EDU+572+Technology+as+a+Change+Agent+Assignmments

= EDU 572 Leading Change in Your School- Part I =

1. Four years ago, in my school district, all teachers were given laptops so that they could implement laptop use in the classroom, help increase teacher productivity and communication among administration, teachers and parents. A. Actions taken by leadership and participants were: a. School principal and teacher-leaders organized an in-service and computer training workshops. b. Teachers started using the laptops to email each other and to create documents for their lesson plans and to find student activities online. 2. Transition activities management is one of the areas I feel I need to work on with some of my groups. One of the ideas that comes to mind to improve in this area is to establish a world language classroom routine, so that my students know what to expect when they are transitioning from their previous lesson to my classroom. The world language routine must be brief and simple so I do not have to instruct them on what to do every time they come to class, so that we can easily get into the plan for that day’s lesson, maximizing instructional time. 3. If I were to implement aLPLC wiki at the school department level Ready for Learning I feel that teachers who are already very excited about integrating technology in their curriculum will be ready to find the time and learn about wikis and the idea of using them for a LPLC group. Ready for Resistance I think that for people who are technology savvy they will argue the usefulness of wikis and lack of time to fit it into the school’s working schedule. Ready for Frustration Some teachers may explain that they are not comfortable using technology and may not see how to implement Web 2.0 sources in their curriculum. 4. One of the changes that is happening in my school is the integration of digital technology with curricular subjects such as language arts and science.

One of the leadership model actions is to develop a project-based learning unit with teachers from the unified arts curricular areas and make use of digital technology in order to demonstrate the great possibilities that can be created making use of a variety of disciplines and the usefulness for students.

=** Liberating Learning – Chapter 1: The Seeds of Change ** 1. It seems to me as if the Oklahoma and Ohio schools are the perfect utopian schools where students are eager to learn and go happily about their daily school day, solving whatever assignments are dished out for them by virtual teachers that are set up somewhere in this powerhouse of collegiality, pedagogical excellence and content knowledge. Everything seems like a well-oiled machine. It is almost like a Sims game. There are no details, at least in the first chapter, on how the human element plays a role in such schools. Details on how students who sign up for these courses may not understand the content information, may not apply it to different perspectives, produce quality work, turn in assignments on time or even turn on their computer monitors. I think that when technological efforts are driven by the idea of replacing the human element with machines, what you end up with is people who are trained to do a job. However, gaining an education is not only about learning to perform skills. This training model belongs to the industrial revolution, which prepared the great masses of high school students to perform functions without stopping to think where the big plan had come from, who thought it out and to what or whose ends it was being perpetuated. The 21st century educational challenge is greater because if the United States of America is to continue to be an economic power, it must educate all of its citizens to gain knowledge and understanding, and from this educational vantage point, to be able to identify needs or issues that affect their communities, think of solutions, produce plans and perform such plans. Digital technology should be viewed only as a technological tool for learning. Chapter 1 describes how these virtual teachers are able to give almost one on one attention to each student. In my opinion, this may be the factor that has made the Oklahoma and Ohio virtual schools successful. Small sized classrooms is what works. However, if school districts start outsourcing their classes to virtual schools without careful consideration of the number of students to each virtual teacher, you may end up with a 20th century model of education using 21st century technology. 2. I think the “rising tide of mediocrity” is a reality, and it is already being experienced in public schools. Now, this is only my opinion, and it is only based on some of the materials I have read such as information about RTI and experiences in the classroom. I want to talk about a common sense solution and not the issues because we all know of the many problems that are plaguing education. If, for example, a social studies teacher is placed in a classroom with a small groups of students, the teacher will be able to identify the students’ learning styles, strengths and weaknesses, and use some of this information to create learning activities suitable for each individual in his/her classroom. 3. I think technology has always been a great teaching aid for educators. In the case of digital technology, it is probably one of the most sophisticated to date. However, providing machines for teachers and students is not enough in order to embrace a new form of teaching and learning. For example, being a great brain surgeon who knows volumes about science and the human body may not make you the best teacher for a group of high school students. Having the knowledge of how to use a computer well may not give you the pedagogical skills on how to teach a particular subject. I think that in order to execute an important shift in education, everyone needs to be on board in order for it to happen. The state needs to be on board by providing technological pedagogical training for in-service teachers and school administrators need to be opened to the idea that while teachers in schools are trying to figure out how to apply the technological tool to their teaching, mistakes will be made. Parents needs to be supportive of the effort by monitoring their children at home so that they will be using the technology to do school work and not just multi-tasking while they do homework. Colleges need to modify their curriculums so that in-training teachers graduate with the pedagogical technological knowledge on how to teach using technology, and after having met some of these conditions for the 21st century classroom, digital technology may not be the perfect solution in teaching and learning just as using the white board, markers, text books, charts and other items is not the entire technological answer for the current classroom. 4. I think historically, every time there has been a revolutionary change in the world order, the new order usually meets a certain amount of resistance from the old. Sometimes, such resistance has led to great conflicts. I think as parents encounter that their children may be spending too much time networking and socializing with friends online and not enough time working on school assignments or homework, they may start to question the wisdom of using technological devices that can get even the most focused and disciplined student off task very easily. Students are becoming very good at multitasking. However, such an ability may be harmful when students need to concentrate to master certain high level mathematical, literary or science concepts. So, parents may get frustrated when they are unable to monitor what their children are really doing while their computer monitors are on and they seem to be on task. =

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=** __Leading Change in Your School – Part 2__ **=

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1. In the case of having a curricular disagreement with colleagues from the world language department, the teacher who has more seniority usually contacts the other department members and everyone agrees on a time that everyone can meet. Whenever there has been lack of good communication of what the three department members should be teaching in order to advance the curricular goals and benchmarks, we have sat together to look at the Maine Learning Results. From this document, we have been able to determine that there are some common topics across curriculum that can help give the world language curriculum continuity without being redundant with what we teach students. This idea of teaching some common topics was agreed on by the team based on the idea that what is taught at the lower levels will be the foundation for the next levels, so that students can gain proficiency in the second language. One of the traditions that I have perceived from my team is that even though the world language department does not have a designated department head, we follow the advice of the most senior member in deference to the valuable experience that this member brings to the table. 2. The book, //Change In Your School// gives two definitions for coaching; the first being “a cross between a bar-stool buddy and a therapist – a person with whom you can blow off steam and a trusted ally who will give you support when the world around you seems hypercritical” (Reeves, pp 73-4) and the second “coaching focuses exclusively on individual and organizational performance. With a clear protocol that considers the evidence of current practice and results compared with the necessary results, performance coaching includes a focused exploration ====== of a learning agenda, experimentation with new leadership strategies, feedback on effectiveness, and a relentless comparison of the present to the ideal state (Boytzis & McKee, 2005)” (Reeves, p 74). Based on these two definitions, the closest thing that I have experienced to coaching is mentoring. However, the focus of the mentoring was either to guide me to achieve teacher certification or to give me pointers on how to get acclimated to the school’s culture. 3. The only real coaching I have seen is when I played soccer in junior high. My coach understood clearly that we had very strong soccer techniques and we worked very well as a team. We had been playing together for three years. Our team performed very well within the school tournaments. However, if we wanted to be successful at the regional level, he was able to determine that we needed to work on endurance. He was able to define a clear goal for the team and then to help us to follow a plan to meet that goal. This is why he was an effective coach. 4. One of the advantages is that when the supervisor is interested in the growth of the teacher, she or he will give the teacher specific items to work on in order to improve his/her teaching. One of the disadvantages is that it might be very difficult to be truly open with a coach who is also one’s supervisor. One would probably focus more on one’s strengths and highlight them more when talking to the coach, which in the end, might end up hindering one’s growth as an educator since the coach would probably focus less on weaknesses that need to be improved. 5. The primary influences of my teaching or leadership decisions are based on the Maine Learning Results. I can draw from them, design and decide in which direction my world language program need to head. The MLRs describe, in a clear way, the standards and guidelines that world language teachers should follow in order to help their students to be better communicators in the 21st century.

= Carlos' SWOT Analysis =



=** Chapter 2: Liberating Learning **= 1. I think, and this purely based on my perception, that when students are in the K-4 span, a greater percentage of parents are more involved in their children’s learning. This factor may help students learn and retain basic content concepts which are fundamental for someone to have proficiency in language arts, math and science. A second factor I have observed is that the small size classrooms and homeroom teacher format seems to work better for students. Having a small group to teach and having students for a whole school year every day really allows educators to focus better on their students’ strengths, weaknesses and learning styles. I feel that when teachers have these kinds of insights into who their students are, they can aid students better and students really benefit from being in classrooms that are set up this way. Unfortunately, having small size classrooms is not always possible. It requires a strong commitment from towns or communities, which is not always possible when school budgets are tied to the wealth of such communities. The negative impact of larger classrooms is probably easier to see in big school districts or inner city schools. I have had the opportunity to see the positive effects of small classrooms and the negative effects of larger groups, and again this is only an opinion and not based on empirical research, but it seems to me that the former format tends to produce stronger students all across the curriculum. However, the smaller size classroom can be a very unpopular answer to the educational conundrum because it is costly. 2. I was not that surprised with the data about cognitive skills. Reading about the example given on page 15, in which students are given a math problem that says “the sum of three numbers is 173. If the smallest number is 23, could the largest number be 62,” this is a typical example of what seems to be happening to many students in the American school system. The question was posed to a group of 8th graders. Only 31 percent answer the question correctly. Analyzing this simple math problem, I would assume that any 8th grader should be able to add and subtract. What seems to be lacking in the 69% of 8th graders who did not answer this item correctly is the capacity to read the problem and break it down to its simple components, which are performing two simple mathematical operations. I feel that this is the core of what is happening cognitively with students in this age group. However, it is very surprising that other nations are also overtaking the United States in levels of the quantity of educational attainment. I can only guess that other developed nations have been investing more in the education of their citizens because they are obviously aware that there is a correlation between positive economic growth and providing quality, free K-12 and higher education. Ironically, it is the United States school system they have followed as a model. 3. I do not think that technology is the entire answer to the difficult challenges that public education is facing in the United States. For the sake of argument, let’s take the example given by Moe and Chubb in chapter one of Liberating Learning. The book describes two schools, one in Oklahoma City and the other one in Dayton, Ohio. The first school is a virtual school where students do distance learning online and the second one is a charter school. I feel that in the two examples provided as models of successful schools, it is not only the technology that plays a key role in their success, but also the format in which teaching or instruction is being provided. Characteristics, such as teachers being assigned small groups of students in each class, being charter schools and high quality of teachers are only some of the reasons why these schools are thriving at how they educate students. I also infer that the students have good work ethics and motivation. This, to me, seems like a recipe for success. My point being that technology alone can not get the job done. Technological pedagogical content knowledge training for in-service and in-training teachers needs to happen in order to undertake an instructional, technical shift such as this one, into something that will produce better results.

=__** Neeeds Assessment **__=



This file is the homework for the assignment "Needs Assessment". It contains a description of the technological problem observed at Jay School District, graphs based on the data collected and an analysis of the gathered data.



This is the questionnaire that was designed to conduct the "Needs Assessment" technology problem at Jay School District



This is the data gathered with the questionnaire designed to conduct the survey.



These are the answers for assignment Leading Change in Your School- Part 3



=**Leading Change in Your School Part 3**=

== 1. When teaching a unit in World language (i.e. Spanish) is very important to be able to do formative assessment throughout a unit, so that students can gain listening, speaking, reading and writing proficiency in the language. For example, when I design a unit where students will write essays in Spanish, I start by providing students with activities where they will practice grammatical structures and the necessary vocabulary they will need, so that they can develop their essays. These vocabulary/grammatical structures exercises are designed to help students understand how Spanish works as a language. So, I use students’ written work in order to see if they are able to use the language accurately, and determine if they are able to grasp the functionality of the grammatical structures and how they work in conjunction with the vocabulary. So, doing formative assessment of such language exercise is of great importance, so that students can be successful when they are in the final task of writing their essays. I provide feedback of their work and allow students to correct their assignments and resubmit them. Next, I give them a sample of the essay they will write in Spanish. Students use the vocabulary and grammatical structures they have learned, and they create their own essays. Students submit first drafts of their work, which I use for their formative assessment. I provide feedback on their essays and students produce final drafts. So in terms of leadership performance, I could work collaboratively with other teachers in the district to give collaborative formative assessment of our students' essays by having the other teachers give feedback on my students’ essays, and I would likewise do with their students’ written compositions. ==

== 2. The variables I have observed in students who make A’s and B’s are good work ethics, pass in work on time, resubmit work after feedback is given, listen during instruction, good attendance. On the other hand students who make C’s or D’s, they consistently show characteristics such as having poor work ethics, losing their work, not looking at or using feedback, constantly getting distracted in class, constantly being absent and failing to make up work. ==

== However, if I have a policy where students are allowed to make up their missing work and improve their grade if they do excellent class participation work by listening to instruction and participating in class discussions, even with a student getting 55’s in all the missing assignments, the student can come back and bring up her or his grade from a 55.5=F to a 72=C- == == Following a grading policy such as this of allowing students to take responsibility of their missing work, and make it up teaches them a greater responsibility lesson than ending with a failing grade at the end of the grading period for any missing work. ==

__Liberating Learning Chapter 3__
== 1. After No Child Left Behind was passed into educational law, it triggered a movement for accountability of schools and teachers. High stakes standardized testing has become the norm in order to determine whether students are achieving the benchmarks established by the educational departments across the United States. States decide which standardized test they will administer in order to evaluate their students. Maine used the MEAs for almost a decade in order to assess its students. At the district level, schools created their own local assessments. At the Jay School district, teachers devoted time and energy to create their local assessments by subject and grade level. However, the local assessments were not producing the desired results that educators had envisioned. Part of the issue was that the Maine Department of Education could not design a standardized test that matched the assessments from the local level. Moreover, the local assessments were taking their toll on students’ instructional time. Extra testing time needed to be allocated for such tests. Teachers were also losing professional development time since workshop days were used to grade the essays created by students. The essays were graded collaboratively in order to avoid bias in assigning grades to the students’ essays. This practice was very time consuming. The teachers felt very satisfied because each grade given to each essay was the result of a team’s decision. However, these educational activities proved unproductive since students were evaluated differently by the standardized tests. == == 2. I feel, and this is entirely my opinion, that in the case of high school students who have proven to have the capacity to handle high-level courses, they should be encouraged to advance and take AP courses or college courses. I think that professionals design the courses, and there must be an educational board from the college, which ensures the quality of the courses’ content. I think, and again this is my opinion, that students who are capable of taking AP classes benefit in at least two ways. First, these are students who are overachievers, so they need educational challenges because otherwise, they would be stuck in classes where teachers must teach to the middle because of the wide range of students in the class. Second, I’m assuming that many of these students want to get into colleges of their choice, so proving to these colleges they can handle high level information is a way that AP students can achieve such goal. == == 3. I believe schools need to be held accountable. However, I also believe that accountability needs to start with students and their families. But then again, not every child is fortunate enough to have parents who read to them or have the capacity to help with their homework. The factors of why parents are not involved with their children’s education can be many. Sometimes, parents work very hard and by the time they get home, they only have enough energy to put the kids to bed. In these difficult economic times, such situations have probably increased, becoming yet another factor why children are doing poorly in school. In my opinion, I think that some form of standardized assessment needs to be created. However, the current forms of standardized testing do not factor in things such as not every child learns at the same pace or that the day of the test, not every student may want to try hard or a student might be sick. At Jay, we just recently had a very interesting workshop. Our school principal and one of the teachers showed us the results of the NWEA reading assessments. The results were very revealing. I have known these students since kindergarten, so it is very easy by now to know whether they are dedicated students with hard working attitudes or if they are behavior students who usually need lots of prompts so that they get to work. The interesting facts about the results were that the students who tend to excel academically also went beyond the expectations of the test. It was a group of three students out of twenty. Next, most of the students in the class fell into the “meets the standards” range, which I feel it is very encouraging because they are at the reading level where they should be. Finally, the students who usually do poorly on their class activities did poorly on the reading assessment. The school principal and teacher talked about how these results, which are reported digitally online, can be accessed by any teacher in the district, and analyze them to determine how to help students increase their reading level, or choose books for those students who are at a higher reading level. I feel this is a wonderful approach on how to use students’ assessments. They are used to aid educators in choosing books that may help students increase their reading level, or to help teachers select and assigned more interesting reading material for those students who are reading at higher reading level. However, what Moe and Chubb and many other people like them are proposing is a culture of punishment. Through the entire book, they talk about how the results of standardized testing should be used to keep “good teachers” and get of “the bad ones.” And here is where their logic is flawed because what helps students do well on standardized tests are not variables teachers can control. The teacher of this group that I described, cannot control that three students in the group already have the cognitive ability to read at a higher level or that they students who did poorly have behavior issues. I think what Moe and Chubb are describing about the American educational system and its current state is true, and changes are necessary in order to improve it. Poor teaching is a factor that may be causing the system’s failure. However, in my opinion, they are proposing to use the wrong measuring tool in order to determine teachers’ performance. What I think needs to happen, and this is my opinion, is that the Department of Education needs to develop an assessment tool that actually measures teachers’ performance. The usual assumption is that poor student performance equals poor teaching performance. The public is usually very quick to jump to this conclusion. When it comes to education and students, they frequently put all the responsibility on the teachers’ shoulders. Usually, they leave out many other factors that may affect students’ performance. Factors such as parents’ involvement, community involvement, students’ community environment or whether the content of what students learn in class is relevant to their environment, needs and reality, and teaching quality are only some of the variables that blend together to contribute positively or negatively to students’ success in the American classroom. ==

= Leading Change in Your School - Part 4 =



8. The school’s environment
==I think that both lists of items are intertwined, so I can influence students to achieve just as much as they can. As much as they can have the opportunity to express how they feel, I can aid them to be successful in their learning. I think it is important to be the facilitator in a classroom where students’ activities are geared to have them inquire in the learning and come to me for guidance.== ==2. Based on what I read in “Leading Change in Your School,” it seems to me that individual teachers or a small group of teachers carries out “practices”, and they are driven by the teacher’s energy and effort. On the other hand, programs are embraced by the whole school system. Every administrator and teacher has bought in to a leadership idea and usually has great consistency in the plan that is being carried out. One of the programs I have seen is the MLTI program and teachers’ practices in technology. On the one hand, I feel the teachers who are involved in the MLTI program are very clear in the goals they are trying to achieve. They have great administrative, technical and technological support to carry on in their program. On the other hand, individual teachers who are trying to integrate digital technology into their program are doing it by trial and error and with very little support.== ==3. I think in the case of one of the recent meetings I have attended, having the question “Does anyone have anything to add or subtract?” would have brought a fresh perspective for the people who had to endure the meeting. Rather than being told what the decisions are, it would have been different if we could have bee in a meeting where the professional opinion of teachers was heard.== ==4. In the case of the 9th grade students, they used students’ grades of D and the failure of tests, which had certain criterion, referenced for reading and math achievement at the 9th grade level. Students in 9th grade who take an algebra lab, a composition or reading course lose 9th grade elective courses. However, the rewards are that if they do this in 9th grade, they may not have to retake those classes as 10th or 11th graders, which may save them from losing a greater number of electives when they get to 10th and 11th grade.== ==5. I feel that people who make this type of claim are wired to believe that there should always be a culture of winners and losers. Their rationale is that seeing the failure of some students is actually desirable because it validates programs as being rigid and demanding, and that if every student makes it to the top of the grade, it is because teachers are inflating the grades. However, the Jenks case is an example of true teaching leadership where the administration and teaching staff advocate for the success of every member of the student body.==

=** Liberating Learning Part 4 **=

===1. In my opinion, the PA Cyber school has had an interesting series of events which has led to the creation of a revolutionary form of instruction. Their curriculum has been designed well in advance by a professional team of educational software designers who were dedicated to that very task. Teachers’ roles are very well defined. Online teachers may work as synchronous or asynchronous teachers. At the school, the staff has the role of being advisors who are responsible for monitoring student progress, making sure that students dedicate enough time to their course work and also for communicating with parents through e-mail or phone. It seems that in this particular case the role of the educators at the school site has been transformed to a role of counseling. So, in order to answer this question, I need to start by using the simile that says, “it is like putting a new patch on old clothes.” What I mean by this is that we are currently engaged in an educational system which uses about the same technological devices that were used forty or sixty years ago. Then the laptop initiative came. However, I think this is like putting the cart before the horse. The machines are there and they are loaded with a wide range of applications and sources. I think technology can increase my productivity tenfold by helping me create activities for students, do grades faster, give students updates of their progress more quickly and help communication with administration, parents and other teachers to happen faster. However, I feel that what has been done so far to mesh the current curriculum and technology is not enough. As far as I know, the MLTI initiative only includes the 7 th and 8 th grade, and activities are only designed for some of the core subjects. I feel that the decision of leaving all the other levels out may be at least one of the causes why “traditional” schools have not actively pursued integrating digital technology into their curriculums and make it an everyday occurrence, just like the old technology is today.===

===2. I think there are things about technology that are wonderful, such as being able to stay in touch with loved ones thousands of miles away or creating digital pictures or video clips the whole family may enjoy. However, as with any other human endeavors, there may be an upside and a downside. Technology can be wonderful when students produce amazing quality products and communicate working as teams throughout the process. On the flipside, there will always be students who will be disruptive and waste time by engaging themselves in unproductive activities. I do not think technology will make people or students communicate more, less, better or in unproductive ways. It is students who need to learn to make good choices with technology. Educators need to get trained on how to help students make good choices when using technology. Students already have technological access outside the school, at home and with friends. I think educators are losing the wonderful opportunity to engage students’ attention and we may be too slow to tap into this great source to get students motivated.===

===3. I think students’ achievement should be a factor to be taken into consideration in order to determine how effective teachers may be. However, it should not be the only factor that is analyzed when trying to determine how effective teachers may be. Accountability should also go to the students and parents. It is very difficult for me to comprehend why the marketing business model is the one that gets applied when trying to determine teachers’ effectiveness. It is like comparing apples to oranges. In the business world, you have raw material, you transform it into something and you sell your good commodities. I think anyone can guess where I’m going with the analogy. When you are in the business of working with people, the variables are astronomical. Determining how effective educators are can not be left to one single assessment measuring tool, especially when the measuring instrument was designed to determine students’ achievement. ===

= Liberating Learning Chapter 5 =

====1. No, I think this may be a factor that is holding back public education. For example, I have sat at many meetings where there has been talk about school funding and how they use the Essential Programs and Services formula or EPS. It seems to me that even when the formula was intended to solve the problem of distribution of school funding in an equal manner, the issue of unequal public school funding still remains to this day. Affluent school districts get more public school funding from the government because the formula takes property taxes into account. Therefore, such affluent areas will receive more money since their real estate has a higher value. In the case of poor areas, with lower real estate values, the EPS formula usually ends up providing less school funding. For this reason, I would assume that economically disadvantaged school districts will focus their financial resources toward providing only the most essential programs for their students, leaving less room for innovation. These school districts will probably be more conservative in the way they allocate their monies and will not risk spending on any new, untested programs such as digital technology integration curriculum. I think that the disparity in school funding really affects innovation, which will eventually affect the future opportunities for children who grew up in these less affluent areas.==== ====2. I believe that integrating technology into the existing curriculum is an effective way of utilizing technology. I’m going to explain my point of view by giving the definitions for “instruction” and “education,” and how I interpret such definitions. The American Heritage Dictionary defines instruction as “the act, practice, or profession of instruction. Something learned … A sequence of bits that tells a central processing unit to perform a particular operation. An authoritative direction, order.” Dictionary.com defines education as “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” So, I think that based on both definitions, instruction does not equate to education. We use both terms interchangeably. However, there are fundamental differences between them. Education encourages students to explore values helping them to become independent thinkers. On the other hand, instruction only gives individuals the content knowledge to perform skills. This is why I believe teachers need to continue integrating technology into the curriculum. Digital technology can be a wonderful aid to enrich and enhance students’ instruction. However, it can not give the education that comes from interaction with teachers and peers in the classroom.==== ===3. One of the reasons I like John Dewey’s educational philosophy is because of what he said about the educational movement that aimed to move from traditional teaching to progressive teaching. He discussed how important it is not to fall into the fallacy that new is good and old is bad. There are some things about the old pedagogical practices that are good and some things about new progressive practices that can be very beneficial for students. As educators and teacher-leaders, we need to figure out how to utilize beneficial practices to enhance our teaching. For example, Moe and Chubb describe how virtual schools can help students in reading or writing because the programs can figure out every individual student’s needs by adapting their exercises or practices based on the inputs they get from students. I feel this is a great way to apply technology to the curriculum. However, I do not think students’ education is only the result of interacting with practices and exercises. So, in order to answer question 3, I have to state that I believe that the future of education should be the product of what Moe and Chubb call "hybrid" schools. Places of learning where educators can provide richer curriculums for students through the implementation of a wide range of digital sources in order to enhance their instruction, and also places where students can obtain their education by interacting with teachers, peers and such digital technological sources.===

= EDU 572 Evaluation of a Technology Plan (Jay School Department) =

= EDU 572 Evaluation of a Technology Plan =

Introduction of Philosophy
===The fast pace at which digital technology is moving into our daily lives makes it very difficult to ignore. In the 90’s, PCs and Macs became household items and introduced us to the idea that computers did not need to live in gigantic spaces and that anyone could afford one. We also learned that computers could help us improve our communication. Computer networks were created giving birth to the worldwide web and our lives have not been the same since.=== ===A little more than twenty years later, the American school system is schooling children who are digital natives. They use digital technology at home where they engage in activities of social networking and entertainment through the use of video games and digital social network sites. So, it is easy to assume that digital technology will continue to be influential in our lives. The use of technology has become a necessary skill students need to have when they graduate from high school. Moreover, digital technology is a 21st century skill that is now demanded by businesses and employers who require their employees not only to operate computers, but also to think of novel solutions and applications for digital technology. I believe this to be one of the challenges for the American public school system in the 21st century.=== ===World languages have always made use of digital technology since the creation of CD-ROM programs, which can aid students in the learning of pronunciation through drill repetition exercises, and include images which have the capacity to be manipulated, making the language learning experience richer. Therefore, I believe that my personal teaching philosophy regarding leadership in technology is committed to giving students the educational opportunities to enrich their learning experiences by presenting them with projects where they can apply digital technology to solve problems by interacting with peers and thinking of solutions and carrying on with their plans by using technological tools and, at the same time, integrating World languages and other curricular disciplines. I believe these pedagogical practices will empower students to take ownership of their learning and help them to increase their awareness and understanding of the diversity of their global community so they can become better communicators and collaborators. For the high school graduate who will deal with global issues, this is valuable knowledge in our 21st century global economy. In order to be successful in implementing my philosophical vision, I would need more technical support from the IT department. I usually actively seek out their technical support, and it has made the development of the technology-integrated units easier to implement.===

Analysis of the Plan
===The technology planning infrastructures in the Jay School Department are defined and described in a chart, within the technology plan. However, it is difficult to determine what the information presented means. It has seven categories defined as Q, R, S, T, U, V and W. In the categories there is information such as Universal Design: Physical Access/Software, or Student per Instructional Computer. These terms and categories are not defined anywhere. Therefore, I conclude that this is a fledgling technology plan, which is very difficult to interpret.=== ===The Jay School Department’s technology committee is formed by IT teachers and “25% of its membership with the federal programs advisory board” (Jay School Department Three Year Technology Plan, p. 3). The committee interacts with stakeholders such as parents, students, school board members and teachers by using the district website. The document does not describe how they may interact with others regarding the curriculum, assessment or budgeting.=== ===The degree of leadership, input and involvement required by the Jay School Department technology plan from core members such as the superintendent, local school administrators, classroom teachers, parents and community members is determined to be low. The document only describes direct involvement from the technology coordinator. His leadership, input and involvement are high. The Jay School Department technology plan does not have a mission statement and objectives. The vision is stated. However, it needs clarification. It lacks clarity of beliefs and values.=== ===The administration, faculty, school board, parents and community members are briefly acknowledged at the beginning of the document, which expresses gratitude for their aid in crafting the document. However, it does not explain whether they are still involved or not with the improvement of the plan. I believe the task of continuing to improve the plan has been left to the technology coordinator and IT teachers who report their meeting to all other stakeholders. There is no indication that the Jay School Department is working on increasing community awareness regarding the need for and importance of technology to learners in the 21st century.=== ===The technology plan describes the school’s hardware, software, peripheral equipment and support/training needs in different sections of the document and it does so in a very brief manner. The technology plan describes an evaluation process to determine how the technology is used and the effectiveness of these tools and approaches. It states that data will be collected from the New England Common Assessment program, SAT Reasoning test scores, the Northwest Evaluation Association, student, staff and parent surveys, technology staff’s maintenance logs, web usage logs, focus groups, interviews and anecdotal records. However, there is no indication of how the collected data will be analyzed or interpreted or when and how these assessments will be administered. In summary, the plan is missing goals and indicators of achievement, integration into the curriculum data and the description of how such data will be analyzed.=== ===In addition, the technology plan document addresses multiple sources of funding by including a chart, which outlines the goals, activities, hardware and software, per year cost and funding sources. The funding comes from sources such as Local MLTI, Title IID, RLI, E-Rate (local), Title II and funds from other Federal programs and state and local sources that support technology acquisition and integration. However, the chart is difficult to interpret. Finally, The Jay School Department’s technology plan does not include a plan communication network.=== ===In conclusion, the jay School Department technology plan while espousing some good ideas in technology integration and implementation is still in its early stages of development. Unfortunately, it appears that the responsibility for continuing its development now rests solely with the technology coordinator and his department. As a first step in order to improve the technology plan, the Jay School Department should actively involve other stakeholders in the planning and evaluation process. They should also more clearly define the individuals responsible for each piece of the plan and all the responsibilities should not be on one individual. The team working on the plan needs to clearly define the technology plan’s mission statement and objectives. They should determine a clear timeline for implementation of the plan and clear goals for assessment. They should also develop a clear process for meeting the objectives established in the mission statement. In addition, the team needs to work on establishing an inventory of the school’s hardware, software, and peripheral equipment and define how such equipment will align with the implementation of the mission statement and objectives. The plan needs to clearly define how the technology program receives its funding and how to get stakeholders in the local community to financially contribute to it. A plan for the communication network needs to be established, including the responsibilities for each technology team member. Finally, the Jay School Department’s technology plan includes some of the elements required to be a fully developed plan, and it is a good start. However, it is obviously still in its early stages of the development process.===

= Leading Change in Your School-Final Questions =

1. For the 2009-2010 school budget, a proposal was made to have the 4th grade level in the Jay School District be moved into the middle school building. One of the arguments for doing this restructuring of the grade span was that moving the 4th graders into the middle school would be more cost effective, which would save money in the long run. There was a group of parents who did not want this move to take effect, however the budget (including this proposal) was put to a vote and it was passed. With regard to this matter, I think it is necessary to review that decision now that a year has passed. At this point, a team of stakeholders should be put together to gather data and analyze whether or not the 4th graders have adjusted to the changes of being part of the middle school life. For the coming school year, I think it would be hard to make an educated decision on whether the 4th graders should attend school at the elementary school building or if they should remain where they currently are. A proposal should be brought forth to the school board to empirically analyze whether students at the 4th grade level are adjusting well to being around a group of students who are undergoing different developmental, physical and social changes. Also, it would be important to see how they are environmentally and culturally affected by being in the same building with adolescents. I think that now that data can be gathered about having 4th graders at the middle school building, it is in the best interest of these students to find out if this was a wise district decision or if the school district needs to pursue other solutions for the benefit of all students in the district. 2. If my idea of analyzing the experience of the 4th graders at the middle school level does not have complete buy-in, I could make a proposal that I would submit for the superintendent to review and try to get approval for a team of teachers to gather data to be analyzed in order to resubmit a proposal to the school board. Perhaps, resubmitting the proposal with hard evidence to support it, it may have a stronger impact on the stakeholders, hopefully making them realize that it is in the interest of students’ educational quality. 3. If my idea of analyzing the 4th graders’ experiences of being housed at the middle school building does not get approved, students may be affected by not having hard evidence on how this restructuring affects their education and they may miss out on improvements that could have been made to their situation in the middle school building. Changes such as having an appropriate playground with equipment for their age level may never happen since they may not be empirical data showing the need for it, or how they are affected socially since they are the only group in the building that is separated from the rest of the school activities and culture. They are contained as their own group, which shows that there is a fundamental belief that they should not be housed in the middle school building because there are cognitive and developmental changes that their older, adolescent peers are going through that this younger group of students may be exposed to and may not be ready to experience due to the developmental gap between latency-aged children and adolescents.

= Liberating Learning: Chapter 6 =

===1. As I read the book, Liberating Learning, I found the first two chapters of this book very revealing; providing eye-opening information about the current state of the American school system. For example, the book describes how, as a developed nation and a key player in the global economy, the United States has sought to provide opportunities through education for its citizens and this has been a step in the right direction in order to keep the American economy successful and thriving. However, the data collected by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) from 1990-2007 shows a very troublesome and disturbing picture for the future of the American economy. The International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement or IEA has determined that the United States ranks at the average level in the international students’ assessments for math and science. Such achievement results raise a red flag for the United States in terms of economic growth. Studies conducted on developed nations with successful economies shows that there is a correlation between these nations’ high level of cognitive skills of their citizens and their economic success. In order to increase the achievement level of its citizens, the American school system has conducted different educational reforms in order to remedy the decline in students’ achievement in core curricular areas such as literacy, math and science. The book, Liberating Learning, proposes that the solution to alleviate the ailing American school system is “virtual” schools. The book describes that there is an exogenous change in American culture and education that has been brought about by technology, which would cause the educational system to be transformed from “brick and mortar” schools to “virtual” schools. However, the book goes on to explain that the reasons why such an educational quantum leap has not taken place yet is because of the politics of blocking orchestrated by the National Education Association or NEA. However, I find their reasoning to be contradictory. From chapters three to five, the books goes on to a consistent theme, explaining and describing how the teachers’ union blocks the exogenous transformation in education. Then in chapter six, the book talks about how, if the public in general (or taxpayers) desire it, this transformation to virtual schools will happen, even if the power that be relentlessly attempt to block it. This is where I find the contradiction in the book’s argument for the politics of blocking. Instead, how about analyzing the fact that the general public, taxpayers and stakeholders are not ready for the exogenous educational reform yet. At the higher education level, virtual education has only been gaining momentum in the past decade. College students are still reluctant to embrace online education and prefer face-to-face courses. Why should public education be any different? I can see how virtual education is a great opportunity for students at the high school who want to advance faster or who may want to take more challenging courses at the AP level. However, such students are self-motivated and cannot be a good predictor for the future of “virtual” education. So, I can see how the future of education in American classrooms may be transformed to having “hybrid” schools where students’ curriculums would be enriched by the amazing adaptability of computer software, so that it can be tailored to students’ particular needs.=== ===2. I think charter schools are a wonderful idea. However, in the strictest sense of what charter schools are, not all students may be cognitively or economically prepared to attend charter schools. Charter schools may be the answer for some students who are particularly gifted in a certain curricular discipline. However, what is a charter school to do if they admit students who are struggling in literacy? Would the charter school take steps to aid such students? My understanding of charter schools is that they aim to give an education to students who are already excelling. Such students feel that the model of the public school system may be hindering them from achieving their full potential. Therefore, this may be a great answer for them, but not for every student in the classroom.=== ===3. I cannot absolutely and irrefutably agree with such a claim. Technology may be part of the solution. However, to claim that technology is the “antidote” to today’s ailing public education system is not an axiom. To assume that every student will be engaged and performing the tasks required by an electronic device is assuming that students are inanimate objects who will passively receive any information given to them. I think that looking at education through the scope of the business model cannot be the entire answer to improving public education. It seems to me that leaving children’s education to computer monitors and believing that this is all they need to do in order to achieve the cognitive skills they need to be successful is believing what traditional teachers believed in the past. They thought that they held all the information concerning their curriculums. Instruction was like pouring knowledge into the minds of their pupils, vertically going from teachers to students. If the future of education were the model presented by Liberating Learning, education would follow a model that would assume that every child would want to sit passively and quietly waiting for the digital devices to be turned on and start to pour information (in the form of digital exercises). It would assume that the child’s attention would always be engaged because digital technology is exciting. Such a child’s motivation would always be there. The novelty of the electronic machine would never wear off. Such a child would always absorb all the information presented by the digital activities. Edutopia has a video where they show King Middle School in Portland. The school scored above the state average with 54% of its student body receiving reduced priced lunch. The school has been teaching using the methodology from Project-Based Learning. Teachers combine technology and their teaching to help students achieve high standards. Another characteristic that can be seen in the video clip is that everyone in the school has bought into this teaching approach. Students and teachers understand their goal. I think the buy-in from students is a key element of their success. Students are empowered and have taken ownership of their success. From the examples I have read about successful schools or successful approaches to teaching, this is the very quality I see as a common denominator of success that teacher leaders are able to convince all the stakeholders to buy-in to the approach that would guide them to achieve their goals.===

This is for my assignment EDU 572 Grant Prospectus.