Standard+V

Week 3 Assignment, Part 3.5: Reflections on Technology Facilitator Standard V

After reading chapter five and reflecting on the information, it brought to mind the following proverb, “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” I see the Facilitator and Leader as the links to creating a technology enriched-environment, “…laced with [a] project-based curriculum for life aimed at engaging students in addressing real-world problems, issues important to humanity, and questions that matter” (21st Century Schools, 2010). According to Williamson & McTighe (Williamson, 2009), Facilitators and Leaders need to be strong leaders in promoting and implementing technology skills and professional learning communities. When there is a dis- connect in communication and/or vision, there is no support for teachers and students.
 * Self –Assessment **

I have experienced this disconnect on my campus. Six years ago our new superintendent had the vision to bring in a Technology Director that brought our small sleepy district into the 21st century with technology. He created Technology Facilitators on each campus whose sole responsibility was to support teachers, administration, and staff in technology skills building and implementation of technology into our curriculum. The first two years went smoothly in fact our campus was the first to complete Proficiency One. In the third year, our Facilitator decided to return for her Masters in Administration. She no longer held weekly training sessions nor was she available for technology support. When approached for help or training, she would question why we didn’t know the information. According to her, she had already trained us and now we had to use the handouts. Needless to say, we should’ve had someone that was a bit more accommodating and focused on her duties.

I learned from watching our former Facilitator what not to do, such as intimidate your stakeholders. As it is, teachers, administrators, and employees are very apprehensive about using and implementing technology and being ridiculed would only impede technology. For a campus and/or district to be immersed in technology, Facilitators and Leaders must provide a conducive and safe environment to enhance technology.

My strategy and approach I took was to empathize with my teachers and not criticize or be judgmental. My job is to motivate, encourage and inspire my teachers to creatively implement technology in their curriculum and classroom. In my endeavor to complete my field-based activities, I discovered a majority of my teachers lacked technology skills. This was quite evident when I completed a survey of skills through my Instructional Design course. In assessing my performance I would provide evaluations after every training session. For me to grow as a Professional, I must be able to accept constructive criticism.
 * Learn as a Learner **

Our Principal and Academic Coach have been asking that all teachers update their websites. During grade-level meetings, our Academic Coach discovered that teachers can’t remember how to up-date their websites. I know that I will have to work harder in empowering my teachers. I have a tendency to take over and show them instead of allowing them to discover as they learn. I haven’t learned the ‘hands-off’ rule, the rule about the facilitators not touching the mouse or keyboard (Burns, 2002). My fifth grade team and fourth grade team are co-dependent and that will be my challenge to build self-esteem.

My Academic Coach and Principal have asked if I would provide an after-school training session. They are quite aware of my workload and class load that they hesitate to ask for training. I explained to them, that it is a requirement of the Master’s Program to work in field based activities to improve my professional practice. On Thursday, December 9th, I will facilitate a workshop on Maintaining Web Site and the following Thursday, December 16th. a workshop on Revilla’s Favorite Things.

I have created links on my website for students to practice content material and forms for parental access (TF-V.D.3). Last year my colleague had a child who could not read, I provided training on ‘speech to text’ offered through Microsoft Word. I have been exploring and working with Natural Reader to help my student and to provide training for faculty on campus! Last month I participated in professional development of training on Clickers in the Classroom and will participate in future training: Tech Leader Classroom Practices and Study Island Activities TF-V.A.1). I assisted my fourth grade team and fifth grade team in obtaining accounts with Safari Montague and KLRN: United Streaming and provided websites for science content (TF-V.C.1.2).

I have discovered that I am a learner that need hands-on, auditory, and visual support in understanding new concepts. Like many of my students I am ADD (attention deficit) and need repetition for comprehension. Skills are important, but I hope to train my teachers to start thinking in terms of how the technology can be utilized in the classroom. My workshop in Excel, for example, would encompass skills training and modeling ways Excel could be utilized in math for teaching the different types of graphs, in science for graphing data results and for the educator to format benchmark data. I would provide on-going training in the form of mentoring, modeling, classroom observations, etc.
 * Lifelong Learning Skills **

The challenge I see and am experiencing is lack of financial support. The poor economy and recent cutbacks provides little money for aging hardware. I would like to research, our software purchases has made an impact on our students and teachers in the last three years. In other words I would like to measure the return on our investment in our software purchases.

**﻿ Reference ** 21st Century Schools, I. (2010). "School", "Teacher", "Learner" and "Curriculum" for the 21st Century. In 21st Century <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Schools. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Burns, M. (2002, December). From compliance to commitment: Technology as a catalyst for communities of learning. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Phi Delta Kappan, 84(4), pp. 295-303.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Mishra, &. K. (2001). Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Williamson, J. a. (2009). Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leader <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Should Know and Be Able to Do. Eigeme. OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">[|**http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_chain_is_only_as_strong_as_its_weakest_link**]