Spider Man - With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

At the beginning of this movie, Peter sat in the car with his grandfather who, attempted to hold him accountable for his new life. What this clip doesnt show is how Peter responded...he lashed out, fussing at his grandfather for "not understanding" and stormed out on his rebuke. What you just watched, was a wiser Peter who later realized that what his grandfather was trying to tell him was true, and for his own protection.

I love this quote, "With great power comes great responsibility" because it speaks (in a lot of ways) to our liberty as believers. Over the past few years, as i've come into my "grown-ness" stage, i've freed myself by realizing I have liberties in my life and making sure my life doesn't look too "religious". But my devo reminded me that a false understanding of my liberty leads to a loss of my rights, and eventually results in slavery (unhealthy habits). I can choose to do what I want when I want...but that attitude subtly leads to habits I had no intention of forming.

Our freedom to make choices in our Christian life "is a great privilege. But it carries responsibility, since our actions, words and attitudes have a profound effect..." (In Touch, 2010, pg 7).

Having someone who is willing to "call us out" (as Peter Barker's grandfather did) is a "protection that accompanies this responsibility and motivates us to live a life worthy of our calling. It is a gift (not a curse) the Lord gave us to guard us from the painful consequences of ungodly choices." (Stanley) Being "called out" isn't always a comfy feeling, and may not always come at the most opportune times; but if someone is willing to speak to us-love MUST be a factor. In their minds, there MUST be some motivation to protect us or else they would simply gossip about us and not say a word.

I realized that sometimes (particularly when I feel humiliated by my actions) I have a tendency to either avoid taking responsibility for my actions, by hiding behind an excuse or trying to overshadow my actions with a good deed or mentioning my good intentions. My devo tonight scolded me in this and encouraged me to go back to seeking out relationships where I am willing to answer to someone.

I encourage you...if you tend to hide from, avoid or even blame others when you're being held accountable remember that your Loving Father has graced you with great power (in freely living as you choose) but has attached great responsibility with it and for your protection. Spiderman is a GREAT example of this...and thankfully (though he lashed out as his grandfather for holding him accountable), his Grandfather was bold enough to speak this truth into his life.

~Be Bless "Deep Waters"

My Campus' STaR Chart Progress Report

Executive Summary of my report

Technology wk 2 assignment

View more presentations from Kimberly O’Neal.

The National Draft of Technology Based Learning

Texas has been informed as well as conducted research on the transformation of education via technology. It’s reflected in the Texas Long Range Plan. The nation plays a role in this s primary supporters but also stakeholders in this plan. Their plan reflects in their vision to help our democracy work, provide better jobs and a greater earning power to our citizens, as well s give Americans the ability to compete globally. This will be accomplished through strategic rising of the amounts of our graduates and closing the achievement gap. I agree that these goals are proactive and will need cost effective short term goals in order for success to be obtained. But I believe that the Nations’ plan to engage and empower learners through their experiences is being implemented through the Texas Long Range Plan. For learning to take place on a personalized level, “the programs and projects that work must be brought to scale so every school has the opportunity to take advantage of that success…actions…must be strategic and coherent (Office of Educational Technology, 2010, pg v).” The drafted plan not only speaks to learning, but to its counterpart, teaching, in the manner of modeling. If students must have a leveled field for 21st century learning, their facilitators must too have a technology integrated learning environment coupled with connected team teaching. Professional Development and training obviously play a vital role in accomplishing the aforementioned task. Not only are professional developers given the responsibility of supplying teachers with technology-supported experiences and instructional practices, but educators are expected to seek ongoing training to shape their “new” identities as facilitators and build confidence in the scope of technology. As suggested in the draft plan, my concern falls with the motivation of the “now” educators who insist that they “do NOT have time” to learn technology, is how to creatively blend professional development within the work day without creating extra stressors or making time a burden for teachers. This will only decrease their morale to work towards their new roles. I believe that Planned Learning Communities are a safe environment, if used appropriately, for sharing techniques, and examining and reflecting of best practices.

Progress Report of the Long Range Plan

Progress reports serve as an update towards an intended goal, yet giving both room and time for improvement. The Progress Report on the Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020 demonstrates this definition precisely. There are components of the plan that prove much growth and success while other parts remain target areas of weakness and strong promising increase. If I could give the Teaching & Learning area a grade, it would earn a B plus because it maintains a strong sense of Development which means though its not at a high Target Tech level, majority of schools are on-board and willing to be developed. However, to remain at a level where teachers are using technology to direct instruction, shows that the technology use is still within the teachers’ control. This is NOT the intended goal of the Long Range Plan. The Plan is that the students use the technology to communicate and foster instruction. The area entitled Educator Preparation and Development would earn a C minus. There were some drops at the Target level (even though added elements to STaR may be the reason for this), and there were also fewer campuses meeting their levels and unable to obtain growth from year to year. If this area is to see colossal gains, I agree with the article in that “a need for training and education of teachers, administrators, and others in the school community in the best and most up-to-date practices of educational technology” (TEA, 2008, pg 109). As far as progress in the leadership, administration and instructional support area goes, I give it an A. I am impressed to see how much support is coming from the “top”. It is much needed if there is to be a capacity for change. The Advanced Tech had a significant increase, which I think accounted for the decrease in the Developing Tech. If leadership is moving from Development to Advanced then we can expect hope in the faculty getting on board and moving from level to level. Finally, the Infrastructure for Technology would also receive an A because there were significant gains n Target and Advance Tech with a large decrease in Developing Tech. Again, this is promising because the backbone for making the Long Range Plan effective is proving to be able to support its vision.

Texas Long Range Plan for Technology

The Texas Long-Range Plan encompasses a very diverse yet integrated group of initiatives that when have come to fruition will accomplish the scholastic success that was envisioned. I believe that my district and campus has adopted this Plan and begun to implement it successfully. I am convinced of this and will discuss how I’ve personally felt like an integral part of this Plan. This Plan was designed with great collaboration and inclusion in mind. One of the critical areas of the plan involves Teaching and Learning. I believe this is an area of critical need because trends show minimal, slow growth whereas I believe growth should be occurring almost exponentially. The paradigm of the classroom must remain fluid and open to student-led alliances and that responsibility lies in the changing job description of the educator. In compliance with that modification, learners must too become responsible for their learning. Collaboratively, this model must provide roads that focus on real world connectivity and reflection. On the state level, the progress occurred by one tenth of a percent each year between 2006 and 2009. This trend is crucial if this movement is to take off. When the administration and infrastructure are the support and are at the level of growth charted in the trends, it’s not hard to imagine that Teaching and Learning will fall in line. At this point, if growth does not catapult its evidence that there is a stifling breakdown between the leadership, preparation and teaching components. For example, the trend in this area went from 14, down to 12, then back up to 14 which means we will have trouble moving past the development stage to that of advanced. Though our instructional support is there, there is a lack of ability for the educators to get on board. I believe if professional development served as a more convincing model of this shift in student-led learning and provided more ideas and examples, educators would experience what they hope the students should experience. It is imperative that this be modeled consistently in developments or else the facilitators won’t buy into the process.

Internship Web Conference

The web conference was so informative for me. There are many aspects of the Lamar course page that I have not navigated yet and by participating in the web conference I was able to become abreast to the following information. I learned that I need to select a site mentor. I'm excited about this process because from my intense immersion into technology since i've been at the school I'm currently at, I have met some amazing colleagues within the district that are well versed in Educational Technology and so I look forward to asking each one of them to consider being my Site mentor. I found out some minor details about the Internship in and of itself. Things such as the amount of field activities and course embedded activity hours I need to acrue. I'm still not comfortable with this information yet, but I look forward to reading the Internship handbook in detail to learn more. However, it does have me thinking about what conferences, inservices and other activities I can become involved in for the future. Finally, I had a chance to learn about a textbook I must order soon. I will be browsing the textbook suggestions soon and making my order. In all, it was interesting observing the web conference as it was my very first. I do not quite have the web cam part set up so no one was able to see my picture, so I just typed my responses and listened to the instructor give me information as I took notes.