Reflection

As I reflect upon this course I have to admit that technology was not what I had expected from the title of Instructional Leadership. I was excited to see that technology was the main focus because I am always eager to learn more about it. The outcomes I had envisioned changed once I realized it was technology. I was interested in learning about the different ways to use technology in the classroom as well as how to manage the technology as an administrator. I believe that for the most part these outcomes were achieved. I learned several ways to use technology with my students such as blogging and wikis. Not only did I learn about these different strategies, I also learned the benefits and cautions about putting these things into place. I did not learn quite as much about putting technology in as an administrator as I would have liked but being a teacher and seeing it in this perspective will give me a great view. I was surpised to learn about the role that an admistrator has to play as the median person between the staff and the technology department. My campus is very easy going and does anything that benefits the students. Sometimes we will moan and groan a little but for the most part we keep an upbeat tempo and keep going. I found out that this is not the case in all schools. We have a very exceptional staff. I can see where this is another fire for the principal to put out.

One of the main problems that I have with all of the excitement with technology is that the schools are not funded to reach the high amount of technology needed to truly benefit students. I work in a district that has always had a small percentage of low socio-economic children, although it is growing rapidly, we still do not get the amount of grants that is needed to increase our funding. I would have liked to have learned more about the ways that we can bring in funds to our schools to make this technology possible. I have heard of many different grants and information and this would have been something that would have been great to have learned throughout this class.

Looking at the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020 was a huge eye opener for myself as a teacher. I think it was wonderful to look into this document and really see where we should be as a school with technology. Another very benefial part of the class was diving into the Technology TEKS and really focusing on what my students should know when they leave my classroom to move to the next grade level. As a teacher, I focus so much on what is tested that I lose track of the other things that are also just as important in life. Technology is valuable information that these students need to know in order to make it in the real world. Another valuable part to the class was researching the results from our Campus STaR Chart results for the past three years. Each year I fill this survey out rather quickly in order to check it off my list of things to do and never hear about it again until the next year when I have to fill it out. It was great making a chart that showed the strengths and weaknesses and really comparing this to what I think our strengths and weaknesses are. In an interview with the Technology Coordinator for my district, she informed me that the STaR Chart had changed this year so it will not be easy to compare the results from this year to the previous years. She said it would be like comparing apples and oranges. I do wish that everyone in our class would have been told this information since there was so much emphasis of this survey throughout the course.

On my campus, I am the “go to” person for technology when the technology department is not around. I felt very confident coming into this course because of this fact. When something needed to be solved on the computer I would work until I figured it out. When the class first began and I took the Technology Skills Assessment I did well overall, except for one part being Foundations. I realized at this time that I had taught myself almost everything I know about technology and never really learned the correct terms to use. Due to my lack of terminology I had to say that I did not know how to do several of the items because I was not sure what it was referring to exactly. There were a few other items mentioned during this course that I did not know too much about that I will enjoy doing more research about.

Blogging is something that I have done to keep in touch with friends and family that live away. This has been a great way to keep in touch and watch children grow up and still feel a part of their lives. Blogging is not something that I had thought about in the classroom. I teach second grade so it is not something that I would consider doing right now at this grade level but as the students become more technology savvy over the years, this could definitely be something I could put into place. I did see great benefits in blogging as a principal. Each week my principal sends us an email with all of the events that will be happening for the week and items that need to be taken care of. I think it would be wonderful for him to start a blog and this could be something we refer to at all times. He could update it as much as needed. I also think it would be benefical because we could add comments to his post without emailing everyone with changes. This could also be something that could take the place of school newsletters that are sent home with the students. If the information from the newlsletter was put into a blog, it could reach so many more stakeholders in the community.

Although I see so many benefits to blogging in the classrooms and using them in the community, I think there are many safety issues that we need to look at first and decide on solutions. Anytime students are putting information on the internet it can be a scary situation because of the predators that are out there looking for children to prey upon. In a situation with school blogging, it needs to be a very protective and restricted environment. This is a great way to express to the children how important it is to not give out information and the etiquette to using the internet safely. I also have concerns about blogging within the community where the stakeholders can post comments. The news website has a place for people to make comments about the news stories that they post on their site and I have seen some awful comments posted. I would be worried that something would be posted that should not be. There are many concerns, but as a school you have to weigh your options and decide what is best for the students in the situation.

Overall, I have really enjoyed this class. I do believe that the workload was much with all of the posting on the discussion board but I have learned a great deal of information that I can use in my classroom now and as an administrator in the future.