Week 2 Assignment, Part 2: Using a Blog

Teaching and Learning
Teachers must be better prepared and trained in technology so that they may educate their students on the use of technology. They need to complete technology courses before becoming a teacher, participate in ongoing staff development and keep up with new trends in technology. Progress is being made in both state and local preparation. in 2006-2007, 73.6% of schools were Developing Tech in Teaching and Learning. The next year, 69.7% were developing Tech and the remaining 3.9% and an additional 1.5% advanced to Advanced Tech. Over the course of one year, 5.4% of schools rated as Early Tech decreased to 3.9% in 2007-2008. Within my own school, we have fluctuated between 14 (Developing 06-07), 15 (Advanced, 07-08) and back to 14 (Developing 08-09). I do expect to see an increase in scores again both locally and state wide. The trends that are showing is simply an increase and advancement through the stages across the state. My school personally did not show any particular trends in the Teaching and Learning category, but I expect to be back on track next STaR chart. Some recommendations I have would be to better explain the STaR chart to teachers, warn them of how it is serious and how they should take time to read each question and then increase staff developments and trainings on how to use the technology we have. Once we have mastered the technology that is available, we will then need to branch out and adopt new technology for our school.