week 5 Reflections

Linking Learning and Reflections
I envisioned learning the knowledge and skills needed to prepare and enable me to be an efficient and capable school leader. The beginning of the course allowed me to gain knowledge of the expectations and standards required for a campus leader through the assignments to peruse the Long-Range Technology Plan: 2006-2010, Texas STaR Charts, District Improvement Plan, and the Campus Improvement Plan. I used this information to promote student success by facilitating improvement and communication on my campus with equity and efficiency by identifying areas of need and developing plans to meet those needs. I anticipated learning and practicing skills for communicating and researching information using current technology. Hands-on activities engaged me in real-world learning as I explored equipment, “best practices” strategies, and programs that meet the identified campus needs. Expecting to help improve my campus throughout this course motivated me to use the information I learned to create and build lessons and units to prepare my students for post-graduation in the 21st century. Because of my students’ enthusiasm and motivation for learning with technology, other teachers became interested in our activities.
The outcomes of my learning in this course definitely make relevant the experiences employed in my current position as teacher leader and mentor and as a college dual credit facilitator. Training teachers to integrate the technology already available to us was as easy as showing the students. My collaboration on the Campus Improvement Committee should contribute more knowledge to guide the development of goals that integrate technology. One campus goal envisions accelerating learning for special populations and diverse learners using technology, and another objective identifies the process of determining the best way to meet diverse technology professional development needs.
I expected to promote student success by facilitating improvement and communication on my campus with equity and efficiency by identifying areas of need and developing plans to meet those needs. Although my grades indicated success with the assigned coursework, and I feel confident that I have acquired valuable information, I was somewhat discouraged by the number of readings and postings, which took time that I deem better spent collaborating with teachers and administrators on my campus, since there was not enough time to plan and set the goals for improvements leading to technology integration. My teaching duties, the end of semester activities, and expectations for my position as ESL Campus Coordinator with two SE/ESL December graduates combined with those assignments deterred me from meeting my personal expectations of success.
The stress and amount of time required to complete assignments of this course taught me that I can survive with very little sleep, deadlines, and expectations of multi-tasking. I believe proficient technology and leadership skills require both practice and experience, which this course provided. Before this class, I considered myself technologically challenged, I now realize that technology skills appear relative to the tasks one wants to accomplish and the contexts of the situations, so “digital immigrant” (Prensky, 2001, p. 4) better describes me. Every day, unexpected issues occur such as administrative directives, parent conferences, student discipline, technology disruptions, and staff concerns. I learned to handle those situations professionally, and whether I agree or not with other viewpoints, I must accept the value of those points in cooperating to keep the vision of student achievement as the ultimate goal.
Information and education using technology in the 21st century instantly and constantly changes, a truly dynamic anomaly in instruction. Blogs, or “web logs,” provide a means of keeping pace with instant forms of communication. There is never a reason to miss information with Internet access and blogs or “wikis.” Students reflect and post to online journal blogs, while teachers post assignments and projects. Administrators provide training in posts, and committees collaborate. Engaging and motivating students naturally ensues, guaranteeing increased learning and decreased discipline referrals. Students’ accountability for formal English writing using blog postings builds confidence. The benefits of these potential outcomes of blogging make integrating technology enticing.
There are concerns to implementing technology, and the safety and security of our students alarm us most about the Internet and Web 2.0 tools. Bloggers, people who write and create web logs, develop relationships with their readers and may give out information that could be used to harm by dangerous people, such as child predators and identity thieves. Monitoring students’ posts proves a daunting task if substantial posting is required. Misinformation causes confusion and erroneous research results from unmonitored blogging. Students may think blogging is informal, causing teachers to find more incidences of misspelling, grammatical errors, and slang usage. Another issue faces the infrastructure required to support technology needed.
Blogging takes the concept of sending letters home to a whole new level. Parents have “real time” access to announcements, classroom activities, and information concerning their children. As an administrator, blog posts could be used to communicate and collaborate with staff. For example, posting school calendar updates and weekly activities, along with training summaries could save time at faculty meetings. Professional development activities could be accessed and shared by school blogs. Teacher recruits could access a school’s blog to read the “inside” story about a school, so the school could write and post a blog to entice teachers to the area.
My vision of totally integrated technology to promote academic achievement for all stakeholders, may not be fulfilled this course, this semester, or this year, but the possibilities implanted in my mind continue to grow as we learn in the 21st century.


References
“Campus Improvement Plan, 2008-2009”. Dalhart High School. http://www.dalhart.k12.tx.us/pdfs/08-09/CIP_DHS_08-09.pdf
“District Improvement Plan, 2008-2009”. Dalhart Independent School District. http://www.dalhart.k12.tx.us/pdfs/08-09/DIP_DISD_08-09.pdf
“Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020”. Texas Education Agency.
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/lrpt/LRPTCompleteDec06.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 1. On the Horizon, 9(5), 1-6.