Web Conference Activity

I attended the web conference with Dr. Abernathy along with several of my peers on the 5:00PM session this past Sunday. In participating in this activity we were able to connect and collaborate with our professor and peers and share insights. Dr. Abernathy cleared up some minor misconceptions about the course. She is making changes and we now understand that we will be receiving assignments via e-mail. Some of us discussed the difficulty in posting to TeacherTube and Youtube. I noticed on my part that TeacherTube required a 24 hour wait time to post, while YouTube had a shorter turnaround of a couple of hours. The professor pointed us an example of a story telling on her personal blogsite at http://www. kabernathy.com. It gave us an understanding in providing symbolism to our video project.


The second week will consist of a podcast and can be a vodcast as was clarified by Dr. Abernathy. The remaining weeks we will work on our PSA.

In participating in the web conference this included standard TL-V.D.2. Organize, coordinate, and participate in an online learning community related to the use of technology to support learning.

Reference:

Williamson, J., &. Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Week 1 Reflection on PhotoStory Project

Photostory Project for EDLD 5363

This week’s project was a productive and fun one. I had used the Photostory software in the past just to add images in the past. I had never really utilized the different options. When I used them, it helped to portray symbolism to the story. In the readings from this week I focus on the comments in the from the Digital Storytelling Cookbook by Joe Lambert. I connected with Lawrence Anderson one of the peers in the class. We used the questions that were appropriate to the story that was closes to the storyline that we were providing. In doing so I was able to expand on my project. I visited my mother and found many photos that I never though existed. It took some time to sort through all the pictures. I still needed to search the Internet to find images that would allow me to communicate the meanings in my project. I did not know that Photostory allowed for the audio to introduce per photo and this was new to me. I utilized the crop feature to focus on the image, which allowed me to have a starting and ending to emphasize the meaning of the picture. Towards the end of the project I found myself playing with free audio. I had to lower the audio somewhat for the voice over to really come through. I found that using the software was a little new, but quite productive. I will use in the future in my job and for sending video gifts for the rest of the family.

Photostory Outline


1. Hardship of the time my mother and her siblings were growing up.
2. The support and love my grandparents showed their kids through hard work.
3. The introduction of my sisters and brother
4. Parent’s divorce
5. My mother’s advice to be successful
6. The success of her children in getting an education
7. My mother’s accomplishment in raising us
8. Goal accomplished time to relax.

In the creation of the project, we communicated with a peer and this included standard TL-V.D.2. Organize, coordinate, and participate in an online learning community related to the use of technology to support learning. In creating the actual video we used standard TL=III.A.5 Design methods and model strategies for teaching concepts and skills that support use of multi-based tools such as television, audio, print media, and graphics.

References:

Lambert, J. (2007, February). Digital storytelling cookbook, 1-30. Story Center. Retrieved April 4, 2009, from http://www.storycenter.org/cookbook.pdf.

Williamson, J., &. Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology facilitation and leadership standards: What every K-12 leader should know and be able to do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

Class Reflections

In preparing for school improvement much of the research has been utilized from outside experts that tend to implement their results on schools. The outside experts are not privy to the specifics of the current status of our schools and sometimes their “cookie cutter” approach is not sufficient.


In the readings from Dana (2009) in Leading with passion and knowledge we were introduced to the differences between administrator inquiry and the traditional educational research. In utilizing the expertise inside our schools we can develop inquiries into our own issues/needs and develop action research to fit our special needs. This would enable us to delve into our issues/needs in a more granular level and at the same time build capacity within our administrators and staff. The book provided great information into the benefits of engaging in inquiry like collaboration, communication, and engagement in the needs of the schools. The nine passions that were outlined in the book illustrated the wonderings of our inquiry. The examples at the end of the chapter help me in finding the inquiry that we best suit the needs of the district and I was to find my professional strengths that would complement the action research. Later in the readings I read about the data collection strategies. I was familiar with the majority of the strategies, but the one that helped the most was the one on weblogs. This allows to journal all our activities and thoughts and as the book states “The comment feature of blogs allows principal-researchers to receive feedback from anyone in the world or other practitioner-researchers.”

In reading Examining what we do to improve our schools from Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2009) it provided the steps we should to go from analysis to action. The book provided the necessary steps in order to start our action research and complete it to a cyclic fashion in order to sustain improvement. The eight step process, the 7.1 template and the SIP template were very helpful in guiding us the action researchers to create and complete the plan.

The class videos with Dr. Elvis Arterbury and Dr. Steve Jenkins provided guidance and clarification with their nicely articulated speeches. With their clarifications at each week’s interval it provided us explicit explanations and steps in completing our action research. Their video presented great advice on the need for action research for school improvement and capacity building. The video conferences with Dr. Steve Jenkins were awesome. When we were working on the templates I felt lost and attended several of his sessions. I participated and he helped to get me to the next step of the project. Dr. Jenkins was quick to provide assistance after the session and quick to respond with answers and templates.

The discussion board provided much help with the interaction with my peers. I was able to identify how they approached their project and at the same time was sympathized about the similar problems we had. The board helped with the insight that was provided in their plans as well as the feedback from my other peers.

As I had mentioned above the blogs are a great idea to sustain the thoughts of our project. It enabled me to revisit and make adjustments as needed and it provided a refresher on my ideas. The comments from my peers helped me greatly since “two set of eyes are better than one.” There were several instances on my SIP template that I had failed to clarify my intentions and this was noted on the comments from my peers. In revisiting and assistance from my peers I was to refine my action research.

In visiting sites for my action research I came across an article Preparing schools for curricular reform: Planning for Technology vs. Technology Planning by Fishman, B., Pinkard, N., & Bruce, C. (1998) that helped in focusing my inquiry. The article states how they conducted their research and it specifically shows how technology equipment is underutilized. They illustrate how professional development and fitting technology with the curriculum would provide great strides in school improvement.

In conclusion this class has provided me with know how to conduct an action research. The books, assignments, lectures, and peer collaboration were instrumental in accomplishing all my tasks. I will look kindly on this class for empowering me to participate in inquiry and providing solutions at our district.

References:

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Fishman, B., Pinkard, N., & Bruce, C. (1998). Preparing schools for curricular reform: Planning for Technology vs. Technology Planning. Retrieved on August 01, 2010 from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.129.326

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2009). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 9 steps

Action Research Template

Peer Comments and Site Supervisor Meeting

Peer Comments

I received three comments from my peers on my action research plan. They provided good feedback and all of them mentioned how thorough my plan is. My peers provided very good suggestions to enhance my plan. I had stated that the teachers needed to meet State Board of Education Certifications (SBEC) standards and one of the comments recommended clarifying the standard. I will take their advice and change it to meets SBEC technology standards. The second commenter stated “Please remember that to require teachers to attend technology training, its best that they first buy into the idea, or they might resist or simply go through the motions.” I need to clarify that these are trainings that already scheduled by the district to meet requirements. The action plan states that it will imbed technology integration into the trainings. The last commenter stated “what site or training material will you use to fill in their technology gaps?". I noted on the plan that one of the resources would be Infosource professional development. This focuses on just basic technology use all the way to using technology with special needs. I will note that during the trainings technology equipment such as digital projectors, document cameras, whiteboards, and Web 2.0 tools will be used during the curriculum department’s professional development. I will not change my plan since I already have it mentioned under my second outcome under resources in my SIP template. The comment provide multiple and collaborative views on my plan that will learn and enhance the processes in the action research.

Site Supervisor Meeting

I met with my site supervisor which just happens to be the assistant superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. Since she has full schedule we had meeting late in the afternoon on August 6, 2010 at the Curriculum and Instruction department office located at our Lee Complex. I brought a copy of my SIP/PIP template and CARE Model planning tool. We discussed the goal and how it fits well into all the initiatives that outlined in by the state and national entities. In our discussion we visited the goals that where outlined by the school board, four of the goals focus on technology. We discussed that new teachers have basic technology skills as outlined by the SBEC standards. Our initial focus to assess all teachers and find what their competency level is which outlined in the plan. In our conversation we discussed how veteran teachers will provide a little resistance, but will come onboard when presented the pros versus the cons. We also discussed that since teachers get pulled out a lot for training there creates a void for instruction for the students. Imbedding technology integration when possible in professional development was mutually agreed upon. Since a group of teachers from each campus meet once a year to do curriculum writing, it was agreed that a component of the writing include technology. In focusing on the last outcome we spoke about teachers effectively using the equipment. She mentioned that my staff could be instrumental in ensuring that the teachers are prepared for the training by training them on technology use when possible so they can proficient in hands on use while in training. In our discussion we agreed on the plan and the only change from this meeting will be to include my staff as a resource in the last outcome. The biggest possible out of this meeting is the support that I am receiving from my site supervisor in going forward with this plan. We both agreed on the needs and issues that the plan outlines and how it would help in moving the district from a Recognized district to an Exemplary one. 

Action Plan Template

Problem Statement

The federal, state, and local entities are making requirements that school districts need to be prepared with 21st century skills. There are monies that are provided to school districts to ensure the teachers are prepared to use 21st century skills in the classroom using diverse delivery systems. The teachers are the most important factor that affects our student’s success and achievements. Infusing technology integration in professional development is gaining momentum and districts that maximize technology tools and integrate into the classroom will reform the teacher’s classroom practice, thus increasing their proficiency and increasing the intending effect of student engagement and achievement.

The Travelogue Reflection

In reading The Travelogue: Sharing your work with others from the Dana text it was very empowering in realizing how such accomplishments can be when sharing the accomplishments of an action research. There are many ways to share this type of information like the creation of presentations that clarify the action research, the step, and the results. This information can additionally be supplemental information when posting on blogs, wikis, websites and using the old electronic mail form of data sharing. In collaborating and communicating with peers, they can be directed to the sites and responses can be engaging to provide new activities, benchmarking, and evaluation to streamline the research methods. In our school district La Feria ISD providing presentations in the form of a PowerPoint and brochures is very in order to disseminate information to the stakeholders like the school board and the community.


In order for the stakeholders, peers, and the world at-large that are interested in the results of the action we need to the four critical tasks of effectively sharing the information from the research project. First we start with the background information which provides an impetus for the project itself. We addressed the local, state, and national requirements for increased technology proficiency among teachers and student. In order for this to work the teachers must be evaluated and supported for this to happen. Teachers need professional development in an ongoing manner in order to change their knowledge and classroom practice in order to help the students succeed with diverse delivery method and the required 21st century skills. The information we received from the Texas STaR chart, technology assessment tools, and requests from the teachers provided support for this action research.

Secondly in sharing this information we need to provide the procedures, data collection methods, and how it was evaluated. We will utilize the STaR chart, and proficiency assessments to provide part of the information. In order to paint a fuller picture we need to provide how we collected the data like showing the surveys, feedback forms, walkthrough templates, and sample assessment questions with correlating SBEC standards. In order to compile all this data into simpler terms we provide summary reporting in the form of charts and graphs.

The data will show the learning outcomes from the teachers and students. This will be accomplished in the results of post assessments, recurring STaR chart results, classroom walkthroughs showing teacher practices, and ultimately in student achievements.

Providing concluding thoughts and reflection in sharing the action research projects will complete the picture. We can tie in the rationale for the project and its successes and the need to continuation of the systems put in place to sustain school improvement. We can make recommendations based on the results to assist in purchasing additional equipment and help the teachers succeed in the 21st century skills and tools they need for success in student achievement and classroom proficiency.

References:
Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press..

Action Plan Template\
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Action Plan Template Continued

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