Zapata High School S Ta R Chart Presentation

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Zapata High School S Ta R Chart Presentation

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Week 2 Part 2, STaR Chart Opinion Piece

Educator Preparation and Development is the area from the Texas STaR Chart that I have selected to discuss. This area talks about how important it is for current educators and those who will enter the education system in the future, to have the skills needed to change instruction to meet the needs of this generation of Texas students (Vision 2020, P.23). Only through professional development can educators continue an ongoing learning process that will enable them to learn the new strategies and technology updates that will benefit their students. Technology has become a fundamental aspect in the education system and it is can impact curriculum and instruction, but for this to take place teacher need to learn to support the curriculum and bring about learning opportunities that would not be possible without the technology. In order to prepare 21st Century students that are going to successful in their secondary education or enter the workforce, teachers need to be capable and prepared to take significantly diverse roles, students, and technologies; through obtaining the skills necessary to get the job done. At our campus this area is in the developing tech progress, this seems to be consistent with the state results. In the last three years our campus has gradually improved from being early tech to now having a developing tech progress. We still have a lot of improvement to do and hopefully within the next couple of years we can become a campus with target tech level of progress. This will mean that in our classrooms teachers will be prepared to have regularly supported by technology and learner-centered instruction and projects are being delivered. Right now we do have a lot of technology available and our administration has implemented it into their tasks and classroom management. As educators and professionals we need to come up with the understanding that what worked for us twenty, ten or even five years ago will not be enough to get our students where they want to be. We need to encourage our students to use and take advantage of all the technology resources available to them. Locally, at our campus our administration has done an exceptional job bring in professional development for the staff to keep up with the technology and new programs that is going to benefit our students. Our principal is very aware of these changing times and has been able to purchase several technology equipment and programs to improve classroom resources and technology integration. For instance we just had a set of extendas (six computers in out classroom), ceiling mounted projectors, new teacher laptops with new programs, and in the math department we had smart boards installed. The students really get engaged when they get the opportunity to work with the smart board they think it’s the coolest think. Taking advantage of the technology and being prepared as educators will just make our students more ready for the 21st Century.

Technology Applications TEKS Summary

In a spiraling curriculum, you learn by getting ready, from sources, by doing, by feedback, or by thinking ahead. The technology TEKS are designed in a scaffolding manner to provide support for students from grade to grade. Once the students have mastered their technology TEKS, the support is no longer needed. Throughout all grade levels of the TEKS, the foundation strand “the student demonstrates knowledge and appropriate use of hardware components, software programs, and their connections” is scaffold from grade 2 through grade12. This is only one example of the scaffolding curriculum. Students have various opportunities to master that expectation.

Long-Range Plan Summary

This was the first time that I looked at this Long-Range Plan, and it is all making sense to me. Before I looked at this plan I felt that technology was important and that we needed to incorporate into our classrooms because it was available and that our students really get engaged and interested when implemented accordingly. Now I have learned that this Long-Range plan was put in place to make sure that our students get the best technology out there and that they can learn to use as it will become a great part of their everyday lives in the near future. The Texas Long-Range Plan for technology consists of four major components: integration of technology into teaching and learning, professional development, administration and support services, and infrastructure for technology. This plan was developed to help school districts and school campus keep up with the ever changing world of technology. This plan also provides a guide for future technology implementations. Teachers have noticed the great demand from students when it comes to incorporating technology in their classrooms from laptops, smart boards, graphing calculators, projectors and even digital equipment. As a school leaders and educators we need to continue to improve and learn new skills to keep up with tomorrow’s technology. We should model technology and teach students to be wise when using the technology available. The biggest key to have a successful technology program is having a strong infrastructure and the support from all staff, administration and community leaders.

Reflections of the two technology assessments

In the first assessment that I took the technology applications inventory it had four domains. The first domain had to do with foundations and in this domain I answered 16 questions yes and only 2 questions I answered no. In this domain it basically had to do with the user understanding the main concepts and usage of the computer. The two things that I still need to master are being able to delinate the various digital file formats and being able to identify the difference between analog and digital technology and interface the two appropriatly. In the second domain information acquisition, I answered yes to seven questions and answered no to three of them. Domain two had to do with finding information via the internet. While I do have some knowledge doing research through the internet I still need some learning to do. The three aspects from this domain that I need most help with are with the vector graphic files and bit-mapped graphic files. I also need to learn more on identifying, creating, and using image, audio, and video files. Being able to determin and employ methods to evalulate electronic infromation for accuracy and validity. While in the first two domains I was able to have some prior knowlege and knew more less what they were talking about in the third and fourth domain I was for the most part lost. In the third domain of the assessment dealing with solving problems with technology tools I answered yes to only five questions and asnwered no to thirteen of them. In this domain I can create with a work processor, understand the readability issues regarding different font types, can use the format as far as settings, margin settings and page alignment. I am also able to work with the draw and paint application and also construct graphs and graphics from paint or draw, and mail merge. The fourth domain had to do with communication and in these domain out of the twelve questions I only answered yes to one question. I only aswered yes to being able to evaluate products for relevance to the assignment or task. After taking this assessment I soon came to the realization that I need to become more computer literate.

In the SETDA Teacher Survey I was able to find out that while in our district we do have a lot of technology available we are still not up to date. In our district and especially at the high school we do use technology at our content areas to impact student achievement. All of the four content areas have extendas in thier rooms and laptops available to the students. Teachers also use the internet to modify thier lessons and make them more rigorous and improve student engagement. The technology is made available to every student with out discriminating against any social class or ethnicity. In the math department for instance we have the smart board and the navigator from TI to incorporate into our lessons. We also use internet programs like brainpop, coolmath, and geometry 3D findings, etc... The students also have a studyisland membership where they can go into and practice thier skills in this program in the computer. We do have a lot of technology available we just need to get all of our staff members involved and interested in using it. All of our grading and attendance is also done online and we can also have easy access to our students profiles via thourgh our AB profiles and everything is done with our computers. Thers is also collaboration between our staff members with the technology and there are some staff members that have more experience and experties with technology than others. The technology is very equally distributed within the district and very campus has it fair share of the technology available.