Technology+Facilitator+Standard+V

= Standard V Reflection  =  Using technology for professional development, evaluating and reflecting on the uses for student learning, increasing productivity, and communicating with students and parents are the important points of Standard V (Williamson, & Redish, 2009). Each and every day, technology helps to make me a more productive facilitator and if used properly can make every one more productive. My district invests substantial amount of money on predesigned productivity tools, such as a Gradebook and Attendance package, and a Lesson Planning and Curriculum package. After reading the book, Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards I see how buying these packages reduces the learning curve but can “put the technology facilitators in the chauffeur role with their colleagues” (Williamson, & Redish, 2009 p.104). I know how all of the technology products work but the teachers just plug in information and hope it works. This fact was demonstrated when I had to train teachers how to use the new GradeBook system but I do not even have access to it. I am sure that it would have been more productive to have trainers who actually use the product do the training. The chapter on Standard V describes my job as an Instructional Facilitator. I spend the majority of my day designing or delivering technology professional development classes, or answering teacher emails about our existing technology products. A number of my email are the quick “how do I do this…”. I often feel that I have become an enabler, in my classroom I would have told the students to find the answer by going to help or Google searching the question, but I would never think of replying to a teacher like that. I wonder if the number of those emails would be reduced if the teachers had access to a podcast or a FAQ wiki. In all of the courses where products were produced we used Standard V. When we created the public service announcement we model effective use of flip cameras, Google Docs and Movie Maker. Our Lamar group was able to collaborate across distances to organize the shoot, upload video and then create the movie. I have created several online courses that cover Computer Basics, Network Basics and some Basic Troubleshooting. In addition, I have created podcasts for our students explaining how their netbooks work and how to access programs on their netbooks. I set up a Skype call between an eighth grade ELA teacher and a Holocaust expert in Canada. The students learned so much more because it was an outside expert with first-hand knowledge. Reading about this standard only strengthened my beliefs that if schools are to reach the needs of our digital-age learners, the school culture must change. Teachers must be expected to have the same level of technology proficiency that we expect from our eighth graders. Again, I am lucky that my district embraces the DeFours professional learning community model. I have observed that as the members of the group collaborate on the lesson planning process, they are always sharing their technical knowledge. Technology, through the Internet, provides a way to encounter best practices from other cities, states and even countries. I struggle how to convince a teacher that it is not necessary to print every one of her emails Accessing blogs that may help me convince the “digital immigrants” that this is the way of the future and eventually technology will make them work smarter (Prensky, 2001). We have come so far, but have “miles to go before I sleep” (Frost, 1923).

** References ** Frost R 1923 Stopping by woods on a snowy evening. Frost, R. (1923). Stopping by woods on a snowy evening.

Prensky, M. (Sept./Oct. 2001). Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1. //On the Horizon, 9(5)//, 1-6 Williamson, J., & Redish, T. (2009). //Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards What Every K-12 Leader Should Know and Be Able to Do//, Eugene, Oregon: International Society for Technology in Education.

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