EDU 777- Technology Proposal Final Reflection

 

    I feel very proud at how far I have come with my technology proposal the last eight weeks. My proposal was to obtain 30 Chromebooks for my classroom via a Donors Choose project and create a template that could be shared in my department and in my school for other teachers to also create projects.  I thought the step by step process from Dr. Miller was a good way of breaking up a complex and intimidating process into more manageable chunks. My Donors Choose project entitled Getting Psyched for Chromebooks! is two thirds funded already, which is more than I expected having launched it on "Giving Tuesday." My biggest fear was that I was asking for too much money, and not making a dent into the approximately $9,700 it would cost to get my classroom 30 Chromebooks. 

    The most positive aspect of my journey has been sharing my Donors Choose Template with my colleagues at school. It was really wonderful to get their feedback and to engage in a meaningful conversation about technology access at our school. One of my colleagues who could not attend the initial feedback meeting, and so she asked to meet with me the next day during our lunch because she really wanted to see my template and get ideas for her own Donors Choose project for Chromebooks. That was very rewarding and I hope she starts a project and feels less intimidated because of the template. To me, this is the true role of a Technology Specialist, to share resources about technology with others, so that using technology in the classroom is not as overwhelming or intimidating. I have always found that the best professional development came from other teachers who had experience using a tool or strategy and they shared out.

    There have not been outright negatives to this journey. I can say that I am disappointed with Chicago Public Schools for not moving the entire district to a one to one device for every student, so that these kind of projects would not be necessary. I know that individual schools are tackling this issue by themselves, instead of a uniform district policy. For example, the Local School Council at Jones College Prep announced the school's intention to go to 1 to 1 and at Taft Academic Center, every classroom is already equipped with its own laptop cart. These district inequities is what makes me the most upset. 

Image Source: Personal Screenshot