The purpose of providing effective and meaningful staff development is to have teachers utilize technology in their classrooms. Technology trainings must embrace teachers' technological needs and provide them with opportunities to effectively integrate technology in the classroom. The article emphasizes school administrators play a vital role in providing teachers opportunities for professional development. The author points out, school administrators should provide incentives; provide opportunities to attend trainings; encourage teachers to utilize technology in the classroom; provide ample time for teachers to learn and experiment with new technology; and provide continuous support as needed.
Esther, This was a very interesting article. I agree with Ms. Starr whole-heartedly. In my opinion, her statement about modeling was the most important of all. I really believe that "actions speak louder than words". If an administrator is expecting his/her staff to integrate technology into their lessons, then he/she should be integrating technology into every say life. The teachers would be more optimistic about it too! I think that as we all become MTTs, we need to work with our administrators to ensure all teachers become more "tech savvy" so that true integration can be the norm.
Great article! I have been saying the same thing to anyone who listens. Being part of the MTT program I see the importance of integrating technology in our classrooms. I feel that Donna ISD provides the technology for emails, grades, lesson plans, parent communication, and staff development. But, I have to agree with Ms. Starr that the principal needs to model the usage of technology. At my campus there is no emphasis on technology. I asked my principle before the winter break if I could share some of what I learned through the MTT program and she said yes, but up until today she hasn't asked me when I would like to share what I learned. I am hoping with two MTT's at our campus technology will be emphasized a little more.
I completely agree with the article and know the importance of the roles that Administration plays on our campus. It also reminded me of the STaR Chart Survey, if Administrators were fully engaged and followed through (even after), it would be a more reliable source to use. I think of teachers in the classroom, we MODEL! MODEL! MODEL in everything we do, to show our students the appropriate way or what is expected, same thing with administrators - It starts at the top!
I agree with the article and just this past week I sent an email to one of our administrators at central office explaining that I wanted to integrate technology by using Glogster and having the students create a Glogster about the American Constitution. I did all the planning rubrics and when we were starting the terminals were very slow, they were missing plugins, and it felt like I was just wasting time and energy. After I sent the email I received a carbon copy email where the administrator was asking technology department to help fix our problem. I am trying to "Model! Model! Model!" but if the technology is not working and I feel that I'm wasting too much time then how am I to inspire the rest of my campus to integrate technology?
There is a saying "We are only as good as our Leaders" and I find this true. Adminstrative serve as our leaders at our campus and they have to model using technology and supporting those teachers that follow. I was reading Pedro's response and that also happened to me. I had planned a technology lesson for all of third grade to follow when we went to lab and everything fell apart. The technology was not available and there were several technology issues. I was fustrated. I feel better now and feel like our campus is going in a positive direction with our new principal coming aboard.
Esther, this is a great article to show to our administrators how important it is for them to support us teachers in the integration of technology by making us do everything on line, like the article says that Principals should push teachers to become technology savvy by simply submitting lesson plans on line, receive emails, create our classweb page. Our district has done a great by providing us with the opportunity to attend conferences and participate in programs such as the MTT Program so that we can help our district integrate technology in our classrooms.
What a useful article Esther, thank you for sharing it. It is so important for administrators to set an example for students and teachers by using technology themselves in abundance. By their example, enthusiasm, and encouragement teachers will emulate that positive energy in the classroom. Linda Starr mentions in her article that teachers should create their own classroom pages. One way to get that goal spearheaded is to start a page for each department on campus, that will give everyone the opportunity to learn or help others with creating the department page. After each teacher has participated in some way with the department page, they can link their own classroom page, seeking help from team members, and MTT's as needed.
Esther, I agree with the article, because administrators are suppose to be our instructional leaders. It is important for administrators to encourage and support the usage of technology integration in classroom instruction. They also need to provide rotation opportunities for teachers to attend technology conferences and to encourage teachers to participate in the MTT program so that teachers will be more informed on the Technology Applications Standards I-V for integration.
Ester you are right! Teachers should integrate technology all the time in there class! I also agree with Delia teachers should have rotations so that all teachers can attend technology conferences. Sometimes its always the same teachers that attend. Now how do we expect all teachers to use technology on a daily basis if this is happening. Technology can be very useful to all teachers!
While I agree with all that is said about an administrator's role in technology integration, I think the one that I agree with the most is allow teachers time to experiment and learn about new technology that they can use in the classroom. Teachers are given a lot to do as is, so it is understandable how technology in the classroom gets forgotten, but administration needs to help teachers with this by reminding about the importance with proper professional development. I cannot even think of one technology professional development that my school has really prompted and enforced. Administration also has to realize that they need to be models of technology use also. In an article I recently read titled, "The Administrator's Role in Technology Integration," by Linda Starr, Starr discusses that although teachers do play a huge role in technology integration in the classroom, just like our students need to see the modeling of the technology by the teacher to get its importance and use, so do teachers by administration. Sources:
Starr, Linda. (2009). The administrator's role in technology integration. Retrieved on February 28, 2011 from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech087.shtml.
This was a very interesting article. I agree with Ms. Starr whole-heartedly. In my opinion, her statement about modeling was the most important of all. I really believe that "actions speak louder than words". If an administrator is expecting his/her staff to integrate technology into their lessons, then he/she should be integrating technology into every say life. The teachers would be more optimistic about it too! I think that as we all become MTTs, we need to work with our administrators to ensure all teachers become more "tech savvy" so that true integration can be the norm.
I agree with the article, because administrators are suppose to be our instructional leaders. It is important for administrators to encourage and support the usage of technology integration in classroom instruction. They also need to provide rotation opportunities for teachers to attend technology conferences and to encourage teachers to participate in the MTT program so that teachers will be more informed on the Technology Applications Standards I-V for integration.
Sources:
Starr, L. (2009). The administrator's role in technology integration. Education World, Retrieved from http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech087.shtml
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