EDLD 5352 Week 2 Post #1 Reflection

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2010: Teaching and Learning; Educator Preparation and Development; Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support; or Infrastructure for Technology provides the backbone for improvement of technology in today's classrooms. The Texas school system must keep pace with our ever changing world and our ever changing students who are more connected with technology them we as students and young people ever where. This plan provides for the development of the STaR Chart which I have fill out every year for the the last 8 years as an educator and I never realized the importance until attending Lamar's program. We must forge ahead become leaders in the classroom with technology an our students and prepare them for a world that will expect them to have these skills as well as understand the morals behind their usage. I find a lot of the fault does not rest on the district, with the exception of some districts that have not be able to upgrade since the 1970s in the fields of technology due to low funding and community support, but with the educational leaders and educators within the building. Most staff development in the field of technology is poorly done. Little preparation with presentations designed to discourage use of new ideas. Teachers are thrown technology with no ways to appropriately incorporate it into the classroom routine and predictably they choose to ignore its very existence. Teachers cling to their old routines and ignore the new ways of accomplishing the objectives further isolating the students who need the new skills in order to be competitive in a new job market requiring the latest technology. Schools can no longer afford to be dinosaurs and technology cannot be the white elephant in the room.