This class was quite a ride and I must say it is has been a battle to make it to the finish line. With this class I expected to learn more about being and Instructional Leader here on my campus however, that was not the case. The overall experience of this course is a bit mixed for me because I do not feel that I became an Instructional Leader. On the other hand, I do feel that I learned valuable information that has made me more prepared to be a Technology Leader here at my campus and any other campus that I sent foot in. Nonetheless, it is hard for me to pin point an outcome because what I thought I would be learning did not happen. Everything I learned in this course was of value and relevant to what I do as topics such as blogging, STaR charts, and podcasting were very influential and have made an impact on me. As a campus administrator, I know a great deal more than I did before and would do my best to bring in technology to my campus. I would also make sure my teachers were professionally developed in this new technology age in order to give our students the best education possible. Even though I am not an administrator yet, this course has helped me be more informed and has allowed me to achieve the mindset of a technology leader. Strangely, until this final paper I did not even know that my thinking had changed to one that is all about technology in our schools.
In looking back at this course I can say that I was successful in carrying out the course assignment but I have to be honest and say that the discussion assignments were pointless. What really was the point of having me respond to quotes from other classmates? I can understand having me read an article and write a reflective response on it or a quote, like what was required. Nevertheless, it seemed like just busy work to not only have me read 8 articles per week, but respond to quotes from each article AND respond to two from classmates on the same article. That is a total of 24 responses with 16 of those really having no point. I do not think I was the only student that thought these were very unnecessary and at times I just wanted to take a zero because I do have a life and a job outside of this. I do not feel like that was taken into consideration as those discussion assignments took many hours to do and took everything I had to complete them and the other assignments that we were given.
From this course I learned that Graduate school which at one point I thought was fun become work that was not engaging and did not keep my attention. We read so many times about how teachers should make sure students are getting something out of the assignments and in this technology age we should use technology to keep them engaged. This course used technology but I felt it was used in the wrong way and in no way tried to keep me or any student engaged but tried to keeps us busy in this “experimental course.” To change gears, in technology I learned that our school does have some technology but we could use a lot more to help our students out. From the STaR chart I learned that many teachers on campus need some more professional development so that they can become masters in what they are doing. They should be able to give their students the kind of technological education that they could succeed in as opposed to the classic, “sit and listen to lecture” model. What I learned about my leadership skills with this course is that as a leader I can ruffle some feathers and go against the norm. It is ok to speak out and if I do not agree with someone for the greater good I will do what is needed to be done but I will speak out about it and let it be known that certain things are not right. In this reflection I am being brutally honest and hopefully I will not get a backlash from this. My hope is that those that come after me will not suffer the same grueling path that I just went through.
A great resource that I learned from this course was the new innovative concept called a web blog. The value of blogs is that students will be able to learn a new technology and are able to fully express themselves in a format that was never seen before by their parents. Blogs are very helpful in that they get various people (in this case students) to agree and debate about ideals that they may currently be facing. They also allow students to reach far and wide to those that they thought they would never be able to reach such as scientists, politicians, and even movie stars to get questions answered or even discuss various issues that may be occurring. When dealing with class content this can be an excellent tool to just learn a lot more about what happened in the past but with an added “current event” feel to it. This resource can also be used by us to reach community stakeholders and let them see what are kids are learning. We want stakeholders to see what are kids are learning and how we are integrating technology into our classrooms to make our 21st century learners technologically savvy. What better way than to show them this action than by letting them reach out to our students and get prime responses in a matter of seconds?
Sadly, along with the positives that I just mentioned there are some negatives when dealing with blogs in an education setting. As I said, blogs can bring about debate but sometimes with kids debate is not always mellow. It can get very heated and intense. This is when blogs can take a turn for the worst. We have heard a lot in this class about cyber bullying and a blog can be a place for this type of situation to occur. We just must be vigilant and make sure that when we are doing this kind of online open forum in our classes, that we take steps to not have students see the negativity that comes from blogging like many other sites that have this type of application do. All in all this course did provide some helpful resources and let me see a side of education that I had never seen before. Many parts of this journey I did feel were pointless as I would have gained the same insight doing 50% of the work required as the other 50% just seemed to be extra with no basis or reasoning behind it. Technology is the future but we must remember as educators and as students that if we want to make it work for us we must use it to give our students knowledge and let them feel as if they have gained something. Not push them to the brink were they question if they still want to continue something they were excited about all along.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Technology Action Plan 12/09
Scarborough High School
Technology Action Plan 12/09
Organizational Chart
A. Rivera, Instructional Technology Secondary - Designs and implements on-going campus technology training and Research and disseminate technology information to the campus.
P. Collins, Technology and Information Services - Serve as technology liaison between the campus and others to evaluate campus technology strengths, resources, and needs.
A. Summers, Principal - Support’s computer based classroom instruction, assuring that technology is incorporated into the curriculum.
N. Thorn, Campus Technology Director - The technology support person for educational initiatives at the campus level.
Campus Technology Goal – To have Scarborough High School be at the forefront of technology and learning in Houston ISD.
Teachers at our campus will be committed to participate in ongoing professional developments to enhance their technology skills and move towards our Campus Technology Goal. In order to achieve this we will focus on not just one type of training but a plethora of trainings in order to bring various insights back to our campus. In doing so, we will make technology available in every classroom and to every student, teacher, and staff member. Training from simple integration of technology, to how to use technology tools, to how to use technology to incorporate differentiated instruction will all be on the forefront of the development training list. We will constantly be reviewing and revising our plan to meet student and teacher needs and wants to make sure that we not only are providing the service for our students but also remain on track for our campus wide goal.
Short Term Goals for Immediate Action (Assessment/Monitoring)
• Have a website that serves not only the staff and students of Scarborough but also the entire learning community and that is updated on a daily basis.
• Form a Student Tech Team to help with troubleshooting and computer upgrades to give certain students skills at a vocation.
• Create Podcasts of school events to be posted for the world to see.
• Start a morning "Internet Cafe" for early arrivals to bring in a college campus culture.
• Provide monthly technology opportunities for teachers to maintain and enhance skills.
• Create and maintain electronic portfolios on the school server for all students in grades 9-12 (District effort).
• Communicate staff info and correspondence through e-mail.
• Upgrade technology in all classrooms so that every child has the same opportunities.
• Deliver valuable information to students and parents via our School website.
• Have all teachers complete an online course in technology because we want our teachers to be learners as well.
Long Term Goals to Achieve (Assessment/Evaluating)
• Bridge the gap between teacher’s technical abilities and those that we have set forth as a campus.
• Use technology to efficiently communicate within our school, between school and home, and between school and community.
• Have paperless classrooms with an electronic management system for assignments, data collection, grade books, and calendars.
• Have an established technology budget so that we may be able to take full advantage of any new technologies that will benefit our students.
• Produce students that are technology savvy so that they may improve their education by maintaining web sites, using e-mail, appropriately searching the internet, and creating dazzling presentations.
• Continue to strive for technology excellence.
To conclude, we want our classrooms to be a place where students can get the information they want, when they want it, and have the equipment and guidance to use that information in creative, unique ways. We want our students to have full advantage of every new technology available such as the internet, so that they may explore places that they have never been and communicate with areas they once did not know exist. Keeping with HISDs district wide plan we also want our teachers, students, and parents to have online access to assignments, records, and school information. For our students we want to make sure our plan is new, exciting, and innovated. For our teachers we want our plan to keep them motivated and eager towards our campus improvements and to strive for success, as our new endeavors will make them strong technology talented educators.
Technology Action Plan 12/09
Organizational Chart
A. Rivera, Instructional Technology Secondary - Designs and implements on-going campus technology training and Research and disseminate technology information to the campus.
P. Collins, Technology and Information Services - Serve as technology liaison between the campus and others to evaluate campus technology strengths, resources, and needs.
A. Summers, Principal - Support’s computer based classroom instruction, assuring that technology is incorporated into the curriculum.
N. Thorn, Campus Technology Director - The technology support person for educational initiatives at the campus level.
Campus Technology Goal – To have Scarborough High School be at the forefront of technology and learning in Houston ISD.
Teachers at our campus will be committed to participate in ongoing professional developments to enhance their technology skills and move towards our Campus Technology Goal. In order to achieve this we will focus on not just one type of training but a plethora of trainings in order to bring various insights back to our campus. In doing so, we will make technology available in every classroom and to every student, teacher, and staff member. Training from simple integration of technology, to how to use technology tools, to how to use technology to incorporate differentiated instruction will all be on the forefront of the development training list. We will constantly be reviewing and revising our plan to meet student and teacher needs and wants to make sure that we not only are providing the service for our students but also remain on track for our campus wide goal.
Short Term Goals for Immediate Action (Assessment/Monitoring)
• Have a website that serves not only the staff and students of Scarborough but also the entire learning community and that is updated on a daily basis.
• Form a Student Tech Team to help with troubleshooting and computer upgrades to give certain students skills at a vocation.
• Create Podcasts of school events to be posted for the world to see.
• Start a morning "Internet Cafe" for early arrivals to bring in a college campus culture.
• Provide monthly technology opportunities for teachers to maintain and enhance skills.
• Create and maintain electronic portfolios on the school server for all students in grades 9-12 (District effort).
• Communicate staff info and correspondence through e-mail.
• Upgrade technology in all classrooms so that every child has the same opportunities.
• Deliver valuable information to students and parents via our School website.
• Have all teachers complete an online course in technology because we want our teachers to be learners as well.
Long Term Goals to Achieve (Assessment/Evaluating)
• Bridge the gap between teacher’s technical abilities and those that we have set forth as a campus.
• Use technology to efficiently communicate within our school, between school and home, and between school and community.
• Have paperless classrooms with an electronic management system for assignments, data collection, grade books, and calendars.
• Have an established technology budget so that we may be able to take full advantage of any new technologies that will benefit our students.
• Produce students that are technology savvy so that they may improve their education by maintaining web sites, using e-mail, appropriately searching the internet, and creating dazzling presentations.
• Continue to strive for technology excellence.
To conclude, we want our classrooms to be a place where students can get the information they want, when they want it, and have the equipment and guidance to use that information in creative, unique ways. We want our students to have full advantage of every new technology available such as the internet, so that they may explore places that they have never been and communicate with areas they once did not know exist. Keeping with HISDs district wide plan we also want our teachers, students, and parents to have online access to assignments, records, and school information. For our students we want to make sure our plan is new, exciting, and innovated. For our teachers we want our plan to keep them motivated and eager towards our campus improvements and to strive for success, as our new endeavors will make them strong technology talented educators.
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