Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Vision 2020 (Assignment 1, Part 3)
The most relevant information that I learned from review of the Vision 2020 information was the need for technological advances in schools and what the desired outcomes will be. As the world becomes smaller through the use of technology, there will be greater competition in all aspects of life. It is important that the students that we are currently teaching are ready to step into the real world and have the skills they need to be successful. It reminds me of a test that was given to me when I first started my training as a teacher. My professor gave us a test developed by educators in Kansas in the late 1800’s. The test was to determine the proficiency levels of 8th grade students. The test contained questions about the weight of the average bail of hay, and the amount of gun powder that was to be used in a specific type of shotgun shell. All of this information is completely irrelevant to the learners of today, but was of key importance during its day and time. This article reminded me that the world is changing, and as educators, we have to prepare students to be successful in a world that is constantly becoming more reliant on technology.
Technology is becoming more advanced everyday. I remember seeing my first Apple IIe computer 25 years ago when I was in first grade. I saw my first cell phone when I was in 8th grade, and I did not use the internet until I enter college. Now my nephew who is in kindergarten is more computer literate than my father. The world is changing, and technology is the language of the future. For current students to be able to be active citizens of the future, they must learn to be proficient users of technology.
As a campus leader, I must make sure that I am producing “world-worthy” students, and the only way to do this is to make sure they are being taught the ways of the world. Technology is obviously the new way of the world. For students to learn how to be active citizens of this world, they must have teachers who can guide them in their navigation of this world. For teachers to be able to guide these students they must have training, experiences and a chance to become experts with technology themselves. As a principal, I have the opportunity to provide teacher with the staff development, training, and support they will need as they embark on their journey of learning how to incorporate technology into their classroom.
Technology is becoming more advanced everyday. I remember seeing my first Apple IIe computer 25 years ago when I was in first grade. I saw my first cell phone when I was in 8th grade, and I did not use the internet until I enter college. Now my nephew who is in kindergarten is more computer literate than my father. The world is changing, and technology is the language of the future. For current students to be able to be active citizens of the future, they must learn to be proficient users of technology.
As a campus leader, I must make sure that I am producing “world-worthy” students, and the only way to do this is to make sure they are being taught the ways of the world. Technology is obviously the new way of the world. For students to learn how to be active citizens of this world, they must have teachers who can guide them in their navigation of this world. For teachers to be able to guide these students they must have training, experiences and a chance to become experts with technology themselves. As a principal, I have the opportunity to provide teacher with the staff development, training, and support they will need as they embark on their journey of learning how to incorporate technology into their classroom.
Spiraling and Scaffolding (Assignment 1, Part 4)
The idea behind a spiraling and scaffolding curriculum is that a student has many opportunities to prove mastery of a topic in a variety of ways. In addition, scaffolding ensures that the quality of the product is appropriate for the rigor that should be associated with a specific level of mastery. One example of this comes from the problem-solving TEKS for the high school level Digital Graphics and Animation course. These TEKS ensure that a variety of products can be produced, and the products will be evaluated on specific criteria. As students become more adept at using the software, the quality of the products should increase, as should the rigor of the assignment. In TEKS 7 A-L, a variety of required elements can be chosen to be addressed individually or as a group. Although not all skills may be seen in a single product, the student should have an opportunity to produce additional products to prove master of each of the TEKS.
Pre-K TEKS (Assignment 1, Part 4)
The Pre-K TEKS are divided into five basic skills that will help young learners be more successful as they enter kindergarten and the lower levels of the public education system. These skills include social and emotional development, language and communication skills, emergent literacy: reading and writing, and mathematics. Each of these five skills should be developed in a way that prepares the children for more in-depth learning as they get older. The social and emotional strand is important because it will help to build the child’s self-esteem and help them to build confidence in their ability to learn and be successful. It will also teach them to interact with others and per persistent when they are struggling. Language and communication skills are of key importance for children so that they can clearly express their wants and needs as well as help to define areas of weakness. The reading, writing, and mathematics strands focus more on piquing the child’s natural curiosity about these skills instead of actually producing a product. This can be done by modeling these behaviors and encouraging children to mimic the skill. Each of these skills will prepare children for the rigors of school work when they enter the public school system.
Personal Assessment (Assignment 1, Part 2)
Through the completion of the three suggested technology surveys, I was able to establish my strengths and weaknesses in regard to my personal, professional and speculated use of technology. In the first survey, the Technology Application Survey, I analyzed my personal use of technology. I have always thought of myself as fairly technologically advanced. I tend to stay up to date on the latest technological advances, and tend to be somewhat of a “gadget guy,” wanting to at least try the latest and greatest new products on the market. As I completed the survey, I was not surprised to find that I consider myself very well-versed in producing standard work-related and personal documents with fairly common software. I regularly use a word processor, and spreadsheet programs to compile data and convey information. I also regularly use presentation software as a communication devise in my classroom and for professional development. I found my major weaknesses to be in the area of creating databases and really understanding the more technical aspects of computer networking. I feel that this is probably my greatest weakness because I do not have much experience in working in these areas.
As I approached the second survey, the SETDA Teacher Survey, I focused more on how I use technology in my classroom. I have always thought that I have used technology successfully, to impact the learning of my students, but as I got deeper in to the survey, I began to question the frequency of my use of technology. In the past I have used technology to create presentations for class, and even had students create multimedia presentations for their peers. Additionally I have used technology based assignments such as web-quests and research projects, but most commonly, I have students use the word processor in my classroom because it lends itself easily into incorporation into the English classroom. My technology lessons are usually limited to three to four uses per six weeks period, and this survey made me question ways that I could make more proficient use of the technology that is available at my school.
In the final survey, “Rubrics for Leadership,” I assumed the persona of a technology leader on my campus. Luckily for me, the technology leader on my campus is very proficient at her job, and is able to juggle all of her duties while still being available to train teachers in new technology and assist them in applying it to their classroom setting. As I evaluated my campus and its use of technology, I found that for the most part, we fall within the mastery level of proficiency. We are very technologically advanced campus, with access to a variety of technology. The problem is that many of the teachers on our campus are unwilling to change some of their old ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, so that holds back the campus as a whole. It seems to me that some teachers will only use technology is they are required to do so, such as to take roll, or to post grades. Luckily, we have a principal who is very technologically savvy, and willing to commit resources to expanding our technology horizons. He has ensured that teachers receive any software and hardware that they feel they will use on a regular basis in their classroom. He has also worked with our technology leader to offer a variety of staff development sessions on how to incorporate technology into the classroom. They have even gone so far as to offer different levels of staff development for teachers who are more confident in their abilities, and for novices.
Basically, through the completion of these surveys, I found that although I am doing a good job at incorporating technology into my life and classroom, I could be doing more. There is always a newer, more interesting way that I could make use of technology to make my life easier, and to improve the quality of learning for my students.
As I approached the second survey, the SETDA Teacher Survey, I focused more on how I use technology in my classroom. I have always thought that I have used technology successfully, to impact the learning of my students, but as I got deeper in to the survey, I began to question the frequency of my use of technology. In the past I have used technology to create presentations for class, and even had students create multimedia presentations for their peers. Additionally I have used technology based assignments such as web-quests and research projects, but most commonly, I have students use the word processor in my classroom because it lends itself easily into incorporation into the English classroom. My technology lessons are usually limited to three to four uses per six weeks period, and this survey made me question ways that I could make more proficient use of the technology that is available at my school.
In the final survey, “Rubrics for Leadership,” I assumed the persona of a technology leader on my campus. Luckily for me, the technology leader on my campus is very proficient at her job, and is able to juggle all of her duties while still being available to train teachers in new technology and assist them in applying it to their classroom setting. As I evaluated my campus and its use of technology, I found that for the most part, we fall within the mastery level of proficiency. We are very technologically advanced campus, with access to a variety of technology. The problem is that many of the teachers on our campus are unwilling to change some of their old ways to incorporate technology into the classroom, so that holds back the campus as a whole. It seems to me that some teachers will only use technology is they are required to do so, such as to take roll, or to post grades. Luckily, we have a principal who is very technologically savvy, and willing to commit resources to expanding our technology horizons. He has ensured that teachers receive any software and hardware that they feel they will use on a regular basis in their classroom. He has also worked with our technology leader to offer a variety of staff development sessions on how to incorporate technology into the classroom. They have even gone so far as to offer different levels of staff development for teachers who are more confident in their abilities, and for novices.
Basically, through the completion of these surveys, I found that although I am doing a good job at incorporating technology into my life and classroom, I could be doing more. There is always a newer, more interesting way that I could make use of technology to make my life easier, and to improve the quality of learning for my students.
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