What is the Texas STaR Chart anyway? - Week 2

Texas STaR Chart - Week 2

When evaluating local, state, and national progress on Technology proficiency in the classroom, one tool that is used is the STaR Chart. The STaR Chart is an annual survey in which teachers self report their use of technology and their experiences with professional development in technology.

One area that consistently falls short of the target is that of Educator Preparation and Development. There are many reasons why this area is underdeveloped. First of all, the demands of the day to day curriculum and school business make it difficult for teachers to obtain training and implement it on new technology. Infrastructure may not support the use of further technology, so there is little motivation to obtain further training. School administrators may wish to place further emphasis on technology, but other needs to be addressed during dedicated staff development times may take precedence. In addition, pre-service teacher preparation programs do not adequately prepare aspiring teachers for the technology demands of the 21st century classroom.

My own campus rates as Developing Tech in this area. Growth in this area has largely remained static. Looking at statewide statistics, the experience on my campus is not an isolated one. It is encouraging to note, however, that more campuses in the state of Texas are being rated as Advanced Tech. In order for this trend to continue, more time and resources must be devoted to the ongoing professional development of Texas educators in the area of technology. Our practice must be aligned with our philosophy, and our resources aligned with our goals.

Pre-K Technology Applications TEKS: Laying the Groundwork for Technology Literacy - Week 1

The beauty of the Technology Applications TEKS is that it is a dynamic document, spiraling in technology skills at all levels. At the Pre-K level, a great deal of emphasis is placed on exploration, which lends itself to play. This is developmentally appropriate for the Pre-K student. Another significant aspect of the Pre-K TEKS involves skills being modeled by the teacher. This lays the groundwork for the expectations in the later grades. For instance, one Pre-K Technology TEK simply states that the child will recognize that information is available through the use of technology. As soon as K-2, however, the child is expected to actually acquire information through the use of keyword searches. In grades 3-5, the student is expected to expand that to the use of Boolean operators. From there, the expectation increases even more in grades 6-8, when the student is expected to "use strategies to locate and acquire desired information on LANs and WANs, including the Internet, intranet, and collaborative software." This scaffolding then leads to the desired student outcome of being able to select the appropriate search strategy and using the appropriate network for resource sharing.

More information about the Technology Applications TEKS can be found here.

TEA and The Long Range Plan for Technology - Week 1

Texas has a comprehensive long range plan to address 21st Century technology needs in our schools. Society is changing exponentially, and if schools do not keep up with the times, then it is our students and our economy who will suffer the consequences. As a school leader, it is important to have an understanding of the areas of greatest need. It will be important, for example, to provide a great deal of professional development and adequate time for its implementation if increased integration of technology is to be achieved in our classrooms. In addition, the school leader will need to advocate for increased funding and support from the community if the technology is to be implemented effectively. Furthermore, it will be essential that the school leader enthusiastically encourages teachers in their use and even experimentation with technology in the classroom if our students are to become proficient, savvy, and successful users of technology based applications and communication.

Technology Assessments - Week 1

I have always considered myself to be technically savvy. I have been using the internet since I was in my early teens, even interacting with text only sites via telnet. As the internet has evolved, I have eagerly kept up. In college, I created my first websites with a friend of mine. We would sneak into the computer lab after hours and experiment with HTML and other basic scripts. I never became proficient at it, but I had a working knowledge that I felt was sufficient for my purposes.

However, as the internet has become more sophisticated, having a mere working knowledge is no longer enough for the educational leader. This week, I took several assessments in regards to my knowledge and use of technology in the classroom. In the Pre-Course Self-Evaluation, I realized that I have little knowledge of the Technology TEKS for our Texas students. In addition, I realized that I have little knowledge of the expectations placed on Texas teachers in regards to technology. Recently, I took the STaR Chart survey on my campus and felt that many of my responses were less than ideal. I also took this survey on the TEA website. I actually was able to response yes to most of the questions, but I realized that my knowledge lacks depth in many of those areas. For instance, I create many spreadsheets to organize information in special education, but I am not well practiced in many of the features that Excel offers. If it isn't something I use very often, it takes me a great deal of time to figure out how to execute it.

The final survey was the most thought provoking for me. In it, I was confronted with the fact that I do not regularly use technology in my lessons in a way that will help my students to become technologically literate. Practically speaking, however, the curriculum and demands of resource math do not lend themselves to utilizing much more than a graphing calculator. I can foresee ways that technology could bring certain concepts to life for my students, but I think of the day to day demands of designing a relatively simple lesson and I wonder how I could ever get to the next level. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to meet all these expectations. I am certainly open to suggestions and am willing to try new things if support is available.

I am interested to see what I may learn throughout the rest of this course about integrating technology in my classroom. I am even more interested in how I might support other teachers as an instructional leader in regards to technology.