Final Reflection for EDLD 5352/EA 1150

At first glance, Instructional Leadership appeared to be about how to lead others in instruction. Once the course work began though, my view changed. With instruction remaining the focus, technology was fused with instruction. I then realized that while I push forward in my career, the world was also pushing forward and growing with technology. My goals were to learn as much as I possibly could about ways to help my teachers join technology and curriculum to meet the needs of our students now and in the future. I wanted to find ways that I can immediately use what I learn in the course, and build bridges between the teachers who refuse to use technology and our technology tools. Oddly enough, I feel enlightened about ways to help my students and teachers. I have new ideas, and I am ready with my action plan to use them. While my original thoughts on the class were not 100% accurate, I still feel that the leadership in instruction can be the focus using technology.
My school is, in my opinion, unique. It's almost like we are starting from scratch, and this means that the sky is the limit! I have the opportunity to change the way my staff views our current technology. Already, I have participated in a web conference to discuss an Internet-based program that can boost student scores, increase rigor, engage almost all learners, and assist teachers in cutting back on the tedious paperwork that seems to grow by the day. My job as a testing coordinator already entails utilizing the Internet, analyzing data from AEIS reports and AYP reports, and training my staff. Because I am able to use almost any program that I come across, I am better able to assist my teachers, and I can engage them better in my trainings.
On the downside of being a unique school, we are also a very poor school. Our funds are being cut constantly. This keeps our school from updating the current connection speed, which in turn, prevents us from using a lot of Internet based programs. We cannot afford the pricey costs of the software, nor can my school afford to increase the number of computers. It's very difficult to encourage our students to learn what the world has to offer through the Internet when they cannot access it and utilize it on a daily basis. This is frustrating.
In completing the assignments of this course, I found them to be average in difficulty, yet over-the-top in terms of time. I spent almost my entire Thanksgiving break working on my blog, learning about the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, completing all of the readings, and wrapping my brain around all of the information that had changed even since I was in my undergraduate college. It was overwhelming, and at times, completely unnecessary. Maybe I just have a different level of competency, and the issue of quantity of work was irritating to me.
While the work may have seemed tedious to me, I did learn quite a bit. I have such a deeper understanding of where Texas is going with the plan for technology. The layering and building process, while slow, is being monitored, and can now be a focus for my school. I only wish that more teachers were aware of what Texas has planned. We have a lot of teachers who have been in education for more than 15 years. This puts them at a little bit of a disadvantage due to the lack of push by our technology specialist on campus for increase in knowledge about the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology. I now know that this is where I can come in as a leader. I can make it one of my goals to reach out to the teachers and help them. I need to show teachers that our students need these skills for their future. I can assist in writing the curriculum for our technology applications courses, and I can support the teachers and students as they begin to try new things.
In order to add the new goals to my leadership role, I can begin by informing my staff how blogging can be a huge educational tool. If teachers would use blogs with their students, they would see more interaction from ALL students, while increasing motivation and engagement. I am even considering beginning a blog specifically for my school. If the teachers interact using one, I think they would be more likely to try and infuse it with their current classes. Most teachers fear what they do not know, and the only way to fight fear is with knowledge.
Unfortunately, one of the biggest fears about technology is safety. As both a parent and educator, I want all kids to be safe from predators, cyber-bullying, fraud, and misinformation. All of these things can be present in blogs, which is why most teachers don't use them. As a leader, it is my responsibility to make my staff see that we can keep our kids safe by teaching them how to analyze what they see, react and respond to one another, instill honesty in them, and how to protect one's self. They have to start at an early age, and the teaching of online safety should be constant, repeated, and practiced.
Finally, I really think that one of the best qualities about blogging is in that it allows communities to come together. Blogging brings more parent communications, and it builds a bridge between businesses and education. If a blog is created for a school, the parents can see for themselves what the children are learning. Businesses can see what schools need, and they can help support schools. Communities can have input and form alliances to help keep students safer. My dad always loves using the phrase It takes a village to raise a child, and I would like to think that in today's world, the village needs a blog to help everyone keep together.

Evaluation Planning for Action Plan

Evaluation	Measure of Success	Timeline
Conduct an inventory of technology needs.	Inventory completed and updates to facilities and technology occurs.	Annually
Analysis of campus and teacher STaR Chart, Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, AEIS report, and AYP data.	Rating will increase from Developing technology to Advanced Technology.	August 2010
Staff development sign-in, agendas, and feedback are maintained.	All teachers attend a minimum of 10 hours of staff development on just technology per school year. Certificates are kept in a file and updated four times a year: October, January, March, and June.	Quarterly reports to Superintendent
Student engagement in lessons and achievement on standardized testing increases to 95%.	Through classroom walk through evaluations, student surveys, scores on state TAKS assessments, and teacher lesson plans, success will increase by a 5 to 10% rate each school year.	Annually
Parental involvement in student education increases by attendance to information sessions, assistance on students’ homework and lessons, and communication with teachers. Surveys to parents, teachers, and students will be issued and kept on file. Attendance sign-in sheets and agendas from the information sessions will be kept.	Attendance of parents at the information sessions that will be given 6 times per school year will increase by 10% each session. The surveys to parents, teachers, and students will show an increase in satisfaction on communication and technology applications.	The information sessions will occur at the beginning of each six weeks. Surveys will be conducted at each information session to gage the growth.
Conduct a post assessment at the end of each school year.	Use of technology in the classroom, by students, and in meetings will increase from the current 10% usage to more than 90% usage.	Annually at the end of the school year.

Organizational Chart for Implementing Technology Improvements

	Personnel/Stakeholder	Responsibilities	Principal’s Role in Implementation
	School Board	Develops and deploys a district improvement plan and policy for technology improvement based on STaR Chart data, AEIS reports, AYP data, inventories, and other information.	The principal should attend the school board meetings, answer survey questions accurately and timely, and provide campus-based input towards the district wide plan.
	Superintendent	Assures budgeting and school needs are being met according to the district improvement plan set forth by the school board. Ensures that policies are available and known by employees.	The principal will communicate regularly with the superintendent about concerns, improvements, and provide reports about progress that is made on the campus level.
	Area Superintendents	Activates the policies and plan for technology improvement. He/she will set criteria and evaluation methods to determine success of the technology improvement plan.	The principal will follow the policy and plan set forth, as well as ensure the staff at the school is aware of the policies and following the plan.
	Student Services	Student services will provide proper training for employees in the areas of technology.	The principal will communicate the staff development needs of the staff to student services and arrange for training on the campus level.
	Assistant Principals	The assistant principals will attend the trainings on the technology improvement plan. He/she will also evaluate the use of technology in the classrooms through walk-thrus, observations, and communications with staff members. Modeling of technology usage will also be mandatory.	The principal will meet with the administrative staff and arrange for evaluations of classroom technology usage. He/She should discuss expectations, evaluative criteria, and budget needs. The principal will serve as a liaison for the school in communicating with the superintendents and school board. All questions and concerns will be sent through the principal.
	Counselors	Assist in monitoring technology usage, as well as modeling of technology through communications, trainings, and special events. Counselors will also conduct parent information sessions.	The principal will meet with counselors regularly to assist in planning for parent information sessions as well as trainings and ongoing staff communications.
	Technology Specialists	The technology specialists will arrange for each building to be adequately equipped with necessary equipment and services. Updating of the systems and services will be required, and timelines will be met. On-site training will occur through the technology specialist or his/her designee.	The principal will ensure that the budget accounts for technology improvements. He/She will require technology specialists to report back to him/her on progress regularly.
	Teachers	Teachers will attend staff developments to improve their own skills. He/she will also utilize the training by implementing technology and software in classroom instruction and planning on a regular basis with students as the continued focus for instruction.	The principal will allow staff to attend trainings, apply knowledge gained in the trainings, and require that technology be implemented daily through formal and summative evaluations.
	Parents	Parents will be required to attend information sessions that help them gain an understanding of current technology usage and ways to avoid being unsafe and not secured technology use.	The principal will make sure that parents are made aware of the convenient meeting times. He/She will also make sure parents concerns and questions are addressed.

Action Plan for Technology Implementaion and Staff Development

Activity	Description	Responsible Party(ies)
Update the current materials and make new purchases.	Increase the bandwidth, speed of the Internet, quantity and quality of computers and laptops, and make new purchases of items such as memory cards for digital cameras, web cameras for online classes, and maintenance on existing materials	Ø  Principal Ø  Assistant Principals Ø  Technology specialist
Provide employee staff development on software and hardware.	Schedule staff development opportunities for both teachers that are new to technology and teachers that are experienced. Each teacher will be required to attend a minimum of 10 hours per school year on technology staff development. Opportunities for feedback, implementation, and reflection will occur.	Ø  Principal Ø   Assistant Principals Ø  Technology Specialist Ø  Teachers
Provide parental information sessions on safety, cyber bullying, and ways to use technology to help students.	Hold six information sessions for parents to attend and gather information on student safety for online usage, cyber bullying, and technological advancements in education.	Ø  Counselors Ø  Principal Ø  Assistant Principals Ø  Technology Specialist
Use technology in instruction.	Implement technology usage in classroom instruction 95% of the instructional time. Ensure students are engaged in the lessons and utilizing technology in their learning.	Ø  Teachers Ø  Students
Create a website that provides resources for assistance.	Hire someone to create a website that provides assistance to students on homework, lessons, and advanced education. Teachers will provide useful links and hints for assignments weekly.	Ø  Principal Ø  Technology Specialist Ø  Teachers

Hoffman Middle School S Ta R Chart Results

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Hoffman Middle School S Ta R Chart Results

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Texas STaR Chart-Educator Preparation and Development

After viewing my campus' Texas STaR Chart, I determined that the section of Educator Preparation and Development needed the most attention. This section involves providing opportunities for staff development, promoting various learning activities and processes, mentoring others in developing new strategies for new learning environments, and customizing online content in the area of technology. The technology application standards determined by the SBEC are demonstrated.
On my campus, the ratings earned were at the developing stages. Most teachers had professional development in technology according to the content area, but they have not collaborated with experts, peers, parents, business partners, industry, or higher education. The campus provided large group professional development on increasing technology integration, but there wasn't any on-going sessions using multiple models or individually guided activities, inquiry/action research, or involvement in developmental/improvement processes. The teachers on the campus only demonstrated three of the SBEC Technology Applications Standards. Only 9 to 18 hours of staff development were focused on technology. Teachers are only able to adapt technology knowledge gained.
Unfortunately, my campus has only improved by one point in the last three years. In the area of educator capabilities, my campus improved from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009. This sad and very disturbing fact shows that my campus has only been able to demonstrate one more SBEC Technology Applications standard in the previous three years. All other categories remained stagnant. We are falling further and further behind the district, the region, the state, and the nation in terms of average technology integration. If this "trend" continues, my building and the students who attend will lose in the job markets, drop-out rates will increase, and student achievement will drop.
I recommend that we begin immediately training our teachers to use the technology of today. As a building leader, I need to mentor other teachers, model technology integration and use, and invest in trainers to show the teachers how the latest technologies can benefit the students and staff. By doing these things, we can at least begin moving forward a little bit. Without adequate funding, the budget that is already stretched thin will roadblock any progress towards making our campus technologically ready for the future.

Texas Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications TEKS

The Texas Pre-Kindergarten Technology Applications TEKS has been divided into five domains: Social and Emotional Development, Language and Communication, Emergent Literacy: Reading, Emergent Literacy: Writing, and Mathematics. The first domain, Social and Emotional Development, uses skill outcomes such as self concept, self control, social competence, and social awareness. The second domain, language and communication, has outcomes of listening comprehension, speaking skills, speech production, vocabulary skills, and sentence and structure skills. The third domain, Emergent Literacy: Reading, shows how motivation to read, phonological awareness, alphabet knowledge, and comprehension of text read aloud are necessary skills for young children. Emergent Literacy: Writing, the fourth domain, outlines skills that involve motivation to write, independently conveying meaning, forming letters skills, and concepts about print skills. The final domain, Mathematics, demonstrates counting skills, adding to/taking away, geometry and spatial sense, measurement skills, and classification and pattern skills that are outcomes for pre-kindergarten classrooms using technology. The TEKS are guidelines that foster cross-curricular, multifaceted and engaging lessons that integrate technology to meet multiple skills simultaneously.
By following the guidelines, the students will gain better insight as to the future grade levels material. Students are further advanced, more familiar with applications, and foundation-ally secure.
A spiral or scaffold curriculum is one in which the skills taught are built upon lesson by lesson, theme by theme, year by year. It's reteaching, building in new concepts, and reviewing old concepts. Students need repeated review because, as most good educators are aware, showing them something once does not mean they got it and will remember it. A particular series of TEKS that scaffolds instruction well would be that of vocabulary development. When introducing a new word to elementary students, it is common to use student friendly definitions. As students move forward into middle school and high school with new vocabulary, more technical terms can be used. Expanding students' vocabulary gives more leverage towards comprehension, mathematics, and development of many other skills. By beginning basic, using synonyms that students are familiar with and use regularly, teachers can expand and build students' knowledge.

Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology

The high expectations that are required for students of today place a demand for greater educational practices. The Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology outlines how the Texas education system can improve, provide, and foster the technology needs for our students. The vision for the plan is to bring students, employees, parents, community members, and school board members into the 21st century when it comes to communication, efficiency, participation, tools and resources, and knowledge. The plan intends for technology skills and education to reflect a more global and information age era. It also accounts for the professional development needs for a variety of experienced versus inexperienced teachers. The needs for change are driven by global economics, a state of urgency among nations, and societal change. The economy of today requires skills such as agility, self-reliance, self-motivation, problem-solving, collaboration, and life-long learning.The sense of urgency comes in that two countries who are leading the world are producing college graduates who are empowered to live and learn in a continuously changing world. The societal change shows that longer life spans coupled with an increase in immigrants has caused a diverse population and an increased reliance upon technology for day to day tasks.
The students of today are heavily reliant upon technology, and have very strong opinions about its use. The learner of today needs to be taught to his/her unique learning style, while also utilizing a variety of resources. Basic skills which were once reading, writing, and arithmetic have now evolved. Analytical skills, problem-solving skills, reasoning skills, and critical thinkers are a must for the communicators of the future.
Teachers are already using a variety of technology, and they see it as being an important impact on student performance. E-mails, search engines, news websites, and specific websites are the reported uses for technology by teachers. Lack of time during the school day, lack of computers at both home and in school, and not enough planning time were the primary concerns teachers faced.
The students of the 21st Century are no longer held back by inability to be mobile. Technology can bring the world to the student, differentiate learning styles, allow collaboration around the world, and meets the No Child Left Behind requirement for full infusion of technology into the classroom curriculum. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) should provide support and encouragement of technology professional development, school programs, resources and access to studies and practices.The State Board of Education, local education agencies, regional education service centers, higher education centers, and parents, communities and private sectors are also pushed to support, collaborate, and encourage the 21st Century technology curriculum.
Today’s educators have higher standards to meet when it comes to technology in the classrooms. Teachers are required to graduate from a program that models technology in educational practices. The educators must use technology efficiently and routinely. It is also required of students to collaborate and interact with others while diversifying instruction to meet each learner’s needs. Each institution (TEA, higher education, regional and local service centers, parents, communities, schools, and private sectors) are encouraged to collaborate, support, encourage, and provide a technology rich curriculum for the students of today.
Administrators are key components to the implementation, support, modeling, and changing the way technology plays a role in the classrooms. On both the district and school level, administrators are seen as the ones who push for change. A shared vision, funding, and an assessment of current technology need to be an intricate part of the technology plan. Preparing students for college and the future will be part of the technology plan. Without it, students will not be successful. By forming a committee, understanding the requirements of both federal and state laws regarding technology, and requiring business continuity plans to recover technology, leaders can successfully implement the technology change necessary for student success. It is not just an idea, it is a school reform that will require flexible environments, innovation, time allocation, and visionaries.
The infrastructure for technology is one that supports data-driven decision making, allows for the data capacity to support the vast amounts of software necessary to teach and learn, technology specialists to support assistance in a timely manner, equal access by all students and staff, and funding to continue meeting the technology needs as they grow and change. Distance learning will need to be part of the technology curriculum. High-speed connectivity is necessary to deliver the data in both quantity, time, and security. Keeping the data and students secure is also a mandatory component to the infrastructure.
The most important need is for a solid and ongoing partnership between the state, local education agencies, regional centers, and universities. Those relationships will foster the growth of funding, leadership and support, qualified professionals, measures of student progress and teacher progress, continual telecommunication discounts, and software standards.
As a new leader, it will definitely be a daunting task to renovate our current educational system. I know that by having support from federal, state, and local agencies, I can be more successful. By forming the right committee, providing research to support my stance on technology in education, and keeping the students' needs first, I am confident that I can succeed.

Week 1 Part 1

Just when you think you know something about technology, it all changes! I used to consider myself somewhat knowledgeable when it came to technology, but now I am somewhat reconsidering. I recently took the Technology Applications Inventory, where I felt pretty good about what I knew. I answered yes to most of the questions, which I now realize is due to the vagueness of the questions. The areas where no was my answer were due to lack of clarity on the depth of knowledge or simply because I had not worked with a program enough. Then I took the SETDA Building Survey. What a new realization! Personally I have worked with several of the programs, but since I am no longer in the classroom, I decided to do the building survey. It was a wakeup call to me on how much I the students in my school suffer from lack of technology. Unless students choose to enroll in the technology applications classes offered at my building, they do not receive any technology instruction. The assessment also brought to my attention that my building has an unforeseen expectation that technology will be used in the classrooms, but it rarely is used in regular instruction.

As an administrator, I think that modeling the technology expectations through staff developments, communications among staff, and even in presentations to students. The SETDA survey also helped me realize that my principal is working to make an impact on students and technology. She has begun utilizing the calling system to notify parents of upcoming events, testing, and other important information. This has helped teachers realize they need to be on the top of their game. For future staff developments, I would love to see more on the newest programs available to assist teachers in the classroom, as well as programs that will motivate our students to achieve at our high expectations. The assessment definitely helped me realize too that my building is still evolving towards moving into the 21st century of learning.