I’ve been looking forward to taking this class since I enrolled in Lamar’s masters in educational administration program a year ago. I’ve been working at a one-to-one computing campus in Klein ISD since August 2006. Last April, I moved from the classroom to the Instructional Media Coordinator position on campus with high hopes of positively impacting the continued use of technology for instructional growth and innovation at our school of at-risk students. Staffing and equipment changes have kept me from charging forward as thoroughly as I envisioned. But those changes are very similar to the kinds of changes and adjustments I see my campus director and associate director work through every day. In my job, I’ve learned that it’s important to take care of my “To Do” list efficiently and proficiently so that I can move to the next task and project on the ever-growing list.
In a campus position, having a clear vision of the big picture and reaching for research-based resources allows me to work best – making the best decisions and recommendations I know to make, supporting teachers and students in the ways they most need, advising administrators and district personnel with my perspective as a solid teacher in a one-to-one classroom with a more global campus and district view now, and doing things right the first time. In many ways, I’ve been living this class since I started at Vistas, moving in practice through the theory and research we’ve read and blogged about since the week before Thanksgiving.
While that might sound like an advantage, I’ve found the class more challenging because of it. “Blog about…” is something we’ve assigned with students at Vistas for the last few years, especially in the English Language Arts and Reading classrooms. In EDLD 5352 Instructional Leadership, blogging has been the publication aspect of three weeks worth of assignments. Sounds easy for someone who has been asking others to do it, right? In actuality, it’s been difficult for me to step back to what I used to know (or not know) and to imagine what it would be like if only my students could use a computer anytime I or they wished. Quite frankly, working in a school where meaningful daily technology integration in each class has spoiled me. I’ve had access to the digital tools we’ve learned more about in this class, and I’ve been using them for instructional delivery and lesson design, records management, and communication with stakeholders. In my current position, I’m planning, delivering, and supporting staff professional development established based on the needs of technology users documented in the campus STaR chart and in district technology self-assessment tools and initiatives. I’m involved in the policy talks that address content filters, the need for appropriate levels of access to Web 2.0 tools for differentiated instruction at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, and connecting the IT and EdTech perspectives in a district whose long-range plan for technology includes one-to-one computing for all students. In practice, I’m getting great real world experience and fantastic opportunities to show my growth in the portfolio for principal candidates.
Despite what I’m learning in my job, I’ve failed to apply the lessons to my participation in this class. I have not tackled my “To Do” list diligently, even though it’s been provided for me on a week-by-week basis. In many ways, I’ve been like my students. I’ve known I could do the work but have not managed my time well, allowing other responsibilities (including my role as mother and wife and my job) to remain in the forefront. Reflecting on that performance, however, has yielded valuable learning for my continued work with this program and my growth into a campus leader.
First, I know that time management is critical to success. When I don’t manage my time well, I do not perform well – alone or in collaborative settings. When I fail to collaborate, I create work for myself that I don’t always have the energy to expend. More importantly, my work lacks a richness that collaboration provides as an individual explains, clarifies, adjusts, and formalizes his or her ideas and positions. That’s been an important lesson for me to realize. I really understand that working with others in professional collaborative situations benefits everyone involved. In schools, professional collaborative projects benefit the community of learners in which we all belong as professional educators in the 21st century.
Next, the work I have completed for this class and the ideas that this class has helped me verbalize and envision clearly validate the strengths I have as a campus technology leader and contributor to the district’s future as it adds additional one-to-one computing campuses. The needs to provide differentiated staff development based on experience and instructional use of technology are real in Klein. I can see this as I help address staff needs after 3 years in the one-to-one computing environment. I can see and ask questions teachers in Year One on a one-to-one campus don’t yet know to ask. Because I have developed this maturing understanding, I also have the ability to help develop the tools the district can use to continue one-to-one growth.
Finally, I know that practicing what I help teach and advise is the best way for me to stay abreast of best practices in the 21st century school and integrate them as part of my professional practice. I need to continue to utilize blogs, wikis, and other collaborative work spaces to learn, share my experiences, and notice trends among 21st century learners and schools. I need to spend time each week exploring the rich information available online related to technology integration and best practices. I can help develop campus communication tools including a campus technology blog so that parents and community members can log in and see how we use technology to meaningfully impact students’ learning and help them graduate.
Blogging will be part of my job in the spring semester at Vistas, not because my boss has required it but because I see real value in using the tool for student, parent, and community communication. The blog will serve to educate, share knowledge, and solicit information for technology use in the classroom, school projects, and community outreach. It’s needed, and I understand practices and parameters that will allow me to professionally author it. I know I’ll have to build awareness among stakeholders so that they know to access it, and I’ll have to make it easily accessible and richly created so that it becomes a valued source of information. Those goals are clear, and they are attainable if I plan the work and work that plan.
As I conclude this class, I find myself setting goals of transformational practice as an Instructional Technology Coordinator. The spring semester will be busy, but I really look forward to the growth and maturity I have the potential to gain professionally as I pursue a campus blog, continued staff development, and personal education in both the Lamar program and as an independent learner in the 21st century.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Solid Growth
Vistas High School Program's Campus STaR Chart shows advanced and target technology ratings common to one-to-one computing campuses. Expectations of full technology utilization yield a successful 1:1 learning environment.
Expectation Propels Success
The rich data provided in the Texas STaR Chart points to lots of good things happening at Vistas High School Program. In the school's first three years of existence, the campus posted Advanced Tech and Target Tech ratings in the four areas assessed in the STaR Chart - Teaching and Learning; Educator Preparation and Development; Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support; and Infrastructure of Technology. In the reviewed three-year window, growth was reported in all four areas. Infrastructure of Technology initially earned a Target Tech rating and has maintained that top rating each year. However, the key to Vistas' consitently solid STaR Chart ratings should be attributed to Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support.
When campus director Peggy Ekster interviewed prospective staff members, she was clear in her vision and expectation for technology use on the campus. "You will be expected to integrate technology into your instruction and student assignments in every class, every day if you are offered a position here," she told each person she considered. That expectation was a vision that became a reality. She knew that to set and hold that expectation, she had to have the tools in place to make the expectation the school's reality - the best equipment in student and staff hands, the most reliable campus infrastructure supported within the district's solid intranet and infrastructure, campus-specific teacher professional development and constant support for technology issues and instructional incorporation. Individually, each of those components is worth highlighting, but together they yielded Advanced Tech Teaching and Learning in years one and two and Target Tech Teaching and Learning only three years after opening the door. Campus administrators' expectation that technology was integral - not optional - to the success of the small campus mission serving at-risk teenagers set the tone that all stakeholders in the school adopted and internalized. Teachers expect students to use the technology tools available to them, embedding technology applications skills into all subject areas daily, and students expect teachers to engage and challenge them with meaningful, real-world-relevant instruction, assignments, and projects. It began with clearly communicated expectation that technology would be a key to the excellence the campus yielded, thanks to administration, leadership, and instructional support for the 1:1 community of learners.
When campus director Peggy Ekster interviewed prospective staff members, she was clear in her vision and expectation for technology use on the campus. "You will be expected to integrate technology into your instruction and student assignments in every class, every day if you are offered a position here," she told each person she considered. That expectation was a vision that became a reality. She knew that to set and hold that expectation, she had to have the tools in place to make the expectation the school's reality - the best equipment in student and staff hands, the most reliable campus infrastructure supported within the district's solid intranet and infrastructure, campus-specific teacher professional development and constant support for technology issues and instructional incorporation. Individually, each of those components is worth highlighting, but together they yielded Advanced Tech Teaching and Learning in years one and two and Target Tech Teaching and Learning only three years after opening the door. Campus administrators' expectation that technology was integral - not optional - to the success of the small campus mission serving at-risk teenagers set the tone that all stakeholders in the school adopted and internalized. Teachers expect students to use the technology tools available to them, embedding technology applications skills into all subject areas daily, and students expect teachers to engage and challenge them with meaningful, real-world-relevant instruction, assignments, and projects. It began with clearly communicated expectation that technology would be a key to the excellence the campus yielded, thanks to administration, leadership, and instructional support for the 1:1 community of learners.
Vertical Alignment is Woven into the TATEKS
Students’ first exposure to technology in school begins early, as early as they begin school. When parents send their five-year-olds into the kindergarten classroom, teachers lead them through the alphabet, sight words, numbers, and even the home keys. They cover it all not just because it's in the curriculum, but because it lays the all-around needed foundation for what those little minds will need to build upon in first grade, second grade, and on through their K-12 education. Just as with any other subject, the state's Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills provide appropriate developmental knowledge and skills for Texas students. Learning to identify characters in kindergarten leads to their analysis in secondary language arts classes. Similarly, learning fdsa and jkl; at age 5 makes it easier to build keyboarding accuracy and speed in junior high computer lab activities for science and social studies. In effectively designed curriculum, the TATEKS weave another thread of information and skill development into students' education.
As with any other set of TEKS, the Technology Applications TEKS for students in kindergarten through high school are designed to fit into several common categories. In K-8 TEKS, those categories address technology foundations, information acquisition, problem solving, and communication. Basically, the categories specify what students can do with technology and how they can best do what they do with it. In the early years, the categories address broad-based, basic skills that allow students to begin appropriately using technology as a tool and a resource. In the upper elementary years, those skills are more focused and require students to use technology with more specific purpose. In junior high, specificity and focus increase even more, challenging the maturing technology user to do more, understand more, use more tech tools, and look more critically at the products they and others create and base in digital environments. In high school, specific focus and purpose are so clearly defined that students can choose from eight different courses to master more advanced technology skills and earn credits toward a diploma.
As with any other set of TEKS, the Technology Applications TEKS for students in kindergarten through high school are designed to fit into several common categories. In K-8 TEKS, those categories address technology foundations, information acquisition, problem solving, and communication. Basically, the categories specify what students can do with technology and how they can best do what they do with it. In the early years, the categories address broad-based, basic skills that allow students to begin appropriately using technology as a tool and a resource. In the upper elementary years, those skills are more focused and require students to use technology with more specific purpose. In junior high, specificity and focus increase even more, challenging the maturing technology user to do more, understand more, use more tech tools, and look more critically at the products they and others create and base in digital environments. In high school, specific focus and purpose are so clearly defined that students can choose from eight different courses to master more advanced technology skills and earn credits toward a diploma.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The Plan Provides Direction
The 80th Texas Legislature received a gift with requests for tools when the Educational Technology Advisory Committee presented it with the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 three years ago. Each educator, school leader, policy maker, parent, and citizen interested in helping to create, provide, and support the state's technology infusion in schools throughout the state did too. The plan details needs, possibilities, responsibilities, and appropriate support it will take to transform the type and level of education students enrolled in Texas schools have the opportunity to receive in technology-rich educational settings.
The plan doesn't just paint a picture of what could be, it shows the data-supported reasons why shifting Texas education into the heart of the technology age is important for the state's long-term economic stability and its ability to flexibly grow with population increases which add at least 80,000 students to the state's schools annually. It outlines fiscally responsible exchanges to fund infrastructure costs while utilizing the collective wealth of the resources connected by that network to create accessible technology in all districts. It never loses sight that equitable access is a responsibility shared by policy makers as much as by school leaders so that all Texas students grow comparably in the schools they attend, no matter the zip code where the campus sits.
As an aspiring educational leader, I've got another invaluable resource to reference and consider comprehensively as I offer support to teachers and collaborate with other educators outside my campus. The Long-Range Plan for Technology can help school leaders throughout the state tailor the specific learning possibilities that really fit the needs full technology integration for students, staff, and community can provide when its use is well planned, regularly updated, and whole-heartedly implemented.
The plan doesn't just paint a picture of what could be, it shows the data-supported reasons why shifting Texas education into the heart of the technology age is important for the state's long-term economic stability and its ability to flexibly grow with population increases which add at least 80,000 students to the state's schools annually. It outlines fiscally responsible exchanges to fund infrastructure costs while utilizing the collective wealth of the resources connected by that network to create accessible technology in all districts. It never loses sight that equitable access is a responsibility shared by policy makers as much as by school leaders so that all Texas students grow comparably in the schools they attend, no matter the zip code where the campus sits.
As an aspiring educational leader, I've got another invaluable resource to reference and consider comprehensively as I offer support to teachers and collaborate with other educators outside my campus. The Long-Range Plan for Technology can help school leaders throughout the state tailor the specific learning possibilities that really fit the needs full technology integration for students, staff, and community can provide when its use is well planned, regularly updated, and whole-heartedly implemented.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Where I Begin
Every time I power up my school computer, I look at a digital sticky note on the desktop that resembles an inverted Bloom's Taxonomy. My simple note reads,
"Basic User
Adaptive User
Transformational User of Technology"
Reflecting on the Week One Assessments made me think of the yellow box on my screen. I can describe my evolution as a teacher from a basic technology user to a teacher using technology to transform lessons in the English and Communication Applications classroom I shared with students. The Technology Applications Inventory helped me remember when I had to check "No" for many items for which I can now check "Yes." I can tell you why I led so many of the lessons along the way and how my class plans grew and changed as I moved from a basic to adaptive to tranformational user of technology in the classroom.
But after completing the SETDA Building Survey, I see so many areas where our school and district can grow and lead by reflecting on our use of technology from a more comprehensive view. I see opportunities to encourage teacher growth and collaboration and professional support for their learning so that they can share it with students. I see windows to open to encourage collaboration within the district among 1:1 campuses and with district instructional leaders. I see opportunities to share my view with Information Technology team members to support the realities of functioning in a 1:1 computing setting with consistent functionality. I also see specific, measurable professional goals that will help our campus gain credibility as a flagship establishment in the district's long range technology plan and its implementation.
First, we need to assess new students coming into our school and their technology use - both personally and related to school.
Next, we need to conduct exit interviews for students who finish our program. We need to ask several specific questions about their technology use, perceived benefit, and areas where we could improve when it comes to transformational use of technology in school.
We need to gather real, accurate data and then consider that data when we look at test scores, attendance rates, and dropout data. What are we learning works with our at-risk kids that can help all students in the district? What can we share with others?
That's my starting point with this class and the next lesson I'll craft as an educator.
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