Texas STaR Chart Presentation

Presentation of STaR Chart information including Avondale's results.

Week 2 Infrastructure for Technology

In order to prepare our students for 21st Century careers, our schools need to provide a 21st Century infrastructure that offers high speed connectivity among schools, colleges, medical facilities, libraries, businesses, and homes. They must also be equipped with ample digital tools and resources to support all learners. Districts must have an infrastructure that is safe and secure, flexible, scalable, and reliable. Current connectivity must be sustained through regular maintenance, upgrades, and technical support. Districts must have individuals with the technical and networking skills to ensure that networks remain reliable, secure, flexible and available to meet the ever changing needs of the school. A 21st Century infrastructure is required to provide a quality education to all students.

Some of the goals of the infrastructure area include having a 1:1 ratio of computers to every student, teacher and administrator. 24/7 access for parents and community members would also increase all stakeholders involvement. Assessable and affordable internet access would support learning and involvement.

Texas schools have been fortunate to have the support of the Texas legislature and the federal government in building the technology infrastructure needed. Not all districts, campuses, and classrooms have the connectivity and tools that they need to integrate technology into the teaching and learning process. The loss of funding from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund has had a significant impact on school infrastructure. Some districts are able to get funding through bonds while others struggle to maintain current connectivity and keep network equipment functioning.

In order to prepare our students with 21st century skills, our districts and sate must make funding for infrastructure a priority.

Week 1 Pre-K Technology Applications TEKS

Prekinderegarten students should use technology to assist and benefit their learning. They should develop an awareness of controls and handling various technology units in order to become comfortable and independent users. Technology helps prekindergarteners to develop appropriate concepts. They should be able to use the parts of computer input systems and operate voice/sound recorders and touch screens. Students in this category should also use technology to create and express their own ideas.

Pre-K Technology TEKS lay the foundation by enabling students to become increasingly aware of technology devices and their controls. In this stage, students experience the information gained and practiced from technology.

Starting in Pre-K students are required to name and use input devices on a computer. This continues through the upper grades. Students are still supposed to know the names and purpose of the input devices on a computer. This allows several years for students to master these TEKS.

Week 1 Long-Range Plan for Technology

Through the summary of key ideas I learned that the Long-Range Plan of Technology includes a plan for students, parents, educators, as well as community and school board members. This can be very useful when as an instructional leader I am bringing together all stakeholders in decision making. There is a repetitive focus on preparing our students to have 21st century knowledge to interact in a global marketplace. In order to prepare our students, the information must be relevant and diversified and foster problem solving and reasoning skills. As an instructional leaders, my goal will be to lead the way in technology usage and providing the time needed for teachers to apply themselves with the confidence to assist students. I want to be the encourager and supporter for my educators as they embrace technology in their differentiated instruction. I see my role as preparing educators for the 21st century workplace so they in turn can present 21st century learning. I plan to do this through modeling, assessing our needs, and providing financial means.

Week 1 Technology Assessments

I felt that the Technology Applications Inventory was an accurate measure of my technology knowledge and skills. The questions included a wide range of areas in technology including the usage and understanding components. The Foundations Domain revealed a broad knowledge and basis for technology use. Areas of improvement include, primary and secondary memory, how to find the amount of RAM, secondary storage, digital file, and analog and digital technology. The Information Acquisition Domain revealed a great understanding of vilifying researched on the internet. Areas of improvement include locating and acquiring LANs and WANs and understanding vector graphic files and bit-mapped graphic files. The Solving Problems with Technology Tools Domain revealed a good basis of understanding of word processor, spreadsheet, and other product related tools. Areas of improvement include linear and non linear multimedia projects, interactive virtual environments, and technical writing strategies. The Communication Domain revealed that I am actively using many formats in order to communicate via the internet with technology skills. Areas of improvement include using telecommunication tools for publishing and using an electronic evaluation tool storage.

I felt that the SETDA Teacher Survey was also an accurate survey because it touched on areas for student, teacher, campus, and district learning. My results of the survey revealed that our district and campus are keeping up with and mandating that our students be taught 21st century technology skills. It also revealed that I as a teacher am presenting current and mandate technology skills to my students and using them for collaborative efforts. Some areas that I as a teacher can improve on include researching best learning practices, visually representing concepts, and using digital tools to enhance learning.