Jiada Nucci

Professor Flowers

Edu 214

16 March 2020

Interview Essay: Midterm Part B

I interviewed Annette Martin, an Assistant Principal at Coral Acadamy. Mrs.Martin had

been a teacher for 12 years and has been an Assistant Principal for the past 4 years. During the

interview, I asked her a variety of questions regarding technology from the administrators use to

how the administrators help teachers use technology in their classrooms.

Mrs. Martin tells about the technology plan by answering “Yes. Both the school and the

district have a technology plan. The school board creates the district plan and the school

administrators create the plan for the school. They often share many aspects like Infinite Campus

for grading. That is across the school district.”

“The administration decides which technologies should be purchased and where they

should be placed. It’s often based on what has worked well in the past. We do take into

consideration any technologies our staff has previously used and liked when deciding what to

add.” states Mrs. Martin.

Mrs.Martin stated that if teachers feel they would like to try technology that the

administration has not already integrated into the school system then they must ask permission

and if the team feels the price is reasonable then they usually allow the teacher access. At

Mrs.Martin’s school, there is a Special Education teacher who uses different software than the

general education teachers and she asked the administration to use a software program called
Razkids and because it was reasonable they administration approved. “It is not a very

complicated process. At least not for our school”.

“If a problem arises with technology in the classroom the teacher usually turns to the

digital coach”. The amount of time it takes to resolve a problem is really dependant on the

problem, how complicated the software is, and if the digital coach is familiar with the issues

already. “It typically takes anywhere between half an hour to a couple of days if its a

complicated problem for the issue to be resolved”.

Teachers are given professional development coursed typically every time there is a new

major software or hardware addition. “Sometimes it can take a while before the workshops are

given even after the software is in the classroom, so we do ask that teachers and staff try and

learn some of the programs on their own”. Typically “we have about a day where the new

material is presented to the staff and they can learn and ask questions so they are better prepared

to use it in their classrooms”.

“There isn’t a technology committee active in our school,” says Martin. “All technology

decision making is made through the administration”.

When asked if there are any events or activities that involve the community with the

school’s technology Mrs.Martin answered: “No our school doesn’t host any events for the

community that involves the school’s technology.” All activities through the school are just for

students and their families.

Martin states “Our school’s best feature is our access to technology. Each of our

classrooms is equipped with Chromebooks for the students to use. Our staff is trained on the

Chromebooks and the software used on them so it all works very well for us. Our school’s

greatest challenge is keeping all of the teachers up to date on new technologies. We try very hard
to implement professional development days but sometimes we need our staff to teach

themselves some of the programs. From experience, as I was a teacher myself, I find that

learning on your own just barely scratches the surface of what the programs are capable of

doing.”

“Since our school is a charter school it is a little different. Technology is utilized well and

we have a little more control over how our resources are distributed. As for the rest of the school

district, I can see where a divide would occur. Public schools have to share funding and its not

always equal so there can be a divide amongst schools”.

Schools and teachers can ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to learn how

to use computers while enrolled in school by “[having] an effective plan. If schools and their

staff are on the same page then all students have the opportunity to learn. Teachers have to be up

to date on technologies so they can teach students in the most effective way. Schools have to

keep up with the technology plan and try to be adaptive to the changing technologies of the time

so that students can all be offered equal technological opportunities”.

Additional questions:

1) As an Assistant Principal, what changes can you personally make with how technology is

used in the school?

“I can help choose what technologies are added or taken away. I can also coordinate any

professional development days the staff may need to become more familiar with the technologies

being used”.

2) How do you as an administrator use technology?

Administrators use technology for many things. Martin states that some of the most

common uses are “for communication. We must communicate with parents and staff using
technology. I send out emails and use the school website to make announcements. We also use

technology for collecting and storing data.”

3) Do you think that students would benefit from going technology-free?

“No. I truly feel that technology is an amazing resource for students and teachers to use

for supporting education. There are so many benefits to technology and as long as students and

teachers are on the same page and have an understanding of how to use the technology in and out

of the classroom then it is an excellent tool. I love to see how quickly the students grasp the

technology and I’m always impressed with how well they understand how to use it, especially

with our primary students”.