Technology is such a huge topic! So what exactly does Instructional Technology mean? How does it impact me as a classroom teacher? Why is it important to the school? To the students? To the administrators? What am I going to learn in an Instructional Technology class? As this class started I thought maybe “I will learn what programs are important for students and teachers to use”. As the course unfolded it was interesting to see how my District’s Technology Plan mirrored the State. The authors of Deer Park ISD’s plan thoroughly evaluated the State Plan and are trying to excel in most every area as long as the budget allows. The items that I felt were the most interesting was finally understanding what the STaR Chart was evaluating and why we were asked to do certain tasks at school. Often we are asked to do things as teachers but never know why we are doing it. Most teachers think here is another thing you want me to, like I don’t already have enough to do. Never are we told about the Technology Plans! Never are we told about the reasons for doing the surveys!
The Instructional Technology course really open-end my eyes to the use of different types of technology in the classroom. Maybe I can include webcams and blogs into the curriculum that I teach. Marketing and Technology do work hand in hand with each other. I have started working the Flip video cameras into my lessons. The class has encouraged me to spend a little more time on my faculty website. In the beginning of the class my attitude was “Oh, another thing they want me to do and maintain!”. Now I understand for my district to be constantly evolving and meeting the Technology standards the State has in place, we need to incorporate this into our everyday technology usage.
Technology is one of those areas where you never know enough. As it evolves, teachers never feel they are able to keep up with the fast changes. I wish I could learn how to build websites and use them more effectively in my class. The one thing that our campus is missing is the explanation of why we are doing certain things. I would love to be able to take a leadership role in this area but I do not have the time to learn all it would take to be an expert in this field. The District has existing experts that could do a better job in the dispensing of information. At this time I have not had the correct opportunity to suggest this to the appropriate District Administrators. This is an area where you need to be very tactful and say it in a proactive manner.
Each week as I read the assignment I would feel overwhelmed and think there was no way I could finish the assignment in the appropriate time. Or I would feel that I did not thoroughly understand the assignment. The third week I did partner with two other teachers in my building to tackle the assignment. We came together and compiled the list of the questions to ask each of the assigned administrator and/or experts. We each asked one person to answer our questions and then shared the answers. We did not want to unnecessarily burden very busy administrators with multiple interviews. Collaborating on the interview questions and having someone experiencing the same pressures did help alleviate my anxiety in completing the assignment. Since I have started in this program I never feel confident about my work when turning it in. Thank goodness it is better than I think it is. As an occupational field, I think most teachers have this personality issue where they over think the issue at hand.
Every time you take a new course, meet some new, or experience something new you change. As a person you are a constantly changing. This constant evolving is a good thing since technology and education is constantly changing. The course has made me think more about the copyright laws and the fact that I have so much more to learn. I like technology and the fact that it can make life easier. During the learning phase it makes life harder though. I do understand from an Administrators point of view why we do certain things a certain way. As teacher we sit back and complain about how we are going to fit a new thing in to our always busy day and now I know why certain things are asked of us. As a teacher we tell our students why they are doing a certain task and as an administrator we don’t always do that. The hope is as a potential administrator, I will take the time to tell my staff why it is important and get their buy in to whatever the issue of the day may be.
Our School district trained the staff on the creation and usage of blogs last year in our Technology In-Service Day. Blogs as a short term assignment can improve students writing abilities and teach them to write in a business setting. Most of us are very busy and do not WANT to take the time to read lengthy blogs written by other people. We are a short attention span society. The majority of us want things written in short bulleted points. This is why texting is so popular. You write your answers in short blurts when it is convenient for you. Students do not like to take the time reading long essays and to tell you the truth I don’t think they are alone in their feelings. On the other hand my students need the practice in writing so blogs can give them this outlet where they learn to write meaningful communication. All in all blogs are a good practice tool for students as long as it is used for a short time period.
Face it teenagers don’t always my good choices. They are very emotional decision makers. Though they don’t want to be constantly monitored they still do need supervision. The use of blogs takes a lot of time to monitor and read. The best place for their usage would be an English Composition class. If I were an English teacher that taught a writing intensive course I would use blogs as a place to have the students turn in their work. It would be a means to “Go Green” by creating less paper waste. The problem would be the freedom for others to see their work. So once you taught the importance of security the students can really learn about publishing and collaboration.
“Time” has been the key expression throughout this blog. Just as it has been mentioned during the course, blogging can be a way for teams to collaborate and find solutions for problems within their district. Just as we sit in a meeting and brainstorm, blogs can be used in the same way. We all know we come up with the best solutions for problems in the middle of the night. Blogging would allow you to get up and send your idea before it was lost to the business of the day. The opposite “time” factor is that it can be time consuming to read blogs that are not productive. But then again how many meetings have you been in that a person kept talking and talking without really saying anything towards the solution of the problem. Blogging would allow you to skip over that part of the essay making the collaboration more effective. Blogging used in the correct place can be very beneficial in the communication of school stakeholders.
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