TFTL+Standard+VI

TF/TL Standard VI: Social, Ethical, Legal, and Human Issues

The performance indicators for the standard involving social, ethical, legal, and human issues include modeling and teaching legal and ethical practices, applying technology resources to enable diverse students, identifying and using technology resources that affirm diversity, promoting safe use of technology resources, and facilitating equitable access to technology resources (Williamson 134). I learned a lot about where my campus and district are in the integration of technology, versus where we should be according to the long term plan. I also learned about some processes to follow when planning and implementing professional development on my campus. I had already known about special education issues regarding education, but it was good for me to be able to connect that to technology issues of equity and diversity. In my own experience, I have seen situations where there has not been equal access to technology, and this has especially been true regarding equitable access for special education students and programs. The tasks associated with this standard were helpful to me in showing me ways to work on that and improve it in my sphere of influence. I was also able to share information with my campus on copyright law and what constitutes fair use for educational purposes (November, 2009). This was helpful as teachers put together their teacher web pages as well as assisting them with what content (and how much of it) was used in their classrooms and lessons.

I was able to research and share information on the Premiere Literacy Suite with those on my campus (March, 2010). We are looking at possibly purchasing a site license for this software to be on all teacher and student workstations as a result. It helps students have text read to them, help with definitions of challenging words, etc. I also shared information with our staff on resources to use for embracing diversity and other cultures (February, 2010). We use this throughout our Respect character pillar in our social skills curriculum, as well as during holidays such as Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month. In looking at kid's safety while using the interne, I shared with our staff about safekids.com (September, 2010). This site has resources that we use at school and have shared with parents for their use at home as well. The link for this site has been placed on my web page for parents to reference as needed.

The tasks and content surrounding Standard VI are consistent with what I had learned so far as well as being consistent with my beliefs and values regarding the importance of embracing diversity in students and helping them succeed. As I talked with some of my colleagues about these issues, they too expressed feelings of concern about equity in access for special education students and special education programs, such as our self-contained special education campus. I am already beginning to do further research on how technology funds and resources are allocated to our campus. We are a special education campus, so we should receive special education funding, but we are also self-contained, so we also teach all core subjects and so should be receiving general funds and resources as well. These do not always happen, so we are sometimes left out, which in turn excludes our students from some opportunities. As I look into this, I hope to find some answers for an issue that puzzled me as I worked through this standard. I want to work out how a campus like ours, with the funding that we have, can get to the level that we need to be at on the STaR chart according to the long term plan.

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.