Travis P. Yoder
PART I – Organization Chart for Technology
Superintendent: Uphold a clear cut vision of technology and its implementation throughout the district. He ensures a uniform, district wide approach to all technology execution and effectiveness. He is the leader of technology and puts together a technology team. The superintendent supports the teams and everyone included to provide for the 21st century learner.
District Technology Committee –
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Special Programs - advisor to superintendent
Administrator of Instructional Technology – develops, coordinates, implements technology plans
Administrator of Technical Services – installs, maintains all networks on all campuses
Web Services Coordinator – maintains school’s websites
Director of Communications – provides a communication outlet to community and school
Principals from all campuses – develops building level planning and supports the implementation
Campus Technology Staff – oversee on campus technology and its integration
Teachers – create an learning environment with technology
Library Media Specialists – create multimedia projects and have research options for students
Students – provide inside information and thought into technology
Parents and Community – provide support and finances to all institutions
Technology Action Plan Committee – See above job descriptions
Principals from all campuses
Administrator of Technical Services
Library Media Specialists
Campus Technology Staff
PART II – Professional Development Planning –
Our district has changed up our professional developments ideas and implemented a teacher’s oriented day where a guest speaker is coming. In the past few years, our district has overlooked what the teachers have been asking for, but this year we got to choose and create a day that would satisfy the teachers and technology. I believe this fits perfectly into this week’s Part II activity because it was created by teachers for teachers.
January 18, 2010 Professional Development DAY
7:00-8:00 Student Breakfast with Alan November
Student representatives Grades 5-12 (8-10 students) (HS Teacher Lunchroom)
7:30-8:30 Breakfast in the cafeteria for all staff (Sponsored by Praying Parent Organization)
8:30-10:00 Keynote with Alan November: “21st Century Leadership and Learning” (HS Auditorium)
10:00-10:15 BREAK
10:15-3:00 K-12 Counselors (HS Counseling Office)
10:15-3:00 Special Education- Diagnosticians, LSSP, PT, SLP, APE, Nurses (Dr. Mary Dell Donelson)
10:15-3:00 Special Education- Instructional Assistants (Kami Turner)
10:15-11:15 K- 4 Elementary (including ESL, Dyslexia, Sp. Ed. & OT)- Focus Session with Alan November
(HS Auditorium)
10:15-11:15 5-12 Breakout sessions
11:15-12:45 LUNCH (on your own)
12:45-1:45 5-12 Secondary Focus Session with Alan November (HS Auditorium)
Math, MIT (Journalism, Speech, Technology), Science, Health, PE, Sp. Ed., &
Paraprofessionals
12:45-1:45 Breakout sessions
K-4 and 5-12 ELA, Social Studies, LOTE, Fine Arts, Library Media Specialists, ESL, Dyslexia, Sp. Ed., &
Paraprofessionals
1:45- 2:00 BREAK
2:00-3:00 5-12- Secondary Focus Session with Alan November (HS Auditorium)
ELA, Social Studies, LOTE, Fine Arts, Library Media Specialists, ESL, Dyslexia, Sp. Ed., &
Paraprofessionals
2:00-3:00 Breakout sessions
K-4 and 5-12 Math, MIT (Journalism, Technology, Speech), Science, Health, PE, Sp. Ed., &
Paraprofessionals
3:15- 4:30 Debrief & future planning - Principals, Asst. Principals, C & I Staff, Technology Administrators, CIT
(HS Library)
7:00-8:30 PM HP Parent Forum- HS Auditorium
Part III – Evaluation Planning for Action Plan
A) Attendance and collaboration in meetings; teacher STaR Chart; SDAS Goals and Objectives; integration of technology into content
B) Teacher Evaluations; evidence of student and teacher products; teacher lesson plans;
C) Teacher attendance at conference; teachers share information; teachers utilized for District Staff Development opportunities
D) Evidence of teacher awareness of Technology Applications TEKS in lesson plans, student work, classroom observations
E) Integrated best practices in classrooms; potential pilots for campuses; increased availability of training sessions and online courses
F) Teacher transcripts; teacher STaR Chart; proficiency results
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Reflection on Week 5
Reflection on Week 5
I envisioned a course that provided deep understanding of technology implementation into a school or district. My expectations were set low because after I took the pre-test assessment, I found that I was lacking in many areas. With that being said, I wanted to learn about the interworking with technology and what needs to be done to implement it into a school. I also found myself relating to my administrators currently on staff and why they want us to know and create different ideas in staff meetings. I had to dive deep into how our district’s infrastructure to see and understand how it is set up and created. I needed to see the alignment of our curriculum and how it relates to the 21st century learner and teacher. Reviewing and analyzing those plans helped me also to create meaningful professional developments that were engaging to the professional staff we have. Looking back, I believe I achieved most of what I envisioned for myself at the beginning of the course. As I stated before, I started to compare what I was learning with what our current administration was doing.
Through the course, I got the opportunity to interview a few professionals at my school to see if my thoughts and assumptions were correct about our District’s and schools plan for the 21st century learner and teacher. Talking with our school’s technical professional, she told me and helped me analyze our current Long – Range Plan for Technology for our District. We first took a look at the over Texas Long Range Plan and compared the two. Since she was on the board of technology, she gave me great insight on how they decided to put in and leave out of our districts’ plan. I initiated a conversation with her another day trying to find out where we stood today compared with other districts and schools. This is where I began my research with the STaR chart data and how it relates to school. It seems, from the data, that we are on track of a Target area, which tells me that we are accomplishing many technological goals, yet still have many to be reached for. She also explained that technology is a part of the curriculum and is used as a tool for research, information acquisition, problem solving, and communication. This ultimately led to another expectation I had before taking this course was to learn something to put into practice immediately.
The readings and discussions where well structured throughout the weeks where I found different ideas and tested them out during the semester. The articles opened up my eyes a little wider when they discussed how the new students learn and how we need to change what we are currently doing to broaden our students’ idea about school. The assignments pushed me to try new things, like blogging. I am a “digital native” in some areas, but this helped me break old habits and try new ones. One thing on my side is my attitude towards technology. It needs to be implemented because its capabilities are vast.
One of those capabilities is blogging. This is an innovative way to let students comment and analyze other classmate’s ideas, suggestions, or products. It also provides a forum to let them speak their minds in teacher organized fashion. It creates an online discussion forum to let them see if they are following directions correctly. It can also be a resource center or to guide others on how to research online. It promotes reading and writing in an outside forum. Basically, it helps them to collaborate on information about school. Another advantage of blogging is to communicate with the parents and community on what your class is doing at any time. The connects the community and the school and keeps everyone on the same page.
There are some concerns. Blogs may be viewed publicly, as any other Web site. Students must be trained on issues regarding access, privacy, security, and free expression. As blogs have no publisher, producer, or editor, students must carefully consider the content of postings to avoid anything defamatory, or infringing upon the rights of others. Another concern are that blogs are created by individuals for various and assorted purposes and sometimes content should can be misinterpreted and not recognized as the opinion of the blogger. This is where grading can be a bit tougher than usual.
Through this course, I have made the realization that technology makes learning an active process where students are engaged in meaningful learning opportunities. Implementing technology is a tool that allows students to access current information and creates a learning environment that is comparable to the real world. Through my interviews, assignments, videos, readings, the round table interviews, and my own personal experiences, I started to understand how to enhance and enrich campus curriculum, teaching, and learning. After reviewing and analyzing different areas of technology through the course, I came to the conclusion that our educators must learn to access and incorporate a wide variety of appropriate resources for instructional support, research and administrative tasks to better our educational system. By connecting students to an international learning community, we, as teachers, aim to develop life-long learners who are proficient, productive, and capable of successfully competing in our ever changing world. If that vision is shared and implemented, our future students and teachers will work seamlessly with technology in everyday use.
I envisioned a course that provided deep understanding of technology implementation into a school or district. My expectations were set low because after I took the pre-test assessment, I found that I was lacking in many areas. With that being said, I wanted to learn about the interworking with technology and what needs to be done to implement it into a school. I also found myself relating to my administrators currently on staff and why they want us to know and create different ideas in staff meetings. I had to dive deep into how our district’s infrastructure to see and understand how it is set up and created. I needed to see the alignment of our curriculum and how it relates to the 21st century learner and teacher. Reviewing and analyzing those plans helped me also to create meaningful professional developments that were engaging to the professional staff we have. Looking back, I believe I achieved most of what I envisioned for myself at the beginning of the course. As I stated before, I started to compare what I was learning with what our current administration was doing.
Through the course, I got the opportunity to interview a few professionals at my school to see if my thoughts and assumptions were correct about our District’s and schools plan for the 21st century learner and teacher. Talking with our school’s technical professional, she told me and helped me analyze our current Long – Range Plan for Technology for our District. We first took a look at the over Texas Long Range Plan and compared the two. Since she was on the board of technology, she gave me great insight on how they decided to put in and leave out of our districts’ plan. I initiated a conversation with her another day trying to find out where we stood today compared with other districts and schools. This is where I began my research with the STaR chart data and how it relates to school. It seems, from the data, that we are on track of a Target area, which tells me that we are accomplishing many technological goals, yet still have many to be reached for. She also explained that technology is a part of the curriculum and is used as a tool for research, information acquisition, problem solving, and communication. This ultimately led to another expectation I had before taking this course was to learn something to put into practice immediately.
The readings and discussions where well structured throughout the weeks where I found different ideas and tested them out during the semester. The articles opened up my eyes a little wider when they discussed how the new students learn and how we need to change what we are currently doing to broaden our students’ idea about school. The assignments pushed me to try new things, like blogging. I am a “digital native” in some areas, but this helped me break old habits and try new ones. One thing on my side is my attitude towards technology. It needs to be implemented because its capabilities are vast.
One of those capabilities is blogging. This is an innovative way to let students comment and analyze other classmate’s ideas, suggestions, or products. It also provides a forum to let them speak their minds in teacher organized fashion. It creates an online discussion forum to let them see if they are following directions correctly. It can also be a resource center or to guide others on how to research online. It promotes reading and writing in an outside forum. Basically, it helps them to collaborate on information about school. Another advantage of blogging is to communicate with the parents and community on what your class is doing at any time. The connects the community and the school and keeps everyone on the same page.
There are some concerns. Blogs may be viewed publicly, as any other Web site. Students must be trained on issues regarding access, privacy, security, and free expression. As blogs have no publisher, producer, or editor, students must carefully consider the content of postings to avoid anything defamatory, or infringing upon the rights of others. Another concern are that blogs are created by individuals for various and assorted purposes and sometimes content should can be misinterpreted and not recognized as the opinion of the blogger. This is where grading can be a bit tougher than usual.
Through this course, I have made the realization that technology makes learning an active process where students are engaged in meaningful learning opportunities. Implementing technology is a tool that allows students to access current information and creates a learning environment that is comparable to the real world. Through my interviews, assignments, videos, readings, the round table interviews, and my own personal experiences, I started to understand how to enhance and enrich campus curriculum, teaching, and learning. After reviewing and analyzing different areas of technology through the course, I came to the conclusion that our educators must learn to access and incorporate a wide variety of appropriate resources for instructional support, research and administrative tasks to better our educational system. By connecting students to an international learning community, we, as teachers, aim to develop life-long learners who are proficient, productive, and capable of successfully competing in our ever changing world. If that vision is shared and implemented, our future students and teachers will work seamlessly with technology in everyday use.
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