Running head: INDIVIDUAL TEACHER TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT

Individual Teacher Technology Assessment

John W. Phillips, III
ITEC 7460
Kennesaw State University
Spring, 2015

INDIVIDUAL TEACHER TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT

Tools
To find the needs of my colleague, the LoTi Teacher Technology Inventory developed
collaboratively by my PLC group. The colleague is a fourth grade teacher that teaches all
subjects to her class of 24 students. This is her first year teaching. The teacher is a second career
teacher who has spent 9 years in the United States Army. She rates herself very high in the use of
technology based on her experiences with technology in her past career. In the classroom,
however her use of technology is infrequent and not well organized. Based on observations and
conversations with the teacher, we will be working collaboratively to help her better integrate
Google Classroom and iPad use into her curriculum. She has been exposed to these tools by
other teachers, however has not felt comfortable enough to use them consistently in her own
classroom.
My colleague has expressed great interest in learning about Google Classroom and how
to use it as an online classroom for her to use as a means of communication and assigning work
for her students. Based on her interests and the LoTi Technology Inventory, I am confident that
this is an appropriate use of time and resources to help my colleague reach her potential in the
classroom.
According to Knight (2007) change is difficult to many because it forces us to adapt to
new habits and create new routines. This will be the first hurdle to overcome with my colleague.
Because of her past career in the armed forces, I know that she is used to routine and a schedule.
We will work together to adapt a new routine and set of steps for her to follow. The
implementation of this new routine will allow her to focus on the steps and accomplishing the
new task.

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The iPads and the Google Classroom are both resources that she will has limitless access
to . The principal at New Holland Knowledge Academy has invested school technology funds
into providing enough iPads for students to able to use at their leisure. With the recent
partnership with Google, the school has limitless access to the education tools that Google has to
offer.
Interview
Throughout the interview that I had with my colleague, she emphasized that she was very
fluent in technology and used it often in her past career. This encourages me, however I believe
that there will be a gap that has to be bridged between her use of technology and using
technology in the classroom to aid instruction. Because she has taught half of her first year
without the use of technology, changing her schedule and adapting her classroom to the use of
technology will be some of the hardest hurdles to overcome.
During our interview, we discussed the Big Four as outlined by Knight (2007). As we
talked about behavior, content knowledge, direct instruction, and formative assessments, it
became clear that the use of Google Classroom was a great solution to many of the issues that
she had been having in the classroom. The teacher complained of behavior problems, in the
classroom and lack of organization with assignments. The teacher also told me that she was
having trouble assigning and grading formative assessments (D. Jabloner, personal
communication, February, 2015). I responded by providing her with details about how
implementing Google Classroom will allow her to go to a more paperless classroom and allow
her students to turn in assignments online. In doing so, this could help her maintain organization
in her classroom and increase classroom engagement. This could potentially help her issues in

INDIVIDUAL TEACHER TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT

classroom management. The teacher appeared very receptive of the ideas and voiced her
excitement to implement these new ideas.
Needs Statement
With the use of the LoTi Assessment and the interview, my colleague and I decided that
she needs to increase her knowledge of the Google Classroom system and how to integrate it into
her curriculum. I will begin coaching my college by working with her to identify what course we
can start using with Google Classroom. We will begin by only using Google Classroom in one
class so that she can see how the program works before she becomes overwhelmed with trying to
use the system in every subject. After identifying the first course, I will come into her classroom
to guide instruction for this class for the first three days. By stepping in and conducting the class
myself, the teacher will have an opportunity to see how the program can be used in the class.
This also gives the students an opportunity to be guided by someone who has experience using
Google Classroom and can answer questions and troubleshoot any problems. The teacher will
observe me over three days and co-teach with me on the fourth day. On the fifth day, I will
observe as the teacher tries to use Google Classroom on her own in the classroom. After the fifth
day, the teacher and I will come together for a discussion on how the new strategy has been
working in the classroom and whether or not further action should be taken.
Coaching Schedule
During our interview, my colleague and I talked about a tentative schedule for our
observations and coaching sessions. We decided that a series of consecutive days would be more
beneficial than staggering throughout a number of weeks. Our rationality was that over a course
of weeks, she may forget things that we have talked about in the past, and she wants to be able to
use Google Classroom in her classroom as soon as possible. Based on these opinions, we have

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decided to use a full week of modeling and co-teaching as our coaching schedule. Monday,
Tuesday, and Wednesday, I will come into her classroom and model how to use Google
Classroom with her students. During this time, I can teach students how to navigate Google
Classroom and how to troubleshoot any problems that they have. I will use this time to teach the
teacher how to use the program as well. Thursday will be used as a co-teaching day so that the
teacher can practice what she has seen me model in the classroom. If there are any gaps or
problems, I can step in and help the students. Friday will be a formative assessment day. I will
observe the instructor run the class by using Google Classroom. Based on the observations, the
teacher and I can regroup and talk about how we can modify my coaching and instruction to help
her further. Knight tells us that strong relationships help produce quality coaching (2007). In
order to form a quality, transparent relationship, we will be using a reflection form to analyze
how the coaching was executed and how I can help her in the future.

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References
Knight, J. (2007). Instructional Coaching: A Partnership Approach to Improving Instruction.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.