My Week 5 Reflection

What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?

The outcomes I had envisioned for this course were to find out ways to allow teachers to integrate more technology in the classroom. The web 2.0 tools presented in this course were very useful to myself as well as learning how to show others how to use them in the educational process. Additionally, I wanted this course to provide me with direction about how to teach students ethics about the internet. I know students have the internet at their disposal twenty-four hours a day. This is an amazing tool for education but our students need to understand how to use it to their advantage using correct ethical behavior. I did achieve the outcomes I envisioned through knowledge and research presented in this course. I feel I know more about why it is so important to educate our students about proper use of technology tools in the 21st century. As stated in many of the articles, this technology is here to stay and we must learn to embrace it in education. I know how to utilize different tools like blogging in the classroom and I feel confident in my district's acceptable use policy. I am glad to know my district is setting standards necessary for 21st century education. It is important to empower our students with this knowledge so they can continue on a successful journey. The actual course outlines did align with the ones I envisioned. I feel this course allowed me to grow in the aspect of classroom technology use. I feel I can mentor other teachers now through the knowledge from this course. I was a little disappointed in the web conferences because it took me numerous times to attempt to get through. I feel this is an area that can be very useful once the kinks are ironed out.

To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?

The outcomes are very relevant to my school. For the course I teach, Dance, it is hard to incorporate technology everyday with the exception of an IPod or my personal IPad. I do not have any student computers but I take my students to the computer lab when the lesson calls for this process. This course allowed me to think of new ways to incorporate technology in my class as well as assisting other teachers in this process. I believe the teacher tools I envisioned learning will enhance my own classroom. It is important for our students to know we use technology on a daily basis at work so they will see the skills needed to be successful at whatever career path they choose. The district's technology plan was an eye-opener for me because I want my district to present this plan to all district employees once it is finished. The district employees need to know what is expected of them. I am glad this course allowed me to look over this information so I can help other teachers in understanding our process. The district technology plan is relevant to all employees.

What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?

The outcome I did not achieve was how to use Microsoft Excel to the extent where I feel comfortable. I have always been told that this program can be confusing if you do not use it all the time. If I knew how to use this tool, many of my tasks in my subject area would become easier. I wish there was an assignment where we had to pick a tool we were not comfortable with and complete an assignment that would make us learn some of the important tasks associated with that tool. As I read over the survey during week one, I thought this could possibly be an assignment that would benefit all of us. I did enjoy making the flowchart and blogging the technology plan. This enabled me to learn how to utilize different aspects of my blog. Overall, I feel I achieved all of the other outcomes I wanted during this course. I really enjoyed the research articles about cyber bullying. I have faced this many times with my high school students.

Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?

I was successful in carrying out the course assignments. The only problem I had was with the web conferences. I tried at least eight times to get into a conference and I still have not been allowed into one. I will be attempting the extra conferences in the next few days and I hope I am successful. I am assuming that others have been going through the same problems because I have read posts on the discussion board and through some of the classmates' blogs that they have been having the same problem as myself. This is the only aspect that discouraged me in this course. I hope there is a way this can be worked out before this course is offered again in the next run.

What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?

I learned many different thing from this course about myself and my attitude. This course helped me realize the importance of using technology in the classroom. I figured out different ways to incorporate technology and to allow my students to learn in a more collaborative environment. I really enjoy using technology myself and I find it fascinating because of its ever-evolving tools and skills. Technology must be a part of our education curriculum not only because it is mandated but because it is essential for today's society. Education is different from when I went to school and I have learned to embrace the changes to help my students. I feel more confident with my skills in blogging because of this course. I am trying to find a way to incorporate this in my classes for next year. It is a great reflection as well as a perfect way to stay in communication with your students and their parents about what is happening in your class. This course has allowed me to feel more confident in my technology skills which enables me to become a better leader for other teachers. I do not feel I have all the answers but I feel I can mentor a fellow teacher about ways to better incorporate technology in the classroom. I know we can collaborate in teams/academies to address our students' technology needs.

Web Conference - Sunday, March 27

WOW!!!! I cannot believe how wonderful this experience was. It is truly amazing that we are able to use technology this way. I found out the answers to my questions and so many different websites to connect with. My brain is still spinning. Completing your courses online can be quite lonely when your only reading others responses. It is collaborative but it was nothing like this web conference. I would love to hold a conference like this once a week for departments across the district. This would allow more collaboration between teachers. Time is valuable for everyone and when we have something like this at our disposal, it is a shame not to use it. Dr. Abernathy gave many great ideas and the other attendees were able to give their input as well. I am so glad I finally got into the conference. It took a long time but it was well worth it!! I am off to look at some of the websites that were talked about. I cannot wait to share my information with my fellow teachers on my campus. I plan on logging into all of the different sites to find which suits my campus best so I can help our campus become 21st century technology savvy. Thanks, again, Dr. Abernathy. This was the first time I have ever done this but will not be the last!!!!

My Technology Action Plan, 2011

Please view my technology action plan at the following site:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SyVlUNVaaH9t47JTMHHpbHzPzFTYRlPzgUVQI_DgmAA/edit?hl=en

Executive Summary and Reflection

President Obama has set in motion a plan to put America back on top in terms of college graduates. The plan wants over 60% American college graduates compared to the 39% of the present day. The plan also wants the teachers to produce technology literate students. The plan goes more in depth but this is the jist of the plan. Through teaching, students will become more efficient in technology through teacher lessons. The plan also speaks of teacher professional development. The main thing I focused on was the United States government wants educators to use technology more. However, the state of Texas is cutting back in all areas of education right now. To me, it is a double standard. In the school law course, I came to understand how the federal and state laws work within the education of our country. It is clearly contradicting itself right now. It is very frustrating as an educator to see all of this happening. I know teachers should be held accountable for their teaching process and student achievement but the federal and state government should support all aspects of education. I was surprised to read over this and see the difference between state and federal governments' views. Technology is a huge aspect of today's education especially since it is taking over our world. Online education is up and coming but I do not feel it will ever take over the impact of a real teacher. The internet is a powerful tool for students but a good educator is what every student needs to learn all concepts needed to be successful.

S ta r presentation - a.taylor

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S ta r presentation - a.taylor

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Progress Report for the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology - 2008

So, I reviewed the 2008 progress report for the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. It gave a brief history of the first plan that was from 1988-2000. Then, it proceeded into interim reports for Texas Technology Immersion Pilot and the Texas Virtual School Network. I found it interesting that entertainment (ie. playing games and downloading music) was the top ways that all grades K-12 used technology. It is sad to say this but the students do not know how much information is actually on the internet for them to learn from. They used technology in the upper grades for checking grades and writing assignments as well. But this was still after downloading music. I found this very interesting. I believe we need to stress to our students how much they can learn at just a click of a button. I also found out with the TIP that two campuses in my district, Galena Park Middle and Woodland Acres Middle, were a part of the immersed campuses. I am glad to know that my district was included in this study. The purpose of this evaluation was to conduct a scientifically based evaluation to test the effectiveness of technology immersion in increasing middle school students’ achievement and to examine the relationships that exist among contextual conditions, technology immersion, intervening factors (school, teacher, and student), and student achievement. The two middle schools in my district were allowed to take home laptops for this study. It was reported in the Houston Chronicle. I did not have a direct connection with any of the Texas Virtual School Network. This section spoke about on-line classes in certain districts and how this affects student achievement. Last, the progress report spoke about all of the areas of the Texas STaR chart. The first two areas, teaching and learning and educator preparation and development, rated highest in developing tech overall. The leadership, administration, and instructional support along with the infrastructure for technology rated highest in advanced tech. At the end of the report, all of the regions were listed along with a summary of the STaR chart for that region.

To be honest, my only concern would be that Texas should continue to increase in percentage of target tech. I believe the students of Texas deserve to be taught everything they may need to know about technology so they can become successful in today's technology world. This progress report had a lot of information about where Texas stands as of 2008. The information was very useful in understanding what we need to do for our students. I enjoyed reading over this report and I completely understand why we are in need of the STaR chart.

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020

My instructional leadership course I am currently taking is discussing Texas' Long Range Plan for Technology. I would like to discuss the area of educator preparation and development. Basically, this area of the plan is based on the professional development for teachers in technology. For the last three years, my campus has been slowly increasing (a point a year) in this area. I am proud to say that each year, my campus has been slowly learning to use instructional technology tools to enhance the teaching process in the classroom. I find this very important because the students need to see the school is adapting to the educational technology of the 21st century. My district has allowed teachers a certain number of hours towards professional development credits to ensure we are staying on track with some of the latest tools of education. I am unaware of what is happening across the state in other districts. I am a dance teacher/dance team director and I just started teaching a course this year called Dance Production. I am very excited because I can use this class to teach my students how to edit music. At the beginning of the school year, we even made up a new dance craze and I posted it under my own you-tube account (with parents' permission, of course). The students were very excited to be doing these things in my class. All year, I have been researching ways to bring technology into dance class. I plan to incorporate even more software programs such as costume design and lighting design for next year. I believe if teachers start to look outside the box, they can find ways to incorporate all sorts of technology projects for their students. I would love for the teachers on my campus to share certain lessons with the faculty to give ideas of how they can use technology to our advantage.