Teacher-Based Teacher Webpages

In the article, "Teacher-Based Teacher Webpages," Steven Moskowitz explains how at his school, all of the teachers took a survey based on technology. The survey asked various questions such as how they felt about technology, how proficient they were with technology, whether they were inclined in learning to use technology, etc.
In effect, he learned that many teachers from his school showed an interest in learning more about technology. Furthermore, their school discovered that the computers were being under used because of a lack of technological skills from the teachers. In order to address this problem, their school decided to start a year program that would teach them how to use technology. The idea behind this program, was to make the teachers feel more comfortable with the idea of using technology in their classrooms. After training, the school created their own website which enabled teachers to assign homework online, post test results, send out newsletters to the parents, etc.
I feel that this is a wonderful idea because many teachers from older generations haven't been exposed to technology very much. When new teachers come join the school, they are usually equipped with more technological skills and are able to incorporate more into their classrooms. By training all of the teachers to know how to use and feel comfortable with computers, their school is doing everything possible to give their students the best education.

1. Will training older teachers about technology become a requirement for all teachers in the future? I don't think that this will become a requirement because teachers who have already finished school, shouldn't be forced to go back to school to keep their job.

2. Will all schools in the future incorporate technology in their classrooms? Yes, because teaching new teachers about technology is already a requirement.

Another View on Mentoring

In the article, "Another View on Mentoring," Anissa Lokey-Vega and Laurie Brantley-Dias discuss an experiment that they tried in one of their classrooms. The two women were colleagues and decided that it would be beneficial for them to help give constructive advice to each other.
Vega decided to put a video tape in her classroom to record herself teaching a lesson. Afterwards, her and her partner went over the video tape together in order to learn how to improve the lesson. At first, Vega said that it was difficult to watch herself on the video and kept overly criticizing herself. However, with the help of her partner Dias, Vega was able to overcome self criticizing and was able to use the video tape as a useful tool in the classroom.
Vega and Dias learned that by going over the tapes, they could analyze the entire lesson and find areas that needed further clarification. By filming the lessons, Vega was able to learn each time from her mistakes and was able to become a stronger teacher. Later on, Vega felt so comfortable with her tapes that she even felt inclined to show her administrator.
I feel that creating these video tapes of her lessons was a truly inspiring idea. Once a person is able to get past the idea that they are watching themselves on film and wanting to overly criticize themselves, it becomes an extremely useful tool. I would love to incorporate this technique into my classroom one day because I feel that it allows a person to be the best teacher possible.

1. Would you have to get concent from the students' parents prior to filming them in class? Yes, the parents should be informed and asked permission prior to filming.

2. Would it be a good idea to film every lesson? No, because there wouldn't be enough time to film every lesson and go over every tape.