Amanda Key posted Nov 6, 2019 8:11 PM

​

Upon studying the three key areas of the STaR chart and the five key areas of the ISTE standards I have chosen three components I believe are the most important when integrating technology use.        

• Educator preparation and development

• Teaching and Learning

• Digital Ethics

 

In order to successfully integrate technology use, teachers need to be trained on how and what programs they can use to deliver successful lessons. When it comes to technology use in the classroom, this opens up a whole new world to lesson delivery. Educator professional development on technology would be an important component to ensure teachers have the proper skills and knowledge to use technology in their classrooms. Educator preparation is also important because teachers need to have a plan on how they will use the technology in their classroom, and need to prepare engaging rigorous lessons using technology.

 

As I mentioned above, technology use in the classroom opens up a whole new world to education. Being in a One-to-One campus I have now seen the benefits of teaching and learning with technology use. My lessons are more engaging, and the students get the topic more often when I use technology than not.  Prior to being on a campus with innovative technology, teaching in my opinion, was difficult and sometimes boring to the students because we were not speaking in their language. Students in this era, are very technology driven. From a early age children are given cellphones, and tablets to distract them and keep them busy. When these children enter schools, they have already been exposed to technology. This is a new way of life, and teaching has to be altered to fit the new needs of our students. Just as many other things, teaching has to be adapted to the needs of our students and the culture that our society thrives and lives in.

 

The last component I believe to be very important is the digital ethics area. I think this is very important because our students need to know the effects of a digital footprint. With our children being exposed at a very young age, they do not always understand that on communication platforms, information can be stored for years on end. I believe it is also important to monitor the information able to be accessed by the students. In the district I currently am in, we go over digital ethics at the beginning of the year to inform students of appropriate information and web use. The district also has a content blocker that blocks websites that could potentially be inappropriate for elementary students.

 

With all of this being said, I would say these are all very important parts of an innovative campus using technology. These are all important aspects and I do think this information should drive the mission and vision statements.

Amanda Key posted Nov 11, 2019 5:41 PM

​

When looking at the SWOT analysis my eyes immediately drew to the larger bolder words in the wordcloud. 

Integrating technology has become a standard expectation in most classrooms in the society of today due to the use of technology daily in every day life. Due to this standard, classrooms across the world are integrating technology use to prepare students for the expectations of our society. Because of this standard I believe students, teachers, and administration are running into several of the same strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

​

When I was observing the wordclouds for each category I was not surprised in the words that were used in each cloud. Being in a district that is one to one, we have done very similar activities and surveys where we had to identify strengths and weaknesses of technology use across the campus in order to prepare students, teachers and administration for upcoming integration. Most of the words listed are words describing technology use that I have heard, said or seen across the campus I currently work in. 

As I stated above, being in a one to one district the technology integration has been a big part of developing our future goals as across campuses. 

​

Strengths

-Since the campus I work in is already integrating technology use with promethean boards, individual ipads and laptops I think my campus would be considered one of the leading districts in my surrounding area of integrating technology use. I would say this is absolutely a strength. Because of this we have seen student led instruction grow and flourish in our district. Tech has increased student attitude and willingness to learn across campuses. Teachers are creating engaging, exciting and innovative lessons. Technology use has opened a whole new world to education in the district. Teaching before technology and after are two completely different things, and this is good for students who are technology driven. 

​

Weaknesses 

-While Teaching before technology and after are two completely different things, some teachers have found the transition to be difficult. Teachers are struggle with time management in order to plan these exciting lessons. With this still being new, training is still needed, more time is needed to plan and it can be quite cumbersome. There are a lot of teachers set in their ways and comfortable with the way they have always done things. This can be very challenging to learn new teaching styles and to change the structure that once was in a classroom. 

​

Opportunities 

-Technology in the classroom allows students to prepare for the future. Students are now first hand able to experience real world technology use in their Math, Reading, and Science classrooms that they would not have been able to experience before. In my  classroom alone I am able to provide my students with virtual investigations and technology use that they will be able to use long term. This technology use allows students to foster skills that will encourage long term career successes. Not only are there opportunities for students, there are also opportunities for teachers and administration. Technology can cut down on paper expenses, increase digital citizenship and can increase the opportunity for more communication. 

​

Threats

-Unfortunately with new systems in place, there will always be some time of threats. One set back my district ran across is technology breakage. Some students have not been responsible with their technology and parents are unwilling or unable to pay for damages. When this happens, students do not get their device back until monetary payment has been received or arrangements have been made. When this happens this now holds students back in the classroom because they are unable to participate with what the other students are doing in the classroom. Our classrooms have become so technology driven that now when technology is unavailable, we as teachers sometimes do not have a back up plan. 

​

In addition there are also other things to think of such as digital citizenship, cyber bullying and social groups. These things can become threats if proper awareness and systems have not been put into effect to teach the students expectations on these things. 

Amanda Key posted Nov 19, 2019 10:51 PM

​

Areas of work

 

• Educator preparation and development - I believe this would align with Goal 4. The focus on the processes of the district

 

• Teaching and Learning – This I believe would align with goal 3 the “people” or the employees of the district.  

 

 

• Digital Ethics – This would align with Goal 1 – the “customers” or the students of the district. 

 

• Do you see alignment between those areas of work and the priority goals set by the school that you’ve selected in its strategic plan? 

 

I would say I do see alignment between the areas of work and the priority goals. The school I have chosen is striving to innovate and provide a system for evolving digital needs of MISD. In choosing educator preparation/development, and teaching/learning as an area of work, I think this would help the district to meet the evolving needs of the district.

 

• Now that you’ve conducted your SWOT, do the results prompt you to refine or change the technology areas of work that you identified in Week 2?

 

Now that I have completed my SWOT, I think my technology areas of work were headed in the right direction. The only one I would add is student creation versus consumption. This would go along with the teaching and learning area of work that I had identified.

Amanda Key posted Dec 1, 2019 12:17 AM

​

D. "increase the pass rate on the mathematics STAAR test by 10%." 

​

This goal I found close to home. This year our school is working on this very thing. Here is how i would propose a action plan.

 

REVISED STATEMENT: Administration, Teachers, and support staff will identify key areas of improvement in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade based on 2018 MATH STAAR scores by Oct 2019. Teachers will use BOY, and MOY benchmark data, performance assessments and previous STAAR scores to asses student progress and determine areas of strength and weakness in Math. After school tutoring, and online education galaxy levels will be implemented to encourage student growth. This data will be used to improve instruction, and to create small group instruction to differentiate student needs throughout the school year. This action plan will be evaluated by June 2020, and reassessed.