TFTL+Standard+I

TF/TL Standard I: Technology Operations and Concepts

The performance indicators for this standard include the knowledge, skills, and understanding of technology concepts as described in the ISTE NETS (TF/TL-I.A.) and the ability to continually extend your knowledge, skills and understanding in order to be able to better integrate new technologies as they are introduced (TF/TL-I.B.) (Williamson, 23). One task involved in this standard is the examination of the Texas STaR chart. After that data on the chart had been examined, we presented the data to our faculty and wrote on our blogs about one aspect of the long-range plan. Our blog included a description of our chosen area, an explanation of progress in that area, trends emerging in that area, and our personal recommendations in that area. Another task in working on this standard is the creation of a wiki document. I actually have ended up creating multiple wikis as a result of this assignment. Some of my colleagues in this program and I have created one for collaboration during courses where group work was required. I created one for my course work throughout the program, as well as an additional one specifically for the internship course. I also have created one for the BMC teachers in my district to be able to collaborate with one another and share ideas (September, 2009). This activity has proven to be very useful to me and I am very pleased to have learned about this and be able to implement it so effectively in my work. I have been able to take things that I knew about the integration of technology in our school and compare it to our district, as well as to the standards outlined in the long-range plan. My co-workers have really appreciated the ability to use the wiki as a tool that does not limit us in time and place for working together. Some have been resistant to it and have admitted to not understanding many of the new technologies being made available to us in education. This only highlights the importance of the STaR chart and the implementation of the long-range plan for technology leaders to bring people along toward the future of education. The data on my current campus is challenging to look at, because we are a self-contained special education campus, and the students we teach are technically listed at other schools as their home campus. This also creates challenges with acquiring technology for a small campus where students are often transitioning in and out throughout the year. I would like to talk more with technology leaders at the district-level about this and the need to have the same levels of technology available to these special education students as at other schools. I am curious why, when special education students are often benefit most from technology integration, that special education programs and schools are often left out or considered last in my experience when technology is being doled out. Another activitiy involved with this standard was the sharing of a spelling resource online with our campus. I had begun using it a few years ago and found it to be very effective. I was asked to share it with our campus so that other teachers and their students could also use this resource designed to help students with spelling, context, and writing sentences. It has become a tool that is used almost across the board on our campus and has become integrated into our spelling/language arts curriculum (Septmber, 2009).

Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //ISTE’s technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do//. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.