TECHNOLOGY TEACHER STANDARDS - MY EXAMPLES

While the Standards for Teachers and Students give us, a broad overview for how to help students learn technology, it is very vague until you see how it relates to actual work done. Since I have just started on my graduate program in Educational Technology, most of my learning when it comes to technology, has come from actual on the job training. I have started by providing two examples below, but I hope to grow this to more examples in the future.

Example #1 - My Work as Technology Director at La Pietra - Hawaii School for Girls

In 2001, I was hired as the Assistant Technology Director at La Pietra. In 2002, I was promoted to the Director of Technology for the school. In that role, I was in charge of everything related to the school's technology for teachers as well as students. Here are just some of my responsibilities/ accomplishments during that time:

Responsibilities: Running and maintaining the network Troubleshooting computers Training teachers on computers and helping them to integrate technology into their classrooms Designing and managing the technology curriculum for the school Running and managing the Technology Department as Department Head Teaching computer classes to Middle School and Upper School Students

Accomplishments: Co-wrote an EE Ford Grant and was awarded $50k for a new MultiSensory Laboratory, which I implemented in 2003. In writing this grant I was responsible for the "meat" of the grant, this included: coming up with the concept for the MultiSensory Laboratory including the design/layout of the room, researching all the latest equipment to determine the best solutions for the school, creating information on how the grant would change and enhance our core technology and school curriculum. Awarded as one of the Top 50 High Tech Leaders in the State of Hawaii for 2003 Designed and implemented a Diploma with an Emphasis in Technology Program for the school. This program gives students that meet the requirements an extra certification that they can use to help them get into Computer Science, Technology or Digital Design colleges. Mentored students to HiTechQuest (2003 and 2004), one student won 1st place in the Multimedia/Internet category in 2003 and one student won 3rd place in the same category in 2004 Helped the Mathematics Department to integrate computers into their program through the use of Microsoft Excel, Geometer's Sketchpad and other applications Upgraded school technology systems

With a background in computers, I was able to achieve a lot for the school. My learning came from contacting other technology teachers for advice, seeking help from Apple's support system and just general book and instructional readings.

Standards Addressed - (1) Technology Operations and Concepts, (2) Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences, (6) Social, Ethical, Legal and Human Issues.

When writing the grant, I had to come up with the concept for the MultiSensory Laboratory and what it would do for students. Feel free to look at my concept for ideas for your own future work. I would like to allow everyone to look at my entire grant, but this is confidential, so I must limit it here to just part of the design.

 

Example #2 - Technology Curriculum Creation and Design

When I first arrived at La Pietra, there were required Technology classes for all middle school students and there was only three elective Upper School Technology Classes. One of my main goals by taking over as Director, was to ensure that we could validate our technology program and really understand what the objectives were for each technology class and how this would change the way students use technology in their other core classes at the school and even after they left and went onto college.

My first step was to look at the Middle School Program and work on a kind of scope and sequence as to how students learn different concepts through introduction, learning and finally applying the concept. I talked to students and teachers to see if the learning was appropriate and that what was being taught was actually understood by the students and applied. This led to some changes in the Middle School Technology Curriculum to focus on skills and ensure they were being practiced even after students go onto high school.

The second step was to go after a grant, which we got, that allowed us to expand our Upper School Technology curriculum and offer a lot more courses for the students. Due to teacher and lab constraints, we had to limit the upper school classes to six per year and then rotate the classes on a 2 year cycle. I was in charge of trying to determine the classes we would give into the future and helped in arranging the teaching schedule for the technology teachers.

The third step was to look at what was being taught and how we could integrate some of the standard applications into the core classes. The Sixth Grade core classes focused on researching the Internet and how to create a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. In Seventh Grade, the English class focused on how to use Microsoft Word to design quality papers and other reports. In Eighth Grade, Microsoft Excel was integrated in the Math classes to help students to understand how to use spreadsheets to interpret and compute data. By moving the core business skills into the core classes, we relieved the time from the Middle School Technology classes to focus on multimedia, design and web development.

This was a very challenging task and I learned a lot from the experience. It really helped me to understand how to create a technology curriculum and to integrate it into a school system.

Standards Addressed - (3) Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum

You can download a copy of the technology paths I created here. These have since been updated, but this gives you an idea of what I was working on.