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5352 Blog Posting #3

Reflection on the National Educational Technology Plan: “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology”

The National Educational and Technology Plan has two main goals; to raise the number of college graduates and to close the achievement gaps that exist in our schools today. In the 21^st century the focus is shifting to using technology to create “real world” and “real life” experiences in the classroom.  Student’s daily lives revolve around technology outside of the classroom, and it is up to the 21^st century educator to find ways to integrate this technology into the classroom. The curricular focus of this plan is on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) the US has fallen behind in these areas, and this plan urges us to make these areas a focus.  Assessment is stressed as the measuring tool to “diagnose and modify” conditions with in schools in order to improve learning through technology.  Teaching is no longer meant to be an isolated event. Teachers are now connected to: other professionals through online learning communities, to numerous digital teaching tools, and to students and parents at the click of a mouse. Even professional development is changing and becoming more accessible through technology. In terms of infrastructure every “student, educator, and level of our educations system” should be provided with the resources that they need. I do seriously wonder how we will accomplish these tasks. Some districts in Texas are in a financial crisis due to the economy. Districts are cutting their technology staff and budget. In this unfortunate economic climate, it is difficult to see the full realization of this plan anytime soon. However, the future of teaching and technology is clear, and it is very exciting!

5352 Blog Posting #2

Reflection on the Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2010

The first progress report on the new Texas long-range plan for technology was delivered in 2008. This report discusses the progress that Texas has made toward technology excellence. First, the report discusses two programs legislated to improve the implantation of technology. The first is the Texas Immersion Pilot (TIP). This program provided an opportunity to research the relationship between student performance and educational technology. Students and teachers were provided with wireless mobile computing devices and other resources. This program has overall had a positive effect and has led to increased student performance, increased parental involvement, and community support among other attributes. The second program is the Texas Virtual School Network (TxVsn). This program provides online courses to students throughout Texas. This program provides curriculum to students in districts that cannot provide it. It also allows for differentiated instruction by allowing students to accelerate through the curriculum or to use the courses for credit recovery.  This progress report then states the progress made toward the four areas that are measured by the STAR chart. These areas include: Teaching & Learning, Educator Preparation & Development, Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure for Technology. The overwhelming majority of Texas schools fall into the Developing Tech category on the STAR chart for all of these areas. The report also gives detailed information on specific strides that the state of Texas has made in these areas and plans for future improvement. The remainder of the report discusses what each of the Education Service Centers across the state have done to help move Texas toward technology excellence.

5352 Blog Posting #1

Educator Preparation & Development

On my campus the two areas that need the most work are Teaching & Learning, and Educator Preparation & Development. I think that if we were to focus on preparing and training our teachers, we would see a vast improvement in teaching and learning. Educator Preparation & Developing deals with the training that new teachers receive and the continued development of educators to improve their teaching by incorporating technology into their classroom. Providing decent training can be difficult. Providing time and resources for the type of professional development needed for 21^st century educators is a problem nationwide. As teachers are coming into the Texas school system these days, new recruits are required to have mastered the SBEC technology standards, but what about the veteran teachers? In the past, I have taught with teachers who did not have a mobile phone or a personal computer for the first forty or fifty years of their life. Yet, they teach children that do not remember a time when they did not have access to such devices. Anyone who teaches high school students these days knows that they think that they have a right to a mobile phone and without one they behave as if they are missing an appendage. This puts the teacher and the student on complete opposite ends of the technology spectrum. Most of the professional development that we receive seems to just explain to us how the latest technology works. I have never received any training in which I was taught how to teach a learner centered lesson to students.  I have discovered during my readings for this course that the trend in professional development is to provide training that allows students to create a learner-centered classroom and create students that are self-efficient and responsible for their own behavior. This is welcome news, and I know many teachers that will benefit from it.

Update

I am waiting on my meeting with my site-supervisor to post an updated plan. In the meantime, please leave comments on the plan that I have posted. The more input the better! Thanks!

Course Reflection

I have found this course very helpful in guiding me through the stages of developing an action research project. To begin we learned that “Administrator Inquiry refers to the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice & taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry,”(2). The benefits of engaging in inquiry are challenging norms, being a role model for teachers and students, helping best practices flourish at your school, and making principals slow down their pace. (11-13) I appreciated how we began by finding a deeper understanding about action research and why it is important to us professionally. I enjoyed the interviews that we watched during week two. It is reassuring to hear professionals talking about how they implement inquiry in their district. These interviews gave me ideas and new ways to think about my action research project.  Part of our week two assignment was to read and focus on the nine areas that the author described as major wonderings of school leaders (staff development, curriculum development, individual teachers, individual students, school culture/community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice or equity issues(32-63)) and to give an example of each. These nine topics sparked many ideas for topics for action research, which set me in the right direction for developing a topic for my own action research plan. Practicing developing examples of topics for action research gave me confidence when writing my own. I chose a topic that has come up as an area of concern with my site supervisor, (principal) and the assistant superintendent. I am excited about my project and I am glad that I found a topic that is relevant to my campus and actually has a chance to make an impact. I think that I have been able to produce a quality plan due to all of the resources that this course has provided; both texts that we have used have provided excellent information and instruction. Using the discussion board to receive advice from my peers has been a huge help, and I hope that some of my comments have been helpful as well. I have enjoyed creating my blog and posting on it. I had never created one before and I have instantly seen how beneficial this tool can be in the classroom. I particularly found the PIP/SIP template helpful. This chart was basically a great blueprint to use to build my action research plan. The amount of reflection that is built into this class has been extremely helpful. We discovered why reflection is an important leadership skill and an important part of action research. We have been asked to reflect on our own plan several times. The meetings with my site-supervisor and our joint reflection on my plan have really helped too. I enjoyed how each week a new aspect or tool to analyze and reflect on our plan was introduced. Through peer interaction on the discussion board and our blogs our plans have grown and become more focused. This class has introduced a new style of research to add to my tool box, and I know that I will be utilizing this new learning throughout the program and my administrative experiences. Fichman, Nancy Dana (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Action Research Plan

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT
Prepare and approve all aspects of Action Research Project	Discussion Action Research Plan with Campus supervisor	Meeting times and notes	Self and Supervisor	On-going	Notes from meetings
Use research to increase understanding and effectiveness of Action Research Plan	Research various types of schedules and their effectiveness	Websites, books, and journals	Self	On-going	Research Findings
Determine teachers overall satisfaction with  the current schedule	Survey teachers at Staff Meeting	Survey	Self	Next Faculty Meeting	Survey Results
Determine students overall satisfaction with the current schedule	Survey students in their History Classes	Survey	History department	November	Survey Results
Determine if any correlation exists between our new schedule and benchmark scores	Evaluate Benchmark Exams	Score reports from this year and last year	Self	October January March May	Score report correlations with schedule change
Use teacher comments to determine any effects of our new schedule on instruction and student achievement, and also their thoughts on moving to a traditional schedule	Have departments discuss positive or negative influences our schedule has had then interview department heads	Interview questions	Self and Teachers	January and May	Teacher comments
Compare test scores vertically and horizontally and look for any changes.	Evaluate Taks Data	TAKS Scores	Self and Departments	May	Test Results
Share results with the school district to help with the decision on scheduling	Share results with campus supervisor, faculty, assistant superintendent and school board	Action Research Plan Results	School District	June	Results