Junior High- Cara Moreland

1. How do your proposed strategies (Week 8 Step 6) meet the required standards as your Week 6 Step 4 stated?

Strategies for funding.

Without the funding, teachers are not able to meet the needs of students using technology, without the funding the teachers will have no technology to utilize in their instruction. The only way that the NETS for Teachers can be met, is if there is some kind of funding for the technology department. The standards that having funding will allow the school to meet are under the strategies.

Strategies from previous week:
1. Navasota ISD does have money alloted through the IMA funding, however, this is a cut from previous years and NISD must be creative on spending and where to get the funding (Gonzalez, 2012). The district does employee a grant writer for the entire district, one way to increase funding is for the technology department to become familiar with the TEA grant opportunities (http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147487920&menu_id=951), they can do this by checking the calendar regularly and discussing this with the grant writer (TEA Grant Resources, 2012).

2. Another way to help with funding is to encourage teachers to write grants through the NISD Education Foundation. All teachers who have been trained, any teacher can attend training, can write a grant (Russell, 2012). Teachers need to be encouraged on writing grant and offered the opportunity to have someone assist them. The technology department can set-up a time after school to allow teachers to come and receive assistance on writing their grant. This would encourage more teachers to write grants.

3. E-Rate is obviously one strategy for funding at NJHS, the Director of Technology and Communication is the one that deals with the e-rate services for the district. E-Rate is a “program to provide schools and libraries affordable access to advanced telecommunications services. This program provides discounts ranging from 20% to 90% on Telecommunications Services, Internet Access, Internal Connections, and Basic Maintenance of Internal Connections to eligible schools and libraries” (TPESC).

4. Last year the school district developed a Program Standards Committee who spent time coming up with a rubric to evaluate programs bought to use in the district; the group consisted of administrators from all departments (technology, curriculum, special education, and assessment) and two teachers from each campus (Moreland, 2012). The district can save money by evaluating the programs they already have to see if they are actually being utilized for their purpose, if not cutting the funding and utilizing it in a way that is more beneficial for teachers and students. Also evaluating the programs before being bought.

STANDARDS:
2. Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:

a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress

c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.

d. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

(ISTE 2008)

Strategies for management plans.

Strategy:
1. One of the goals is that teachers will be able to troubleshoot. To meet this goal, the technology department will have to offer professional development for teachers on troubleshooting and set-up individual training as needed.

These strategies is would meet the following standards; allowing teachers to demonstrate fluency and resolve conflicts when they are able to fix simple technology problems.

Standard:
NETS for Teachers
3 a. “demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.”
(ISTE, 2008)

Technology Application Standard:
2.7s resolve information conflicts and validate information by accessing,
researching, and comparing data from multiple sources

(Texas State Board for Educator Certification, 2003)

Strategies:
2. Professional development will be offered twice a month for each campus during the teachers conference time or after school. One of these trainings a month will be on troubleshooting problems. The professional development will need to be focused so that it allows the teachers to be able to meet the standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) NETs for Teachers. These can be found at the following website: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx

Offering teachers professional development allows them to eventually become experts at using their technology with proficiency, if they practice and use what is taught. These strategies meet standards that require teachers to use technology.

3. Hire a second Technology Integration Specialist to assist with professional development. Due to funding this person might have to be hired as part-time or someone who teaches in the district and can do this after school (given a stipend). Eventually this would be a full time position, but to begin with it may need to start off part-time.

These strategies also meet the standards listed below. Without a second Technology Integration Specialist, teachers will not all have the opportunity to have the one-on-one time they need with the specialist, and all of the trainings each month would not be possible.

Standards:
Technology Application Standards:
Standard I. All teachers use technology-related terms, concepts, data input strategies, and ethical practices to make informed decisions about current technologies and their applications.

Standard II. All teachers identify task requirements, apply search strategies, and use current technology to efficiently acquire, analyze, and evaluate a variety of electronic information.

Standard III. All teachers use task-appropriate tools to synthesize knowledge, create and modify solutions, and evaluate results in a way that supports the work of individuals and groups in problem-solving situations.

Standard IV. All teachers communicate information in different formats and for diverse audiences.

Standard V. All teachers know how to plan, organize, deliver, and evaluate instruction for all students that incorporates the effective use of current technology for teaching and integrating the Technology Applications Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) into the curriculum.
(Texas State Board for Educator Certification, 2003)



2. Review the reading materials in Technology domain to propose using other standards which are not adopted by your studied school. Explain why those new standards should be considered for your studied school.

After a discussion with the district's Technology Integration Specialist, I feel that the district and school need to implement the Technology Facilitation Standards. These are not standards they use or are very familiar with. At the beginning of the standards it states “[e]ducational technology facilitators demonstrate an in-depth understanding of technology operations and concepts” (Technology Facilitation Standards), this gives the technology department a beginning of who should be hired and on their team, someone who has an in-depth understanding or is willing to learn. As a district each campus has a Technology Campus Specialist and the district has a technology team at the Administration office. I feel that using these standards would help the technology department have standards that they can use to hold themselves accountable and set expectations. I feel by no means that each person should have to meet each standard every year, but as a team, they could document what standards are being met and what standards they will be focusing on for the year.

References:

Gonzalez, R. NISD, NISD Director of Technology and Communication, Personal Communication, February 3, 2012.

ISTE (2007). NETS for Students. Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

ISTE (2008). NETS for Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx

Moreland, J. NISD. NISD Technology Instructional Specialist. Personal Communication February 24, 2012.

Russell, J. NISD, Navasota Junior High School Principal, Personal Communication, March 8, 2012.
TPESC. E-Rate Support Center: What is E-Rate? Retrieved from http://tpesc.esc12.net/erate/default.html

TEA Grant Resources (2012). TEA Grant Resources. Retrieved from http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=2147487920&menu_id=951

TEA. Texas Planning e-Rate Support Center. Retrieved from http://tpesc.esc12.net/eplan/default.html

Technology Faciliation Standards. (2010). Retrieved from www.iste.org

Texas State Board for Educator Certification. (2003). Technology Application Standards. Retrieved from http://www.sbec.state.tx.us/sbeconline/standtest/standards/techapp.pdf