Final Texas S Ta R Chart
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Sunday, November 29, 2009
STaR Chart Summary
I decided to choose to focus on the four content area, Infrastructure for Technology. I picked this out of the four because our campus and district have made great strides towards our goal of Target Tech. The past few years, our community, district, staff, and students have shared a clear vision of technology and its' implentation inside and outside our classrooms.
Infrastructure for Technology is meant to connect schools to each other, to external resources, and to the Internet. This area asseses the need to integrate technology into the teaching and learning procees to deliver online learning activities and experiences to meet their individual needs as a life long learner. Infrastructure must support "promising practices in teaching and learning, professional development, school leadership, instructional mgt., and operations." (STaR pg. 5)
Comparing the past few years on the STaR chart assessment, we, as a campus and district, have made strides in this area. We have gone from a 14 to a 20, which is from Developing Tech almost to Target Tech. The progress and trends I see are in these three areas: classroom technology, technical support, and distance learning capacity. First, in the past few years our community has provided enough support to provide a Smart Board for over 90% of our classrooms. This is a tool to interact our classrooms with each other and classrooms around the world. We also have documents cameras in every room which takes the place of all our overhead projectors. With the area need of technology, we have also seen the increase in our technology professionals in our school. We have 2 on site technology professionals to assist anyone with problems with connectivity or any other tech problems. They can also come and teach when asked and bring in COWS, computers on wheels. This is an interactive tool to bring in computers for every student instead of going to the library. Lastly, we have a wireless campus that at any place in the school, one can connect to the internet. We have multiple servers and areas to provide distance learning. Teachers and students can use and interact with Moodle, Google, and our school websites away from the classroom. All assignments can be assessed from home. We also have site, Parent Viewer, that helps our parents oversee their sons/daughters grades and progress in all their courses.
The only recommendation I have falls in the Educator Preparation and Development area. With all this technology in place, we have to fast track our teachers to become more ready for this type of movement in education. More meaningful professional developments and time alloted to prepare and collaborate with colleagues and professionals has to be given to be successful.
With this infrastucture in place, technology provides benefits to our families and communities through improved communication and technology knowledge and skills of students, parents, and other community members. This will help us prepare our teachers and students for the fast paced technology in the 21st century.
Infrastructure for Technology is meant to connect schools to each other, to external resources, and to the Internet. This area asseses the need to integrate technology into the teaching and learning procees to deliver online learning activities and experiences to meet their individual needs as a life long learner. Infrastructure must support "promising practices in teaching and learning, professional development, school leadership, instructional mgt., and operations." (STaR pg. 5)
Comparing the past few years on the STaR chart assessment, we, as a campus and district, have made strides in this area. We have gone from a 14 to a 20, which is from Developing Tech almost to Target Tech. The progress and trends I see are in these three areas: classroom technology, technical support, and distance learning capacity. First, in the past few years our community has provided enough support to provide a Smart Board for over 90% of our classrooms. This is a tool to interact our classrooms with each other and classrooms around the world. We also have documents cameras in every room which takes the place of all our overhead projectors. With the area need of technology, we have also seen the increase in our technology professionals in our school. We have 2 on site technology professionals to assist anyone with problems with connectivity or any other tech problems. They can also come and teach when asked and bring in COWS, computers on wheels. This is an interactive tool to bring in computers for every student instead of going to the library. Lastly, we have a wireless campus that at any place in the school, one can connect to the internet. We have multiple servers and areas to provide distance learning. Teachers and students can use and interact with Moodle, Google, and our school websites away from the classroom. All assignments can be assessed from home. We also have site, Parent Viewer, that helps our parents oversee their sons/daughters grades and progress in all their courses.
The only recommendation I have falls in the Educator Preparation and Development area. With all this technology in place, we have to fast track our teachers to become more ready for this type of movement in education. More meaningful professional developments and time alloted to prepare and collaborate with colleagues and professionals has to be given to be successful.
With this infrastucture in place, technology provides benefits to our families and communities through improved communication and technology knowledge and skills of students, parents, and other community members. This will help us prepare our teachers and students for the fast paced technology in the 21st century.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Pre-K Technology
The learning foundation of pre-K students is the ability to acquire information, solve problems, and communicate. With the above statement, we can conclude that technology will help foster this type of life-long learning. This type of environment will be enhanced with there exposure to technology at an early age. Since technology is so interwoven in our society today, we must incorporate it early so it is mastered for future or upcoming grades.
A spiraling or scaffolding is a curriculum that gives students multiple opportunities to master knowledge and skills. For example, I am a Pre-AP World Geography teacher (9th Grade) and my students were introduced maps and map making in the 6th grade. They had to find different areas of the map, key, title, etc. Now in ninth grade, my students take that skill and apply to our map objectives, which can include interpretting flow line maps, cartograms, or comparing different types of maps. They must also take other skills and start making certain asumptions or conclusions by looking at different kinds of maps.
A spiraling or scaffolding is a curriculum that gives students multiple opportunities to master knowledge and skills. For example, I am a Pre-AP World Geography teacher (9th Grade) and my students were introduced maps and map making in the 6th grade. They had to find different areas of the map, key, title, etc. Now in ninth grade, my students take that skill and apply to our map objectives, which can include interpretting flow line maps, cartograms, or comparing different types of maps. They must also take other skills and start making certain asumptions or conclusions by looking at different kinds of maps.
Instructional Leader
Analyzing the Long-Range Plan, I found myself trying to sum up what types of technology guides me through my journey as a leader in education. I reviewed the LRP for a while agreeing with the plan that they set in place for districts state wide. This technological implementation and understading of where we need to be for our 21st century learner is a vast idea to take part in. I do find myself overwhelmed, but at least now I know that there is a plan out there that I can follow through my years in teaching and on my way to be an admistator.
As I read, I pulled out words like; support, collaborate, provide, promote, require, implement, develop, and others and wrote them down. I reviewed them and thought all these words is how I want to create an environment of life long learning. With all the agencies, communities, teachers, and administrators that they mentioned, it came to my knowledge that we are all striving for the same thing, to better our students' future.
I also will take with me that there is plan to follow and take part in. It is layed out there for me and all I have to do is put forth the effort and do my job to the best of my ability. I feel better now that I know that there something to follow in this ever changing world of technology.
As I read, I pulled out words like; support, collaborate, provide, promote, require, implement, develop, and others and wrote them down. I reviewed them and thought all these words is how I want to create an environment of life long learning. With all the agencies, communities, teachers, and administrators that they mentioned, it came to my knowledge that we are all striving for the same thing, to better our students' future.
I also will take with me that there is plan to follow and take part in. It is layed out there for me and all I have to do is put forth the effort and do my job to the best of my ability. I feel better now that I know that there something to follow in this ever changing world of technology.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Comparing the SETDA and TAI Assessments
After taking the two assessments, I found that the two are vastly different. The SETDA is a much more in depth look at you and your districts' technology levels. It puts the entire community, district, and individual in perspective on technology. I truly enjoyed taking the time to complete this test. After taking this one, it was easy to see where I need work and where I don't.
On the other hand, the Technology Applications Inventory assessment was too broad and not specific enough. I felt that this was another assessment that we always get as teachers and just answer as fast as we can to get through it. Nothing is specific or thought provoking. It is bland and a waste of time.
On the other hand, the Technology Applications Inventory assessment was too broad and not specific enough. I felt that this was another assessment that we always get as teachers and just answer as fast as we can to get through it. Nothing is specific or thought provoking. It is bland and a waste of time.
Reflection on Technology Assessments
The last two weeks I have been reading, analyzing, and reviewing technology articles to try to better my classroom environment through my masters journey. I decided to read the two weeks of articles early and then take the two assessments. As I read over my responses of the two assesments, SETDA and technology applications inventory, I am realizing that I have a lot of work to do. These two assessments specified my strengths and weaknesses in technology. . It also gave me an idea of what I need to work on in the future and how my district takes on technology.
My strengths are in the foundations of technology. Through these assessments, I am finding that I have a strong basis to start from. I am proficient in a variety of technology of formats in planning, creating and editing to integrate those in my environment. I found that my strongest asset in technology is my willingness to incorporate, collaborate, and design technology in my classroom. I feel that the future is in technology and for our students to be successful, I have to establish a technology environment.
The other strength I have is an extremely understanding district that is very aggressive on staying up to date in technology. They set up meaningful Professional Developments geared toward educating our teachers on technologies. They give us time to collaborate, plan, and research to incorporate the most up to date technological innovations for the classroom
My weaknesses are those of implementing graphics and other formats for the classroom. I feel that I only know the tip of the ice berg and there is so much more. I am also weak in the terminology of technology. Another weakness is my search for reliable and appropriate sites to validate information on the Web. Other technology that tracks trends, set timelines, and reviews progress, I have not battled yet.
By completing and reviewing the two assessments, SETDA and TAI, puts my strenghs and weaknesses in technology in a more meaningful way. I can now start comparing the two and focus on my upcoming Professional Developments.
My strengths are in the foundations of technology. Through these assessments, I am finding that I have a strong basis to start from. I am proficient in a variety of technology of formats in planning, creating and editing to integrate those in my environment. I found that my strongest asset in technology is my willingness to incorporate, collaborate, and design technology in my classroom. I feel that the future is in technology and for our students to be successful, I have to establish a technology environment.
The other strength I have is an extremely understanding district that is very aggressive on staying up to date in technology. They set up meaningful Professional Developments geared toward educating our teachers on technologies. They give us time to collaborate, plan, and research to incorporate the most up to date technological innovations for the classroom
My weaknesses are those of implementing graphics and other formats for the classroom. I feel that I only know the tip of the ice berg and there is so much more. I am also weak in the terminology of technology. Another weakness is my search for reliable and appropriate sites to validate information on the Web. Other technology that tracks trends, set timelines, and reviews progress, I have not battled yet.
By completing and reviewing the two assessments, SETDA and TAI, puts my strenghs and weaknesses in technology in a more meaningful way. I can now start comparing the two and focus on my upcoming Professional Developments.
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