Texas STaR Chart Krause and the Rouse Raiders

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Texas S Ta R Chart

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STaR Chart Summary

The key area that I will discuss is Key Area II, Educator Preparation and Development. This section includes professional development experiences and modeling, access to technology based professional development, capabilities of educators and their levels of understanding, and professional development for online learning. As a campus and school district, we have made little progress with this key area over the last three years. As a state, we are also moving slowly in this key area and are staying in the developing technology level of progress. As a nation, we are continuing to lag behind not only in the area of the STaR chart, but in many aspects of technology when compared to education across the globe. The current trend is remaining in the middle as far as the level of progress. I believe that this section is extremely important to the overall progress of education in my district, the state of Texas, and the entire country.

How can we improve this key area? There are several things that can help. As a school district, pursuing professional development with a focus on not only technology, but actually using technology in the classroom will improve teacher buy in. Following up technology professional development by allowing teachers time to implement new strategies in their classroom will help transfer information learned into actual classrooms. When teachers utilize technology effectively, sharing their ability with other teachers within the school and district is important to build a culture of technology integration. Another tool that is not used enough is online learning. Now that I have some experience with it in this graduate program, I recommend that online learning and training get used by schools and districts to give teachers more access to learning opportunities and more flexibility with their time. The last thing that is necessary to see improvement in this key area and all key areas is great educational leadership and a commitment by those leaders to put technology at the top of the list in preparing students for higher education and careers in the 21st century.

Pre-K Technology Applications

After looking at the Pre-K TEKS for technology applications, I came away impressed with the organization of it all and the use of video in each of the five domains. There is also specific activities that can be used to improve learning in those domains. Each of the five domains is broken down into more detailed and informative sections that are extremely helpful when navigating the website. As the parent of a 3 year old, I would say that I am pleased with the current system and information in place. It is visually appropriate and very easy to use.
The foundation for future student performance is set by setting up the fundamentals in the five domains for young students to grow and learn. Education is a step by step process, and these TEKS take each discipline and build it up from the basics up. Similar to basketball, the fundamentals must be taught prior to the other skills in order to create a solid foundation to build on.
A scaffolding curriculum is a curriculum in which there are skills built from the ground up in the appropriate sequence in order to maximize learning. With the technology TEKS, more is expected of students as they move up grade levels for similar applications. Students will be exposed to such applications as presentation programs at the lower levels, but will be expected to integrate video and audio into their own presentations at the middle school and high school levels. You see the increase in knowledge and utilization of each applications capabilities as the students grow.

Long Range Plan for Technology

After reading and summarizing the long range plan for Texas education, I was impressed with the thorough job that was done. There are numerous lists of expecations and recommendations for each section. The key to make the vision a reality is to expose as many teachers to this information as possible and get buy in from educators that this is the best way to prepare our students for the future. I can use all of this new information to help me be a leader on my campus integrating technology into my classroom. I can assist other teachers in my department integrate technology into their classrooms. An effective strategy for teachers is modeling and observing other teachers model technology. I believe once you actually see implementation of technology in a classroom, it is much easier to attempt it in your own classroom. I can also promote and support other teachers using technology and help to explain the many benefits of technology for students given in the long range plan. I will also ask campus leaders for more technology professional development to improve myself and my colleagues.

Reflections of Technology Assessments

After completing both of the technology assessments, I have a much better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses regarding technology as an educator and leader within my school. My biggest strength is my ability to learn and grow with the always improving technology. My biggest weakness is a lack of formal training in some of the most used applications, such as Excel and Powerpoint, and a deeper and more in depth understanding of the more advanced applications.
With the Technology Applications Inventory, each of the four domains showed things I am able to do and things I will need to improve. With the first domain, I was strong with all of the statements except with the ability to delineate between the numerous types of file formats and I wasn't familiar with the specifics of the Copyright Law of 1976. With the second domain, I was solid with most statements. The statements where I had some uncertainty is with the Boolean search strategies, and with vector graphic files and bit-mapped graphic files. For the third domain, I will need to get some exposure to the following applications; using databases, creating linear and non-linear multimedia projects, demonstrating the appropriate use of graphic tools, using interactive virtual environments, and using collaborative software to create products. The third domain is by far my weakest domain. With the fourth domain, I was good with nearly all of the statements. I would need some work with using telecommunication tools and database managers. Overall, I was technologically strong across the board with a few areas that I can definitely improve on.
For the very thorough SETDA Teacher Survey, I found myself strong on most of the questions, and I wasn't surprised on the areas that I need improvement on. The use of technology in my classroom and department that I am the head of is a normal and frequent process. I need to improve using the data from assignments and projects to drive the lesson plans and continuous improvements. I have at least an intermediate skill level with most applications, and expose my students to a number of those applications. My school has great technology personnel and resources. I think we could improve the technology training and help teachers implement more technology into the classroom with more assistance. We are given some training on different applications and technology, and then expected to do the rest. The training should be a continuous and consistent activity, not a once a year or semester thing.
Overall, I agree with the results from both assessments. They are a great way to reflect on what I have done and what I need to improve on as far as technology and leadership goes. As a young educator with many years to go, I look forward to making technology more and more a main part of the educational process.