The Texas STaR Chart - Working
The Texas STaR Chart - Working "TOGETHER"
Towards A Technology-Enriched Future
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020
My eyes have been opened wider and I am learning so much. After reading and learning more about the STaR Chart, it has made me change my mind on how seriously I should take this yearly survey at my school. We have been taking this survey for quite a few years and the majority of the teachers feel it is just a waste of time. Most of the time some teachers just answer Developing Technology all the way because they want to hurry up and finish the survey and go back to what they were doing. After looking over the results of our survey for the past three years, I have concluded that our school needs the most work on Educator Preparation and Development.
The key area totals for the three years were 10, 8 & 11. Some people might think that it is weird that we went down in the middle year but I really do not. I believe that we went down from developing tech to early tech because in 2007-2008 we were concentrating more in getting out of Level 5 AYP status and technology was left in the back burner. Presently we are back at developing tech but we need to work harder to advance more every year. Our school district and school are very luck to have top quality technology equipment and software but what we are lacking is more staff development and follow through. The technology is out there to help all teachers with their content area and I believe if the school district were to use one of the staff development days at the beginning of the school year for technology training, the teachers would be more receptive to use technology more.
Our school offers technology staff developments during our conference periods but it is usually having to do with our grade book or our website. They have shown us how to have our own web page so that our students and parents can look at what we are doing in class. We have one English teacher that is great at using his web page as part of the his class. His students have to log in and turn in their assignment to him online. He keeps it updated as often as possible. His name is always brought up as a great example but what our administration and technologhy coordinator needs to do is have him present a staff development on how he sets up his home page and what he expects his students to do when they enter his homepage.
Overall, our progress is slow. I believe we have some of the best technology around. Our teachers all have smart boards and Eiki machines in their classrooms which I am sure every teacher in the state would love but now what we need is the time and people to teach us to explore what is out there. Once we explore and learn about what technology can do to improve our way of teaching than the sky is the limit.
The key area totals for the three years were 10, 8 & 11. Some people might think that it is weird that we went down in the middle year but I really do not. I believe that we went down from developing tech to early tech because in 2007-2008 we were concentrating more in getting out of Level 5 AYP status and technology was left in the back burner. Presently we are back at developing tech but we need to work harder to advance more every year. Our school district and school are very luck to have top quality technology equipment and software but what we are lacking is more staff development and follow through. The technology is out there to help all teachers with their content area and I believe if the school district were to use one of the staff development days at the beginning of the school year for technology training, the teachers would be more receptive to use technology more.
Our school offers technology staff developments during our conference periods but it is usually having to do with our grade book or our website. They have shown us how to have our own web page so that our students and parents can look at what we are doing in class. We have one English teacher that is great at using his web page as part of the his class. His students have to log in and turn in their assignment to him online. He keeps it updated as often as possible. His name is always brought up as a great example but what our administration and technologhy coordinator needs to do is have him present a staff development on how he sets up his home page and what he expects his students to do when they enter his homepage.
Overall, our progress is slow. I believe we have some of the best technology around. Our teachers all have smart boards and Eiki machines in their classrooms which I am sure every teacher in the state would love but now what we need is the time and people to teach us to explore what is out there. Once we explore and learn about what technology can do to improve our way of teaching than the sky is the limit.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Summary of the Pre-K Technology Applications TEKS
As a child begins their educational career, Pre-Kinder is probably the most important grade level for a child in Texas. The 2008 Texas Pr-Kindergarten Guidelines feature five very important domains that a child needs and will use throughout elementary, middle school and high school but most importantly in college and in the real world. The five domains are: Social and Emotional Development, Language and Communication, Emergent Literacy: Reading, Emergent Literacy: Writing, and Mathematics. These are the five basic domains a child will hopefully take with them as they go from one grade level to another.
After reading about a spiral curriculum, I have come to the conclusion that it is when a teacher teaches or exposes a student about a certain topic for a short period of time and then brings is up again a few weeks or months later or even a year later. If the student does not understand or pick up the topic the first time, then maybe he will understand it when it is brought up a later time. Reading over the Technology Applications TEKS (K-12), one example of spiraling curriculum are in Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-8. In the Grades 6-8 TEKS, the students build on the Grades 3-5 knowledge and skills. The students continue to demonstrate keyboarding proficiency in technique and posture while building speed. A second example of spiraling curriculum is from Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5. In Grades K-2, students learn the basic skills of keyboarding and inputting information; they use technology to access information and make projects. In Grades 3-5, the students take what they learned in Grades K-2 and expand on it by using the technology to solve problems and using the correct keyboarding techniques.
Overall if the student does not learn keyboarding that well in the 1st Grade, then maybe he or she will pick it up better when he or she is the 2nd or 3rd Grade. The student might not have picked up keyboarding too well in the 1st Grade but he or she will know the basics so that when he or she is in the 2nd and 3rd Grade keyboarding will become a bit easier and understandable. There has been time that I am discussing adjectives in my theatre class because I want them to use them when describing a certain character in a play. There are times when I get the question "What is an adjective?" so I tell them that they should have learned what an adjective was when they were in elementary but I go ahead and give them the definition and refresh their minds. Most of the time, refreshing our students' minds is all a spiral curriculum does. We teach it once and then come back to it later.
After reading about a spiral curriculum, I have come to the conclusion that it is when a teacher teaches or exposes a student about a certain topic for a short period of time and then brings is up again a few weeks or months later or even a year later. If the student does not understand or pick up the topic the first time, then maybe he will understand it when it is brought up a later time. Reading over the Technology Applications TEKS (K-12), one example of spiraling curriculum are in Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-8. In the Grades 6-8 TEKS, the students build on the Grades 3-5 knowledge and skills. The students continue to demonstrate keyboarding proficiency in technique and posture while building speed. A second example of spiraling curriculum is from Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5. In Grades K-2, students learn the basic skills of keyboarding and inputting information; they use technology to access information and make projects. In Grades 3-5, the students take what they learned in Grades K-2 and expand on it by using the technology to solve problems and using the correct keyboarding techniques.
Overall if the student does not learn keyboarding that well in the 1st Grade, then maybe he or she will pick it up better when he or she is the 2nd or 3rd Grade. The student might not have picked up keyboarding too well in the 1st Grade but he or she will know the basics so that when he or she is in the 2nd and 3rd Grade keyboarding will become a bit easier and understandable. There has been time that I am discussing adjectives in my theatre class because I want them to use them when describing a certain character in a play. There are times when I get the question "What is an adjective?" so I tell them that they should have learned what an adjective was when they were in elementary but I go ahead and give them the definition and refresh their minds. Most of the time, refreshing our students' minds is all a spiral curriculum does. We teach it once and then come back to it later.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Responses and Reflections - Two Technology Assessments
After taking the Requisite Technology Skills Assessment and the Teacher SETDA survey, I was a bit shocked at the results. The results of the two assessment have shown and proven to me that I am not a technology guru. First of all, this was the first time that I had ever placed my eyes on the Technology Applications TEKS. I am a theatre arts teacher and you would think that I would know so much more about the technology world but I do not. What needs to happen is that I need to make sure and research the technology that is out there and use it to become a better educator but most importantly a better leader.
In the Requisite Technology Skills Assessment, I did well in the Domains of Foundations and Information Acquisition. Out of the eighteen Foundation Domain questions, I responded "yes" to fourteen and in the Information Acquisition Domain, I responded "yes" to eight of the ten questions. Those two domains deal with the basics of technology that we use everyday which are the use of the computer for the basics of writing memos, assignments and using the Internet. Once I got into the Domains of Solving Problems and Communication the number of "No" responses were larger than the "yes" responses. One of the main issues I have is that I do not know how to work with spreadsheet documents. I do not know anything about using formulas in a spreadsheet. I do not use spreadsheets in my classes. I use them for my own teaching purposes like attendance and grade book but they have already been formulated by another teacher. Under the Communication Domain, I have made posters for our play productions but they have not been as elaborate as I would want them to be because I have not learned to use some of the publishing software that is available.
After taking the SETDA Teacher Survey, I have learned that technology is becoming greater in our school and our district. Our school, like all schools in our district, has a technical coordinator that is in charge of all the technology aspects that are used throughout the schools and the district. The technology coordinator of our school sends us reports of how many times people got on our school's website. She gives us inservices on new technology the district is wanting us to use. We take different surveys every year like the Star Chart Survey. The SETDA Teacher Survey has made me realize that I am not using technology enough in my content area. I use it with my advanced competitive theatre art students but I do not use it with my regular classroom students. I know that all our content area teachers are in the computer labs constantly using the Internet and classroom software that will help the students learn more about the content area being taught. As I mentioned before, we are offered technology inservices but what is lacking is the follow through. Since I do not teach a main content area, technology inservices are not offered to us as much as the content area teachers. I know the inservices are out there and I know my principal will allow me to attend; I just need to make the time.
Overall, I agree with the results of the assessments. I need to change my ways when it comes to the use of technology. I have noticed that principals that have been around for a while and were teachers before the Internet are not as technology savey as the new principals coming in to the profession. I was surprised to see that this class was one of the classes we needed to take. I wish that back when I was taking my education classes to become a teacher, this kind of class would have been offered. All I can say is that it is never too late to learn. I am ready for the challenge!
In the Requisite Technology Skills Assessment, I did well in the Domains of Foundations and Information Acquisition. Out of the eighteen Foundation Domain questions, I responded "yes" to fourteen and in the Information Acquisition Domain, I responded "yes" to eight of the ten questions. Those two domains deal with the basics of technology that we use everyday which are the use of the computer for the basics of writing memos, assignments and using the Internet. Once I got into the Domains of Solving Problems and Communication the number of "No" responses were larger than the "yes" responses. One of the main issues I have is that I do not know how to work with spreadsheet documents. I do not know anything about using formulas in a spreadsheet. I do not use spreadsheets in my classes. I use them for my own teaching purposes like attendance and grade book but they have already been formulated by another teacher. Under the Communication Domain, I have made posters for our play productions but they have not been as elaborate as I would want them to be because I have not learned to use some of the publishing software that is available.
After taking the SETDA Teacher Survey, I have learned that technology is becoming greater in our school and our district. Our school, like all schools in our district, has a technical coordinator that is in charge of all the technology aspects that are used throughout the schools and the district. The technology coordinator of our school sends us reports of how many times people got on our school's website. She gives us inservices on new technology the district is wanting us to use. We take different surveys every year like the Star Chart Survey. The SETDA Teacher Survey has made me realize that I am not using technology enough in my content area. I use it with my advanced competitive theatre art students but I do not use it with my regular classroom students. I know that all our content area teachers are in the computer labs constantly using the Internet and classroom software that will help the students learn more about the content area being taught. As I mentioned before, we are offered technology inservices but what is lacking is the follow through. Since I do not teach a main content area, technology inservices are not offered to us as much as the content area teachers. I know the inservices are out there and I know my principal will allow me to attend; I just need to make the time.
Overall, I agree with the results of the assessments. I need to change my ways when it comes to the use of technology. I have noticed that principals that have been around for a while and were teachers before the Internet are not as technology savey as the new principals coming in to the profession. I was surprised to see that this class was one of the classes we needed to take. I wish that back when I was taking my education classes to become a teacher, this kind of class would have been offered. All I can say is that it is never too late to learn. I am ready for the challenge!
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