Educator Preparation and Development in our schools

In looking at the four areas of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020, I want to touch on the category entitled Educator Preparation and Development. This category is extremely important to the state's long range plan because it is the area in which teachers are prepared and taught to use various types of technology in their classroom. Teachers need to know how to utilize various types of technology in their classroom and the state's plan to improve the level and amount of preparation and development of these teachers will be very beneficial. Schools need to be sure to include various technology oriented professional development opportunities for their teachers.

As I think back to the number of professional development opportunitites over the past nine years I have been involved while in education, the amount of technology driven ones have increased over that time. Recently, my campus has brought in speakers like Alan November that does a great job of incorporating technology into education. Our district does a very good job of preparing and developing its educators in various modes of technology. We have had entire days of staff development dedicated to various types of technology that we can use in the classroom. We have had the opportunity to participate in courses teaching us to use Moodle, Eduphoria, SurveyMonkey, Promethean boards, and more. Having the opportunitiy to take advantage of these classes has made me a better educator and I feel like the entire staff has had the opportunity to prepare and develop better technology skills.

My recommendation for improving in this category would be to constantly continue bringing in speakers who can comment on including technology in the classroom for staff development. I think that school administration can send out technology tips every now and then as well to keep the staff up to date on potential technology uses for the classroom. By keeping the teachers up to date on potential uses for technology, schools can meet their requirement for Educator Preparation and Development as it pertains to technology usage in the classroom.