4) How has the professional development received through the graduate program empowered you to support the diverse needs of all students, advocate safe and ethical uses of technology, and develop cultural and global awareness?
Every student is different and every student has a different approach, comfort level and knowledge of technology. What I have taken away from the program is that I can reach each and every one of these students. The way to do that is for me to understand where each of them is and then build them up from there. I now understand more about computers, programs, other technologies and data so I am able to pass this knowledge along to my students. I also feel that the professional development has made me a more complete teacher, especially when it comes to technology. During this professional development, every side has been looked at and examined so we see not only the choices kids, teachers and schools make, but also why they made these decisions. This helps to give a complete awareness of what is going on around us.
The CEO Forum: School Technology and Readiness Report. Downloaded January 19, 2010. http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/pfcnt.html.
An Educator’s Guide to Evaluating the Use of Technology in Schools and Classrooms. Downloaded January 19, 2010. http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdTechGuide/index.html.
Finding Additional Value in New Accountability Systems. Downloaded January 18, 2010. http://www.ncrel.org/policy/pubs/pdfs/value.pdf.
Instruments for Assessing the Impact of Technology on Education. Downloaded January 18, 2010. http://iittl.unt.edu/pt3II/WordFiles/instrumentsfor.pdf.
Technology Integration, Assessment, and No Child Left Behind. Downloaded January 19, 2010. http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech171.shtml.