I will focus my divide on teacher’s use of technology and the reasons why teachers are limited in their ability or hesitate to use technology. Age, mindset, confidence, inexperience, or previous failures with technology can all prevent teachers from being effective and efficient with technology in the the classroom. Many teachers in my building have been teaching for over 20 years. For some, the technology that is so readily available to them did not exist while they were growing up or in college, but now they are expected to successful implement lessons involving an evolving resources that is not going away. This causes many teachers to not use technological resources which impacts students learning, which also means wasted resources.
To address these issues, many schools have incorporated professional develop that not only focuses on the uses of technology, but also will increase teacher confidence and help to reprogram negative mindsets about technology use in the classroom. Advisers or mentors are assigned to new or struggling teachers. Unlike the other school districts, my school provides two planning period daily to each teacher in the secondary level for training and collaboration. While each teacher is given a personal plan, the second planning period provided is used for grade level or course vertical alignments. One day a week is set aside for vertical alignment meetings with administrators, while the other four days are used as grade level personal learning community (PLCs). These PLC’s provide one on one time with the admin team, trainers, coordinators, other peers or anyone that can aid with improving implementation. We have an Instructional Technology Coach that does “Tech Tuesday” for the entire school district. She provides technology leadership and guidance through weekly emails, training, and PLCs. Daily grade level PLC meetings provide opportunity for collaboration, training and staff development. Informal evaluations are conducted as needed per semester for teachers, while formal evaluations are conducted once a semester with an administrator. The evaluator uses Marzano Art and Science of Teaching Evaluation Model based on the Art and Science of Teaching to provide reflective feedback so teachers can take charge of observations and reach higher scores on evaluations. The domains have specific areas of observations for technology incorporation. Teachers and staff will be provided enough time to become familiar with the capabilities of district wide technology, like Chromebooks, during inservice days before the school year starts and frequent and ongoing PLCs to support teachers in integrating technology effectively to personalize and improve instruction using the SAMR Model. The SAMR Model will be used as the technology integration framework to help teachers and guide technology use in the classroom over the next two years. The Substitution level of the SAMR model is already being implemented therefore so only necessary training will be done as needed. Teachers and students will transitions from the enhancement stage to the transformation stage starting at the Augmentation level and moving through the Modification level in year one. The second year will focus on moving higher into the transformation stage by using the Redefinition level successfully throughout year two. Adjustments to teaching strategies, assessments, and pacing guide will be made as needed throughout instruction after reviewing student’s data in weekly PLC meetings. The SAMR Model will be evaluated using the Technological, Pedagogical, Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework. Another way to address these issues are through preservice. These help to not only build a community around incorporating technology, but also provide training with technology before becoming a teacher. Preservice institutions are updating their curriculum to assess teachers' technology skills before, during, and after the program ends. This could also establish competency baseline of technology for entering education students by implementing assessment of technology competencies.
4 Comments
There are over 57 thousand people in Yukon Oklahoma. Although the town houses African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Alaska Natives, American Natives, Asians, Indian, and Pacific Islanders, only 16% of the total population is non-caucasian. Over 93% graduated high school, but only 29% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. The median household income is $70,000 with largest group of only 22% earning $50,000 to $74,000 and only 7% live below poverty level (American Fact Finder). YPS serves over 8,800 students which includes 7 elementary schools, 2 intermediate schools, the middle school campus, and the high school campus. Yukon is the 14th largest district (out of 525 school districts) in Oklahoma and Yukon High School is currently the 7th largest high school in Oklahoma (Yukon Public Schools). Enrollment is 50/50 male to female with only 27% of the total student enrollment being non-caucasian (Niche). Free or reduced lunch is 43% (Niche), but I believe it to be much higher. (Niche) Enrollment (As of 8/1/2018) Total Enrollment 8,852 Ethnic Distribution: White 68.2% Hispanic 14.3% Two or More Races 6.7% Native American 4.7% Black 3.6% Asian 2.3% Pacific Islander 0.1% Other / Not provided 0.1% Personnel: Certified Staff 601 Support Staff (full & part-time) 780 Administrators 49 Dividing factors include both teacher and student use of technology. If the teacher is not comfortable using technology or has limited knowledge of use, it stifles students use and ability which also impacts the “cans” and “cannots”. Mostly I see opportunity gaps. Older teacher still use over heads and whiteboards. Many teachers are not aware of the access they have to technology or what to do with it once they acquire it. Each grade level classroom has a 1:1 Chromebook cart, the building has 6 iPad carts (100 iPads) (including Sped and ELL classes), multiple computer labs, projectors, SMARTboards, Apple TV’s, teacher MacBooks, and classroom desktops that are for daily use for classroom instruction. The schools bandwidth and WiFi were just updated, but will be increased to accommodate existing and new technology as needed by the Office of Technology & Information Services (OTIS) who routinely updates, manages, and replace technology as needed or per teacher request. My call of action is still uncertain, but it seems to be teacher ability and use of technology. I grew up in a really rural area in Mississippi. I can remember the “party lines.” I remember people coming to our farm to use our Britannica Encyclopedia Collection. It was my original access to information, Until AOL… But once my parents received the bill for instant access to the world wide web, they decided it was cheaper to just go to the local library. The phone company charged a ridiculous about for internet connectivity because they had no other competitors. So I remained cut off from the world until we installed computer labs throughout my high school.
I currently live in Yukon, OK. I work at the largest middle school in the state. It houses a little less than 3,000 students in grades 6-8. When I think about this school compared to the previous school in Mississippi that I taught in, I can easily see a digital divide. One school is near a large city, while the other is a rural area. There are numerous, competitive wireless providers in larger cities, while most rural areas are controlled by one or two companies who hold a monopoly over the area and do not serve all locations. My current school is not as diverse as my previous school. In fact, they are total opposites when it comes to race and socioeconomic status. My current school has a vast amount of resources and technology, while my previous school had no laptops/iPads and used torn-up books with mold that students shared. Other than dated dvd’s, the students had little connection to the outside world. Computer labs use was limited and there were not enough computers for all students at once. We didn't even have a laptop cart that could be checked out, while my new school is 1:1 and has over 100 iPads to use at a moments notice. I think about how much my old students missed out on. How they were under-serviced by their school and the state. How they missed out on have a fair education because they were poor and black. It makes me thankful for people like Tarrod, who installed a Wi-Fi hotspot in his tiny shop (there is only one chair) so that students can do their homework, whether or not they are waiting for a haircut (Who's left out by America's digital divide?). |
|