Week 5-Reflection

Being able to review the STaR chart, comprehend its meaning, and why it was relevant to me was one outcome I envisioned. Looking over the Long-Range Plan and what it means to an educational leader was another outcome I envisioned. Every year, I am asked to complete a STaR chart survey and I do. Before I took this course, I had no understanding of why my responses to the chart where relevant. All I knew was that I had to complete it and when I didn't, I was constantly getting reminder e-mails to complete it. It wasn't until this course that I discovered that the STaR chart results help an administrator and the state determine how well prepared a teacher is to equip his/her students with the technology knowledge and skills. I also learned that the Long Range Plan is an ongoing plan to help teachers help students become 21st century learners in an ever changing technological world.
Successful completion of the course assignments were difficult for me. At first glance, the syllabus and assignments were overwhelming. This was mainly because I had not created a blog before, and I thought that reviewing technology standards and plans would be foreign to me. However, after I began working on the assignments and following through with them, I realized that it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Reviewing, quoting, and responding to the articles each week was the most time consuming part of the course. With the end of the school semester and all that comes with it, it was difficult to get the assignments done in a timely manner, but I managed to get them done, with the exception of one week.
My attitude about technology was confirmed after taking this course. We live in a society where the children know quite a bit more than adults do when it comes to technology. With this growing knowledge, we need to be able to expand it by utilizing technology more in the classroom. As my principal stated in my interview of her, we have a building with high tech 21st century equipment and it is being used as an expensive chalkboard. The teachers are not applying the technology skills they are learning in their professional development. As an aspiring administrator, I agree that the professional development of teachers has to come with help in the classroom so that it can transfer better. The action plans do need to have activities built in as Dr. Abernathy and Ms. Cummings stated.
Before I started this course, I honestly didn't know how blogging worked. I hear about it all of the time in the media, but never really knew what it was, until now. After creating a blog for this course and reading how beneficial it is in the classroom, I have considered using it in my classroom. My students are always wanting to get on the computer to do research or play educational games, so I thought, "Why not get them blogging about a story that we are reading together in the classroom? What a great opportunity to introduce them to it for educational purposes? It's a different way to get them to respond, instead of the old fashioned, paper and pencil way. With blogging, students will not only be able to respond to posts from me, but from their classmates as well. As we become more familiar with it, we will be able to blog with other students that may be studying the same story in another classroom or at another campus. Not only will blogging benefit the student, it will benefit parents, as well. Teachers can create blog pages in which parents can keep up to date with learning that is going on in the classroom. Parents will be able to post questions or concerns they may have. The possibilities are endless.
Not only do students and parents benefit from blogging, but other stakeholders do as well. The principal can respond to a student's posted blog or a teacher's. Principals and teachers could communicate via blogs on ideas they may have. They could also open it up to other educators for their input. Blogs could be used to post information so that the community can see what great opportunities are being given to the students in regards to technology.
Although blogging does have its benefits in the educational setting, it has its downfalls as well. If not carefully monitored, students may begin to use these blogging opportunities to post views that are not relevant to their educational learning. They may also use blogging as a bullying tool. Parents may use it to complain about their child's teacher, the principal, or the school.
If we are to create 21st century learners, then we must use 21st Century ideas.

Week 4--Action Plan

Anna Aguirre
Part 1--Organizational Chart

Superintendent
(Dr. Kirk Lewis)

Technology Advisory Committee:
Associate Superintendents
(Joyce Eversole, Candace Ahlfinger, Gloria Gallegos)

Executive Directors
(Karen Gibson)

Directors
(Donna Summers, Sara Wrobleski)

Assistant Directors

Instructional Technology Specialists

Principals

Campus Liaisons

Teachers

Students



Principal: responsible for implementing Pasadena Plus strategies on all campuses;

Teachers: expected to complete Awareness level courses within first year of receiving computer and required to begin integration process by the second year.

Instructional Technology Specialists: responsible for training and working with the campus technology liaisons.

Campus Liaisons: responsible for working with campus faculty, staff, and administrators.

Part 2

Based on data gathered from principal surveys, campus School Technology and Readiness (STaR) charts, Campus Technology Assessments, District Technology Assesments, and Peer to Peer Assessment of Technology and Systems to comparable districts, the committee determined that for technology staff development three categories of workshops had to be designed to meet the needs of teachers and administrators.
• Awareness: skills needed for staff to manage their needs, such as basic operations of computers, e-mail, use of the internet, internet searches, and Technology Planning, Policies, and Procedures.
• Application: skills needed for the staff to acquire the productivity skills they would need for word processing, spreadsheets, databases, thinking maps, nad web design.
• Integration: skills needed to provide teachers with resources and modeling on how to infuse technology and the Internet into the curriculum and instruction.
Our district provides workshops via our Instructional Technology Specialists, outside resources, and campus technology liaisons. If staff members request a workshop they need, the district will provide the training or hire someone from outside the district to provide the training.
After interviewing my campus principal, she stated that she would like to see the district move to an on-line model of instruction for high school, similar to what I am doing here at Lamar University. She stated that she would also like to see students have access to the curriculum on-line and work on research projects with other students in other districts. She continued by stating that they could video conference; make dual presentations using web cams and WIMBA. To have our students actively engaged, my campus principal also stated that the Active Boards need to become more than just a teacher presentation board. They are designed to be interactive between teacher and student and should be used as such. However, before this can be fully implemented, the teacher needs to become more familiar and more fluent in its use.
Part 3

The evaluation of the Action Plan will be ongoing at various levels by the Campus Technology Committee: The campus will set local goals and evaluate its outcome. How the Plan is being implemented and its effectiveness—scheduled implementation dates will be created as well as indicators of its completion; a re-evaluation with assessment tools such as student assessments and teacher surveys will determine the impact of the Plan; Data such as STaR and NCLB requirements will be monitored, collected and analyzed. Recommendations will be considered and applied where appropriate.

Week 2, Part 2--Texas STaR Chart

In the area of Teaching and Learning in the state's Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020, the description states: All learners:

• have access to relevant technologies, tools, resources, and services for individulaized instruction 24/7


• use information and communication technologies to collaborate, construct knowledge and provide solutions to real-world problems.


• use researched-based strategies in all subject areas to improve academic achievement.


• communicate effectively in a variety of formats for various audiences.

In my opinion, I believe that this vision is reachable. However, the vision also states that where a student goes to school or its economic status, size, or location shouldn't be an issue. I don't know if the creators of this plan are envisioning this through foggy glasses or what, but if a poorer district doesn't have the funds to purchase and provide all of the technology necessary to help the students become technologically proficient, the vision will take a very long time to become reality. Nonetheless, looking at this from an optimistic point of view, it may not take as long to reach if funds are supplemented by the state and/or outside organizations.

Yes, the 21st Century is ever-changing and the need and demands for organizations to hire employees who are proficient in the most recent technology available is increasing. However, these businesses need to realize that they need to form partnerships with local schools to provide experiences that will support technology-rich learning environments.

After reviewing the Long Range Plan, it is evident that ongoing plans have been implemented at the state, regional, and local level to meet these goals, but these plans have to continue and improve and not fall to the way side if we are to provide a relevant, technological education to our students.

Week 1, Part4--Technology Applications TEKS Summary

The Pre-K TEKS lay the foundation for student performance in future grades because it is in this early development that students are socially and emotionally developing, developing in language and communication, and emerging into readers and writers, as well as mathematical skills. The foundations that are being built at this age are paving the ground for the way future grades interact with each other when working on cooperative projects; when communicating using technologically advanced skills such as word processing and presentations; and problem solving.

In the Technology Application TEKS, the curriculum scaffolds in the Information Acquisition expectations. In all grade clusters, students are expected to: acquire information including text, audio, video, and graphics; use on-line help; determine the success of strategies used to acquire information; determine the usefulness and appropriateness of digital information.

Week 1, Part 3--Long Range Planning

After analyzing the Long-Range Plan, it is evident that in order for students to be effective 21st Century learners, the responsibility to get them there lies in the hands of everyone in the educational system, not just the classroom teacher. In order for teachers to effectively engage students in this ever-changing, technically advanced world, local, district, and state administrators must support the needs of the teacher and student.

Based on what I have learned, as an instructional leader who is guiding technology use and integration at my campus, I must model the behavior of what I expect. I must professionally develop my technology skills, set aside funding in the budget for technology needs, utilize technology beyond the basics in my everyday use, and create a technology committee, including parents and community partnerships, that will assist me in deciding what is necessary for our campus to be up to date in our technology.

Week 1, Part 2

After reflecting on the Technology Applications Inventory and my responses to each question, about half of my answers were "Yes" and half were "No". Under the first domain, Foundations, the majority of my responses were "Yes". I feel that I am competent in this area. However, in regards to the other three domains, Information Acquisition, Solving Problems, and Communication, I believe that my competence could be greatly improved, especially as I prepare myself to be an administrator. If I am not competent enough in these areas, then I cannot expect my faculty, staff, and students to be.

After completing the SEDTA Teacher Survey, I realized that I am not utilizing technology in my classroom as I should be. Our district curricula is inundated with technology links and experiences, but is not being used as it should be. Personally, if we were required to use technology on a daily basis within our classroom, I think I would be more disciplined in using it. Because of the use of technology in our everyday lives, I know that I need to expose my students to what is available on our campus. This would better prepare them for 21st Century learning.

As a principal, I would say that my experience as a technology leader is minimal to advanced. I can communicate through e-mail, create word processing documents, basic spreadsheets, and powerpoints. I can also use search engines to do basic searches. However, with the new technology equipment available to me, i.e. promethean board, I lack the skills and confidence I need in creating flipcharts for effective use of the board.

Based on the assessments and my results of each, I do agree with the outcome. I need to take more technological professional development classes and utilize the training in and out of my classroom to the fullest.