Blog #3 Week 2

The Draft Plan include these five goals:

(Source: http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf, 2010)

1.     Learning: All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.

2.     Assessment: Our education system at all levels will leverage the power of technology to measure what matters and use assessment data for continuous improvement.

3.     Teaching: Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners.

4.     Infrastructure: All students and educators will have access to a comprehensive infrastructure for learning when and where they need it.

5.     Productivity: Our education system at all levels will redesign processes and structures to take advantage of the power of technology to improve learning outcomes while making more efficient use of time, money, and staff.

This biggest concern I have with this plan is the global effect of change that does not account for the individual responses of teachers who may not want to change or budget restrictions of those who simply cannot change. As small districts with low income residents try to move into the global economy and technology many households may not be engaged in the same manner. I work in a small district with very few parent resources. I just came from a district in the Dallas area to South Texas and am very surprised at how computer illiterate many of our students are. We are also in an area where the median household income is only about $22,000. There are not a lot of luxuries outside necessities in these homes.

These areas may make it difficult to cultivate a learning environment of teachers that are technologically savvy, ready to implement technology learning strategies, or are willing to take the time to bring the students up to par with their skills so it can be implemented into the lessons. This takes precious time, sometimes days, from the limited time allotted for rigorous curriculum. This can be very hard for many teachers to do.

Personally, as a first year, secondary teacher, I am very committed to using Layered Curriculum to employ rigor, productivity, and choices to my students. You may see what I am referring to at http://www.help4teachers.com/. My first two weeks in the classroom went remarkably well as far as the students tending to what needed to be done. I will grade their unit test and assignments this week to measure where adjustments needs to be but they were able to complete 16 activities in 10 days including a webquest on the history of Biology and scientists who made contributions, an online survey with www.MyFootprint.org and a journal writing about what they learned, a power point presentation (student made) on lab safety and an online lab equipment quiz at http://www.quia.com/quiz/386664.html.