Wendy McDevitt

Pupil Achievement Specialist

Thunder Ridge Middle School
Aurora, CO

Practitioner Profile by Amy Miller

Introduction

Wendy McDevitt confessed to the staff during the beginning of the year in-service that
she is one of the few people who entered education for the money. She had intended to
be musician after college and desired the steady paycheck. Wendy is currently the Pupil
Achievement Specialist at Thunder Ridge Middle School. She has been in the education
field for 28 years teaching in a variety of age levels and content areas.

Wendy has two Bachelor’s Degrees from Temple University, in Philadelphia, PA. The
first degree is a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance, specializing in Flute. The second
is a Bachelor’s in Music Education. She earned her Master’s in Instructional Technology
from Lesley University in 2000. Her teaching endorsements are for Music, K-12 and
Elementary Education K-6. This license was earned from University of Northern
Colorado. She also holds a Orff -Schulwerk Certification (music) from University of
Denver.

I met Wendy last year when I started at Thunder Ridge. She was teaching 6th grade
Language Arts and Social Studies, as well as having a technology liaison position. I
found Wendy a committed teacher who worked tirelessly for her students and the staff as
a whole. She has brought to light many great teaching techniques and principles I could
apply in my classroom. As an electives teacher, I don’t often connect on a significant
level with core teachers in educational practices, our goals and classroom environments
vary so greatly I don’t take much to heart. But when I would talk with Wendy about
teaching, the principles she focused on seemed universal and were very student centered.

Although Wendy is new to her staff development position, she has been a curriculum and
technology leader in our school for many years. Our staff widely regards her as a
technology authority and she is always willing to help anyone with mastering and
implementing new technologies. The staff development meetings which she leads are
demonstrations in excellent practice of Instructional Technology unparalleled on our
staff.

As I explored this assignment I realized the Wendy was the perfect person to interview.
Her commitment to technology in education is clear to any one who meets her. Despite
the fact that the staff development position is new, Wendy has been a curriculum and
instructional technology leader for much longer. We sat down in her office after school
to talk, right before her Achievement Team Meeting, right after she helped our Gifted and
Talented Teacher collate electronic data files on her students for two hours. The
interview took place on Thursday, September 17, 2009.

Dialogue

Q: What is your role as a Student Achievement Specialist and

Pupil Achievement Specialist?

A: I have been in the SAS position for the last 7 years. My role is to help teachers
implement technology in the classroom and curriculum. The district has divided our
objectives into three tiers. Tier 1 is the nuts and bolts phase. We educate the teachers on
what the technology is and how to use it. Tier 2 is helping teachers gain familiarity with
instructional technologies using them in lessons. Tier 3 aims at routine threading
technology into curriculum. Teachers should be planning the lessons and technology
should start to come with it.

The PAS position deals with staff development. I really would like to help integrate
technology through staff trainings and meetings. Our goal is also to help teachers to
regular electronic use and comfort gaining reports and data electronically.

Briefly describe your career and different roles in education.

I started out with a degree in music. I taught elementary school music for seven years.
Then I attended UNC to get my classroom certification. I taught 5th grade in Northglenn
for two years, then I moved down to Cherry Creek Schools were I taught a 5th and 6th
grade combined classroom.

When Thunder Ridge Middle School opened I came here with to teacher 6th grade
language arts and social studies. For eight years I taught technology as an elective. And
the rest I switched back into Core. And this is my first year as a staff development
teacher.

What prompted you to move into professional development,

and out of the classroom?

I wanted to work with other teachers and adults. I really like to plan with other teachers
as well as help to model use of technology during the development meetings.
How does your varied experience in teaching effect your use of
Instructional Technology?

My different experiences have really given me a deep perspective on how technology can
be used in the classroom. I understand that technology can be used in a variety of ways
and each content area has unique needs. A music teacher has particular needs that differ
from a math teacher or even an art teacher.

What kind of training do you have in technology, and what

kind of ongoing training do you participate in?

I received my Masters degree in Instructional Technology in 2000, and even the

technology I learned on at that time is obsolete. I am always taking ongoing training to
try and keep current on technologies. I participated in a smart board grant a few years
ago and take online classes whenever I can. I have participated in an Instructional
Technology Leadership Cohort a few years ago which aimed at training staff members in
each school building to be technology leaders in their schools.

What is your opinion of the role of technology in the

classroom?

Technology in the classroom should maximize learning. It should engage the students to
help them learn. Technology should also increase efficiency for teachers and students
obtaining their learning goals.

What do you think is the single most important piece of

technology a teacher can use today?

Their brains. I joke about this, at the same time I truly believe it. Technology an often
have no purpose when being used in the classroom. A lot of teachers will use technology
because its fun and the kids enjoy it. However, a master teacher will use the best tool to
meet their objectives, technology is meaningful to teaching. Engaging the students is
easy because they are so tech savvy. All kids can play computer games and navigate
their cell phones, but they really need to be taught how to use technology for educational
purposes for their learning to be most effective.

What is the biggest challenge you face in your practice of

technology and curriculum today?

The biggest challenges I face are accessibility, money and training. Its like a cycle, we
need to constantly be working through getting accessibility, money and training to the
teachers, then start over again with new materials.

What do you think will be the “big thing” in the future of

Instructional Design and Technology?
When our grandkids are walking around, I think that everyone will have an iPhone.
Every student will have a PDA where they will take all their notes, do their homework
and tests, compose papers and will be their only educational material. I think the iPhone
is the start of that type of technology, when these students are using personal educational
devices, they will be a lot like iPhones.

They say that the classroom of the future won’t have four walls and will be wherever the
students are, but there is something to be said for the human interaction element. It is
critical to kids and education, and will be in education.

Conclusion

In the current trends in educational technology involving distance learning has been
troubling me personally. My thoughts were validated by Wendy’s opinion that even
though technology is the classroom of the future, nothing can replace human interaction.
Many teachers discuss the future of their own careers in peril, by being replaced by
technology. I think that though technology will continue to enhance learning, the role of
the teacher in the physical interaction with the students will not go the way of the 8-track.

Instructional technology professionals really embrace the technology that is to be used for
education. So many educators are hesitant of technology, and don’t really understand
their options for technology in the classroom and tools the students have available.
Because the educators do not understand technology, they don’t appreciate the students’
understanding of technology. Today students are ipod adaptable, Bluetooth ready and
rechargeable. However, surfing the web, myspacing, while they are similar to research
students need to be taught how to apply technologies to critical thinking and problem
solving skills in the classroom. This is another example of the mindset of instructional
technology professionals. Like the concept of TPCK, the combination of content
knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and technological knowledge. (http://tpack.org) The
ability to recognized the importance and incorporate all three together is what sets an
instructional technology professional apart from a teacher with gadgets for the kids to
play with.

I think Wendy’s thoughts about technology really exemplify the objectives of the
Instructional Design and Technology field. Applying technology in the classroom
effectively serves to simplify, yet enhance student learning and the technologies
themselves should be second nature to educational objectives. I liked how Wendy
thought that the most important piece of technology a teacher can use is their brain. In
instructional design, a key element is the formative and summative assessments. These
assessments are most entirely performed individually by teachers during teaching and
planning. Too many teachers use technology for technologies sake and not for actual
instruction. As an IDT professional one need to have thoughtful and natural planning of
using technologies in the classroom is really the main objective of working with
instructional technology. I feel this concept as well as the ongoing training and
commitment to obtaining new technology are what define an Instructional Technology
professional.