Hi,
My question is more "big picture." I have
friends in Virginia, where they have a rule that schools must have a technology
support person, like an instructional coach for technology. Why, as a district,
does DCPS not do more to demand technology education, particularly in the lower
grades? As we transition to the PARCC, students are assumed to have a certain
level of technology proficiency. While we have been provided with laptops and
those typing keyboards, no money or resources have been provided to teach using
any of these things. As of right now technology is taught, when a teacher feels
like it, if and only if they have the know how to teach technology. I know that
occasionally it will fall on the librarian (we currently do not have one, as she
quit), which is why all the license questions, we were trying to get a
technology teacher but couldn't afford one and were trying to see if we could
have someone who is a technology person fill the library slot. But Library is a
subject unto itself, which apparently requires a great level of education to
teach. I greatly worry that when PARCC results come out, that they will not
reflect the knowledge and hard earned learning by DCPS teachers and students,
but will instead reflect the lack of computer proficiency of DCPS students. This
is not due to lack of equipment, but lack of instruction. Even if everything
fell to the librarian, our specials are 45min. I am guessing that any educator
would agree that 45 min a week is not enough time to develop proficiency in any
subject, much less two (library and technology). Classroom teachers are
reluctant to take on this responsibility for a variety of reasons. First, they
feel ill-equipped to do so. They lack the know how to perform many of the
computer tasks themselves, must less teach them. Secondly, that is not part of
their core curriculum. Without someone in a coaching or teaching type position,
teachers so often fail to see that technology education can be seamlessly
integrated into their instruction. I don't think that this is an issue that can
be tackled on one PD day, or with webenars, or with more "stuff". I think that
DCPS should consider adopting a model similar to Virginia's, and fast. Our kids
can't afford to fall even more behind their suburban counterparts. I know that
you may not be the person to correctly direct my soap box rant, but for right
now, you sit in a position to do something about it. I am in the position of
Technology Coordinator here at Thomson. I also have a full case load of ESL
students, teach an intervention group (of students not on my direct case load),
work with Amplify as the POC, and handle our in house tech support, maintain the
school website and social media, and have been filling in for a lot of the
library work. This half of the year I am also teaching a PLC on integrating
technology into the classroom. If you add that up, it is about two to three full
time jobs. That is not fair to ask of our teachers. I know I am not the only
one.
So the big picture question is what is the Office of Educational
Technology, and the district, doing to combat these issues?
