I believe the area that should be targeted the most by my campus is the area of Educator Preparation and Development. According to the STaR Chart, the trend for my school has been to sit still and go nowhere. In order to reach Target Tech in this area there has to be regular technology-supported learner-centered projects, vertical alignment of Technology Application TEKS, and anytime, anywhere use of online resources. Our school is not as close to that goal as we should be. For the past three years we have made no improvement at all. We are in the same category as 74.2% of other Texas schools.
Our regional service center is less than 100 miles from our school. Our school leaders are willing to permit and pay for any teacher to attend a technology workshop that he/she wants. However, we are never told that we have to attend certain kinds of workshops or even given updates on what workshops are available. It is up to the teacher to browse through the list of workshops and sign up for whatever suits his/her needs the best.
I have a couple of suggestions to improve this area. My first suggestion is for our teachers to get training on how to use the technology we already have in our classrooms. We all have projectors that could project an interactive powerpoint lesson. Several of us have a StarBoard that we could use more. The second is for the administration to require teachers to attend at least one technology workshop per school year. With technology changing as fast as it is, we all need regular updates. Our regional service center has done a great job of keeping workshops up-to-date and user friendly. We should take advange of all the resources that are available to us.
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Debra,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on setting up your blog. Your information on your blog is insightful and informative. I share the same opinion on my assessment of the STar Chart data for our school. Our school needs to launch an agressive professional development campaign to improve educator's knowledge of technology and technology application in the classroom. Great Job! GH
Debra,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Greg on Educator Prep and Development. It seems so many of our teachers are not comfortable with technology. Therefore, they make little use of it. They may not understand that they are doing a disservice to the students.