Jerry Choate's TATC Portfolio

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Standards I-XI

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VII, VIII, IX, X, XI

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Reflection

I was interested in getting a Technology Application certification because I wanted to improve the implementation and content of our courses and I wanted to learn more in this area because I teach and supervise technology instruction. I visited with Connie about the TA classes and she explained the process and time factor. Since I am a full time employee, twelve months, at the school district I was a little apprehensive, as the time factor seemed great and I already had little time for other endeavors. I attended the IT training and decided it would be well worth my time to take the classes. Since I am the Distance Learning Director I also wanted experience in taking an online class.

As my experience developed time became more and more a factor. Being the Technology Director of the school district and having the responsibility of the infrastructure and all factors of maintenance and support I had periods of time that I was not able to spend the time I wanted on my assignments, although I did prevail with support of TATC  participants and their encouragement. I had set my goals very high, I wanted to learn the Adobe product line to work on my assignments since that is the software we use at the school. I did learn how to use all Adobe products, some more than others in developing my assignments. I now will be able to teach the TA TEKS using the Adobe software and have a good resource file for other software products.

Standards I-V - Foundations

The foundations was so interesting and valuable . I have been concerned about the design factor in our classes for many years but really did not have a clue how to fix those awful looking TA products the students were publishing. The IT teacher touched on this but I really did not understand it. The design element sector has been a valuable lesson for me. The foundations class gave a me good feel for the course work ahead. This was a great beginning for a very rewarding experience.

Standard VII -Desktop Publishing

This course gave me the opportunity to learn how to produce higher quality desktop publishing products. The book by Robin Williams gave me the information I was looking for on improving the overall design layout of our publications. The assignments I completed will become part of my curriculum for next year. The unit plan will be a model for other plans I will develop in the future.

Standard VIII - Digital Graphics and Animation

My graphics experience was limited, the only skill I had was to insert graphics from the internet and use a paint program to do slight alterations to bit map files.

We developed a unit/lesson plan that gave me an excellent model to use in the future. We developed a step-by step, vocabulary, handouts, and lecture notes and researched information for our plan. I found the interactive guides to be very valuable in this course.

Standard IX - Multimedia

Multimedia to me was to bring many applications together to produce a product. Beginning this class was a little scary, it seemed very comprehensive and complicated .

We did research on the kind of software to use for a multimedia class, this helped me understand the scope of this course. We learned what it would take to implement a multimedia class and specific terms we might find when looking at multimedia software or concepts. This was valuable information to have if I am to build a program with high standards.

I did not have any background on sound editing, so this portion of the course was most interesting. I gathered much information from the Interactive guides and readings. The information on file types and audio input/output will be integrated into my class curriculum.

Standard X - Video Technology

In the beginning I knew nothing about video, absolutely nothing. I had to purchase some hardware such as a video camera and a Dazzle to help with my projects. Capturing video and using a video capture device was all so new to me, but I did conquer it after many, many hours of reading and configuring. After the learning curve improved I begin to understand how video fits into the TA curriculum as well as how it can successfully be integrated into the core curriculum area. I even had my CMT class make a video for the web site explianing troubleshooting techniques for our staff and students.

Standard XI - Web Authoring

I was very excited about the course work in this classs. I have struggled with the districts web site for years trying to keep it up and updated. I had used FrontPage for web development but wanted to learn Adobe GoLive. The information that I received on compression, cross-platform issues , web software, how to evaluate web sites will be valuable as I update the curriculm guide for the district.

Learning Goals

I have seen technology evolve from one Apple IIe in our school district to an infrastructure that reaches all parts of the world. Technology integration has always been an issue in schools. What do we do with all of this technology and how do we use it? This has been the cry of teachers and administrators for years. Technology Applications are now coming of age. People of all ages and sectors of life styles are beginning to realize the importance of technology in our lives, wheather it be for communication purposes , business, recreation or so many other uses. As technology application teachers we have a trmendous responsibility to educate our young people as well as the community. This class has given me the foundation to expand our technology program in our schools and community. I will be updating our Technology Application Curriculum Guide to include the many resources and activities I have developed and gathered from other TATC participants and instructors.

This on line class has been both rewarding and frustrating. Each of my products were a great undertaking not only from the learning curve point but from the time factor. I found my self scrambling for time because of the day in and day out duties I have in my school district. I found that for the most part my instructors were tolerant of this, I only hope they understand how much I want to learn and how dedicated I am to staying with this to the end.