Week 2 STaR Presentation

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WEEk 2 Part 2

Looking at the campus STaR Chart, it revealed some interesting results in the area of Educator Preparation and Development. During the three year period, this area had the lowest scores. The area assesses professional development experiences, models of professional development, capabilities of educators, access to professional development, levels of understanding and patterns of use, and professional development for online learning. These six categories totalled to a 9, in the 2007-08 school year. This was the year that an first year administrator was brought in. I believe that all should be given an opportunity to prove themselves and a place to start. However, in this case, I do not believe that it was the right adminstrative decision to bring in an unproven frist year principal to the lowest performing campus in the district. The data show low scores because the principal was in over her head with other major problems. Therefore, since she was not able to handle all that was in the fore front, some items "fell threw the cracks"; staff development was one of them. However, there have been some good changes on campus and the district-wide technology initiatives have made a significant difference. The three year period, the district has brought on PD360, an online professional development initiative. It has been implemented and showing good results. Locally, the campus has a Technology Specialist that continually supports the teachers. The computer lab was also upgraded to double the amount of space and computers available for students. This local, district and state initiatives have made a difference and was evident in the final year of assessment, 2008-09, when it made a 6 point jump, from 9 to 15 points!

Week 1 Part 4

The Texas pre-k essentials allow for a foundation for learning to be established. The rich language input is essential for communication, as the student develops. Being able to maintain and build on interests will lead them to be self learners and take control of the information they want/need. Setting fewer restrictions and more choicees will allow for more freedom and critical thinking, like evaluating all that is before them.

A spiraling and scaffolding curriculum gives the student ample time to internalize concepts and skills. It is like constructing a building, it begins with a good foundation and then one brick/floor laid on top of the other. One example of scaffolding curriculum is the concept of reading. The TEKS expects the student to first learn to idenfiy print letters. Then, it continues with phonics/phonemes. It then builds on clusters, syllables and words(vocabulary). Those words are translated into sentences and messages. Comprehension then gets developed to help students be good fluent readers of various texts.

Texas Long Range Tech Plan

The Texas Long-Range Plan, 2006-2020 is a clear description of the Texas technology education needs and goals. This plan allowed me to get a good vision of the students/citizens that Texas wants to produce. I believe it has provided a great profile of where we are today and where we need to be tomorrow, technologically. As a future campus instructional leader, the plan has allowed me to incorporate technology in my educational vision and be more conscioud of technology, as we plan and instruct students. Technology standards must be held as high as any other content/subject standard, if we are to do justice to our graduating students. The committee of the plan has also made recommendations to the state and local agencies that will provide the support needed for districts, campuses and teachers.

Week 1 Blog Assignment-Assessments

As I requirement for the Instructional Leadership course, I was able to take a couple of personal technnology inventories. The technology assessments gave a profile of my strengths and weaknesses. Overall, it seems like my knowledge of technology and my tech skills are decent. However, I would be interested in comparing my results with others to give me a better idea of my skills. The Technology Applications Assessment was an assessment of some basic technology skills and applications. The majority of my answers were "yes's". The inventory revealed that I am aware or familiar with 77 percent of its questions. I believe that this is a true reflection of my basic technology skills.
The SETDA inventory was a more intensive and comprehensive inventory of my technology applications and of those around me. It also revealved some weaknesses and strengths. More than anything, it showed that we are very equipted with technology in our school/district, but not completely implementing it. Like any initiative that a district takes on, there must be a plan for introduction, implementation and follow up. Technology seems to be different than any other initiative, in the sense that it requires much more money, staff development and personnel support. Technology requires, not only to know the content, but to know how to use it. It can also be very complex and requires time to be proficient at it. The inventory reflected that we are not making the most of our technology and not using it to the maximum learning of the students. However, from what I have witnessed, my district is continually providing and hiring more technology support, which is one of the keys to implement what is provided on the campuses.