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Opinion Piece on Texas Long Range Plan for Technology

  My opinion piece centers on the Educator Preparation and Development area of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology. I have chosen this area because I am neither a “digital native”, nor a “digital immigrant” but consider myself to be more of a digital dinosaur.

  In order to prepare students to succeed in the 21^st century, teachers must be prepared to teach in the 21^st century. The Texas Long Range Plan realizes the urgency and importance of preparing new teachers but doesn’t really mandate or fund training for teachers already in the classroom. These decisions seem to be left up to individual school districts and individual campuses.

  Our district opened two new campuses this year. Students and teachers alike were issued i-Pads or MacBooks. The teachers were given special training before school started and then also received training along side the students after the school year began. These teachers were receiving training and equipment to move their students into the 21^st century. However at my campus we are not getting that training or the new equipment. The professional development days that are supposed to be devoted to technology training are few and far between. We are presented with too many new concepts and not enough time to practice. Often times when we get to the next training, the district has decided to try a new program and the one we “learned” before is never mentioned again. This leaves the teaching staff with a “why bother” attitude as we never know what will be used again and what will fall by the wayside. For the most part, the technology professional development I have received is lacking in structure, information, and practice time.

  Teachers like myself with 20+ years in the classroom have a real need for technology training if we are to remain effective and use the technologies in the Texas Long Range Plan. The training must be presented in an effective way and allow plenty of time for practice. The training should also be done on a consistent basis throughout the school year if digital dinosaurs like myself are going to be able to keep up.