My Proposal
For my proposal, I decided to solve my schools paper shortage. This year myself and the teacher in my school have been given a paper limit. Each of us it quickly moving through our paper allotment, and fearing for what we are going to do when we run out of paper. For this reason, I have decided to work on implementing paper saving methods into the classrooms. I am planning on using Google Classroom to help reduce paper, as well as our interactive Mimio projectors. These are all tools we have always had access too, but they aren't used as frequently as they should be throughout the school.
The Process
The process has been good so far. The only challenge I really had was coming up with the problem to solve in step one. I had a lot of different ideas, but some of them seemed like way to far of a reach for my first proposal as a technology specialist. I really feel like so much good can be done through this position, but I wanted to start with something that was more within reach. The other projects can come later on in the future.
I am still very excited to work on implementing my proposal. I really do think that my school will benefit from paper reduction strategies. This is a great thing to implement in any school, not just schools with a paper shortage. I think that the students will really enjoy this as well. They will get to become more familiar with the Chromebooks, specifically Google Classroom, which is a great tool for life in general. I can't wait to see the outcome of this proposal.
So far I have enjoyed speaking to my coworkers about the proposal. They seems like they really liked they idea, and they had also thought about starting something similar, but didn't know how. They liked that someone was taking the initiative to solve the paper problem because it has become such a sour subject in our school. Everyone is excited to see what will come of this, and that makes me really excited about it. I haven't really had any negative experiences yet.
Role of the Technology Specialist
I think that the role of the technology specialist is incredibly important. They are learning specialists that really target the use of technology in the school. I know first hand that teachers are really busy. They don't always have time to think about ways to incorporate technology. Having a technology specialist there to help design the instruction to best incorporate 21st century learning strategies is a priceless addition to a school. I'm really excited to see how I can help my school by taking on this role now and in the future.
