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Running Head: SHARED VISION & RATIONALE

Shared Vision and Rationale

Taylor Bright

Instructional Technology Leadership

Spring 2022

Dr. Mike Ribble

Keywords: Shared vision, technology, bilingual education

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SHARED VISION & RATIONALE

Shared Vision and Rationale

Shared Vision Statement

The mission for the Hall County School district is “Character, Competency and

Rigor… for all.” While keeping the county mission in mind World Language Academy

(WLA) is more specifically focused on creating bi-lingual. bi-literate and multicultural

students through our dual immersion program. With the use of technology these vision

statements can be accomplished. At WLA our goal has been on finding ways for students

to create unique multimedia works and using technology to enrich and enhance the

learning environment.

Rationale

After reviewing our district strategic plan as well as our school improvement plan

it is clear that while technology was mentioned it is not a main focus. As the WLA

technology lead I sat down with administration, our technology committee and spoke

with various grade levels to discuss how they would all like to see technology being used

throughout the school. The overall consensus was that there needs to be more training in

how technology is being used and there needs to be an appropriate balance of technology

usage. The balance of technology usage came from administration. They mentioned that

during observations they saw that technology was being used more as a substitute for

things that could just as easily be done on paper and they want to see students creating

and collaborating with others while using technology. They also discussed that they
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would like to see technology being used as a way to enhance the learning environment.

While teachers love 1:1 devices they feel they have not been trained on how to properly

implement a blended learning model in the classroom. They want to be able to implement

technology more and be able to provide more opportunities for individualized learning

and interest projects centered around language and culture but they just are not sure how

to do it. Sheninger (2019) says to “Provide appropriate professional development time

and resources to support effective classroom implementation of technology.” (Digital

Leadership, p. 45)

After meeting with the technology committee we decided we will work together

to provide various PLs set up throughout the year to focus on how to use the technology

framework SAMR and using a blended learning model. Currently we are seeing a lot of

the two lower levels being used and we would like to encourage more modification and

redefinition. In the article, A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration,

Terada (2020) says that when students are completing work in the top two tiers of the

SAMR model

“They are creators and publishers of their own work across multiple forms

of media, for example, or they are inviting professionals to provide

feedback on their work products, or participating in digital forums with

other peers around the world.”

Giving teachers a framework to follow with help guide them during lesson planning. As

stated in the school improvement plan, teachers will use researched based technology
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tools in the classroom. To accomplish this goal administration has also agreed to set up

PL opportunities every other month with the county e-learning specialist. She will come

in and discuss how we can integrate many of the technology tools the county has already

purchased. The county has a strong technology team who takes the time to go through

various programs and picks the best based on research and how easily they can be used in

the classroom. She will also take the time to go through the premade technology

assignments in the county's Canvas course and show teachers how they can easily copy

those assignments and begin using them in the classroom.

At WLA we have an amazing opportunity to immerse students into learning the

Spanish language. Not only are students learning to speak the language they are also

learning to read and write in Spanish. One concern from the teachers is that our vision

statement says “Our students will be bilingual, bi-literate, and caring multi-cultural

citizens.” While we are doing a wonderful job with students becoming bilingual and

bi-literate the teachers feel we are falling short when it comes to creating caring

multi-cultural citizens. Teachers want to have time for students to truly learn about

Spanish speaking countries and the culture that's inside. Many of our teachers come from

all over South America and still have many friends and relatives that live there. They

would love the opportunity to use ZOOM and connect our students with others. It would

provide students with a real life experience and encourage them to speak Spanish outside

of regular classroom work. Each year our school hosts an International Festival and with

the help of the technology committee we decided to add an interest project with the
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festival this year. Students will be given the opportunity to choose a country that interests

them. They can choose their own country where they or their family has come from or

pick a country they are interested in learning more about. Then they will conduct research

on this country and we will work with our teachers around the building to help us connect

with people from these countries that the students can set up interviews with. Students

will be responsible for creating a multimedia presentation of some sort. These

presentations will be set up during our international festival for parents to view and others

to explore. While we are still working on the specific details of the project and how the

project will look for each grade level there is excitement to introduce students to the

countries that inspired our school.

Diversity Considerations

According to Steele (2019) there are three types of digital divides; gender, social

and universal access. Hall County and WLA have done a wonderful job at providing

devices to every student in the county and focusing on gender and universal divides when

it comes to providing access to devices. Every student in our district has an opportunity to

interact with various technologies such as chromebooks, iPads, Smartboards and

interactive wall systems. While virtually learning hotspot buses were created to provide

internet to our lower income students. Although this was great at the time it has not

continued into this school year. Even though many of our students are back in-person we

still have a small percentage of students out on quarantine or sick with COVID. We are

seeing that the lower income families do not have access to WIFI and those students are

not able to connect while absent. Many students are trying to complete work on cell
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phones but are not successful due to limitations of mobile devices. One solution to this

problem would be looking into lower cost WIFI for families and finding programs that

help get families connected to the internet.

While boys and girls have the same access to technology the boys tend to want

the technology more. According to Ring (2008) “women fill only 26 percent of IT-related

professional positions.” Getting young girls interested in technology and its many

opportunities early on can hopefully help increase the percentage of women in

technology. I suggest the introduction of a program like Girls Who Code to help show

girls that they can have a future in technology and all the avenues technology has.

Another program Code.org is dedicated to providing technology opportunities to not only

girls but other underrepresented groups.

Stakeholder Roles
To accomplish the shared vision it is important for all stakeholders to play their role.

Each group is vital to the success because each group feeds into one another.

Administrators:
As the head of the school and decision makers the administrators should have a

clear vision of how they want technology to look in the school. Once they have that

vision it needs to be relayed to the staff and measures put in place to ensure this vision is

played out. Sheninger (2019) says "leaders must inspire others to move from where they

are to where they need to be." As a leader it is your job to set the group up for success.

This can be accomplished by providing the tools and training the teachers need to be

successful.
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Instructional Technology coach/Technology Committee:

The role of the technology coach and committee is to support teachers as they begin to

implement technology into the classroom. Provide them with resources to help them be

successful. It is also their role to take the vision of the administration and find ways to

follow through. Since each grade level is represented in the committee they can

collaborate and provide insight on how technology works for their grade level and to ask

questions.

The specific role of the technology coach is to stay active on the district's BLaST Teams

group. Making sure to stay up to date with any changes or new tools coming out. The

technology coach should also be in contact with administration to discuss how things are

going.

Teachers:
As a teacher it is important to understand the expectations for how technology

will be used. You should clearly know what is expected and how it will be executed. It is

also important to provide feedback and suggestions on how the implementation process is

going. As the teacher you are in the classroom implementing the strategies and lessons if

something is not working or more support is needed then it needs to be said. Teachers

also need to attend and participate in the provided PLs sessions. Teachers should also

explore the technology tools before a PL session so that way you are prepared with any

questions or concerns you may have. Being open and prepared for change is vital when in

the role of a teacher.

Students:
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An expectation at World Language Academy is to Respect ourselves, Respect and

Serve Others. This same expectation applies when it comes to technology usage. Students

can respect themselves by staying focused on their assigned work and making sure they

are using technology appropriately. Students can show respect to others by collaborating

in an effective manner and limiting distractions of those around trying to focus. Showing

respect to others also applies to digital citizenship and making sure to be a good digital

citizen when working online. Lastly students can serve others by offering support to peers

or even to teachers.

Families:

Families are asked to connect with Remind, Infinite Campus and Canvas at the

beginning of the year. These are the three main tools teachers and students will

communicate grades, upcoming events or any other information. Families are also asked

to attend the parents night at the beginning of the year where an overview of the year will

be provided and questions and concerns can be addressed. Many chances to volunteer are

provided throughout the year and will be communicated through Remind. It is asked that

families communicate with students and discuss what is happening throughout the school

day and to communicate any concerns with teachers. Lastly families are asked to hold

high expectations on academics and to communicate with the teacher on makeup work

and grades.
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References

Ring, S. (2008, May 19). Tech gURLs: Closing the technological gender gap. Edutopia.

https://www.edutopia.org/computer-science-technology-gender-gap

Sheninger, E. C. (2019). Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times

(Second ed.). Corwin.

Steele, C. (2019, February 23). What is the digital divide?. Digital Divide Council.

http://www.digitaldividecouncil.com/what-is-the-digital-divide/

Terada, Y. (2020, May 4). A powerful model for understanding good tech integration.

Edutopia.https://www.edutopia.org/article/powerful-model-understanding-good-te

ch-integration