Course Reflections

At the start of this class I envisioned learning about some technology that I have not used and many technology TEKS, that I was not familiar with. However, reflecting back on this class I realize how much I enjoyed reading almost all of the journal articles. I felt each one affirmed a feeling I already had, or if it didn't affirm it open a new door that had previously been closed to technology. For instance, web blogs in the classroom was so motivating to me. The week after reading about web blogs in this class I went to a Gifted and Talented Convention here in Houston. While there I ventured into a workshop about blogs. The teacher giving the lesson explained how useful and exciting they were to use in her reading class. This motivated me to step out of my comfort zone and begin a push for blogging in my school. I know have several fellow teachers as well as the principal pushing for the Blogger site to be approved at our school.

The outcomes that I have achieved from this class are relevant and will continue to be relevant in my career as an administrator. I feel that technology is not turning back; therefore, we must get on board or we will fail as an educational system. Technology is developing faster than most people can learn it; that being said, the educational system and those that run it must pick up the pace. Our duty is educate children to become knowledgeable and productive adults, we are hindering their growth if we do not accept where our society is going and mold our system around that society. Change is inevitable and the longer we drag our feet, the further behind we will fall. There is already too much a gap between technology and education, we must begin to fill it. The knowledge that I have learned in this course will help me and those that I will affect begin to bridge this gap.

I feel like I could have learned more about ways that administrators could go about actually implementing and getting the funds for their district in order to carry out this wide amount of technology that we need. As a principal I feel it is imperative for my students to have access to blogging (within the class) and wikis and direct internet access. What I don't know is what tactics to use when people of authority (i.e.school board members) that do not feel the same way I do. Even community members who do not feel their child should be on the internet and do not understand the safeguards that would be put in place by my teachers and faculty. I feel there is much to be learned on how to handle "roadblocks" and I feel like that could have been integrated into this curriculum well.

The course assignments themselves were quite extensive, but I was able to carry them out. I was very discouraged by the discussion question directions and rules. They were changed in the first week, and the email sent out with the new instructions were quite wordy. I was given a 100 for the 2nd week (which I now know I did wrong). On the 3rd week I did the exact same thing as I did in the 2nd week (because I figured if I received a 100% I was doing it correctly). The 3rd week I received an 80% for discussions (which I did exactly the same way I did the 2nd and 3rd week). After emailing and asking what I did wrong so that I would not do it again, I was told there was a mistake made in grading and the grade was changed to a 100%. Assuming still that I have been doing the discussion questions correctly all along I received an 80% on the 4th week. This all is very aggravating as I emailed my coach on the 3rd week and asked what I was doing wrong and was not given an answer, my grade was simply changed. The inconsistency in grading of discussions was the only drawback to this course. I feel that assignments were useful and the readings were incredibly informative.

Through this course I was able to learn about new technology that I have never heard of, that I am actually interested and excited about bringing more technology in to my classrooms and school, and how to approach people of authority to get on board to push this technology. My attitude at the beginning was that I was fairly technology savvy and that I did not really need to implement 'more' technology into the class. I now feel completely different about that. I feel like I am in a position now to push in any way for more technology in the classrooms and into our curriculum. I have found a side of myself that before hand would have accepted the fact that wireless internet is not a possibility, but now I have decided instead of simply accepting it to find ways to help push for it!

As stated above, I feel that educational blogging is a must in the 21st century. There is no way around the fact that we are becoming more digitized daily. Unless we learn to embrace technology we will be doing a huge disservice for our students. This allows for immediate feedback, being able to communicate with different countries, and cross curricular activities like you wouldn't believe. I do understand the safety issues that cause people to be hesitant towards blogging, but after this course I feel that if we educate our children and teach them proper etiquette, like anything, poor behavior can be lessened.Blogging is to great of an opportunity to miss out on anymore. It is a great tool for education if used correctly.

The concerns of blogs are obvious. Parents fear predators and bullying will prey on unsuspecting children. This is a very real concern and a very scary topic. Every day we can turn on the television and watch as Dateline NBC goes in and busts sexual predators that have found children online and come to harm them. Every day we hear about students who are bullying others online. We hear of students killing themselves because of things that have been said on blogs, chat rooms, cell phones, and Facebook. The only way these problems can every be eliminated is to teach children safety procedures and guards against this. Just like we have the DARE program in schools teaching young children the dangers of drugs and alcohol we must teach them about the dangers of technology. We must have teachers showing examples of proper behavior in blogs, and parents looking over them as well.

Blogging can be used in so many different ways. One way is communicating with key stakeholders of a district. Discussions can be so much more interactive through blogging. Immediate feedback and posts are allowed, and are incredibly useful when trying to gather information. The most important, in my opinion, role that blogs can have for communication in schools is having more input and differing viewpoints. When a problem arises, the more input that is received and ideas placed on the table, the better the resolution can be.Also, the quicker ideas can be accumulated the sooner stakeholders are able to lay out options and make a final decision on a topic. Communication is vital in running a school, I feel that blogging (if used correctly) could be the most beneficial tool technology has offered us since email.

Texas S Ta R Chart Presentation

Rogers is moving up in TECHNOLOGY!

Texas S Ta R Chart Presentation

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Administration & Instructional Support in theTexas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020

Administration and Instructional Support is an area where the campus plan for the students success is supported and backed by the districts board as well as each school administrator/administrators. Locally, our district has held a very stable "Advanced" classification for the past 3 years. At the state level, only 3.6% of schools have met the "Targeted Tech" classification. I am unsure how to get the national progress of this criteria. Trends in this area locally are that of gradually increasing over the years. We are inching our way toward the "Targeted Tech" classification. State progress looks very grim. And again nationally, I could not find percentages. My recommendations for improvement in this area is to not only get more training for teachers but also for administrators. Administrators must be the driving force behind advancing in technology and to keep up-to-date on information. We also need extensive training for teachers and wireless internet connectivity in each classroom in order for teachers to make their own strives in getting to the next classification area.

Pre-K Technology Applications TEKS

Pre-K TEKS lay the foundation for student performance in technology just like it does in the basic core subjects. These TEKS teach our small children the basic skills needed in order to learn the more difficult tasks each year. For instance, they learn to double click the mouse in order to open a program. If they do not have this skill down, by the time they get to kindergarten they will be slightly behind other children in their class. However, with the help of our curriculum for technology being a spiral curriculum if these students do not grasp the concept the first time they will have the opportunity the following year to learn it. Not all children are ready to learn at the exact same time, but with the repeated use of our spiraling curriculum they will not miss the opportunity. The opportunity will keep coming around to them until they have grasped and mastered the concept.

Analysis of the Long-Range Plan

Through reviewing this long-range plan I gained tons of knowledge about the path our Texas government hopes technology education will move in. I found this quite an interesting read. I had no idea that there was actually a Vision 2020. This was the first that I had heard of it. Therefore, most of this reading was new knowledge to me. I feel like this new knowledge will assist me as an instructional leader because I will know the goals that are set up for me by my government. It helps to know the path you are expected to follow. I will focus on bringing more distance learning into my classroom, whether it be by having pen-pals from across the country/world for my students, or discussion boards about books that we are reading in class. I feel these are just a couple of the ways that I can integrate more technology in my classroom as well as across my campus.

Week 1 Assignment

Through the “Technology Applications Inventory” and the SETDA survey for “The Teacher” I found that I am more technology proficient than I had originally thought. In the first survey I thought myself proficient in 55 out of the possible 58 questions. I do need to learn how to capture digital files and make sure they are under 125k. This is one thing I do not feel secure in. Another goal I have is to learn the difference between a vector graphic file and a bitmapped graphic file. I feel like I probably know what these are, I just do not know them in this technical terminology. And lastly on this from taking this quiz I feel I should make it a priority to learn how to create and save files that can be used cross platform. I am not sure what “cross platform” is, but I intend to learn very soon.

“The Teacher” SETDA survey I feel that our school and myself are about on par, if not ahead of the pack as far as technology in the school. I feel that I am very knowledgeable in things such as SMART boards and document cameras. Also, I am very inept at teaching and using PowerPoint presentations and having students produce different types of assignments using technology. I do feel that I don’t offer enough “in lab” time, and plan to adjust my lesson plans to allow more time in computer labs. I feel that doing this will help me figure out what training I would like to do and or teach for fellow teachers.

All in all I feel that these surveys were very useful. Often times we just kind of plan our lessons that will be the easiest for us as teachers. This made me step back and think how I can better benefit my students by placing more technology use in my lesson plans.