Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
STaR Chart Analysis of 2007-2008
2007-2008 STaR Chart Analysis of the Educator Preparation and Development Key Area
Summary Area: Educator Preparation and Development
Educator Preparation and Development is a vital area of preparing educators to effectively facilitate and manage the 21st century learning of technology of today's students. Such vital knowledge is necessary to comply with the new Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology of 2006-202o. Effective Educator Preparation and Development characteristics includes:
- provides necessary resources and tools to properly teach and educate the students to the best of their abilities
- continuous professional development refresher courses
Local Progress: My campus' local Educator Preparation and Development area progress has steadily been declining from year to year; rated its highest in 2006-2007 of being "Advanced Tech" with a score of 15, to a declining rating of "Developing Tech" with a score of 12 in 2007-2008 and since dropping to a score of 10 in 2008-2009, labeling us currently as "Developing Tech."
My belief to such decline is lack of focus on the technology concepts with more concentration placed on "core" curricular areas such as Reading and Math. Another reason for the downward spiraling trend could be lack of knowledge of the Texas STaR Chart assessment tool provided by administration. Most educators in the district have not been properly educated about the assessment and its importance. And our district overall has an older generation of educators who lack the technology experience and knowledge to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum.
Summary Area: Educator Preparation and Development
Educator Preparation and Development is a vital area of preparing educators to effectively facilitate and manage the 21st century learning of technology of today's students. Such vital knowledge is necessary to comply with the new Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology of 2006-202o. Effective Educator Preparation and Development characteristics includes:
- highly qualified and skilled personnel
- amble preparation time for educators to create, evaluate and share lessons, skills and strategies
- provides necessary resources and tools to properly teach and educate the students to the best of their abilities
- continuous professional development refresher courses
Local Progress: My campus' local Educator Preparation and Development area progress has steadily been declining from year to year; rated its highest in 2006-2007 of being "Advanced Tech" with a score of 15, to a declining rating of "Developing Tech" with a score of 12 in 2007-2008 and since dropping to a score of 10 in 2008-2009, labeling us currently as "Developing Tech."
My belief to such decline is lack of focus on the technology concepts with more concentration placed on "core" curricular areas such as Reading and Math. Another reason for the downward spiraling trend could be lack of knowledge of the Texas STaR Chart assessment tool provided by administration. Most educators in the district have not been properly educated about the assessment and its importance. And our district overall has an older generation of educators who lack the technology experience and knowledge to effectively integrate technology into the curriculum.
State and National Progress: According to the Campus Statewide Summary by Key Area, our campus' Educators Preparation and Development level of progress falls in the "Developing Technology" range with a number of 5668 and a percent of 74.2%. Our campus uses technology for administrative tasks and classroom management. There is a use of online resources. 40% of our educators meet the SBEC standards. The Administration expects teachers to use technology using 6-24% of technology budget which is allocated for professional development.
Improvements of Area: I believe improvements are necessary in this key area of Educator Preparation and Development in order for all educators and all students to effectively and appropriately learn and master the Technology Application TEKS. Improvements include:
- highly qualified and skilled educators
- continuous professional development sessions focused on technology and its components
- time for educators to develop rich-technology based lessons to share with other educators
- appropriate technology tools and resources to effectively educate students
Monday, November 23, 2009
Summary of Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications & Explanation of a Spiraling Curriculum
Summary of Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications
Preschool children are introduced and exposed to technology in order to enhance their lives and their education. Young children benefit from becoming aware of and interacting with technology devices and their applications and components. Through the use of technology, children learn to develop techniques for handling and controlling various technological devices, become more confident with working with the devices, and become independent users of age-appropriate technologies.
The Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications consist of five basic concepts that the children should be introduced to and provided time to work with such technology tools. By the end of the Pre-Kindergarten year, students should be able to open and navigate through software programs; use and name a variety of computer input devices; operate voice/sound recorders and touch screens; use software applications to create and express their own ideas; and recognize that information is accessible through the use of technology. These basic concepts can be developed through the proper exposure and the appropriate opportunities by the educator.
The Pre-Kindergarten TEKS lay the foundation for student performance in future grades by exposing basic concepts to children at an early age. Young students' minds have the capacity to acquire, gain, and retain such knowledge when given the appropriate opportunities and foundations to do so. If such basic concepts are introduced and taught effectively and appropriately during the Pre-Kindergarten year, then students have the opportunity to gain a basic understand and importance of the use of technological devices and their components and how such technological knowledge can enhance their lives.
A Spiraling or Scaffolding Curriculum
A spiraling and scaffolding curriculum is defined as a building ladder for learning. Scaffolding is a process that teaches the basics and builds up from there. Scaffolding must begin from what is near to the students experience known as the "zone of actual development (ZAD)" and build to what is further from their experience known as the "zone of proximal development (ZPD)." The building process or construction starts from the ground up, on the foundation of what is already known and can be done. The new is built on top of the known. (Vygotsky)
Educational concepts or TEKS such as the Technology Applications TEKS are a fine example of a scaffolding curriculum. Such learning and concepts are taught at an early age level providing the appropriate resources and opportunities for such young minds to begin to acquire such skills. Preschool students are taught the basics of technology applications and its components at any early age. Once students gain a basic simplified understanding of the concepts at the Pre-Kindergarten level, they then "scaffold" or build up and learn new and more complex concepts as they progress from grade level to grade level. Students are introduced to information acquisition through the use of technology, websites, software etc. each school year. Information and concepts are added and built on to the already existing knowledge that was taught the previous year. Each year students are given the opportunity to gain more knowledge through additional skills and practice by creating, accessing, and navigating products. This is why Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications are considered "scaffolding" curriculum.
Preschool children are introduced and exposed to technology in order to enhance their lives and their education. Young children benefit from becoming aware of and interacting with technology devices and their applications and components. Through the use of technology, children learn to develop techniques for handling and controlling various technological devices, become more confident with working with the devices, and become independent users of age-appropriate technologies.
The Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications consist of five basic concepts that the children should be introduced to and provided time to work with such technology tools. By the end of the Pre-Kindergarten year, students should be able to open and navigate through software programs; use and name a variety of computer input devices; operate voice/sound recorders and touch screens; use software applications to create and express their own ideas; and recognize that information is accessible through the use of technology. These basic concepts can be developed through the proper exposure and the appropriate opportunities by the educator.
The Pre-Kindergarten TEKS lay the foundation for student performance in future grades by exposing basic concepts to children at an early age. Young students' minds have the capacity to acquire, gain, and retain such knowledge when given the appropriate opportunities and foundations to do so. If such basic concepts are introduced and taught effectively and appropriately during the Pre-Kindergarten year, then students have the opportunity to gain a basic understand and importance of the use of technological devices and their components and how such technological knowledge can enhance their lives.
A Spiraling or Scaffolding Curriculum
A spiraling and scaffolding curriculum is defined as a building ladder for learning. Scaffolding is a process that teaches the basics and builds up from there. Scaffolding must begin from what is near to the students experience known as the "zone of actual development (ZAD)" and build to what is further from their experience known as the "zone of proximal development (ZPD)." The building process or construction starts from the ground up, on the foundation of what is already known and can be done. The new is built on top of the known. (Vygotsky)
Educational concepts or TEKS such as the Technology Applications TEKS are a fine example of a scaffolding curriculum. Such learning and concepts are taught at an early age level providing the appropriate resources and opportunities for such young minds to begin to acquire such skills. Preschool students are taught the basics of technology applications and its components at any early age. Once students gain a basic simplified understanding of the concepts at the Pre-Kindergarten level, they then "scaffold" or build up and learn new and more complex concepts as they progress from grade level to grade level. Students are introduced to information acquisition through the use of technology, websites, software etc. each school year. Information and concepts are added and built on to the already existing knowledge that was taught the previous year. Each year students are given the opportunity to gain more knowledge through additional skills and practice by creating, accessing, and navigating products. This is why Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications are considered "scaffolding" curriculum.
Long-Range Plan for Technology
After reviewing the Long-Range Technology Plan 2006-2020, I am more knowledgeable and aware of the need and importance of the developed technological advancements that are set in place for our students and society as a whole. Never before has our society, nation, world become more technologically challenged, advanced and intelligent than now. It is our nation's and our state's vision to create a program that will educate all stakeholders of the learning community of the importance of technology tools in order to prepare everyone for the advanced world, workforce, and future. With technology comes more challenges, struggles, duties, headaches but also opportunities, knowledge, possibilities in becoming more talented than ever. With the help of all stakeholders including administrators, leaders, educators, students and parents can such a dream become a vision and a reality.
After reviewing the Long-Range Technology Plan 2006-2020, I now know the importance of teaching, supplying and offering such technological opportunities and advancements to my future teachers and students of the learning community. I will not only model the use of technology for my staff and students. but will also encourage the use of technology and what it has to offer to better the education of our students and society.
After reviewing the Long-Range Technology Plan 2006-2020, I now know the importance of teaching, supplying and offering such technological opportunities and advancements to my future teachers and students of the learning community. I will not only model the use of technology for my staff and students. but will also encourage the use of technology and what it has to offer to better the education of our students and society.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Summary of Week 1's Assessments
I found the first assessment, The Technology Applications Inventory to be quite informative. It provided me with an overall result of my technological strengths and weaknesses broken down into four separate domains. The four domains consisted of: Foundations, Information Acquisition, Solving Problems with Technology Tools, and Communication. Of the four domains, I seemed to be technologically stronger in two areas.
The Foundations domain and the Solving Problems domain were my stronger areas, scoring 13 "yes'" to 5 "no's" and 12 "yes'" to 6 "no's." The Information Acquisition domain and the Communication domain scores were quite balanced, scoring 5 "yes'" to 5 "no's" and 7 "yes'" to 5 "no's."
Overall, I have a basic understanding of technology foundations and solving problems. My basic understandings consist of opening, creating, and publishing documents in programs such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc. for a variety of audiences. I can adjust and alter document's fonts, sizes, etc. when needed. If problems arise, I use technical instructional guides to assist me. My weaknesses consist of acquiring information about files; and evaluating electronic information for accuracy and validity. I am unsure on how to identify the source, location, media type, relevancy, and content validity of available information. In the communication area, I lack the ability of designing and implementing procedures to track trends and set time lines, etc. These are tools and strategies that I need to work on addressing and becoming more knowledgeable about. I think such tools could be beneficial to me and my students. Overall, I found this assessment to be informative and productive. I now know what areas I need to become more knowledgeable in to better serve myself and my students.
The second assessment, The SETDA Teacher Survey was quite different. It was lengthy and did not provide an overall conclusion of results. The survey covered many areas dealing with technology, the use of technology, the amount and time of usage, etc.; however, I did not get an overall result of any technological strengths and weaknesses as provided by the other survey. The SETDA Teacher Survey did in fact make me more aware of certain concepts and the importance of integrating technology in my classroom. Certain questions that were asked brought attention to concepts that I originally didn't know much about; such questions as T9-T14 referring to "data" and its results, whether or not technology is impacting students' skills. These questions stunned me; I don't truly know if my district performs such assessments to gather data about the impact of technology on our students; however, the survey made me curious to do further research on the topic. Overall, I didn't find this survey to be as informative as the other. It did not provide me with actual strengths and weaknesses that I need to address, but it did inform me and make me more aware of if technology is being used; how much; when; if it is being productive and such. At the Kindergarten level I teach, students are provided the opportunity to work with technology at least once or twice a week in computer labs and are exposed to a variety of other technological tools throughout the day in the classroom; however, I believe we could all work harder at addressing the technological needs of the students more in order to better prepare them for the future.
The Foundations domain and the Solving Problems domain were my stronger areas, scoring 13 "yes'" to 5 "no's" and 12 "yes'" to 6 "no's." The Information Acquisition domain and the Communication domain scores were quite balanced, scoring 5 "yes'" to 5 "no's" and 7 "yes'" to 5 "no's."
Overall, I have a basic understanding of technology foundations and solving problems. My basic understandings consist of opening, creating, and publishing documents in programs such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc. for a variety of audiences. I can adjust and alter document's fonts, sizes, etc. when needed. If problems arise, I use technical instructional guides to assist me. My weaknesses consist of acquiring information about files; and evaluating electronic information for accuracy and validity. I am unsure on how to identify the source, location, media type, relevancy, and content validity of available information. In the communication area, I lack the ability of designing and implementing procedures to track trends and set time lines, etc. These are tools and strategies that I need to work on addressing and becoming more knowledgeable about. I think such tools could be beneficial to me and my students. Overall, I found this assessment to be informative and productive. I now know what areas I need to become more knowledgeable in to better serve myself and my students.
The second assessment, The SETDA Teacher Survey was quite different. It was lengthy and did not provide an overall conclusion of results. The survey covered many areas dealing with technology, the use of technology, the amount and time of usage, etc.; however, I did not get an overall result of any technological strengths and weaknesses as provided by the other survey. The SETDA Teacher Survey did in fact make me more aware of certain concepts and the importance of integrating technology in my classroom. Certain questions that were asked brought attention to concepts that I originally didn't know much about; such questions as T9-T14 referring to "data" and its results, whether or not technology is impacting students' skills. These questions stunned me; I don't truly know if my district performs such assessments to gather data about the impact of technology on our students; however, the survey made me curious to do further research on the topic. Overall, I didn't find this survey to be as informative as the other. It did not provide me with actual strengths and weaknesses that I need to address, but it did inform me and make me more aware of if technology is being used; how much; when; if it is being productive and such. At the Kindergarten level I teach, students are provided the opportunity to work with technology at least once or twice a week in computer labs and are exposed to a variety of other technological tools throughout the day in the classroom; however, I believe we could all work harder at addressing the technological needs of the students more in order to better prepare them for the future.
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