Technology Action Plan Organizational chart:
Assistant Superintendent:
In charge of all staff development for the district.
Responsible for providing staff development opportunities or assisting in finding professional development opportunities for campus administrators and teachers
District Technology Director:
Responsible for ensuring all staff has adequate access to the necessary technology and that all technology tools are functioning properly
Responsible for the placement and training of campus technology help personell
Campus Principal:
Ensure that the technology department us up to date on technology needs or problems for the campus
Provide feedback to the Asst. Superintendent on progress and success of professional development opportunities.
Consistently encourage staff to take advantage of professional development opportunities in an ongoing manner
Campus Assistant Principal:
Inform all staff of professional development requirements
Encourage staff to continuously seek professional development opportunities
Provide for the necessary substitute teachers if and when staff must be out of class for professional development sessions
Classroom teachers:
Seek professional development opportunities within their subject area that will help them integrate technology into their lessons on an everyday basis
Fulfill professional development requirements in a timely manner
Report all professional development activities to campus principal / assistant principal
The campus principal will be crucial in this process as teachers undergo a paradigm shift in professional development activities. They must be encouraging to all staff in seeking out new professional development and at the same time enforce the time and amount requirements. They must help to create the mindset that professional development is continuous and never ending, but in this new environment will also be more fulfilling because of its direct relationship to the teachers own classroom. The principal must continuously monitor for successes and share them with the faculty and administration. It is also their responsibility to determine where more development is needed and ensure that it is received.
Professional Development Action Plan:
It is becoming increasingly evident that MISD is falling behind the technology curve. The needs of the students have been marginally addressed by Campus Improvement Plans (installing smartboard systems in math classrooms and the computer lab at the high school) but much more must be done to get our students on pace to become 21st century learners.
To begin, more data needs to be accumulated both for students and teachers: The STaR chart should be utilized more effectively to address current levels for both. Surveys should be given to randomly selected students and all staff on a yearly basis to gauge interest levels, wants and needs regarding the integration of technology into the everyday learning of the classroom. Results from the STaR chart, the surveys and additionally, the AEIS report should be reported to the staff, discussed, explained and analyzed with a focus towards prioritizing needs to move forward.
As the needs assessment process is completed, professional development activities must be discussed. This discussion should include content, delivery style and timing. To this end, I propose a complete realignment of the professional development structure. Currently all staff development is conducted at the beginning of the year for the entire district, either together or per campus, or conducted at periodic, randomly scheduled afternoon sessions, unless teachers actively seek out their own opportunities. This process is marginally effective as motivation and minimally effective as to what is actually put into practice in the classroom. The new structure would be as follows:
All teachers and staff would be under the same time requirements mandated by the state and / or district, however the actual participation in staff development activities will be left up to each staff member. Led by the Assistant superintendent, each campus will research and provide staff development opportunities specific to each subject area and focusing on the integration of technology into the classroom, via email alert or postings on the campus website. These will be a suggested list, not mandatory. Teachers are encouraged to actively seek out opportunities that are specific to their subject and interesting to them. Teachers will be required to provide evidence of participation, use of the content in the classroom if the session was succesful, or explanations as to why it was not helpful if the session is not effective. Participation in these development activities is at the teachers discretion so long as the minimum required number of hours is met by the end of the year. Teachers are also encouraged to participate in development sessions on a continuing basis. If the requirements are not met, teachers must participate in district established sessions during the set aside days before the start of school. Teachers that have met the requirements will not be required to attend these sessions and may use them as classroom work days.
Evaluation of this plan will be conducted through the yearly surveys, analysis of the number of teachers completing the requirements versus those required to participate in standard district established development activities and administrator walk-throughs.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The National Educational Technology Plan Summary
The National Educational Technology Plan Report Summary
The challenge faced in today’s educational system is to find new ways for teachers to integrate technology into the learning environment of their classrooms that mirrors the technology use outside the classroom and the technology knowledge that they will need in the future. The key to winning this challenge is for teachers to become connected. The connected teaching model calls for access to data, the tools to use that data, resources that enable the creation of lessons that are relevant and engaging and connection to students for learning support both inside and outside of the classroom.
Teaching Aspects:
To reach today’s 21st century learner, teachers must become facilitators and collaborators as they guide students toward independent learning. Teaching must become a team activity, both within the classroom and with other classes and subjects as well.
Teachers as a whole are not as comfortable with the use of the available technology as private sector professionals and this is an impediment to their success in the challenge before them. This gap in comfort level and use of technology prevents the implementation of new and creative instructional practices and learning outcomes. Accordingly, professional development for teachers must change dramatically if this challenge is to be met. Teacher learning, especially in the areas of technology and its uses, must be collaborative and on-going. In addition, if students are expected to learn by being engaged with and interactive with technology then teachers must also have the same expectations from their professional development opportunities.
Learning Aspects:
The major obstacle to meeting the technology challenge is infrastructure. Success means the accessibility to appropriate technology anytime, anywhere and to all education stakeholders (students, teachers, administrators, etc…).
Learning must shift from the traditional book to teacher to student model, with desks aligned in rows and bells signaling beginning and end to one that provides opportunities for learning at the student’s own pace, with peers at the same functional level, grouped in as many or as few as necessary for appropriate learning to take place. The new model must displace the mandatory notion of “seat-time” or the time of year as the guiding principle of when students must be in the classroom or at school.
Goals:
1. All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and out of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.
2. Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuous improvement.
3. Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners.
4. All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it.
5. Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff.
The challenge faced in today’s educational system is to find new ways for teachers to integrate technology into the learning environment of their classrooms that mirrors the technology use outside the classroom and the technology knowledge that they will need in the future. The key to winning this challenge is for teachers to become connected. The connected teaching model calls for access to data, the tools to use that data, resources that enable the creation of lessons that are relevant and engaging and connection to students for learning support both inside and outside of the classroom.
Teaching Aspects:
To reach today’s 21st century learner, teachers must become facilitators and collaborators as they guide students toward independent learning. Teaching must become a team activity, both within the classroom and with other classes and subjects as well.
Teachers as a whole are not as comfortable with the use of the available technology as private sector professionals and this is an impediment to their success in the challenge before them. This gap in comfort level and use of technology prevents the implementation of new and creative instructional practices and learning outcomes. Accordingly, professional development for teachers must change dramatically if this challenge is to be met. Teacher learning, especially in the areas of technology and its uses, must be collaborative and on-going. In addition, if students are expected to learn by being engaged with and interactive with technology then teachers must also have the same expectations from their professional development opportunities.
Learning Aspects:
The major obstacle to meeting the technology challenge is infrastructure. Success means the accessibility to appropriate technology anytime, anywhere and to all education stakeholders (students, teachers, administrators, etc…).
Learning must shift from the traditional book to teacher to student model, with desks aligned in rows and bells signaling beginning and end to one that provides opportunities for learning at the student’s own pace, with peers at the same functional level, grouped in as many or as few as necessary for appropriate learning to take place. The new model must displace the mandatory notion of “seat-time” or the time of year as the guiding principle of when students must be in the classroom or at school.
Goals:
1. All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and out of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.
2. Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuous improvement.
3. Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners.
4. All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it.
5. Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Texas Star Chart Presentation
Check out this SlideShare Presentation:
Texas Star Chart Presentation
View more presentations from aplusrodeo.
The 2010 Progress Report on the Texas LRTP
The 2010 Progress Report on the Texas Long Range Technology Plan
The 2010 Progress Report on the Texas Long Range Technology Plan provides evidence that while Texas is not at the “target” level in terms of completely integrating technology into the learning strategies of all classrooms, we are making progress. Personally, I see evidence of both where we are lacking and how far we have come, every day. I work in a district that is working toward technology integration, but is still behind. We have classrooms in which the only technology available is the teacher’s computer and yet we have other classrooms equipped with smart systems. As a contrast, in the community in which I live, the school district received a grant that allows all students from the 4th through the 12th grade a laptop computer to have and use at all times. In addition, every classroom in the district was equipped with a smartboard system and teachers were issued laptops as well. For a rural county like mine, this accounts for tremendous progress.
On a statewide basis, the progress report brings to light several of the areas in which our students are benefiting from our active approach to technology integration. From a student’s perspective we see the creation of the Texas Virtual School Network. This provides digital content using open-source software, e-textbooks and databases to assist in their engagement in learning. For teachers, professional development opportunities are now available on-line or through distance learning sources so that they can continue to catch up and to get ahead in their technology knowledge.
Because of the continual efforts of all of the education stakeholders in Texas, school districts are redesigning curriculum, finding new ways to reach the 21st century learner and integrating technology into the everyday lessons of the classroom. Although we still have a long way to go until we reach our goal, we are headed in the right direction and getting there in leaps and bounds.
The 2010 Progress Report on the Texas Long Range Technology Plan provides evidence that while Texas is not at the “target” level in terms of completely integrating technology into the learning strategies of all classrooms, we are making progress. Personally, I see evidence of both where we are lacking and how far we have come, every day. I work in a district that is working toward technology integration, but is still behind. We have classrooms in which the only technology available is the teacher’s computer and yet we have other classrooms equipped with smart systems. As a contrast, in the community in which I live, the school district received a grant that allows all students from the 4th through the 12th grade a laptop computer to have and use at all times. In addition, every classroom in the district was equipped with a smartboard system and teachers were issued laptops as well. For a rural county like mine, this accounts for tremendous progress.
On a statewide basis, the progress report brings to light several of the areas in which our students are benefiting from our active approach to technology integration. From a student’s perspective we see the creation of the Texas Virtual School Network. This provides digital content using open-source software, e-textbooks and databases to assist in their engagement in learning. For teachers, professional development opportunities are now available on-line or through distance learning sources so that they can continue to catch up and to get ahead in their technology knowledge.
Because of the continual efforts of all of the education stakeholders in Texas, school districts are redesigning curriculum, finding new ways to reach the 21st century learner and integrating technology into the everyday lessons of the classroom. Although we still have a long way to go until we reach our goal, we are headed in the right direction and getting there in leaps and bounds.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thoughts on the Texas Long Range Technology Plan
Thoughts on Texas Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020
The Texas Education code requires a Long Range Plan for Technology. The No Child Left Behind legislative act of 2001 spurred an update to the existing plan that expanded it to its current length. It comes as a surprise to me that even back in 1988 there were people looking ahead to what technology could do for our schools and students. I wonder if they thought it would go so far so fast.
The plan is based on four key components: teaching and learning, educator preparation and development, leadership, administration and instructional support and infrastructure for technology. Having a plan such as this, I believe, has Texas on the correct path to ensuring that all of the students in this state become 21st century learners.
Teaching and Learning: What is going on inside the classroom?
Today’s students are like no other that we have ever encountered. They are not smarter nor are they less intelligent. They are not more motivated or less motivated than students from 25, 50 or 100 years ago. They are simply different. Today’s student does not know a time without satellite TV, cell phones, computers and internet. They learn, they adapt, they use what is at their fingertips. They understand and are frustrated when they know they are not getting what is available. Many of today’s classrooms, in some regards, look much the same as they always have, students in rows of desks all facing the teacher who is pouring out knowledge onto the “board”. Students respond in unison. But the question today is this: Is that the best and most effective way to prepare our students to be 21st century learners. Coming from the teacher at the front of the room, I can tell you that the answer is definitively “NO”! With enormous amounts of technology at our fingertips, it does not make any sense to ignore the possibilities that have opened up for us both as teachers and students so that we can continue to do what we have always done. Students deserve more. Teachers deserve more. Students know what is out there. Give it to them and they will learn how to mold it and shape it and make something new and better from it. Deny them those opportunities and watch as they either shut down or seek it elsewhere.
Educator Preparation and Development: Is the teacher keeping up?
The time of the teacher knowing the most information in the classroom is gone. Students have the latest and most up to date information about any and everything before the teacher steps into the classroom. Teachers who stick to the “old tried and true” methods of presenting information are losing their students ever shortening attentions. To continue to be effective today’s teacher must adapt. I believe the teacher has to become the facilitator. Student’s no longer need the teacher to provide everything and then ask the students to give it back. As the facilitator it has become our job to ask them questions, to spark the interest to find the answer and then help them package it into a way that communicates the meaning of it.
To do this, teachers must undergo a paradigm shift of great difficulty. Teachers who grew up with party line phones and that new fangled thing called a television, even those of us who remember getting their first computer and being amazed at what appeared on that black and green screen, must seek out ways to integrate the laptop, the internet, the smart phone, email and text into our teaching. We have to throw out the same overhead notes that we have used since our first year of teaching and find ways to let the students learn. Some schools have become very proactive, others have not. It is up to us as facilitators of the 21st century learner to catch up and keep up.
Leadership, Administrative and Instructional Support: Need it say more?
Teachers and students can only do so much on their own. There are, no doubt, many, many teachers, or facilitators, that have gone out on their own, brought their own technology into the classroom, learned how to share it with other students and teachers and been very successful. I would surmise that there are quite a bit more that are hesitant, resistant or all out oppositional to the same. The school leadership must take charge and not only seek out but continually support the integration of technology into the everyday learning of our students. I have seen schools that are actively engaged: my former district issues laptops to every student from 4th through 12th grade. Every teacher has a laptop and smartboard system in their classroom. I have seen schools that try and make it look good but provide no real substance and I have seen schools that do their very best with the limited resources available. Regardless of which district they are in, the school leadership must be proactive in educating our 21st century learners in the best way that they possible can so that they will be prepared for their future.
Infrastructure for Technology: The tools for the future.
Even with all of the technology and information that is out there, if cities, towns, communities and schools do not provide the avenues for that information to reach the students, then we will continue to produce students who are unprepared to be 21st century learners. We see computer companies like Microsoft and Apple giving millions of dollars to education to ensure that the students have the tools to open their minds to the future, to once again become the envy of the world. With continued and increased efforts to install, monitor and upgrade the technology infrastructure and by fervently continuing to get the technology into the hands of the young minds that need it most we will become again what we once were: The country that sets the standard for the world. We will produce the 21st century learner that will shape and direct our futures into the 22nd century.
The Texas Education code requires a Long Range Plan for Technology. The No Child Left Behind legislative act of 2001 spurred an update to the existing plan that expanded it to its current length. It comes as a surprise to me that even back in 1988 there were people looking ahead to what technology could do for our schools and students. I wonder if they thought it would go so far so fast.
The plan is based on four key components: teaching and learning, educator preparation and development, leadership, administration and instructional support and infrastructure for technology. Having a plan such as this, I believe, has Texas on the correct path to ensuring that all of the students in this state become 21st century learners.
Teaching and Learning: What is going on inside the classroom?
Today’s students are like no other that we have ever encountered. They are not smarter nor are they less intelligent. They are not more motivated or less motivated than students from 25, 50 or 100 years ago. They are simply different. Today’s student does not know a time without satellite TV, cell phones, computers and internet. They learn, they adapt, they use what is at their fingertips. They understand and are frustrated when they know they are not getting what is available. Many of today’s classrooms, in some regards, look much the same as they always have, students in rows of desks all facing the teacher who is pouring out knowledge onto the “board”. Students respond in unison. But the question today is this: Is that the best and most effective way to prepare our students to be 21st century learners. Coming from the teacher at the front of the room, I can tell you that the answer is definitively “NO”! With enormous amounts of technology at our fingertips, it does not make any sense to ignore the possibilities that have opened up for us both as teachers and students so that we can continue to do what we have always done. Students deserve more. Teachers deserve more. Students know what is out there. Give it to them and they will learn how to mold it and shape it and make something new and better from it. Deny them those opportunities and watch as they either shut down or seek it elsewhere.
Educator Preparation and Development: Is the teacher keeping up?
The time of the teacher knowing the most information in the classroom is gone. Students have the latest and most up to date information about any and everything before the teacher steps into the classroom. Teachers who stick to the “old tried and true” methods of presenting information are losing their students ever shortening attentions. To continue to be effective today’s teacher must adapt. I believe the teacher has to become the facilitator. Student’s no longer need the teacher to provide everything and then ask the students to give it back. As the facilitator it has become our job to ask them questions, to spark the interest to find the answer and then help them package it into a way that communicates the meaning of it.
To do this, teachers must undergo a paradigm shift of great difficulty. Teachers who grew up with party line phones and that new fangled thing called a television, even those of us who remember getting their first computer and being amazed at what appeared on that black and green screen, must seek out ways to integrate the laptop, the internet, the smart phone, email and text into our teaching. We have to throw out the same overhead notes that we have used since our first year of teaching and find ways to let the students learn. Some schools have become very proactive, others have not. It is up to us as facilitators of the 21st century learner to catch up and keep up.
Leadership, Administrative and Instructional Support: Need it say more?
Teachers and students can only do so much on their own. There are, no doubt, many, many teachers, or facilitators, that have gone out on their own, brought their own technology into the classroom, learned how to share it with other students and teachers and been very successful. I would surmise that there are quite a bit more that are hesitant, resistant or all out oppositional to the same. The school leadership must take charge and not only seek out but continually support the integration of technology into the everyday learning of our students. I have seen schools that are actively engaged: my former district issues laptops to every student from 4th through 12th grade. Every teacher has a laptop and smartboard system in their classroom. I have seen schools that try and make it look good but provide no real substance and I have seen schools that do their very best with the limited resources available. Regardless of which district they are in, the school leadership must be proactive in educating our 21st century learners in the best way that they possible can so that they will be prepared for their future.
Infrastructure for Technology: The tools for the future.
Even with all of the technology and information that is out there, if cities, towns, communities and schools do not provide the avenues for that information to reach the students, then we will continue to produce students who are unprepared to be 21st century learners. We see computer companies like Microsoft and Apple giving millions of dollars to education to ensure that the students have the tools to open their minds to the future, to once again become the envy of the world. With continued and increased efforts to install, monitor and upgrade the technology infrastructure and by fervently continuing to get the technology into the hands of the young minds that need it most we will become again what we once were: The country that sets the standard for the world. We will produce the 21st century learner that will shape and direct our futures into the 22nd century.
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