Lamar Discussion Board 2
1. In what ways can an organization match objectives to the appropriate digital resources? What can digital resources add to this process? How can we ensure the learning objectives are met?
At Klein ISD it’s our job as a district to meet and exceed the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills Standards. This starts by creating objectives then using all available digital resources to meet that goal because our district motto is “Future Ready.”
Our district’s technology objective is to increase student and staff productivity across our 44 campuses. We have spent $51.6 million with the majority going toward infrastructure. The technology expenditure per pupil is an eye-popping $1,000 dollars. With this money comes an expectation of using these funds for good. That good can be defined as meeting objectives set by the school, district, or state.
According to our District Strategic Plan 2014-2018, our district goals and our technology goals are aligned.
District Strategic Plan 2014-18 (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.kleinisd.net/users/0087/APR12-13/IP/District%20Strat%20Plan%202014-18%204.3.14.pdf
My favorite line from our Technology Plan is this “we see every education program as a technology opportunity.” It goes on to say that planning and evaluation is included in every technology plan. Our teacher to computer ratio is 1:1 and our student ratio is 3:1 with 1:1 being our goal. We have four main goals outlined in the report and then we set up objectives and strategies to meet those goals.
Digital resources add tremendous opportunity for “failing forward.” If a teacher is trying to facilitate learning and she uses iPads but the student loses attention, then a teacher tried and failed but learned going forward this student has attention issues that need to be addressed. Then the teacher could have an opportunity to use the digital resources to try and fix the problem by buying headphones to block distractions.
One big way our school district ensures learning objectives are met is our MAP program from NWEA. MAP stands for Measures of Academic Progress and this software creates a personalized assessment by adapting to each student. Tests can be taken with laptops or personal devices. Results can be shared across the campus or across the district as an early indicator if student learning and objectives are being met.
Martinez, M. (2015, April 3). 2014 Technology Plan Approval Certificate. Retrieved fromhttps://www.kleinisd.net/users/0001/docs/it.TechPlan.pdf
2. Give an overview of the learning network joined. Give 2 reasons why this learning network could potentially be relevant to your place of work and professional life. Share what you are consuming and contributing to this learning network.
Since 2009 I’ve been a member of TATOA and its National chapter NATOA. This stands for Texas Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors. This is a group that educates and trains members to more efficiently serve local governments and the public. I’m also a part of their Facebook group which includes a more select membership of people who share their knowledge and experiences.
Going by the Edweek.org article I successfully achieved all three steps for building my own Professional Learning Network. In 2009 I was a know-it-all video producer for the City of Missouri City, TX. I did know that I wanted to expand my knowledge so I got a local library card and met other professionals that did the same job I did.
This learning network is relevant to my work and personal life because we meet at our yearly conference about video production and how it impacts Texas cities. I’ve lived my entire life in Texas and have done video production since I graduated college in 2003. I’ve even won awards from this organization for my video production skills. The best part about submitting my work for an award is even if I don’t win they still provide the judge’s notes so I can review what I could do better the next time.
The second reason this learning network is relevant to my work and professional life is that we regularly chat. Having a few Facebook posts to look at pushes my thinking. One example is the use of the helicopter drones to get video. I was unsure about the potential impact it could have until other members of our group would buy a drone and post reviews about their ease of use and ability to get interesting video footage.
We were able to narrow our group to about 20 of us that produced videos for city governments across Texas. We communicated through email and phone calls to encourage one another and highlight our best work.
Right now I’m consuming a lot of my knowledge through this educational course and the magazine HD Video Pro. When I learning something powerful or simple I can immediately share it through my phone or work computer to my TATOA Facebook group. What’s great about today’s digital age is not only are we able to create digital projects but we’re able to learn digitally too. Luckily since I’m on Facebook a lot anyways, their posts popup at the top of my news feed. My colleagues and I post a lot of job relevant news articles about our business. This keeps me current because after I have read what they post, then I’ll click on the website’s banner and see what other articles are posted.
EVIDENCE OF LEARNING
Lesson Title - Energy Transfer Through Food Chains
1st Grade Science TEK 1.9c.
Texas Essential Knowledge 1.9c – Gather evidence of interdependence among living organisms such as energy transfer through food chains and animals using plants for shelter.
Lesson Explanation –
Explain to students that the food chain is like heading to the grocery store, except frogs and birds don’t have credit cards! The sun creates the plants, the bugs eat the plants, the animals eat the bugs. Explain how starting from one point and going backwards, the start of the food chain begins with the sun and ends with humans. That it’s a series of organisms that depend on the next as a source of food.
Formative quiz –
https://b.socrative.com/login/student/
Room name - KYMIC7T5
Enter your name
A formative quiz was selected to quickly check the student’s understanding of the subject. By immediately having the wrong or right answers I will be able to come up with effective teaching strategies going forward to guide instruction. Even though my class will all be on the same topic, they will be separated with their understanding of the concepts. I want to make sure I routinely check for understanding to make sure they are not behind. Even if a student gets the right answer once, I’ll phrase the question different ways to get a more complete picture to see if they understand the problem.
Energy Transfer Through Food Chains. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://texasgateway.org/resource/energy-transfer-through-food-chains
