My name is Laurie Kyle, and I have been a teacher (3,6,9, and adult) for 14 years in the Dallas, TX area. I have also worked in a Newcomer Intake Center for ESL/bilingual students, and currently work in the Department of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction for a large suburban school district. I also have been working as a Content Seminar Leader for Texas Teaching Fellows, an alternative certification program.
The purpose of this blog is to help teachers (particularly new teachers) sift through some of the mountains of tech sites that are aimed at teachers -- pointing out some that are of greatest use and steering away from others. Along the way, I hope that readers will enter into discussions about using digital resources in the classroom and share their own tips and links. As we move into the era of digital delivery of instruction, there are sure to be lots of challenges and growing pains, but the rewards are so great that we just have to jump in and embrace the change!
To start off, take a look at this website:
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te800.htm
As you know, our goal is to make data-based decisions about how to use resources and deliver instruction. This site is not fancy, but it gives strong research support to the use of technology to increase student achievement. NCREL (National Central Regional Educational Laboratories) http://www.learningpt.org has compiled the research to show that increased use of technology will help us to meet the changing educational needs of our students today and into the future. The report also describes the particular benefits of increased use of technology to at-risk and disabled students.
The best part of this report is that it gives very detailed action plans for teachers and districts in the areas of staff development, schedule changes, and technological infrastructure needs. It even has a section about common pitfalls, and links to school districts who have successfully upgraded their use of integrated technology.
The inclusion of links to many key resources also makes this a good foundational document for a district or a school which is just getting started on a technological growth plan. The depth of the action plans will also help schools to model their school action plans and know what to expect and what to avoid.
This goal of this website is not to give teachers ideas for classroom use -- it is more of a research background with links and hands-on suggestions for school and campus action plans. It also includes plans for continuous evaluation of those plans. As a document to spur change, this site is a gold mine of research and best practices to bring a school or a district up to the highest standard of integrated technology instruction. I highly recommend it to any members of a campus leadership team or district technology administrators. It would also be a perfect website to share with school boards who are interested in leading inprovement in this area.
Grade: A
