Week 1 Assignment, Part 4: Technology Applications TEKS Summary

Pre-K Technology Application TEKS

The technology applications domain of the Pre-K Guidelines requires educators serving this particular age group to expose their learners to a variety of technology skills and devices. These devices include but are not limited to computers, voice/sound recorders, televisions, digital cameras, and iPods. Furthermore, teachers need to ensure that students in this stage begin to understand that technology can enrich our lives. Pre-K students must gradually become self-assured and self-regulating technology-users by developing their own techniques for manipulating an assortment of age-appropriate technologies.

Specifically, the Pre-K technology applications domain outlines five expectations for this age group that need to be met by the end of Prekindergarten year. First, a successful Pre-K child should be able to open and navigate through software programs that are designed to boost the development of appropriate concepts. Additionally, he or she is expected to use and identify an array of computer input devices. Moreover, a Pre-K learner should be able operate voice/sound recorders and touch screens as well as express his or her own ideas using software applications. Finally, he or she must recognize that technology is an avenue to acquire information.

Laying the Foundation

Pre-K TEKS for technology set the groundwork for student performance in future grades. Prekindergarten students are expected to develop their capability to obtain information, solve problems, and communicate with others using age-appropriate technologies. Acquiring these skills at an early age would facilitate these students’ transition to a more formal and rigorous curriculum as they move up from one grade level to the next.

Spiraling Curriculum

When students are given multiple opportunities to master a particular skill, they are being exposed to a spiraling curriculum. Students greatly benefit from this design because students not only acquire the needed technology skill but they are allowed to become highly proficient and critical technology-users in the process. One important feature of the Technology Applications TEKS is that it is designed as a spiraling or scaffolding curriculum. To illustrate this, as early as Pre-K, students are expected to create and express own ideas using software applications. Products include own writings and drawings. This same standard applies to students in other grade levels but the degree of difficulty and sophistication gradually increases from year to year. In the primary grades, students are expected to use font attributes and graphics for a defined group of audience. Then, intermediate students build on the skills that they have previously learned to create spreadsheets and databases from a variety of sources. These same skills are employed in middle schools and high schools as they are required to perform more sophisticated tasks like creating interactive documents. From plain drawings to interactive documents using simulation and hypertext – this is tangible proof that Texas Technology Applications TEKS provide our students the needed support to move them forward to 21st Century and beyond.

Week 1 Assignment, Part 3: Analysis of the Long-Range Plan for Technology

Global economics, urgency, and societal changes necessitate the creation of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006 -2020. This comprehensive strategic plan includes four domains: Teaching and Learning; Preparation and Development; Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support; and Infrastructure for Technology. The main goal of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology is to have a high quality, world class education for every student in Texas. According to the three-phase plan, by the year 2020, all the essential digital tools and resources would be accessible to all learners, parents, educators, and school leaders twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. This accessibility will provide all learners individualized, real-world learning experiences 24/7 that will allow them to acquire the skills and attitude of global citizens.

Teaching and learning will never be the same again as teachers become facilitators, mentors, and co-learners to guarantee that all learners will thrive in the world they will live as adults. In addition, teachers need to continuously find ways to stay abreast of the new trends in technology. Likewise, teacher preparation programs must include coursework that incorporate technology standards and how these standards relate to other core content areas. The third domain - Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support – accounts the important role district and school administrators play in ensuring that all students in the state of Texas acquire the essential technology skills needed in the 21st Century. Administrators need to personify 21st Century learners’ attributes. Finally, Infrastructure for Technology must offer safe, secure, and reliable high-speed connectivity among schools, colleges, business, homes, medical facilities, etc.

I feel empowered after reading and analyzing the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology. Knowing that the state has a concrete plan to steer its schools in the right path towards 21st Century motivates me to conquer my personal challenges. I aspire to be an asset to my school, the state, the nation, and the whole world. As an instructional leader, I have an enormous responsibility to support the state's technology initiative. This requires me to embody the attributes of a life-long learner. I cannot confidently say that I am a technologically-savvy person but I can start being one by showing my teachers and students that I take pleasure in manipulating digital tools and applications as well as learning new technology skills. To illustrate this, this course has forced me to go beyond my comfort zone, but I am learning and enjoying at the same time. This joy of learning and collaborating is I what I desire to share with my teachers and students.

Source:
Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020.(2007, November).
Retrieved November 24, 2009, from TEA website: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/lrpt/lrpt_lrpt.html

Week 1 Assignment, Part 1A: Requisite Technology Skills Assessment

While I was completing the Technology Applications Inventory, I was not aware that the items included were the same TEKS for technology applications required for grades 6-8. I was actually proud of myself after finishing the inventory since I was able to honestly answer “yes” in many of the items. However, after realizing that these were the same standards expected to be mastered by eight graders I was completely abashed. How could I expect our students to become proficient technology users when I personally have not completely mastered all of these standards? I felt a surge of urgency to go back to middle school and relearn the skills that I need to possess in order to fully call myself a world class educator.

Needless to say, this revelation allowed me to reflect on my own practice as an educator and a future school administrator. Surely I cannot lead a 21st Century school with my substandard technology know how. A plan must be in order. First, I need to draw on my strengths – information acquisition and foundations – in my pursuit of educational technology competence. I have a good grip of the technology related terminologies and concepts. Additionally, the online course that I am taking at Lamar University allows me to use information acquisition skills on a daily basis. Secondly, I must continue to seek ways to improve my ability to solve problems as well as communicate using technology tools and specifications. Finally, I need to keep my eyes and ears open to all the different professional development opportunities offered inside and outside the district.

The SETDA survey was a different story. Since I do not have a formal class, I used the SETDA Building Survey. The result was very impressive. This is due to the commitment of our school administrators and teachers to provide our students with a first-rate educational experience. In 2005, my campus received a four-year $240,000 Technology Immersion Pilot grant to assist us further integrate technology into our already vigorous Middle School program. Likewise, Briarmeadow Charter School is a Reasoning Mind campus. Our fifth and sixth grade students participate in a hybrid of online and face to face math instruction. The instruction is tailored to the specific needs of each student. Another component of Reasoning Mind is to assess the effectiveness of the program. Consequently, data is used regularly to determine if technology use positively affects student achievement.

Our school is definitely a progressive environment where high student achievement is the norm. We do this by providing learner-centered instruction using technology tools to maximize our time with our students. To keep up with the demands of our technology-savvy school, I need to continue to hone my craft and stay attuned to the unique needs of our digital native learners.

Sources:

http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/techapp/assess/teksurv.pdf

http://www.setda-peti.org/tools.html