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
Chrisy Murray
4/20/2019 10:28:17 am
Is the technology integration evaluation already implemented or this a promising practice you are focusing on? Also, it sounds as if your school is very proactive in making sure that teachers have ample time to collaborate and maintain focus.
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K. Pierce
4/20/2019 07:23:55 pm
Hi, Christy,
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Christy Michelle Kramp
4/20/2019 07:49:16 pm
Your focus is similar to mine - which is good because we work in the same district. I like that you are focusing on the SAMR model. We have a lot of resources but the way we utilize them is definitely lacking. I am hoping that with further professional development teachers will be able to use our current technology in a more effective manner.
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Kate Shannon
4/23/2019 09:59:22 am
Hello Kimberly,
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