To begin with, I did not even know there was a plan for implementing technology into school districts. It makes perfect sense that there would be, but I had just never seen it before. I remember at my previous school district, they were very strict about everyone meeting the technology standards of the district. Each year we had to increase our "technology level" by performing various tasks that we could then later use in the classroom. At the end of the year though, I do remember completing the STaR evaluation and there were many things we were able to check off as having knowledge of or being able to use in the classroom because we had already done it in our own self-paced training. It became a part of our evaluation. Now I see that it was clearly connected to this long range plan for the state.
I really believe that today's students are so different than those of 10 years ago. These students learn so differently because they have been exposed to such a wide variety of technological advances. They grew up knowing how to burn cds at an age where I was buying my first one. They learn so much better on technology and they need to learn how to use it appropriately.
