"The Stars at Night ... are Big and Bright ..."

The Texas Star Chart was developed by TEA so as to provide schools with feedback about their technology ratings of their campuses and districts compared to other schools in the state. The purpose of the Star Chart is to show how schools are aligned with the long range plan for technology. The Star Chart has four areas:
- Teaching & Learning
- Educator Preparation
- Administration & Support and
- Infrastructure
I checked out the ratings for Eagle Mt Elementary. This school is similar in demographics to my current campus. Plus, many of our students came from this school. My campus is new – last year was our first year to be open. Consequently, we do not have data from three years ago so show any trends or progression in the Star Chart.
I find it interesting that the rating for Educator Preparation has declined ever so slightly each year. This trend was mirrored by other schools in the state as well. Perhaps the growth of technology has not been matched by training of educators. Maybe teachers just feel inept. Maybe teachers feel out of their league. Maybe some of them have the mindset of, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” I have heard some people in our district lament their inability to do anything on the computer. They fight progress tooth and nail!
Why? One might ask. I think it goes back to self confidence. People who are secure with themselves and not worried about making mistakes embrace new technology and are willing to try new innovations. However, I have observed that people who have only one area of expertise, do not enjoy stepping outside of their realm. They do not feel comfortable trying things that they might not be successful at, so it is much easier to just not try in the first place. Maybe it is that they are just past the age of learning anything that may be difficult for them. Of course, this goes against our district vision of promoting “life-long learning.” I think that it is very easy for teachers to say those words, but maybe not so easy to live them.
Until we, as educators, can learn to “walk the walk” of using, implementing, and embracing technology, our students will never achieve their true potential in our fast growing global world of technology.