Teaching and Learning

The Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020, has four areas: Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Administration and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure for Technology. Each year the state of Texas requires each campus to fill out the Texas STaR Chart, which is a technology survey to measure the level of progress campuses have made in the four areas mentioned above. One major focus of my campus is the area of Teaching and Learning. This area focuses on progress being made for technology instruction in the classroom as it applies to the TEKS, online research, and digital usage. In this information-based age, teachers can monitor their student's progress, especially when it comes to projects and research. My campus, though only in the developing stage of Teaching and Learning, is using more and more technology components to help with classroom instruction. These components include internet access for online research, higher-order thinking skills, and digital usage opportunities for collaboration. Our science department alone has two mobile labs, which help in accommodating the needs of science teachers for instruction. We basically bring the technology into a science setting, and we allow students to research and explore the internet through science projects and activities. This increase in technology usage has helped improve classroom learning and student-teacher interaction, and it has also enhanced student thinking and exploring. Over the next few years, I feel that my school will progress into the advanced stage for Teaching and Learning.