Yeah! Do you remember when we all blogged? Then, it all changed: Facebook became rampant in our "circle". I am bringin' it back. I think you should too. I am back blog stalkers. Not that I have ANytHING important to say and not that I am a good writer but it is fun to go back and look at my old stuff- and to go back and look at Olivia. Ps. After a few Google questions and alot of investigation, I finally figured out how to change all my stuff from the old school template. It took me AWHILE.
Educator Preparation:
One of the key aspects to ensure Educator Preparation is to provide the staff with professional development that is relevant to using technology in the classroom. Teachers should be able to use their professional development experiences to create higher-order thinking web-based projects for their classroom. Also, teachers are expected to know how to use online resources to aid in classroom teaching. One other aspect of Educator Preparation is to ensure that the ideas and projects learned in the professional development experiences are actually being implemented into the classroom so that it "empowers students to think critically to solve real-world problems and communicate with experts across business, industry and higher education". This information is directly taken from the Texas Teacher STaR Chart manual.
In 2007-2008 the Campus Statewide Summary showed that 74.2% of all campuses involved scored a "Developing Tech" in the category for Educator Preparation. 40% of educators meet SBEC standards. The next highest percentage at 19.9% scored an "Advanced Tech" in this area. 60% of educators meet SBEC standards here. My local school scored with the norm by getting a "Developing Tech" result.
I believe that we are making good progress in this area. It is going to take a few more years for teachers to get comfortable with the fact that technology is here to stay and can and will be a very useful tool for not only managing the classroom but for inspiring learning. The trend is that this area is rising as a whole. On my campus, we actually fell 2 points from 2007-2008 to 2008-2009. I believe that next year the numbers will continue to rise and that overall, we will see an increase in the national, state, and local campus use for technology. The reason that I believe that we will increase is that technology use is rising in our students and in order to keep up with them, educators have to continue to be innovative in the classroom or they will no longer have a job.
My recommendation for improvement in this area is to have mandatory mini-professional development opportunities for specific programs or projects that will help the need-areas for each grade in my school. This would be implemented on a monthly basis and teachers would be highly encouraged to create a project that is meaningful to their content area and has specific technological requirements. This would show the teachers that feel inferior to technology that they are capable of creating fun projects that their kids can relate to. This will also foster a sense of collaborative learning communities within the grade level or content area.
I am definitely looking forward to this new season. It is not only a new physical season but a new state of mind. I am so thankful for all of my family and all of my friends. Where would I be without them? So many people do not get the family and friends that I have.
Now that school is out for the summer, Jared's schedule becomes increasingly busy. I don't know how he does it but traveling for Missions is his passion and I am thankful for his heart. I miss him sooooo much each year when he leaves. This year he is going to China, among other places, and it makes me a little nervous. He has a way of trusting God that I yearn for. He knows that the Lord will guide his every step and I am thankful for a protecting God. Jared recently gave a graduation speech that was about thankfulness which made me realize that I take for granted so many things. I am most of all, right now, thankful for God who gave me Jared.
This week, Jared asked me to help with his basketball camp and next week, we are taking a vacation to Vermont, which will be very cool. I am thankful for these next 2 weeks to get to spend with him. Then he leaves for Jamaica. He will leave Jamaica for Belgium and come home for a few days and then he will be off to Taiwan and China. Please pray for him and the many different countries and regions he will be visiting. There are so many people that either do not know God, don't know how to know God, or do not want to know God. I ask you to pray for them and for Jared and his partners to reach them.
Well I finally reset my password so that I can blog. Life is good. We are in Miami and I am teaching dyslexia and Jazzercise. Jared is coaching everything- it just feels like everything. Basketball this year went well and was pleased with his team. We have done so much in the last year that it is hard to say everything. Had some good vacations and good family times. Looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs and will eventually have to do the Facebook thing- not looking forward to that.
