Saturday, June 9, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
| Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template | ||||
| Goal: To increase parental involvement in the academic progress of their child through technology awareness. | ||||
| Action Steps | Person Responsible | Timeline | Needed Resources | Evaluation |
| Gather sample of students | Chris | 1-Mar | Skyward | |
| Gather student grades | Chris | 1-Mar | Skyward | |
| Create invitation | Kerri | 1-Mar | Publisher | Parent attendance |
| Translation of invitation | Michele | 2-Mar | Parent attendance | |
| Invitation mailout | Kerri | 9-Mar | Parent attendance | |
| Write parent survey 1 | Chris, Kerri | 10-Mar | Survey Monkey | Parent participation |
| Translation of survey | Michele | 11-Mar | Parent participation | |
| Collect parent access data | Chris | 15-Mar | Skyward | |
| Parent Tech Night | Chris, Kerri | 20-Mar | Computer Lab | Parent attendance |
| Give survey 1 | Chris, Kerri | 20-Mar | Survey Monkey | Parent participation |
| Gather survey data 1 | Chris, Kerri | 27-Mar | Survey Monkey | Parent participation |
| Write parent survey 2 | Chris, Kerri | 28-Mar | Survey Monkey | Parent participation |
| Translation of survey | Michele | 29-Mar | Parent participation | |
| Parent Tech Night | Chris, Kerri | 30-May | Computer Lab | Parent attendance |
| Give survey 2 | Chris, Kerri | 30-May | Survey Monkey | Parent participation |
| Gather survey data 2 | Chris, Kerri | 31-May | Survey Monkey | Parent participation |
| Gather student grades | Chris | 31-May | Skyward | |
| Analyze Data | Chris, Kerri | May-June | Skyward, Excel | |
| Write Report | Kerri | March-June | Word | |
| Submition for Approval of Report | Kerri | June | Approval | |
| Make revisions and Edit | Chris, Kerri | July | Word | |
| Submit final report | Kerri | July | Approval | |
| Present at staff development | Chris, Kerri | 9-Aug | PowerPoint | |
Friday, March 16, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
The lessons I found most valuable were the ones I learned from hearing Johnny Briseno and Timothy Chargois.
Johnny Briseno taught me that Data is extremely important, but numbers don’t tell everything about the kids. Numbers don’t tell you about children’s home life. They are not numbers but people. Data has become a real focus on our campus. We look at numbers from pre-assessments, post-assessments, and summative assessments. We look at the low and the high, the average, and the percent of proficient students. Sometimes I wonder if teachers, myself included, have bought into the process of collecting and analyzing data to improve instruction so much that they have forgotten about the individual child-the relationship that improves instruction.
Johnny Briseno taught me that Data is extremely important, but numbers don’t tell everything about the kids. Numbers don’t tell you about children’s home life. They are not numbers but people. Data has become a real focus on our campus. We look at numbers from pre-assessments, post-assessments, and summative assessments. We look at the low and the high, the average, and the percent of proficient students. Sometimes I wonder if teachers, myself included, have bought into the process of collecting and analyzing data to improve instruction so much that they have forgotten about the individual child-the relationship that improves instruction.
Timothy Chargois talked about teachers and how they should never stop learning. Whether you attend meaningful staff development sessions and conferences, pursue another degree, read professional books, or conduct an Action Research project, teachers have to continue learning. I heard someone say once that once a teacher stops learning, he stops teaching. We are educators who promote learning. We have to be lifetime learners as well.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Leaders and Blogging
Leaders can use blogs in order to garner better communication with faculty and other staff as well as parents and community leaders. Our superintendent sends out weekly messages about the events that are occurring in the district. Instead of sending out emails, he could make use of a blog which would be a way to allow for a public forum. In the same way, our principal sends a weekly bulletin to the faculty where he chooses a "notable quotable" to inspire faculty morale. A blog would again allow more people the opportunity to view the quote and hopefully foster a better relationship between the school and the public. Any opportunity to share the happenings in the district, or campus will help to answer questions about the daily events of our campuses and could lead to better parent/student relationships.
3...2...1...Action!
Action research is a systematic way for educators to ask and answer questions that arise in their personal classrooms or campuses. you are able to choose a topic or problem that is of particular interest to you or your school.The research actually takes place where the teacher or principal works with the students in their classroom or school. Educators formulate questions, collect data that will help answer the questions, analyze the data collected, present the findings of their research to their colleagues, and actually apply the information discovered to improve student achievement. That is the "action" part of action research-putting into practice what you have learned along the way and sharing what you have learned.
Action research is not what you first think of when you hear the word "research." It is not spending hours in the library reading about what other people have done, although there is a literature review. It is spending hours in the classroom or school on a journey for knowledge about how to change your practice and grow as a teacher or principal.
Action research is not what you first think of when you hear the word "research." It is not spending hours in the library reading about what other people have done, although there is a literature review. It is spending hours in the classroom or school on a journey for knowledge about how to change your practice and grow as a teacher or principal.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Course Reflections
My expectations for this course were admittedly unknown in the beginning. I didn’t really know what to expect. The quizzes and evaluations at the beginning of the course made me believe I would be learning how to use the technology more than how to teach others using these techniques. I did learn some new technologies, for example I learned how to start a wiki and a blog. I feel like these two techniques alone will increase my abilities as a teacher in reaching out to my students on their own level. Over the progression of this course I found myself implementing the technology covered into my lessons. I have attempted to reach out to other teachers at my campus and share with them the value of the lessons I have learned in this course. I feel that technology is no longer beyond my ability. The mystique behind both the set-up and implementation of technology is now in my grasp.
I achieved the outcomes of this course; however I realize that I will need more practice to truly master these technology aspects. I feel that obviously the best way to practice is to continue to use this technology as often as possible. I have also found that some of my new teachers are the students themselves. Often the technologies that I implement in my lessons are already known by some of my students. They can sometimes answer questions that I might not be totally comfortable with. An example of this is a classroom blog. I didn’t have to teach them how to blog only give them a topic to blog about. The best thing about lessons such as this is the reaction that I get from my students. They are passionate about the topics that we are learning. They are passionate because the lesson relates to them and activities that they know about.
I feel that I achieved all of the outcomes in this course. I feel that I must continue to practice in order to overcome my biggest challenge, speed. I know that currently the amount of time that I need to set up and use technology is longer than it needs to be. In my mind this will lead to difficulties in altering lessons “on the fly” and improvising when discussions lead to new possibilities. I found it discouraging while reading the discussion boards that others in this course where so far ahead of me in the level of skills possessed. Being new to this field it was a daunting task to catch up and learn at the same time. Given the amount of material that we covered in a five week period I’m actually proud of the fact that I did as well as I did. I feel that a longer time frame would have been better suited to my learning needs.
I feel that the things that I learned from this course will greatly benefit my students, my campus, and me over the long run. I found that I get easily frustrated with things that I don’t inherently know or that don’t come easy to me. In focusing on the big picture however I learned about the importance of integrating technology in today’s lessons in order to procure a greater interest by students in my classroom. Today’s student needs to find relevance in their studies. There is no better way than the implementation of technology. Their lives are a constant stream of videos, blogs, streams, downloads, and hits. By using technology and bridging the gap between instruction and events in kid’s life you as a teacher are able to get better results because that lesson will stick. They are already using these methods in their social lives so if we are able to connect it and show them how it will be relevant in their future the lesson will have a more lasting impression.
I achieved the outcomes of this course; however I realize that I will need more practice to truly master these technology aspects. I feel that obviously the best way to practice is to continue to use this technology as often as possible. I have also found that some of my new teachers are the students themselves. Often the technologies that I implement in my lessons are already known by some of my students. They can sometimes answer questions that I might not be totally comfortable with. An example of this is a classroom blog. I didn’t have to teach them how to blog only give them a topic to blog about. The best thing about lessons such as this is the reaction that I get from my students. They are passionate about the topics that we are learning. They are passionate because the lesson relates to them and activities that they know about.
I feel that I achieved all of the outcomes in this course. I feel that I must continue to practice in order to overcome my biggest challenge, speed. I know that currently the amount of time that I need to set up and use technology is longer than it needs to be. In my mind this will lead to difficulties in altering lessons “on the fly” and improvising when discussions lead to new possibilities. I found it discouraging while reading the discussion boards that others in this course where so far ahead of me in the level of skills possessed. Being new to this field it was a daunting task to catch up and learn at the same time. Given the amount of material that we covered in a five week period I’m actually proud of the fact that I did as well as I did. I feel that a longer time frame would have been better suited to my learning needs.
I feel that the things that I learned from this course will greatly benefit my students, my campus, and me over the long run. I found that I get easily frustrated with things that I don’t inherently know or that don’t come easy to me. In focusing on the big picture however I learned about the importance of integrating technology in today’s lessons in order to procure a greater interest by students in my classroom. Today’s student needs to find relevance in their studies. There is no better way than the implementation of technology. Their lives are a constant stream of videos, blogs, streams, downloads, and hits. By using technology and bridging the gap between instruction and events in kid’s life you as a teacher are able to get better results because that lesson will stick. They are already using these methods in their social lives so if we are able to connect it and show them how it will be relevant in their future the lesson will have a more lasting impression.
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