Sophia Zinicola

February 1, 2019

Technology Interview

After interviewing the technology specialist at Beltsville Academy, I was able to get a

more in depth look at the technology resources and curriculum available to me and my students.

We first asked Mr. (John) Starr the question that were assigned to us for the assignment, but we

had several of our own that we incorporated into the our interview. Most classrooms in our

school, including my own have several Chromebook laptops which were originally used for

testing purposes, but Mr. Starr informed us he was trying to replace the outdated old desktop

Mac computers or old DELLs with the Chromebooks. My own classroom, which is a first grade

classroom had desktops that had been there for years, that still had to be plugged into the wall

for the internet. Acquiring Chromebooks this year was a big step in my own classroom, and

made the internet and many educational programs for my students much more accessible. Mr

Starr told us unfortunately that our schools technology budget does not allow for Chromebooks

for every classroom and every student, although he said that was an eventual goal. Almost

every classroom except for our kindergarten classes has several Chromebooks for student use.

Mr Starr told us that the majority of our funding comes from grants from Prince George's

County, and for our own future endeavors, we should try to utilize Go Fund Mes, or fundraisers

to fund technology in our classrooms. He also said there are several job opportunities or certain

kinds of classrooms that may allow for more access to technology.

Mr Starr was originally an elementary education teacher, and later took his passion of

technology to become the tech specialist at Beltsville Academy. He was able to take several

courses that allowed him to expand his knowledge and utilize programs that he learned about in
his courses and bring them into his lessons for our students. He recommended to us to utilize

hands on interactions with technology for our students, and to us demonstrations and modeling.

We also asked him about what primary forms of communication he prefers with parents, to

which he told us he used mostly email, but many of the teachers are encouraged to use

Remind, which is an application that allows them to send text messages to parents in both

English and Spanish, which is beneficial since many of our parents speak Spanish. I was

intrigued to learn that if given the choice, Mr Starr would add 3D printer to Beltsville Academies

technology department as he feels it could expand our students access to STEM curriculum

such as engineering practices.

During our interview we also were able to learn more about Mr. Starr’s personal opinions

on some of the problems faced by our teachers in our school concerning technology, one of

which being some of our staff member are not entirely comfortable with using new technology,

as many teachers still struggle with the copiers, the projectors and internet issues that are

frequent at school. He wants more teachers to incorporate more technology in their lessons,

especially how to use Google Classroom, digital citizenship and internet safety which would be

beneficial for young grades.

Reflection:

After conducting this interview, I was surprised to realize how much a teacher’s attitude

towards technology can define how much students are able to interact with technology. I believe

although our school has limited resources, we can utilize what we have to have our students,

especially our younger students to work with technology. I myself, being in first grade classroom

want to try and have students work with the laptops in our room during lessons or small group

activity. As of now, my students only use the laptops one to two times a week during their
centers. Many of them struggle with simply logging onto their laptops, and for many this is the

only interaction they have with laptops. I really want my students to begin using programs such

as Scratch Jr, as I could see it being something they both enjoy, as well as introducing them to

engineering practices.

Some things I learned for the future is how to directly bring technology into the

classroom if my school’s budget doesn’t really allow for that kind of flexibility. Mr Starr’s

recommendation of using programs like GoFundMe or asking for grants opened my eyes to see

past those financial limitations. There were several technologies I would like to be able to

implement, but unfortunately, my classroom does not have access to a Promethean board or a

SmartBoard. I would love to be able have my students use it for interactive lessons,

presentations, and class games but since we do not have one, my class often uses an old

fashioned projector. In my future classroom, I would love to have access to one as it would

create a whole new dynamic with lessons, and encourage more student participation as well as

more engaging lesson. In my current classroom, I think I can definitely implement programs

using our Chromebooks, but it would only be accessible for small groups. I would want my

students to use many of the programs offered ot them on Clever, which has several powerful

education tools like iStation, several math programs, read aloud programs that especially

benefit my ESOL learners. I also want to use small groups to teach my students how to use

Clever, and Chrome, as many of my students still struggle with logging on or using the internet. I

think by taking the time to walk them through it in small group settings may be more beneficial

as I can allow them a chance to ask me more direct questions. Beginning with internet safety

and how to use the internet would be more developmentally appropriate for my students, who
are quite young. The more experience I give them, the more aware and comfortable they will be

using technology.

After conducting this interview, I think my perception of integrating technology in the

classroom has expanded in the sense that I now know what obstacles are being faced at my

school, and how to better benefit my students using their resources that are available. It also

opened my eyes to how important a teacher’s mindset when it comes to technology is, and how

it can impact the access students have to certain tools and resources. We are educators, and

therefore lifelong learners, and I think sometimes teachers forget that or are intimidated by the

new technology. I think it’s important for schools to address this discrepancy, and have more

programs available to educate teachers on how to use, and implement new technology.

Interview Questions

1. What are the most frequently used devices in your school?

2 Can you share the funding source for the devices or suggestions on how I can acquire
resources or devices when I begin teaching?

3 How did you learn about using technology and implementing technology in your school?

4 What best practices have you observed for the implementation of technology with children?

5 What technology would you suggest as a resource for communication with families?

6 If you could add any technology to Beltsville what would it be and why?

7 What are the most common problems teachers/staff have with the school technology?

8 What are some ways we can educate our students parents more about the tech tools they
can use at home?

9 What information about technology do you think it's important we teach to our students? Ex:
online safety or ethics online

10 As a school that has a program for students that are on the autism spectrum, what
technology do we have to support those learners?