner, recorder, disc, video, and digital camera by creating files
(b) use digital keyboarding standards
(c) use strategies when digitally capturing files to conserve memory and retain the image integrity
(d) differentiate among audio input
In this short series of TEKS, you can see how a student would have multiple opportunities to show mastery of the different functions with a keyboard, capturing and using different file types, and integrating various sources of technology.
Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology
I liked the overall vision and purpose of this plan. The plan does a great job of focusing on the idea that this ongoing change in technology usage is not just ideal, rather it is inevitable and that the suggestions and guidelines within are vital to the education and life preparation of our students. It recognizes that globalization is becoming more apparent and that the job markets and demographics of this country are changing along with it. Because of these changes, the qualifications and preparations that our students have will need to be significantly different from when we were in school at the same levels that they now are. Their world is already very integrated with technology and it would be counterproductive to not play on that and use it to our advantage.
Another strong and important point that was made was that the focus on education can not be as simple as passing on knowledge. With the digital age, students now need to be better at analyzing and assessing information for its importance and veracity.
As expected, teacher education will continue to be necessary. A big challenge is going to be that, as we learn how to implement and utilize the current technology in our classrooms, the technology is going to change along with our learning. In order to stay ahead of it, or at least current with it, we will need several different effective educator programs in regards to technology. Along with this need there will also continually be a need for good technology funding and a solid infrastructure that supports and enforces the learning and implementation that is going on.
All of this will be important to me as a leader on campus because it will be my job to make sure that all staff have this same vision and understanding of the direction that these changes will be taking us. It will be important to be able to recognize who is in greatest need of educator training and what areas of the technology on campus are in need of improvement and require attention and re-evaluation. It is also good to know that there are many advocates and supporters of these changes. Many times it seems like there is lots of opposition to these changes. They are going to happen and I am glad that I have been informed of the long-range plan that the state has for ensuring that these changes do occur and in the proper manner.
Another strong and important point that was made was that the focus on education can not be as simple as passing on knowledge. With the digital age, students now need to be better at analyzing and assessing information for its importance and veracity.
As expected, teacher education will continue to be necessary. A big challenge is going to be that, as we learn how to implement and utilize the current technology in our classrooms, the technology is going to change along with our learning. In order to stay ahead of it, or at least current with it, we will need several different effective educator programs in regards to technology. Along with this need there will also continually be a need for good technology funding and a solid infrastructure that supports and enforces the learning and implementation that is going on.
All of this will be important to me as a leader on campus because it will be my job to make sure that all staff have this same vision and understanding of the direction that these changes will be taking us. It will be important to be able to recognize who is in greatest need of educator training and what areas of the technology on campus are in need of improvement and require attention and re-evaluation. It is also good to know that there are many advocates and supporters of these changes. Many times it seems like there is lots of opposition to these changes. They are going to happen and I am glad that I have been informed of the long-range plan that the state has for ensuring that these changes do occur and in the proper manner.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Technology Assessments
Prior to taking these two assessments I would have said that my main strength as a leader on a campus, pertaining to technology, would be that I have more exposure to the newer kinds of technology that are beginning to be more common to our youth. As a new teacher and leader coming up from a younger generation, I am more familiar with many programs that a lot of our more experienced teachers and leaders must undergo many training sessions in order to understand. This does not make me any better than another teacher or leader, it just gives me an advantage because of my greater familiarity. What I learned and gathered from these two assessments will definitely be of benefit to my learning and knowledge of what direction I need to go in regards to technology education and implementation.
The first assessment was useful to me because it showed me that, while I am familiar with many of the standard and simple functions of many educational programs and software, I realized that I am not even close to understanding the full range of capabilities and options that these programs come equipped with. The second assessment, the SETDA Teacher Survey, showed me that my school and our teachers are not using technology enough in my classroom, and we are not evaluating the effectiveness of the technology that we are using. Another big problem is that when I am developing lesson plans I am not necessarily thinking of ways I can incorporate technology into the lesson. It is more like an added bonus when I am able to use it.
I believe that I will also need to engage in some training to more fully understand the range of possibilities of simple word processing or presentation tools as well as some of the other programs that are more specific to education.
I agree with these assessments because, up until the time I became a teacher, I only ever used the necessary technology either as a student or for recreational purposes. My focus on the use of technology needs to change and be geared towards making it useful to my students and helping them become technology literate and proficient.
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