Reflections of Technology Assessments

After completing the two assessments, I discovered many things about myself and my school with regards to technology. There are many more areas of technology that I did not even know I knew nothing about. I now have a better idea of areas that I need to focus more attention on as a teacher and a future administrator.

From the Technology Applications Inventory, I determined that I am strongest in the Domain of Solving Problems. I am able to find information and determine its validity. My areas of weakness were Foundations and Communication. In Foundations, I am able to complete basic tasks with a computer however, I do not know much of the specific vocabulary for technology. In the Domain of Communication, I am capable of creating basic projects, but my knowledge does not go far beyond spreadsheets and word processing.

From the SETDA Teacher Survey, I really found myself questioning my teaching style. The questions about thinking about how technology would enhance my lesson really hit a nerve with me. This is something that I think is very important with our students today, but this is not something I do very often. I think our school knows it is important, but it is not required or rewarded, therefore many teachers do not do it. I think time is a major issue at every school. I know for me, I went to some workshops this summer that were provided by the district, on technology. They had some great information. What I need now, is to be able to sit down with other fifth grade teachers and plan ways to use this great technology. I think our district has many of these things available, but being able to put them in place at the appropriate time is where I am having trouble. We only have three computers in our classrooms, so it is very difficult to rotate all of my students through during a class period. I know my school does not use technology near enough. I think we are doing our students an injustice by not utilizing all of the technology available to us. We are preparing our students for the future, and they need to be able to use this technology efficiently.

I think both of these assessments are correct. Technology is not a strong area of mine. I think these assessments not only let me assess my areas of growth, but it let me see areas to look at as a future administrator for my school.