Week 5 Assignment

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

During this course I was hoping to become much more knowlegdable and comfortable with technology. Before I took this course I knew very little about technology on my campus and I want to learn what administrator's responsibilities about technology were. While reading the syllabus, I saw that we were going to create a blog. That was something that I was dreading very much. I am happy to say that I did learn to create a blog and it wasn't as difficult as I thought. I did achieve my outcomes and feel very happy about how much I have learned and how far I have come as far as technology is concerned. I feel that we were guided as the lessons and the readings built up the knowledge in layers and how it was very detailed in explaining how to access the STaR chart and how to create my blog. I have learned so much about what an administator is responsible for in the area of technology. It is not simply having the equipment, but training our teachers, modeling for our faculty and students, and teaching our teachers and students how to use technology responsibly. I have enjoyed the course and it has been a big learning experience for me. I hope to continue to gain knowledge in the area technology. Technology is something that is always chainging and I must keep current as an administrator.

Texas S Ta R Chart Velasco Elementary

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Texas STaR Chart Key Summaries for Velasco Elementary

Texas S Ta R Chart

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Week 2 Educator Preparation and Development

Educator Preparation and Development is the teacher receiving the necessary training in order for him/her to teach technology in an effective way in the classroom. I thought that this was an important area to investigate further because I noticed that it was consistently the lowest scoring item on the campus STar Report. In 06-07 our campus scored a 9. In 07-08 it scored an 13, but in 08-09 it scored an 11. Our campus received a rating of Developing Technology all 3 years. Statewide in 07-08 the campuses showed the highest percent (74.2%) under the Developing Technology category. Even though we scored what most other campuses scored that year, this is one area that I feel my campus should examine and target for improvement. One way to improve in this area is to have a professional development held where we are given an overview of the resources we have on campus. We have many new teachers on campus who may not know what we have available. I also would propose that we have professional developments on how to use those resources and also have some modeling of lessons in which we could integrate technology into our activities. In doing these activities I am sure we would gain some key area point for next year and our teachers would feel much more confident about teaching with technology.

Pre-K TEKS

Pre-K TEKS have 5 domains. They are:
1. Social and Emotional Development: This gives the student a sense of who theyare and what they can do. For many kids PreK is the first time to be away from Mom, so the student really experiences for the first time how to socialize.

2. Language and Communication: Teachers need to give opportunities for the student to socialize and communicate with his/her classmates. Children learn to develop language and communicate during activities that are held in the classroom.

3. Emergent Literacy-Reading: Pre-K provides the foundation for learning to read. During this time students are learning letters and sounds.


4. Emergenct Literacy-Writing: During Pre-K students are learning to form letters and they realize that their writing has meaning.


5. Mathematics: Teachers need to develop Math in Pre-K by building Math into their daily activities.


When you look at the Pre-K TEKS you realize that all other grades levels spiral off Pre-K. Pre-K is the first time that many of the children will be exposed to learning opportunities. After Pre-K a layer is built upon the foundation that Pre-K has set for that TEK. Kinder will build upon Pre-K. 1st grade will build upon Kinder and so on. One curriculum that shows spiraling or scaffolding is Reading. The foundation is laid in Pre-K when the student learns the alphabet. In Kinder sounds are put together to join words and those words then join together to form sentences. During 1st grade the curriculum builds upon those things learned in Pre-K and Kinder. It is very important that every teacher becomes very familiar with the TEKS so that they know what their students must learn in that year.

Analysis of Long Range Plan

While completing the template for the Long Range Plan I learned many things I did not know about the administration of technology. I never realized how detailed and monitored this plan was. To be honest I never knew there was such a plan. While reading the plan I noticed how detailed it was. It let me why technology was important and how it was important to all involved. The plan spelled out how technology should be implemented across the state. It had recommendations for all sections of the plan. This plan was very interesting to me and I know that as an administrator I must activley monitor and encourage technology on my campus. I now know how important technology is to our students and to the future. As an administrator I must be a model to my staff as far as implementing technology and I must offer as many opportunities for professional development in technology as possible. I learned a lot of new information that I will make sure to keep in mind in the future.

Assessement Reflections

While taking the assessments directed in Week 1 of this class, I confirmed what I have always known. I am not very "tech savvy". In my personal life I try to strive to become more tech savvy and I know that as an administrator I will be imperative that I do so. I do have to say that one strength that I have at the moment is that I am eager to learn about technology. I am also usually a quick learner. In the first assessment I noticed that I scored 2 out of 10 for Information Acquisition. At the moment I don't know what is available on my campus and how it is used. As an administrator my first priority would be to research that data and know what I am working with. Then I can target what else is needed and how it can best be used. I also scored 6 out of 18 on Problem Solving on the same assessment. I need to equip myself with knowledge and be trained on how I would handle problems with technology when they arise.
On the second assessment I found that I could answer any questions that had do with my classroom environment, but could not answer a question having to do with outside the classroom. On those questions I found myself answering "I Don't Know" many times. This goes back to me needing to equip myself with knowledge of what is going on at the campus level. I believe that my district does not put technology at a high priority district wide. There are not incentives for teacher who do implement technology in their classroom. Also resources are not evenly distributed along the campuses. Some elementary campuses have ELMOS while other campuses are told "there is no money to purchase them". I find this to be unfair and the kids suffer for it. I think that the technological resources should be evenly spread out thru the district.
I found the assessments to be a true reflection of where I am technologically speaking. It has helped me furter identify my strengths and my weaknesses. I look forward to learn as much as I can about technology in the weeks to come.