To promote academic excellence the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology has set goals for Educator Preparation and Development. The first being that all educators graduate from a preparation program that models current technology in instruction but as the IT for my campus, I am not seeing the young teachers coming to us with a comfort level using technology let alone implementing into the classroom. Of course there are new teachers who are open and willing to try anything that is shown to them but then others shy away and stick same old boring classroom setting.
I also find that the Long-Range plan asks that all educators ensure integration of appropriate technology throughout all of curriculum and instruction. Our elementary teachers in the district are given “Scope and Sequence” tables for both Math and Science. They are told what to teach and when to teach it for the school year. I find that teachers are so stressed on teaching this material in the timeframe given that they are not open to finding ways to incorporate technology into the lesson. They leave that part to me – the computer teacher when I have their students in rotation. I am also frustrated at the fact that those “Scope and Sequence” tables have a box that is labeled “Technology Integration” and 99% of the time what is given to the teacher to “integrate” is watching a Discovery Streaming video.
One of my recommendations if for a technology specialist to go back into those “Scope and Sequence” layouts for both Math and Science and look at our district resources and actually incorporate technology integration that a teacher can use in the classroom Each elementary school campus has an IT that should be familiar with current resources and be able to guide a teacher.
