Debra Steenhard – Action Plan

Technology NeedsFrom my reference analysis and lessons learned in my Week 3 report, a clear focus of staff development needs emerged. Many teachers are already effectively using technology in my building, but we are not a community that shares ideas. The lack of sharing isn’t out of spite but rather due to a lack of time. Teachers who have ready to use templates to use with technology should be sharing with their peers. Another major need was to make technology accessible to all. Our labs and laptop carts are rarely left unused for even a day. That means we’re using our equipment, but is everyone using it? From that observation, a goal for professional development would be to increase the use of technology for those teachers who are not up to speed with their counterparts. Ultimately, planning time is necessary for technology integration. It does not matter how much information we share with the teachers if they never have process time to add it to their curriculum.

These observations align with the district technology goals, the state technology assessment tool for campuses, and also to Goodson’s CIP. The district goals are to “provide students with a variety of opportunities to utilize technology” and also to “provide professional development that addresses…integration of Technology Applications” (CFISD, 2009.) These observations are also aligned with the Texas STaR Chart needs as noted by our staff. The area with the most need was Key Area II: Educator Preparation and Development. The last place I noted alignment was with our school’s Campus Improvement Plan, as the core content areas have a technology integration strategy as a focus, mainly to increase student engagement.

Gathering Technology Use DataCurrently there is no definitive way to see technology usage in my building. There are three main ways to gather data in my Action plan.

1) The Director of Instruction will add an expectation to the submission of lesson plans. Each content area grade level team will submit a weekly calendar that shows technology use. It will note what type of equipment is used as well as the programs and software that are used. The SBDM Team will meet to discuss if there is a minimum expectation for times technology is used each week. The team leaders will know this expectation and ensure team members meet that goal.

2) The SBDM team will monitor the sign up calendars found on the staff drive. There are signup sheets for the computer labs, the laptops, the airliners, the Smartboards, and various other equipment. These signup sheets could serve as a great resource to see which teachers / teams are mostly using technology on a consistent basis. One could also cross reference the calendar submitted with lesson plans to this to find any incongruencies.

3) Lastly, the administrative team will make an effort to do PDAS walk throughs and MegaMonitoring observations when teachers are using technology. This would give the administrative team an excellent idea of the teachers who are effectively using a variety of technological strategies. Knowing who your strongest and weakest teachers are will help for differentiated staff development later.

Analyzing and Using Technology Use DataAll of the data collected by the Administrative Team and /or the SBDM Team will be shared with the Team Leaders and Department Chairpersons in a meeting focused on analyzing the frequency and effectiveness of use. The Team Leaders and Department Chairpersons can discuss the most appropriate way for their individual teams to analyze the same data and see if their conclusions match those of the A-Team. A focus will also be on the percentage of times teachers are using technology in their classrooms, and the SBDM Team will determine if the expectation is met.

My current district administers tests each six weeks over major TEKS. These tests are called Secondary Formative Assessments (SFA.) The Academic Achievement Coordinator on each campus has the ability to pull the passing percentage of the students of individual teachers. One analysis would

be to compare for each individual teacher the percentage of technology use with the percentage of students passing for each SFA. Correlations should prove that engaging students with technology will improve learning.

Teachers will document in their PDAS folder the use of technology compared to SFA passing percentage. This information will be used by the primary appraiser to get an idea of the department goals regarding technology implementation for the following year.

Professional Development NeedsThere are five main needs in this area:

1) Teaming will be essential. Content area teams will rely on the teachers who have high technology usage to share their ideas. The current expectation is that teams will meet three times a week for planning. One half hour block of time will be devoted to teams sharing ideas of how to successfully implement technology. Teams will be encouraged to invite a member of the SBDM Team to be present during this technology focus time.

2) The Administrative Team needs to model appropriate technology use. Some ideas would be to present information in a WikiSpace or use a SmartBoard or Airliner during a meeting.

3) Faculty meetings every other week will highlight teachers who were seen by the Administrative Team during walk throughs. These teachers will model how technology was used in the classroom, and if a template is available for the application, it will be added to a folder on the staff drive titled Technology Integration.

4) District technology coaches will be invited out during team planning time to help with technology integration. The invitation should be extended once every six weeks’ grading period. Evidence of the meeting should be noted in the lesson plans.

5) Teachers will be given a list of technology classes offered in the district. Each teacher will be required to attend one technology class on the list. The teacher can use those professional development hours toward a Time Equivalency Day. Teachers are responsible for sharing what they learned during team planning time and offering suggestions for how to apply the learning to their content area. Again, proof of application should be noted in the lesson plans. This will be noted for the teacher through PDAS.

Evaluation of Professional Development to Improve Integration of TechnologyThe evaluation of these professional development suggestions will fall into two categories, formal and informal. The formal evaluation will be noted on teacher appraisals through PDAS. Teachers will be evaluated on whether they attended a district technology class and will be asked how that learning was implemented and improved their teaching.

District technology coaches will also be asked to formally evaluate the progress of the teams. These forms will be created by the district coaches so major goals in each content can be the focus, rather than have general forms that are not content specific. These forms will note both use of equipment and also programs or software.

When administration models the use of technology, teams will be asked to evaluate how that particular application could be applied to their classroom. These correlations will be shared with the administrative team so they know if their modeling is effective or needs improvement.

At the faculty meetings, teachers will be asked to complete simple surveys that would ask if they have used the type of technology modeled, if they need more information about it, and whether they feel it could be successful integrated into their classrooms.