Blog Post #1 Four Areas of the Texas Long Range Plan

This area of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology explains the importance of preparing teachers to prepare their students for the future by using technology in the educational setting. Ongoing professional development is crucial to Texas teachers so that they can be prepared to teach this generation of Texas students.

Progress in this area has been great. The state has put into place the Texas STaR chart to track the technology ability of their teachers. These scores have to be presented to the federal government for No Child Left Behind and also for grant money if associated with technology. In Ennis ISD, professional development opportunities for technology have grown over the last several years. Every summer, Ennis offers two days in the summer for what we call Tech Camp, where teachers teach other teachers the technology that they are using in their classrooms. They also have hands on experience using the technology during training.

I recommend that training continue to be hands on. I believe that if training happened during the school year that more teacher would be apt to use the technology, because they would not forget the skills over the summer. I often hear that teachers are frustrated with technology training, because they often forget how to use what they have been taught before summer is over. Also, training must include time to explore the technology. Good training is not simply an expert talking about products.