Week 5 Course Reflection

I was both pleased and stressed about this course. I had not envisioned the entire course dealing with technology. I envisioned a more all-around approach to instructional leadership, such as more work with PDAS, and how as an administator I could improve how instruction is being provided in the classroom. I expected to learn more things about resources I could use to evaluate teachers and instructional practices. I did learn how to study documents such as the STaR chart and my district's Campus Improvement Plan and technology plan to align curriculum and professional development needs. For example, I was not aware that the STaR chart results were published online. I was able to study the results from my campus, which was both interesting and insightful.

The use of technology is extremely important in today's educational society. This course was beneficial in outlining the positive things and the dangers of using technology. It was not presented from one part of view, which made me think about things I had not thought of before with the use of technology. A great example of this in the reading some of the articles. Although the articles were very time consuming and I believe a little much, they did force me to think about things, such as the importance of password security and the implications. I also was not aware of how extensive the copyright laws are, and how they affect education. This of course is relevant to my use today. It is important that I stay informed so I can keep my students informed.

I still feel like I need a lot of work with staying updated on technology. I would love to learn more about blogs and wikis and how I can safely use them in my class. I believe it would be interesting to do a trial cross-curriculum lesson using blogs. I would also have liked more time to look more extensively at my district's technology plan and how they intend on upgrading technology in terms of the budget. I also think it would be interesting to see how standards of technology differ among the campuses within the district. I have a feeling that there is a discrepancy between the high schools that are considered rich, compared to the high schools that are considered poor.

The course assignments were tough in terms of what needed to be done in the time that was allotted. Most of the assignments would have been feasible for a semester-long course where data could really be studied extensively. I felt like between my "real job," requirements in this course, the holidays, and time allottment (a five week course) I could have done a better job if I had more time. The time that I had to allot for this class was almost double what I have had to set aside for most of the other courses I have taken.

I believe I learned how to think more outside of the box in this course. Technology is a relatively new horizon. I often complain that adminstrators at my school are too often reactive instead of being proactive. I learned it is harder than what it seems in this course because these are ideas that are new and some untested. It was difficult to compose a professional development plan that I believe would help every faculty member, not just most of them. Although this is difficult, it is imperative that a good administrator is able to do this.

In my opinion, we in the education world are about to see a dramatic rise in the use of blogging. As more and more safety features are added, teachers are going to be able to use blogging to communicate and facilitate learning in an entirely new way. We may actually see students doing their homework! Blogging will allow us to approach those "old timey" assignments in a new way that is appealing to students of this generation.

Anything that is online is scary. It can be difficult to monitor if the teacher is not an active participant in the blogging. I am apprehensive about blogging in terms of age appropriateness. I believe very young students(maybe Kindergarten until second grade) and very mature aged students (sophomores in high school and up) will be better bloggers in terms of keeping cyber bullying to a minimum. Cyber bullying and students not understanding cyber ethics is probably my biggest worry with blogging. I do not feel like I am technologically savy enough prevent or deal with problems that could arise.

I would love to see blogging become a normal way of communicating between school personnel. It would be wonderful if the adults of a school system actually model and use the technology that we require of our students. This would help in becoming more comfortable with the use of technology. I also believe it would open up an entire new world the new and older teachers for colloboration purposes. The opportunities are endless!

Action Plan

 

 

 

Week 4 Assignment, Part 2: Professional Development Planning

Bullet 1

-Technology into CIP

-Opportunity for model lessons

-Pairing teachers

 

Bullet 2

-STaR chart

-District Technology Strategic Plan

-FBISD Professional Development Plan

 

Bullet 3

-Team collaboration

-Collaboration among subject (example: Social Studies)

-CBLT discussion of campus-wide initiative

 

 

 

 

 

Week 4 Assignment, Part 3: Evaluation Planning for Action Plan

Groups

Administration (rotates with their PDAS appraisal groups except for collaboration with teams time in the afternoon)

Social Studies

Math

Science

ELA

Electives/Physical Education/Health

 

Stations

Smart board lessons

Blogs and wikis

Collaboration with subject

Teaching Cyber Ethics

Web conferencing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Professional Development Session for Elkins HS

8:00-8:10		Introduction
8:15-9:00	ELA	Smart boards
	Math	Blogs and wikis
	Science	Teaching Cyber Ethics
	Social Studies	Web conferencing
	Electives/PE/Health	Collaboration/Brainstorming within subject
9:05-9:50	Electives/PE/Health	Smart boards
	ELA	Blogs and wikis
	Math	Teaching Cyber Ethics
	Science	Web conferencing
	Social Studies	Collaboration/Brainstorming within subject
9:55-10:40	Social Studies	Smart boards
	Electives/PE/Health	Blogs and wikis
	ELA	Teaching Cyber Ethics
	Math	Web conferencing
	Science	Collaboration/Brainstorming within subject
10:45-11:30	Science	Smart boards
	Social Studies	Blogs and wikis
	Electives/PE/Health	Teaching Cyber Ethics
	ELA	Web conferencing
	Math	Collaboration/Brainstorming within subject
11:30-1:00	Lunch
1:00-1:45	Math	Smart boards
	Science	Blogs and wikis
	Social Studies	Teaching Cyber Ethics
	Electives/PE/Health	Web conferencing
	ELA	Collaboration/Brainstorming within subject
1:55-2:45		Collaboration within teams
2:45-3:00		Wrap up/Questions/Survey

 

 

 

 

Jaclyn Scales

EDLD 5352

December 2009

Action Plan

    Three main sources and the lack of technology in the Campus Improvement Plan were used when considering construction of an action plan for Elkins High School in Fort Bend Independent School District. The STaR chart, District Technology Strategic Plan, and the FBISD Professional Development Plan were instrumental in devising a professional development plan that accomplishes goals set forth from both the state and the district. This professional development plan encompasses the needs of Elkins High School as set forth from these sources.

    One focus that is important is integrating technology into the Campus Improvement Plan. Time was allocated for administrators and teachers that are members of the Campus Based Leadership Team to rotate within their subject groups to see model lessons and receive information on technology. Teachers will be able to collaborate with their teams and subject area and administrators will have time in the afternoon to collaborate with the administration team about what they learned in the stations and to formulate ideas that could possibly be integrated into the CIP. The integration of technology use is imperative!

    A rotation format is used for most of this professional development for several reasons. One reason is to model differentiated instruction. Teachers, like their students, do not learn well when sitting at a table for six hours listening to someone feed them information. They need to move around and be able to experiment and try new things. Another reason for the rotation format is it would be most beneficial if teachers can see a variety of model lessons being presented. This should help teachers brainstorm ideas that can be used in their classes.

    Another consideration for this professional development is pairing newer teachers with teachers that have been in education longer. Collaboration time within teams will allow for the pairing of teachers.

    Results from the Star chart indicated that Elkins High School scored low in comparison to other areas in "Teaching and Learning." This professional development scheme is designed to directly address this area. The goal is for all teachers to begin actively incorporating the use of technology in their classrooms. By seeing model lessons, learning new information about technology use and cyber ethics, and time to collaborate to brainstorm ideas with colleagues, teachers should have more tools to achieve this goal. The Fort Bend Independent School District's Technology Strategic Plan outlines goals that are measurable and achievable. Most of Fort Bend ISD Professional Development "Gold Standard" program focuses on technology and curriculum. This professional development activity addresses both of these concepts.

    By the end of this professional development session, the administration and faculty should be excited about the improvements that can be made across subject areas in terms of the use of technology. Both the administration and faculty should be empowered to use technology in their classrooms constructively and safely. Students should see a difference in the make-up of their classroom activities. It will be imperative that administration continues to reinforce the importance of the use of technology. Periodic surveys of how technology is being used, and what teachers feel they need more training on will also be imperative for technology improvement. This cannot be a mandatory, one-time session. It should be a focus that is addressed often.