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

Response & Reflections from Assessments (Week 1, Part 2)

On the Technology Applications Inventory Assessment, the majority of my responses were answered with a yes. There were 58 questions on the assessment and 34 questions were answered with a yes and the other 24 were answered with a no. In the foundations domain, I answered 10 out of the 18 questions with a yes. I understand the majority of the basic functions when dealing with technology. The areas that I am not quite sure about deal with RAM, digital file formats, and capturing digital files. In the information acquisition domain, I answered 4 out of the 10 questions with a yes and the other 6 with a no. I can identify and create different types of files while using online help. Normally I am able to resolve information conflicts as well. I do not understand how to identify source, location, media type, etc of available information. Nor do I understand how to use Boolean search strategies, know the difference between directories and search engines, LANs and WANs, or know anything about vector and bit mapped graphic files. In the domain of solving problems with technology tools, I answered 12 out of the 18 questions with a yes. I can use almost all software to create and share files. I am just not sure about graphic tools, how to participate in interactive virtual environments, or how to use collaborative software. In the last domain, which is communication, I answered 8 out of the 12 questions with a yes. I can use productivity tools, multimedia tools, publish in a variety of ways and know how to effectively communicate.

The other assessment that I chose to take was the SETDA Teacher Survey. I consider myself somewhat of a good technological person. I use the Internet and computer daily. On my campus, data is not being collected in relation to the impact of technology for students in the 21st century. A typical student does not use technology at all in my classroom because there are no computers. On my campus, teachers are expected to use technology regularly and teachers in the same subject-area as me tend to share ideas on how to use technology. I require my students to use word processing, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint. As a teacher, I do not have very many classroom management and organizational strategies for using technology. Best practices with technology are normally shared informally among teachers and almost never are teachers exposed to innovations and best practices in teaching with technology. I consider myself highly skilled in almost all areas of software use except for different database software, authoring tools, or technologies specific to science. I regularly use technology to enhance instruction in the classroom and our campus uses electronic grade books. I use technology daily for all types of communication. Distance learning is non-existent on our campus, our Internet is reliable most of the time, we have quite a wait time for technical support on most occasions, but have about 25-30 computers in a few computer labs on campus. There is full access to Internet, grade book, school server, and online courses for myself outside of school. Most of my students' access to these things is poor or barely adequate. There is no real difference on access to technology by different groups. Our campus and district have a vision of fulfilling technology expectations of the 21st century. My campus does support innovative teaching practices and with the help of technology, my interactions with students' parents has increased moderately. In the last two school years, I have participated in various professional developments that were related to technology use. Our campus does need to offer a lot more staff developments focusing on technology though.

My strengths in educational technology knowledge are that I come from a background of schooling where technology was used for everything. I am also a young new teacher that tries diligently to stay up to date with all the new technology, therefore always on the same page as my students. Another strength I like to consider is the fact that it is not hard for me to figure out how to use various types of technology. Most teachers within my grade level or department come to me with computer technology help and it is not hard to figure out the problem and find solutions. Some of my weaknesses are that I do not know how to use different types of software and am not use to all the new programs becoming available for computers.

I do need help in using different types of specific software designed for my subject area, science. There are many programs and software out there now that I have never heard of and could probably use within the classroom. One thing that I think would really help me in the future would be to have someone show me different ways to integrate technology into the curriculum. I want to move forward in the 21st century and future technology professional development would help me get there. I do agree with the assessments in the sense that there are areas of weakness that need improvement and with help I can overcome those barriers. There are also many improvements that our campus needs to make as a whole in order to meet the technology needs of the 21st century.



http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/techapp/assess/teksurv.pdf
http://www.setda-peti.org/tools.html