Educator Preparation and Development for Technology

When I was looking at the STaR Chart Analysis Report for the state I figured that we would align pretty close to it, which we did. For all areas the states majority is either developing or advanced tech. On my campus the majority is in advance, however in Infrastructure for Technology we went down to developing and are now back into advanced. The area that personally feel is the one area that we need to concentrate on above the rest is the educator preparation and development. I personally feel that once this component is built up it will make it easier for the others to fall into place. Right now at the state level for educator preparation and development is still developing, which is also the area that I am in, and right above that is the area that my school is in. Most of the technology that we use is simply for email, attendance, and basic presentations/movies for lessons. My school is considered to be in the advanced section which means that they are integrating technology into teaching. I believe that we are at the beginning stages for this. For some reason on our campus it is hard get a hold of technology to use in the classroom and there are only two computer labs available during the day for all class so the reservation list for them is usually pretty full by the beginning of the year. Integrating technology into the classroom has become a little bit easier since people have become more aware of the ability to share lessons so that you do not have to make them all on your own. I use the smart board a lot in my classroom and before I even begin creating my own lesson I look out on the internet to see if there is one already available that I can use or at least modify to use. I believe that the reason that the state is not doing much beyond emails is because of lack of training and we are not being pushed enough. Sometimes people have to be pushed out of their comfort zones so that they are able to become more successful. I believe with adding in trainings, perhaps at the beginning of the year and also when we have staff developments, will allow the teachers to gradually develop an understanding of how to use technology and what is out there for them to use. Perhaps after being forces to learn technology they will develop and appreciation for it so it can become a useful helpful tool in the classroom. It will also allow for differentiating instruction. In order for the kids to use it teachers have to be comfortable using it which will allow for more technology to be brought into the classes.