While working at Sylvia Mendez CREW Leadership Academy, our environment consists of mostly Spanish speaking students. There are a total of 450 students at my campus, and each grade level consists of 2 bilingual teachers with approximately 17-25 students in each (numbers seem to go up rapidly because of the influx of newcomers to the country) and 1 general education teacher teaching only in English to approximately 15-17 students. Most of the newcomers are coming from El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico or another predominantly Spanish speaking country.
Most of our students walk to our campus, we do not have buses for students unless they are receiving our special education services. Our students come from the apartment complexes next to our school, and most of their parents are fast food workers, servers or cleaners. We offer magnet schools in our district but most are far from our campus and kids need to apply to them and then wait to get accepted and then apply for transportation so they can pick them up at our campus. Although magnet schools aren’t really close to our campus, our district is becoming more innovative in the programs that they are offering, such as P-Tech, Early College program, and transformative programs. These are services that they were not offering before 2015, so we are definitely trying to move into a better direction for our communities.
When it comes to technology, our teachers in our whole district do have access to a laptop, and iPad (if they teach pre-k-2, since the students use this form of technology), we also have access to a smart board in our classrooms to use. Most teachers in our campus do use technology in one way or another to teach their students, because our administration is looking for a balance, with technology and still the traditional way of paper and pencil so they still practice how to write.Our district is one-to-one, so our pre-k-2nd grade students use an iPad and our 3-12th use a chromebook. During COVID the students were able to come check out a hotspot so that they could have access to the wifi, and now if our families need one they just have to go to the district offices to obtain one.
When it comes to our internet and broadband, our district (DallasISD) is the number one in Texas and sixth in the nation with low adopting internet rates (see survey results below):
Overall, I do think that our campus and district is going the right way and trying to explore the many different options that they can provide for our environment and our communities. Our district also partnered up with internet providers and are trying to expand their programs so that students and their families can have more access to the internet.
Accessed 8 June 2024.
Wow! That is amazing to see that your district is number one in with low adopting internet rates. When school districts see how beneficial technology is to the students and teachers and then try to do what they can to make that internet access easy on them, it really help with morale and with student learning. I believe that my district is also on the right path toward getting high quality technology.
ReplyDeleteThis was informative. Do teachers tend to use educational technology in teaching? What are the common apps they use? How do you think librarians should be supporting learning and teaching with technology? I am friends with Henry Stokes, who is the Texas State Library and Archives Commision Digital Opportunity Department and they are actively working to beef up broadband both in the cities, like Dallas, and in rural areas as well. As a school librarian, keep this in mind when you see gaps in coverage. They always want to know how they can help!
ReplyDeleteI suppose I thought that because Dallas was a bigger city, it would have more adoptions in order to accommodate! This was insightful ! But I do suppose you are right that it depends on the grade levels, considering yes children are more hands on in learning how to write and incorporating a balance of technology and paper/pencil assignments.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there must be a balance between technology and traditional instruction, especially in the younger grades, where they build the foundation of writing and fine motor skills. It was interesting that there is such a high need for internet access in a big city like Dallas. It is wonderful that the district provides hotspots for those who need them. This highlights how school districts help support the community with technology needs. It is also interesting that k-2 students have iPads, and upper-level students have laptops. This is similar to what we have, although we are not 1:1. Our district is beginning to move away from iPads and more toward Chromebooks/laptops in the younger grades to support the impending online assessments (STARR and TELPAS). We have also begun implementing typing for students in the younger grades to help them start to learn how to type. I wonder if other school districts will also see this shift in the type of device for younger students.
ReplyDeleteIt's great to hear your district is making beneficial changes and adding transformative programs! It was interesting to read the technology the students have access to. My district offers iPads to Pre-k and Kinder, 1st-12th graders have chromebooks. We do a lot of assignments online, but I do think it's important to find a balance and work on handwriting as well.
ReplyDeleteI resonate with your thoughts on handwriting fitting in as well! There needs to be a good balance built to where younger students can have the opportunity to practice the important handwriting skills and working with technology as well! It also sounds like your district is making some great improvements to its programs. Thank you for sharing!
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