Standard+II

Educational technology facilitators plan, design, and model effective learning environments and multiple experiences supported by technology. “Standard II provides a comprehensive description of how technology facilitators and leaders can support teachers during critical instructional planning and design phases” (Williamson, & Redish, 2009). Williamson and Redish (2009), also state that “teachers may know how to operate technology (TF/TL Standard I), but they are not sure how to implement technology in the classroom to support student learning.”
 * TF-II Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences**

I made a statement in Standard I Reflection about “being able to utilize many of the web 2.0 tools and help teachers understand how to use them in their specific classroom setting as it pertains to their subject, is paramount. I truly believe, that it is not enough just to know how to use a program like Microsoft Excel or to be able to create a blog, but rather, how to implement these tools into a lesson that will cause students to collaborate and think at very high levels. That is what using these tools to their maximum capabilities is what teachers and administrators are striving for.” Teachers know how to use the equipment and the software, however, what teachers are saying, is that they struggle to apply these technologies with their daily lesson planning.

“ A 2005 survey of 1,000 randomly selected teachers revealed that although 85% of teachers used technology for administrative tasks, less than 50% ever used technology to support instruction” (CDW-G, 2005). Another national survey done in 2006, indicated that “slightly more than half (54%) of teachers reported that technology had significantly changed the way they teach” (Consortium for School Networking, 2005). What puzzles me is if teachers know how to use the equipment, then why are they not using it in their lessons on a day to day basis?

As a teacher of math for six years, I think I can get close to explaining these statistics. I truly believe that teachers today are asked to do so many roles within the school environment, that they are physically and mentally too tired to do their job at a high level. Again, this is my opinion, but with everything that is put on teachers’ plate including ARD meetings, department meetings, parent and faculty meetings, documenting student behavior, creating assignments for students that are home-bound or in ISS, coaching or being a sponsor for an extra-curricular team, grading papers and then entering them into the computer, and then make time for their families, it is a never ending process of things to do. Where is the time to have collaboration with other teachers to create high level thinking lessons? Squeeze that blood out of the turnip. And now let's throw STAAR at them. Teachers are tired, and stressed beyond words at times, but we still must press forward and try and find ways to make their jobs meaningful. I believe as technology facilitators, our jobs are to make the classroom a student-guided and teacher facilitated place of learning. Make the teacher aware that it is ok not to know everything about everything. Create lessons that involve collaboration and in-depth discussions as well as research and then formulate opinions based upon these findings. That is just a sample of what our jobs will entail as campus technology facilitators and leaders.

References CDW-G. (2005). //Teachers Talk Technology survey.// Retrieved May 31, 2010, from [] Consortium for School Networking. (2005). //Digital leadership divide.// Available from [|www.cosn.org/resources/grunwald/digital_leadership_divide.pdf] Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). //Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do.// Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.