What does the STaR chart say about Wiley?

This is my slideshow presentation for the Texas STaR chart and its implications for Wiley Middle school. The presentation gives a brief overview of what the STaR Chart is. In addition, campus and state data is given. Strengths and weaknesses are followed by recommendations for improvement.

Texas S Ta R Chart

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Web Conferencing

I had my first experience with Web conferencing today. What a great experience. I can see where this tool could be used to expand the walls of the school experience. I could see applications for this for collaborative meetings with others from other campuses. More importantly, I could see this tool being used by students. Setting up interviews with students in foreign countries, collaborating with other students beyond the 8 hours school day are just a couple of uses I see students using this tool for.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. The applications for this, I see, transcend beyond the classroom. As a lifelong learner, it is important for me to be continually looking to improve upon my trade. This tool will allow for me to learn from others all over the state, nation and the world. For me, this type of tool is much more efficient than blogging or email. So much gets lost in translation when you type. Having face-to-face interactions is much more powerful and I feel you can get a lot more out of it.

Teaching and Learning: A Focus for our Students

Technology has become the focal point of the “21st century learner.” With the national education scene changing rapidly, states and districts must “step up to the plate,” and begin preparing our students for a new wave of life long learning. Across the nation, technology is quickly overtaking the traditional schooling techniques. Progress is being made on the local, state and national levels, but it is not enough. It is time for educators to step up and begin to focus their efforts on preparing our students for their futures. In particular, I feel that educators need to focus on the “Teaching and Learning” portion of Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology. This area focuses on learning for all students in preparation for the 21st century. It includes areas for students to collaboratively learn and expand their classroom beyond the walls of the traditional school. Teachers are encouraged to engage their students in distance learning opportunities and begin serving as more of a facilitator of learning, rather than the sole source of information.

According to the Campus Statewide summary for 2008, this area is one of the weaker areas. Only 26.4% of the schools are classified as either Advanced Tech or Target Tech. Most of the schools, 69.7%, are in the Developing Tech area. The goal, keep in mind, is that by 2020 the majority of schools are in the Target Tech area. This trend holds true for my school as well. According to STaR chart data from the past three years, this has consistently been the lowest area for our campus. Each year has gotten better, but this area has yet to even reach the Advanced Tech stage.

My recommendations for this area are quite simple. The focus of anything we do in education is on student learning. Currently our campus, according to 2008-2009 data, has received an Advanced Tech rating for three of the four areas. We have the infrastructure, our teachers are getting the necessary staff development, and our administration is providing the necessary supports. It is time for teachers to putting into practice the knowledge they are gaining from all of the other supports. I feel that asking teachers to include technological strategies in at the very least one lesson a unit could help tremendously in improving this area. In addition, making data, such as STaR chart data, more available to our teachers, will help them see where improvement is needed.

Spiraling Curriculum and the Pre-K TEKS

The Technology Application (TA) domain for Prekindergarten children is one of the 10 skill domains that preschool-aged children are expected to have mastered when they reach kindergarten. The TA domain is broken down into five “End of Prekindergarten Year Outcomes.” The first outcome (X.A.1) describes that a child will be able to run and navigate through age-appropriate software that “enhance the development of appropriate concepts.” The second outcome (X.A.2) describes that a child should be able to identify and properly utilize various input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse. A child, for the third outcome (X.A.3), should be able to use “voice/sound recorders and touch screens. The fourth outcome (X.A.4) dictates that a preschool child should be able to use a variety of software applications that allow them to create products and express themselves. The fifth and final outcome (X.A.5), states that the child is able to recognize, not necessarily find, that information is able to be found utilizing various technological devices. Each of these outcomes contains 1-2 examples of expected children’s behaviors, and examples of instructional strategies that can be used to reach the end of the year outcomes.

These outcomes set the framework for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) that children are expected to learn throughout their educational career. Each outcome mirrors the foundations, information acquisition, problem solving or communication TEK. These outcomes begin the spiraling or scaffolding that occurs within the TA domain of the TEKS, whereby each level builds upon the previous and prepares students for the next set of TEKS. For example, by the end of preschool, children are expected to, according to (X.A.2), use and name various input devices. For the K-2 TEKS, in particular the Foundations 2A, in addition to being able to name various input devices, students are expected to be able to use each one for the purpose of data entry. Reinforcing this set of TEKS, in third through fifth grade (2A), children are expected to use the same list of input devices for data entry. In middle school and high school students, not only are students expected to use various input devices, but they are expected to demonstrate proficiency in doing so.

The Long-Range Plan for Technology

The Long-Range Plan for Technology (LRPT) is a very valuable piece of documentation for aspiring administrators. The LRPT provides an overall vision and sets goals, for its readers, of Texas’s vision for technology in education. By the year 2020, Texas hopes to make this vision complete. The vision is broken down into three “phases.” The first phase has a goal to be completed by the year 2010. This phase provides the foundation and framework for the other two phases. The goals and objectives on these two phases will be set and determined based upon the progress made on phase one.

In addition, to laying out an overall vision for the technology, the LRPT provides relevant data, defines societal changes that dictate the need for reform in technology in education and provides insight to the nature of the 21st century learner as well as what teachers are saying about the current state of technology. With the needs and nature of the learner changing, educators must strive to reach these learners by diversifying their methods and reaching out to the 21st century learner. It is noted throughout the data given, that teachers want to learn how to meet the needs of these learners and the importance of integrating technology throughout their lesson planning.
The final portion of the LRPT sets individual visions for teaching and learning; educator preparation and development; leadership, administration and instructional support and the infrastructure for technology. Recommendations are made to the Texas Education Agency, Regional Service Centers, school districts, higher education agencies and the communities for each of the aforementioned areas follow each of the visions set forth in the LRPT.

My Personal Technology Assessments

In terms of agreeing with these assessments, I agree they could be considered effective tools in determining the individual and campus needs in the area of technology. These types of reflective surveys allow one to find areas of strengths and areas of improvement. As an administrator, utilizing surveys such as these allow one to analyze the current state of technological resource use and identify the professional development needs of my campus. These surveys showed me that in some areas we are doing well, but the feedback also displayed some definite areas for improvement.

I discovered, through the technology applications inventory, a variety of strengths and weaknesses. I found that, for the most part, I am fairly strong in three of the four domains. My strengths are definitely with my wide knowledge base of platforms, software and my ability to communicate in various electronic ways. That level of comfort becomes important when attempting to support staff members who are not well-versed in technological applications and resources. I discovered that my weakest area in technology was problem solving. In particular, I discovered I was weak in collaboration regarding technology.

With the SETDA survey, I found similar results. While our school exhibits many strengths with regards to the implementation of various technologies, our school still has room to grow. Strengths discovered in this survey include the variety of technology, such as word processing and spreadsheets that my students use within the classroom. In addition, similar to the technology application inventory, it was noted that I am fairly skilled in a variety of software applications, that I have my students use regularly. Areas of weakness that I need to obtain more professional development in are in the areas of distance learning, multi-media editing and utilizing research sources such as EBSCO and ERIC. The biggest area of improvement needed is in obtaining knowledge of how to engage students in online collaboration and communicating with others. In addition, while our district has provided up to date technology for each campus, teachers are not using these resources daily or even weekly in classrooms.