While I am skeptical about blogs and blogging for students, I excited about the possibilities for adult stakeholders. This could be an easy way to get feedback from stakeholder in a real immediate fashion. Blogging could also be a way for stakeholders of a school or school district to have "class with an expert" from a distance. For instance, if my school is implementing a new school wide program, it might be useful to work with a professional who has already implemented the same program. Not only could I have their support with the initiative but blogging would be much more cost effective.

In regards to blogs and blogging in education, I have a few concerns. First, I am concerned about the level of engagement students would have. If there was a system in place that students could blog and receive blogs in return from others they recognized, they might be more engaged I also worry about the consistent supervisions of the blogs by all the teachers. I know that most teachers are diligent about these types of supervision issues, but reality is, not all teachers are.

I have to admit, that I am a bit ambivalent about blogs and blogging. While I agree that kids are more "digital natives" than adults I am not sure that this is a technology that students would buy in to. I do believe that blogging could be a intriguing way to incorporate staff meetings. Especially because the staff meetings I sit through now are torture. And those who have opposing views don't have a real forum to speak up. While I am not sold, I am not ruling it out.

I really believe that I am a life long learner. I love to learn new things. I am fascinated by new technologies and how they apply into real world application. Furthermore, I have learned much about myself from both of the courses I have taken. I have learned that I have to be a campus leader in regards to technology usage if I am going to be able to expect the same kind of behaviors from my colleagues. My attitude is positive and excited about the possibilities. I would love to go back and teach my colleagues what I have learned, especially about the Texas Long-Range Plan and the STaR Chart.

I was successful carrying out the course assignments, except for the web conferencing. I do not know anybody with an internet connection and a webcam. I enjoyed reading the articles and gained technology insight from each, however, I still have trouble reading articles and books online. This technology is still difficulty for me to transition to. When I read to learn, I like to highlight and be able to flip back and refer to previous points of interest. For me, reading online, hinders this.

There are a few outcomes that I would have liked to have learned more about. For instance, I would like to actually have more hands on training preparing lessons from different content areas with the technology integration. It is easy for me to see how to implement technology usage while in social studies, but I am unclear how to do this in other content areas. I think what prevented me from achieving this goal is just not doing the actual work itself. I would have to sit down with the necessary technology experts and curriculum experts to generate these lessons.

I currently am a reading intervention teacher. I am not sure if I can't implement many of the outcomes I learned in the course. However, I have filled several roles in my tenure as a teacher, which I could utilize. As a social studies teacher I thing the wikis and the blogs could connect my students with an audience all over the world. I am also the facilitator for our school wide behavior management program called Positive Behavior Intervention Support team and I could certainly use blogs to create an open discussion forum for the teachers and I to communicate. As for my goal to be an administrator, I know much more about the Texas Long Range Technology Plan and the STaR Chart.

It is difficult for me to think about where I began this course. And I am not sure what I expected get out of it. While I can do many things on the computer such as: Powerpoint, Excel, and Word, I am not savvy with internet technologies. I certainly gained awareness of the Texas Long Range Technology Plan, the STaR Chart, RSS feeds, blogs, and what it means to be a digital native. I think I achieved the outcomes I expected plus some. More than anything I gained a better appreciations of what schools can do to utilize the technology they have and how the state of Texas is addressing the changing technology landscape.

Seeing STaRs

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Mendez Elementary

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My opinion on Educator Preparation and Development

I chose to give my opinion about Educator Preparation and Development in the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020. Educator preparation and development, is just that, are the educators in front of students today prepared to utilize the most recent technology available and are they receiving development to keep up with the evolution of technology. The STaR Chart showed progress in this area through the state level. Though there has been smaller progress in the school district I am employed compared to the rest of the state. I think you have to envision how the areas of "educator preparedness" and "leadership support" work together. A problem that I see, is our leadership in schools are usually compromised of teachers who have taught a while and have limited knowledge of technology themselves. Our teacher coaches are in the same situation. It would seem difficult to really support a teacher who has a desire to integrate technology into their lessons if the very people designated to coach that teacher is not proficient in technology. For instance, three years ago I had an administrator who was technologically savvy. She really pushed integration of technology into everyday school life. We as teachers even started our own blog to communicate best practice withing our school. The year she left you see a significant drop in our leadership support number according to our STaR Chart. I do not think this is coincindental. If school leadership do not lead by example and not technology savvy, the school will have a hard time meeting these goals.

Pre-K TEKS

The pre-k TEK states that the child moves and double clicks the mouse to interact with software program. Obviously there are many programs for students to use that they can practice this skill. This skill is then spiraled and scaffolded into the 3rd grade TEK save and delete files, uses menu options and commands, and work with more than one software program application.

Long-Range Plan for Technology reflection

As an instructional leader I get a better sense of urgency of integrating technology and how all stakeholders must collaborate to make sure that each of these goals are making progress. I think all teachers need to feel this urgency, this is an issue that needs to be tackled. If I was an administrator I would make sure that these technology skills are being integrated at every grade level. Clear communication with the professional development to support the initiatives would be vital.

Reviewing the two assessments I took, I would not say that I don't agree with them, as much as I am just not there yet. I have basic technology skills and can use many applications on a cpu. I do not know all of the computer jargon and intricacies of the computer and the internet.

In regards to the SETDA, I am certainly looking forward to the day that teachers and students have access to the necessary technology to gain those skills.

This week I took the Technology Applications Inventory and the State Educational Technology Directors Association Teacher Survey (SETDA Teacher Survey).

Reviewing the Technology Applications Inventory, I realized that I have more strengths that I thought I would. For instance, under the foundations domain, I was proficient with 10 out of the 18 questions. Though it seems apparent to me that my strengths are basic in nature and come from merely using a computer and some of the programs provided. I use e-mail, Powerpoint, and Excel, but the more technical the questions the less I knew. While I am proficient at the keyboard, I have no idea the difference between primary and secondary memory. Within the Information Acquisition domain, I did poorly. I did not know the difference between a directory and a search engine or what a Boolean search strategy was. The domains "Solving Problems with Technology Tools" and "Communication" I was more familiar with, because these are skills I learned by actually having to do them as apart of my past job descriptions.

The SETDA Teacher Survey was a bit intimidating. The skills being measured seemed to be a great goal, but nowhere near where my skills or my district is currently located. For instance, I have no idea what multimedia editing or authoring tools my district has. Certainly none at my elementary campus. I would absolutely love to learn more about what campuses could do to bring in more technology into each curriculum because I have seen the increase in student engagement when technology is applied.