As an educational technology campus facilitator taking this class, I hoped to achieve more knowledge in the area of technology use within the school system. I was not very sure as to what guideline needed to be followed by the staff and I and I can honestly say I have learned a lot through the course of this class. I achieved success through this course and therefore walked away with resources, knowledge, and friends that can help me in the future with technology and for my job. Throughout this course we were asked to use several types of technology in order to produce our assignments and the instructions and resources were quite beneficial. I wanted to learn about new technologies to be used within the classroom and on campus and that is exactly what I got throughout this course. I learned about blogs, wikis, video conferencing, and many other applications and sites that were listed within our articles. I plan to keep all the articles for future reference.

    The achieved outcomes that were the end results of this course were using different types of technology in order to produce various types of assignments. I have never had the opportunity to work with blogs before and honestly did not know how until I took this course. With the professors' instructions and other people's help, I was able to produce my own blog and learn how to follow other blogs in order to leave comments. The work done within this course is still relevant to my job because my job consists of daily communication and collaboration. If I were able to convince the staff and administration to use blogs on my campus like some schools did within the articles, I believe they would be quite beneficial. We still do faculty meetings the old fashion way and it takes a lot of time and with blogs, those meetings would no longer be necessary. Also if I were able to teach the staff how to use video conferencing, which I already use for lessons as of this year, staff members could meet with anyone, anytime, and anyplace.

    As far as outcomes that I did not achieve, I would probably have to say I am still unsure as of how to use all the technology used within this class. Like I mentioned earlier, I had never used blogs up until this course. It was very difficult in one of the assignments we had in week for where we had to produce and action plan along with the organizational chart and post it to our blog. I have no experience with blogs; therefore I had to Google a lot of articles in order to find out how to post my organizational chart because the blog doesn't allow you to copy and paste. It took a lot of time, trial and error, and frustration. In the end I did achieve what I was trying to do and got my chart posted on my blog, but still am very unsure as of how I did it. Having no knowledge in areas of technology software or technology in general prevented me from being able to produce the type of assignments I wanted to and will still prevent me in the future from using the technology like I want to. I need someone to sit down with me and show me.

    I was successful in carrying out the course assignments because I am still very familiar with a lot of the basic programs and technology. When I start getting into areas of using collaborating programs, etc., that is where my expertise weakens. I was able to complete every weekly assignment with the help of instructions from our coach, professors, and fellow students. Having the ability to communicate and collaborate with others really helped with this course in producing the weekly assignments. The only drawback that discouraged my work was constantly questioning myself if I did the assignments correctly because I had no experience with the stuff we were asked to do. Luckily with help and following the rubric, I was able to complete all assignments.

    From this course I am taking the knowledge with me that there are other productive ways to communicate, produce information, and collaborate. There is also a whole world of information on how to keep our students and staff safe within the technological world. I learned about different sites that produce resources to keep children safe while on the Internet, resources for parents to use in order to keep their kids safe, and resources for educators to keep children safe. From this class, I also realized that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. My attitudes were still some of the same, I get stressed out and overwhelmed in tough situations where I am not too sure as what to expect or what is expected of me, but I still work well under pressure. I learned that with the right kind of research, time, effort, and patience I was able to learn all the technology that was used in this class and I should be able to do the same with my job. I was able to help my fellow classmates on the assignments when they didn't quite understand something and I do that daily with my job. I am a leader and work hard to make sure others achieve success as well. As a facilitator or any type of educator, being knowledgeable in different areas helps you to become successful as well as others. I need to work on keeping a positive attitude and tell myself that if I work hard enough I can achieve anything, which was evident with this course.

    As a facilitator for campus technology, I could really see using blogs with staff and students as a beneficial tool to communicate and collaborate. Blogs provide a great deal of educational value for 21^st century learners in the fact that most people are doing with the traditional paper and pencil. We as a society are communicating more with technology than ever was done before. Emails, blogs, video conferencing sites, etc. are being used as valuable forms of communication. Blogs allow for people to post ideas, videos, pictures, while others comment on the blogs. Blogs can keep up –to-date information posted by the author of the blog. I feel blogs would be beneficial for teachers to use with students so communication and collaboration could continue outside of the classroom. Also blogs could be used for staff members as a way of constant communication and feedback instead of weekly or monthly meetings like our staff have to take part of.

    As an educator, my concerns for blogs are maintaining the children's safety. In today's technological world, the Internet is an open door given to molesters and other hurtful people to gain access to children. When using blogs for education, it is hard to control safety of the children at all times. There are also has to be specific rules and procedures set in place on what can and can't be posted on blogs. Permission needs to be given from administration and parents in order to use blogs for educational purposes. I believe the safety and ethical behaviors of students and staff that uses the blogs is a major concern for using them in education.

    From the course of this class I have gained ideas on how to use blogs for communication purposes with school stakeholders. Blogs can be used to communicate anything from agendas, to school changes, and decisions made by staff members on campus. Blogs can be used within the classroom for students and teachers to communicate and continue discussions from daily lessons or about projects. I also feel blogs could be used to communicate ideas and actions being taken in class with parents. Parents could post comments on blogs and the teachers could respond immediately, especially when parents don't have time to meet with the teachers or call.

    Overall throughout the course of this class I have gained a lot of knowledge from this course and will hold on to the resources that were given to me from articles in the class for future reference. With all technology today there are good parts and bad parts to it. We as educators have to learn to overcome the bad and use technology to make education easier and more intriguing. Our educational system must learn to provide technology for students to be successful in the 21^st century. It is our job as educators to make sure we provide that technology and prepare our students for the future.

WEEK 4 Organizational Chart

Week 4 Assignment- Action Plan

Week 4 Assignment, Part 1: Development of an organization chart integrating technology

Using the campus and district improvement plans, and any suggested technology improvements, develop an organization chart that includes the following:

 

• Identify by title or job description all personnel/stakeholders responsible for integrating technology and instructional and organization leadership from the district office to the campus and classroom;
  
• Provide a brief description of the role and responsibilities of all identified personnel in your organizational chart;
  
• Discuss the role of the principal in making sure the organizational chart is implemented and monitored.
  

 

 

http://www.harlingen.isd.tenet.edu/chart.html

Superintendent- Along with the board members, the superintendent oversees all campuses within the district. He is responsible for making changes to the district, responsible for appraisal of curriculum & technology, ensures the rights of all staff and students are respected.

Deputy Superintendent- Within our district, the deputy superintendent is responsible for all secondary principals as well as the technology director. He approves changes needed to be made for our benchmarking schedules, staff development days, and curriculum.

Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum & Instruction- This position is responsible for the same duties as the deputy superintendent but the assistant superintendent is responsible for elementary prinicpals and the staff development director. They are also in charge of working with the newly hired district level facilitators for this school year.

Technology Director- Is in charge of technology needs within central office as well as campuses. The technology director helps with training for central office staff and helps guide technicians for campuses.

Staff Development Director- The staff development director for our district is responsible for arranging all staff developments that are held at central office. They range from in house trainings to online courses for technology. She is responsible for bringing trainers from Region 1 or other places to provide staff development for all district staff.

Principals- Secondary and elementary principals are responsible for implementing rules, procedures, technology, curriculum & instruction, and providing a safe environment for students and staff on campus. Principals are responsible for implementing and enforcing changes to curriculum where staff must integrate technology. A prinicple is the backbone of support for their campus.

Facilitators- Every campus in our district as of this year now has a facilitator. Our facilitator is responsible for implementing curriculum changes and offering feedback to curriculum for our teachers. The facilitator is in charge of all Pre-Ap students and the curriculum for Pre-Ap. She is also responsible for our RTI program and AVID, which is being started this year. Our facilitator also is in charge of setting up trainings for staff and helping with the implementation of technology.

General Education Teachers- Teachers are responsible for integrating technology into the curriculum and following the state mandated TEKS for curriculum and technology. Teachers are also responsible for creating a safe environment within the classroom for students, communicating with parents and other staff, implementing ethical and legal behavior for students towards technology, and are also responsible for all rules and procedures from the district down to the campus level.

Campus Instructional Technologist- She is responsible for holding technology trainings, helping teachers to fill out the yearly STaR chart, AVID, and helping teachers with general technology questions that may occur on a daily basis. She also the campus' computer teacher and helps staff with online technology trainings and resources as well.

Technology Support Specialists- He is responsible for maintaining technology and inventory of technology on our campus. He is the go to person when staff are having problems with technology. He is also responsible for finding the technology needed by staff on our campus and updating our network.

Other Stakeholders- This includes students, parents, and the community. Students are responsible for making sure they receive and education and the parents should be the support system our students need outside of the classroom. Together all stakeholders and educators can help all students to succeed.

The principal is responsible for making sure this organization chart is implemented by following the proper rules and procedures. In order for the principal to implement changes to technology and curriculum, especially if they are major changes, they must get the approval from their boss. In our district, my principal's boss is the Deputy Superintendent School Support Services, Mr. Art Cavazos. Everything goes through Mr. Cavazos such as changing our curriculum timelines, technology training days, staff development make up days, approval for extended work days hours so we don't have to work on designated Saturdays, etc. The principal is responsible for listening to staff's needs and work with the proper channels to make the channels. The principal is also responsible for making sure that there is a constant open line of communication between their campus and student's parents. Principals are responsible for making sure that students are getting the necessary education needed in order to be successful within the 21st century. Now more than ever, principals need to focus on technology being used in every classroom and integrated into all curriculum. If they can provide the necessary trainings, vision for their campus, support for their staff, trust, and communication, their campus can achieve the ultimate level of success. Just like the professors said in the roundtable discussion, technology doesn't always work the first time. Administrators provide a safe environment for teachers to try technology in classrooms and encourage teachers to keep trying. Principals are the problem solvers and trouble shooters. Principals also have to have patience and perserverance with their staff.

 

Week 4 Assignment, Part 2: Professional Development Planning

Using the campus and district improvement plans, and any suggested technology improvements, develop professional development activities that include the following:

 

• Reference analysis and lessons learned about the technology needs from the Week 3 report;
  
• Addresses professional development designed to improve the gathering, analysis and use of data from a variety of sources;
  
• Includes professional development to improve decision making in the integration of technology with instructional and organizational leadership.
  

 

    Every summer right before the new school year starts, our campus instructional technologist, staff, and administration work together to discuss our previous year's STaR chart and complete the upcoming year STaR chart. Based on the teacher's surveys, we can determine what technology is available, what trainings teachers may have already had towards technology, and what technology and training still may be required for the campus to move forward with the integration of technology. We also have the opportunity to discuss any obstacles we may have come across in using the technology and gain insight from each other on how to overcome those obstacles.

    

     After the interviews, assessing the AEIS data for my campus and looking at areas of weakness, analyzing the campus' STaR chart, and the tech survey, it has been determined that more support and better professional development is needed for the campus. Professional development is available each year for many areas, including technology and are appropriate for technology training, but changes need to be made. After my interview with an administrator, Dr. Joe Rodriguez, I was very surprised to hear how he felt that although professional development may be good in the essence that teachers are trained how to use technology, teachers are not shown how to integrate it in the classroom curriculum. I felt that was a well made point and all professional development should be done in depth, teaching educators how to use the technology towards their specific curriculum. Professional development can be done through analyzing all the necessary data from AEIS, STaR chart, and teacher technology surveys, to see where technology is needed; therefore professional development can be broken up into specific areas of need. It is hard having training for all staff in a large group setting when some staff may not need that specific training for technology use, but instead may need training in another specific area.

 

    Some professional development that can be used to better my campus with technology use would be using a new form of professional development where teachers can actually have trainings within their classroom setting, using only resources that are available to teachers on a regular daily basis. It is very frustrating when you go to a training and the presenter has everything imaginable for the training, but you go back to your classroom and don't have any of those resources available. In this situation where professional development is made available to teachers in a realistic classroom setting, teachers can learn firsthand how to integrate the technology to the best of their abilities with the available resources. Also I do not think that any of the teachers on my campus are truly aware of the tech TEKS that we are supposed to be following daily/yearly. I honestly was not until taking this class. There needs to be a professional development training that guides teachers on how to address these TEKS using specific strategies and shows teachers how to properly implement them. Another professional development that would be useful to our campus would be Atomic Learning. I was made aware of this program through other teachers that use this on-line tutorial program in other districts. It is a neat concept because there are so many tutorials for technology use that teachers would have access to 24/7. An administrator can purchase the license use for their campus and give access to all their staff. I will make this aware for my administrator and hope to have access to it as soon as possible.

 

    When I started my teaching career, I was given a mentor that helped me on a daily basis and it was the best experience I could have ever had. I learned how to do my job right and I made a great friend. We both learned from each other. This may not be part of professional development, but our district does believe in every new teacher having a mentor on their campus. It is the principal's job to assign a mentor for the new hires. There needs to be a strong mentor support system on campus where new technology savvy educators are paired with veteran teachers whose strengths are not in technology. In this situation, the new teachers can offer support to veteran teachers in technology, while veteran teachers can offer support in curriculum and instruction. If mentors and mentees are paired up in this situation, both can benefit by collaborating on how to integrate technology into the curriculum and instruction. In the process they can share their ideas with other teachers, therefore the entire campus moves forward. I know that my first year I was constantly being asked on how to do certain things with technology and it made me feel important because although I may have been new, I was able to help veteran teachers besides them helping me. Also one last idea to help my campus in the area of technology would be to have our campus instructional technologist attend an annual instructional technology conference or other trainings and bring back ideas on how to train the staff with the newest uses of technology. Our CIT needs to always be up-to-date with the latest technology changes in order for our campus to meet state standards with technology and to make sure our students are receiving the proper education in order to assure their success for the future. Based on project tomorrow surveys, students have access to many mobile devices and use technology for many things such as online testing, online classes, collaboration, and communication. We as campuses have to stop looking at certain types of technology as roadblocks and start integrating them into our curriculum in order to maintain our students enthusiasm for learning and keep them intrigued.

 

    Ultimately the success of a campus depends on the leaders. Administrators have to gain support from central office and be willing to make any changes necessary to help their campus achieve success. They must constantly analyze data, find areas of weakness, require proper trainings for staff, make necessary resources available, and promote the integration of technology in the classroom.

 

Week 4 Assignment, Part 3: Evaluation Planning for Action Plan

The technology action plan integrating instructional an organizational leadership must include evaluation components that provide measurable outcomes designed to address the following:

 

• Uses data and other analysis from the Week 3 report, including using the campus and district improvement plans, and local or state technology plans;
  
• Provides assessments and/or monitoring reports measuring professional development designed to use technology to improve the gathering, analysis and use of data from a variety of sources;
  
• Provides assessments and/or monitoring evaluating professional development to improve decision making in the integration of technology with instructional and organizational leadership.
  

    In our district, we run on a nine week schedule. We consist of four quarters that make up our school year. If we are going to provide the professional development needed in order to make sure all staff is following the required technology TEKS and integrating technology into the curriculum, there must be some sort of evaluation process in order to measure our success as a campus.

    As part of evaluating the action plan, we could create surveys through Survey Monkey that would be administered to teachers on campus every nine weeks. This surveys will be used to monitor the teachers and campus' progress. Also instead of just administrators being the people that observe teachers and their use of technology, our campus facilitator and campus instructional technologist can administer walkthroughs as well to observe teachers and their progress with integrating technology into curriculum and instruction.

    Overall the principal's observation reports, campus instructional technologist's observation reports, the teacher's surveys that are given each nine weeks, and surveys to students and parents at the end of the year can be used to evaluate the trends of technology use on campus and with teachers. All of these evaluations will be used to determine the campus' successes and failures in the integration of technology with organizational and instructional leadership. This will all be done at the end of the year, therefore making administrators and staff aware of changes that need to be made for the following year. With these evaluations, professional development changes can be made, trainings can be administered for specific areas, and the proper resources can be made available for staff in time for the upcoming school year. Changes are always needed for a campus to become better and the only way to move forward is to work together and share the same visions. Administrators are the leaders and are responsible for making sure that their campus follows all TEKS, analyzes all the data, and makes changes necessary for their campus in order to be successful.

 

Week 4 Assignment, Part 4: Posting your Action Report and Responding to Other Students' action plans

Using the discussion board and the blog that you have developed, please write and post your action plan, and be sure to:

• Read and review at least two other action plans
  
• Respond to other action plans by posting your comments and reflections
  

  
   

The purpose of the action report is to provide you with recommended procedures for gathering, analyzing, and using data from a variety of sources for informed campus decision making focusing on the effective integration of technology in curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development. Students may wish to use this action plan as one of your school improvement projects for your Electronic Portfolio. You may also use the Week 3 and Week 4 assignments as campus supervised hours for your internship logs. As indicated these two weeks fall under Domain II, Instructional Leadership, and address elements of Competencies 4, 5 and 7.

 

Resources:

http://www.tomorrow.org/

http://starchart.esc12.net/

http://www.surveymonkey.com/

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis/

Pre-K TEKS (Week 1, Part 4)

The Pre-K Technology TEKS lay the foundation for the development of 21st century skills that young children need in order to learn and grow. Upon the completion of Pre-K, the students should be capable of using age appropriate software, appropriate terminology and vocabulary towards technology, and be able to follow basic oral and visual cues for operating programs successfully. All the skills learned within Pre-K are prerequisites that lay down the basic foundation for students in the future. Upon the successful completion of Pre-K, students will be responsible in continuing to learn and follow the state mandated technology TEKS for K-8. Students will be responsible for knowing these TEKS by the end of their 8th grade year.

Students are responsible for obtaining the proper knowledge and skills to complete and follow the technology TEKS by the time they reach the end of 8th grade. When a teacher uses a spiraling or scaffolding curriculum, they are responsible for combining technology and content to help students achieve the highest amount of success. Some examples of scaffolding with the technology TEKS is 10B for communication, from K-2 which states, the student is expected to use font attributes, color, white space, and graphics to ensure that products are appropriate for the communication media including multimedia screen displays and printed materials. The spiraling TEKS continue on to grade 3-5 and 10C for communication says, the student is expected to use appropriate application including, but not limited to, spreadsheets and databases to develop charts and graphs by using data from various sources. As they move to the TEKS in 6-8 the spiraling TEKS include, 10C which states, the student is expected to create a variety of spreadsheet layouts containing descriptive labels and page settings. 10E in 6-8 grade states the students is expected to match the chart style to the data when creating and labeling charts.

As represented in the examples above, you can clearly see how the scaffolding of curriculum and the technology TEKS occurs over the course of the students' education. Pre-K lays the solid foundation for students to be prepared for the 21st century. With the spiraling of content and the TEKS, students are able to build on the previous knowledge and build their foundations to the depth needed in order to compete with the 21st century.

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/ta/stustd.html

Fantastic Memorial Middle School: STaR Chart Information

This is the summary of my findings for Memorial Middle School STaR Chart information. This covers school years 2006-2007, 2007-2008, and 2008-2009.

S Ta R Chart Presentation Edld 5352

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STaR Chart (Week 2, Part 2)

The STaR Chart is an online resource tool used for self-assessment of a campus' and district's efforts to effectively integrate technology across the curriculum. The area of the chart that I choose to discuss is "Infrastructure for Technology." Challenges remain in this area because not all districts and campuses have the connectivity and tools needed to integrate technology in the teaching and learning process or to deliver online learning experiences to meet individual needs. The individual areas that make up this part of the STaR Chart include: students per computer, Internet access/connectivity speed, other classroom technology, technical support, LAN & WAN, and distance learning capacity.

From the 2006-2007 school year till the present, our campus has yet to make any improvements on students per computer area of the chart. We have yet to get any rating higher than Advanced Tech in INF1 because our campus does not support the number of computers needed for each student. Overall all areas in the "Infrastructure of Technology," receive and Advanced Tech rating or lower each year. Most classrooms may have up to three computers if any. According to the U.S. Census Bureau for the 2005-2006 school year, there were 14 million computers available for classroom use as opposed to the 55 million that were enrolled in schools. That is a very large gap. Only 54% of the nation's schools had Internet, 84% of the schools had high speed Internet, and only 19% had distance learning programs. I have had the opportunity to visit all middle schools campuses in my district and it seems as though all classrooms are about the same in the fact that most classes may have anywhere from 0 to 4 computers. All campuses have high speed Internet, but what good are we doing for the students and meeting their individual needs if we don't even have the amount of technology needed to support it?

Overall I feel as though the only way to truly improve this area is to make all the funds and resources available in order for the technology to surpass all odds. Campuses, districts, and states need to make the budget for technology the number one priority to help meet the needs of students in the 21st Century. All campuses should be required to have "working" high speed Internet. One other suggestion that I would make is that all campuses, not just high schools, have distance learning programs available for students. Students are becoming more knowledgeable in areas that we never could have dreamed of. It should be our priority to make sure that students receive that knowledge through every imaginable possibility when they walk through our campus' doors.

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/09s0252.pdf

http://starchart.esc12.net/

Analysis of the Long-Range Plan (Week 1, Part 3)

After reading the different parts of the Long-Range Plan, I discovered how many parts are involved within this plan. The vision for 2020 is that all students will be able to access digital tools 24/7 and be prepared to thrive in a global workforce. Parents and educators will also have 24/7 access to communication and resource tools. There are three phases to the plan and the four parts include: learners, leaders, educators, and infrastructure. Technology savvy students are the future of our economy and we must be able to provide the technology needs of the 21st Century for these students within the educational system. Learning must be tailored to the students' individual needs and the only way for that to truly be done is through technology. Lack of knowledge towards technology and time constraints were barriers teacher faced when trying to integrate technology within the classroom. Curriculum that ensures the use of technology, flexibility to try new things, and more opportunities to visit classrooms, are all challenges that impact teaching and learning. Professional development must be provided to assure mastery of the technology standards by all educators. It should include new ways to teach that lead to improvements in student academic achievement. Administrators need to be the true supporters of integrating technology in the curriculum and classroom. Administrators must make technology an integral part of their professional activities and assure others do as well. Appropriate instructional support is needed by administrators to ensure teachers fully integrate technology into the curriculum and maximize educational benefits from the investment of technology. Texas must plan for a 21st Century educational environment and will need a truly high-performance infrastructure to take advantage of new technologies that can significantly reduce costs, increase student access, and improve communication with stakeholders. A safe, secure, flexible, and reliable infrastructure must be required by all districts. The ETAC will help the state of Texas overcome barriers within the plan. The new long-range plan will guide districts in Texas in the effective use of technology in a way that will prepare students to learn and work in the 21st Century.

This new learning can assist me as an instructional leader who is guiding technology use in the fact that it needs to be a main priority. I have to work with administrators and staff to push technology as a main focus in the classroom. I must learn to integrate technology use with the core curriculum. The integration of technology and curriculum should be a main focus with all subjects and grade levels on campus. Students must be provided with a profound amount of technology use to meet their own individual needs. I must learn to assess students, not just on what they can do on paper, but how they can integrate technology use with their own personal learning styles and the curriculum being taught.

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/lrpt/lrpt_lrpt.html