A.Palacios: Environmental Scan

 

Environmental Scan

Technology can be amazing and innovative as we all know it has and can make a difference in the classroom. However, depending on the district, homelife, and environmental demographics, it can also cause some delays or anxiety among those who may not be as fortunate to have “access.”

A quick google search can tell you that La Feria, Tx houses a little under 7,000 in population, but it seems much smaller than that. Most in Rio Grande Valley speak English or Spanish, or both. The city I work in is small and has some ranch land along with some ranch workers. At the start of a new school year, many of you can relate that your campuses welcome you back with open arms after a much-deserved summer break. We often celebrate, visit, and catch up. One year, it was a little different. Our campus loaded us into a school bus one day and had us thinking that we were on our way to convocation. Instead, they drove us around town, showing us beautiful homes with average sized families, middle class homes with average sized families, and then came all the hidden poverty-stricken areas that fall into our district. In my region we know these as “colonias.” They are areas like broken down trailer homes, wood frame houses held together by different pieces of debris and are usually shared by large families. Some with occasional electricity and occasional running water. I’m sure I knew these places existed, but I had never seen them up close and personal. It was a humbling experience to say the least, but we all understood why they took us there. A reminder to remain professional, to be kind, patient, and optimistic with our learners, and to recognize that everyone’s home life is different, yet all are so deserving of quality education. It has been something I have never forgotten.

In our day and age, it is astonishing to look around and realize just how far we have come living in the 21^st century.  Upon looking deeply into my district, I can honestly say that it has been quite accommodating as best as my little district can. In 2019, just a few months prior to covid hitting, my district had already been making plans to cross over as a 1:1 technology and district of innovation. During PLC, we often meet with our librarian, our dean of instruction, and office personnel to plan/conduct any meetings or training. It was during this time that my ELA team knew the change would be coming and we wanted to be ready. When the time came down to adopting a new textbook, we chose one that not only provided consumable workbooks for all our students, but included novel study assignments, grammar assignments, spelling assignments, and best of all an online portal to house and assign everything. We didn’t have laptops yet, but the workbooks had everything we would need and perhaps a trip to a computer lap would be sufficient. However, once covid struck, we had already received training and we were prepared on how to use all of our platforms!

Our district took on the task in providing every child within our district with their own chromebook and hotspots to those homes without access. Although we as a team felt we were ready, we were quickly reminded that it was still a challenge to help navigate everyone through new uncharted waters. It was easier said than done, but somehow, we all learned and got through it!

To this day, our campus has remained a 1:1 district. Our broadband is high speed and there is always a tech team available to teachers as well as parents/students. Most of our classrooms are equipped with smart tv’s, and every student still has their own laptops. We often use them for various assignments in our classrooms. Since we use technology religiously, my campus has also purchased a platform by the name of GoGuardian. This has been a game changer! This platform allows me to log in and once all my students are in and connected to my class, I can see exactly what is on their screen and I can block and close tabs as necessary if it means that they are staying on task and not navigating elsewhere.

My district may seem technologically advanced and for the most part it is, but it is not perfect. I’m sure every district experiences some roadblocks. In fact, this year we have felt some changes. One elementary school will be shut down after this year. All neighborhood schools will service k-5^th grade, my junior high campus currently services 7^th and 8^th grade, but will ultimately become a 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade campus. We will also be cut from 4 teachers to a possible 3/2 teacher per subject. This of course will mean larger classes and no hiring. Unfortunately, we are and have been losing students to regional magnet schools and charter schools. As far as homework is concerned, believe it or not, we aren’t really allowed to assign it. There are still some technological challenges depending on the household and if it is assigned, it must be allowed to be turned in traditionally by paper and pencil or at least be given enough class time to assure it gets done in a timely manner.

During the summer, devices are collected as inventory, so students do not have access unless they have their own devices at home. Our district received a grant to which our ACE program is funded and has held certain Stem and Technology camps throughout the summer for students to take part in. I also know that our district has a traveling Literary Bus with wifi that makes its rounds around town and parks at neighborhoods weekly to ensure our students can connect their devices and interact with various literary activities and literary online forums.

It's always insightful to be involved in and learning all you can about the district you are employed with. I look forward to gaining ideas as to how other districts operate as well.

           

References

La Feria ISD’s strides to promote Literacy Roll-On. (2023, July 7). La Feria News. https://laferianews.net/2023/07/la-feria-isds-strides-to-promote-literacy-roll-on/

        

District Profile-La Feria Independent School District (n.d). https://www.laferiaisd.org/resources/technology