Educator Preparation and Development
All the areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology are important and together create, when reaching the targeted area, an optimal situation for technology learning and skill development in the school. The area that is very important to me as a veteran teacher, not well trained in technology, is Educator Preparation and Development. No matter how much technology is provided by the school district if the teachers in the classroom are not prepared to use this new technology the student experience will be hampered if not eliminated. To provide the 21st Century education to the classroom student the classroom educators must be afforded the opportunities to develop their skills through professional development. And administrators must realize that this professional development will be an ongoing process in order to keep educators up to date with the ever improving technology tools and skills. This new technology will impact not only the curriculum but the avenues in which teachers will present information and the way students will retrieve knowledge, and without proper training opportunities for student learning will suffer.
Current trends seem to indicate that more resources are being spent on technology in schools not only locally but across the state. At my school we have just finished our netbook rollout to all students. Now that every student in the district has this technology it will fall to the teachers to initiate lessons that will continually enhance the student’s technology skills. Administrators must focus teacher in-service on technology skills, to provide teachers the opportunities to learn how to incorporate this new technology into everyday learning.
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