Technology Staff Development

Two of the needs identified by the Star Chart were educator preparation and development as well as teaching and learning. One reason may be that there hasn’t been enough time and thought devoted to professional development planning that focuses on the use and integration of technology in curriculum instruction and assessment. This training will begin to address this need. This will be a half day training at the beginning of the school year facilitated by the technology specialist. The training will start with the technology specialist selecting two or three programs that are particularly useful and demonstrate how they can be utilized in the classroom. After that, several groups will meet together by departments.

Teachers will bring the curriculum guide for their content area. Each subject area will meet in a different location containing web-connected computers. By the end of the training grade level teams will have utilized their collective power to develop resources for more student-centered lessons that incorporate the use of technology.
Each grade-level team will determine who on their team will research:
1. Websites for teachers, which would be useful for planning purposes;
2. Websites for students, which would be useful for research;
3. Programs to extend student learning (i.e. podcasts, publisher provided resources).
Using the computer, each person will locate and examine websites/programs/resources for its usefulness to integrate into the curriculum. Each person will focus on sites that can be utilized in the first six weeks of school. They will need to focus on the content prescribed by curriculum documents. After an hour to an hour and a half, the teams will come back together to discuss what they found and how it can be used by the team.

To promote continued utilization of technology and assess the training, the professional learning communities will set aside time each six weeks to revisit technology integration. During this time, the group will focus on two questions:
1. Which of the resources were used; and
2. Were there any new resourced identified?

Pre-K Technology Application TEKS

The technology TEKS begins to prepare the student to use technology to communicate and expand their learning environment. The Pre-K TEKS begin to promote school readiness. There are three domains that lay the foundation for cognitive, social and emotional growth of the student. The other domains begin to develop the skills necessary for the core curriculum in grades K-12. A spriraling curriculum revisits basic ideas repeatedly and builds on them until the student has developed proficiency in them. The technology TEKS does just that. For example, TEK XA2 requires the pre-kindergartener to name and use a variety of input devices including the mouse and keyboard. After reviewing the TEKS for grades k-12, I realized that this TEKS is present in every grade level. This presents the student with numerous opportunities to practice and demonstrate proficiency.

Texas LRP and the Instructional Leader

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology (LRP) has some very lofty goals. While I agree with the vision and need for change, instituting those changes are posing great problems for the classroom teacher. As campus, district and political leaders mandate change, here are some things they should consider.



First, provide the time and money for professional development that will assist the educator (whether the classroom teacher or the building principal) to become knowledgeable and proficient with the use of various forms of technology. I beleive that I'm a fairly young teacher, but I am a digital immigrant. That is, I didn't grow up with a computer, cell phone or Ipod. This technology doesn't intimidate me, but using it and navigating the software is a challenge. There must be funds allocated specifically for professional development in technology to bring teachers who are digital immigrants up to speed. Otherwise, there will always be some more pressing need that supercedes the use of funds. In addition, teachers must be made aware that these funds and training opportunities are available.



Second, recognize the different levels of abilities that exsist among educators. All too often, we emphasize that it is best practice to differentiate for students, but fail to recognize that differentiation is also necessary for the adult learner. While some educators may have used computers since grade school, others used typewriters in college.



Third, end the expectation that educators will be experts after only one training session. Frequently, principals and building leaders seem to expect immediate implementation and results. This is unrealistic. Professional learners need the same courtesy we require them to extend to their students. This means allowing the educator think time and wait time. One must have time to process the new information and and apply it to his or her duties. In the ideal situation, there woulod be some uninterupted time allocated as professional development for the educator to have some hands on time with the technology. This could be used by the classroom teacher to determine the best way to implement or use the technology in the classroom. For example, it might be time to develop the website, create sample of the final product students are to create, create a podcast or create the online review game. This time is especially important for those of us who are digital immigrants.