EDLD 5366, Week 5 Reflection

As I reflect back to the beginning of this technology course, all the feelings of being inadequate with technology were present. I am quite a bit older than a lot of the other classmates and while I have had a lot of teaching experience, I did not grow up with the technology training or experiences as most of my younger peers. I had the feeling that I was coming upon a hurdle that may be too tall to clear. During the discussion posts, as I reflected upon the readings of each week, I gained strength and knowledge with reading my classmates reflections and reading their responses to my own reflections. I began to look at technology in a different way. I also learned that I wasn’t lacking that far behind my classmates with my technology skills. I needed to remember the words of Costa and Kallick (2000) “in reflective schools, there is no such thing as failure—only the production of personal insights from one's experiences.” I would need to remember this. No student should fail, and no educator should fail, as we all have to learn at our own pace and in our own way. The reflections helped me understand my fears and gain confidence at the same time. During all of this mental turmoil, I realized that the purpose of this course was to help me grow and gain new information that would help me grow as a person.

This technology course would teach me that I am learning as a learner, but in my own way. According to Gerstein (2014), she believes some of the “other skills and attributes” of the 21st century learning are “grit, resilience, effective oral and written communication, vision, critical thinking and problem solving, self-regulation, and empathy and global stewardship.” I can now say that I agree whole heartedly. It took grit and resilience in not letting the skills of the computer leave me behind. As part of the course assignment, a group of students had to make a collaborative webpage. I used Facebook and a Google document for my written communication with my team. I was fortunate enough to have a group of educators that wanted and had high expectations for our efforts into our project of creating the website. We tossed out ideas, our imagination, and our vision into what we felt our website should be. I learned to be accepting of others, even if my ideas were still lurking in the background of my mind. I gained new learning of how to embed resources into our site, as well as learn how to use some new technology tools. I created my own logo using my imagination and problem solving skills. I put my faith and hope into my classmates and valued their opinions of my own thinking. Their validation of my efforts helped me gain confidence in my technology efforts. I realized that I had faced technology as a huge monster and that wasn’t the case at all. I was learning, having fun, and succeeding. I wasn’t as technology challenged as I had previously thought. I now feel very confident in knowing how to create my own website and how to embed all the various resources into my website as well.

The knowledge that we can gain with technology is never ending. I know that I have gained skills and new thinking of myself that will be useful to me throughout my life. With the help of my classmates, course readings, the discussion forum, my professor, the web conferences, and other avenues and resources, I have learned that by intertwining hard work, critical thinking and problem solving skills with my own perseverance and quest for knowledge, I can learn anything. It is this drive that I must instill in those I lead and educate, regardless of the age. As a lifelong learner I must challenge those educators that I will lead someday to reach out and not be afraid. There will be those surrounding them that can help, collaborate, teach and lead them into new learning, just as I have been in this educational journey. There will be new strategies, new technologies and new ideas that will be worthy of our investigations, and we must do so with “grit, resilience, effective oral and written communication, vision, critical thinking and problem solving, self-regulation, and empathy and global stewardship” (Gerstein, 2014). This process of learning will be reflected upon and new learning can emerge. According to Gerstein (2011), “the only way that educators can teach and promote reflective practice by their students (of all ages) in their own classrooms is to engage in, embrace, and fully understand this process themselves.”

Implementing the use of web 2.0 tools into a PK-12 classroom is essential for today’s students. There are numerous websites within the reach of teachers that can be used in everyday teachings from the pre-kindergarten level to grade twelve. I believe that we must first make sure that all teachers are comfortable with using various web 2.0 tools, so that they will implement them into their lesson plans and classrooms on a daily basis. This would be done through professional development and leadership on the administration. Schools need to have detailed expectations for teachers regarding the use of web 2.0 tools. Students are already using them and just need to be challenged with their use of the web 2.0 tools. That challenge must come from teachers. Students need the teacher’s guidance to do more than just play with the tools. Schools need to implement the guidelines for when, why, and how we should be using the web 2.0 tools. If we address the use of web 2.0 tools with the teachers, then the use of these tools within the classroom will be used every day! It is up to the teachers and schools to make this change.

References

Costa, A. & Kallick, B. (2000). Getting into the habit of reflection. Educational leadership; sustaining change. 57. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr00/vol57/num07/Getting-into-the-Habit-of-Reflection.aspx

Gerstein, J. (2011, August). Where is reflection in the learning process? Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process/

Gerstein, J. (2014, February). The other 21st century skills: why teach them. Retrieved from http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2014/02/09/the-other-21st-century-skills-why-teach-them/

EDLD 5366, Week 4, Web Site Collaboration

During week four of EDLD Digital Graphics and Web Design, we had to work in collaborative groups to create an educational website. My group participants were phenomenal! We worked great together and accomplished a very useful website. Check it out!

EDLD 5366, Week 3 Assignment, Animation

This week we had to create an animation with at least 10 or more steps. I created mine using the open source animation software called Stykz. It was a lot of fun, but frustrating at times because it was the first time I had ever made an animation. Although it is a very short animation, I still hope you gain some enjoyment from viewing it.

EDLD 5366, Week 2 Assignment, A Logo Designed by Me!

This is a personal logo that I designed with an educational twist! This was made as a requirement for a technology class I have to have as part of my master's program. I plan on using it on my educational website!

EDLD 5366 Digital Graphics, Animation, and Web Design: A Post for Week 1 - Assignment 1.2

The manuscript that I selected was Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. My first impression of this manuscript was that it was beautifully written. The entire manuscript appeared to be bound in a leather cover with the title printed in gold. This could imply that it was held in high regards. All the print was uniformly written and the spacing was consistent throughout. It is one that I would love to add to my personal library!

I found all four principles of design represented within the works. An example of contrast could be found in the use of the printed page. The print looked like it was in calligraphy with black ink. The letters of the body text were uniform in size and color except for the titles of the chapters. The first letter in the word “chapter” and the number of the chapter were written in large, crimson red calligraphy print. The chapter titles were about ten times as big as the body text. An example of repetition could be seen in the uniform size of letters and they were written very straight horizontally as if a straightedge had been used. Another example of repetition was that a beautiful leaf vine was separating the chapter titles from the body text throughout the entire manuscript. Repetition was also shown in the pictures. They were all sketched in great detail. An alignment example would be that there was even spacing all around the page between the page edge and the print as well as the pictures. All of the smaller pictures were inside a square space along the edges of the page. There were no lines around the drawing, but it was as if someone had measured a square off to the side and the sketch was inside the square fitting perfectly. The print aligned perfectly up to the drawing for the length of the drawing until it could again go across the full width of the page. The example of proximity could be found with these sketches as well. The sketches were aligned to the right or left of the print that mentioned the happenings in the sketches. This gave the reader an ease of looking slightly right or left of the print to focus on the sketch. Another example of proximity was the use of the sketches that covered a whole page. Again, there was perfect alignment with the drawing being in the middle of the page with the exact same space between the drawing and the edge of the page. Except this time, the drawing had an outline in the shape of a rectangle. The sketch took up the entire space within the rectangle outline as if to bring closure to the sketch.

Sharing My Research Findings

At this point in my action research plan, I hope to share my action research plan with my interning principal, assistant principal and the teachers in my school. Sharing the findings of my action research with the teachers is something that I will need to confirm with my administrators on my building. Since this is my first action research project, and I feel very green with the process. My goal is to not only search and process the data that can answer my leading question of whether interactive science notebooks are effective with students’ learning, but to walk away from this experience with new knowledge of how the action research actually works and learning its’ process. This new knowledge is what I want to share with my administrators and teachers. If I can prove my research question with the supporting data that can answer the leading question of my research, then I can share that result with a sense of confidence that I have increased my knowledge and their knowledge as well, which will increase the success of the student. This is one of the most prevalent reasons educators should be conducting research; to help increase student success. On the other hand, if my research falls short of being able to answer the leading research question, then all of the processes and data gathered hopefully will bring about new questions and learning regarding my research. Either way, I am learning and growing as an educator. These shared new learnings might be just enough to intrigue the teachers to think about how and why they are using the interactive science notebooks, which will increase their knowledge and thus, lead to an increase in student success.

Another Action Research Update

I have reviewed the four critical tasks that I used in sharing my action research project, and I want to briefly explain why these tasks will be covered. According to Dana (2009), the first of the four critical tasks is “providing background information” (p.163). It will be important for me to share the background information so that I can tell others why I am intrigued by the topic I chose. I am curious how others feel about my action research topic and what I hope to gain from their insights. The second critical task is “sharing the design of the inquiry (procedures, data collection, and data analysis)” (p. 163). So that I don’t just reflect on what I did, I will include the systematic way of how I performed my action research, and why I chose the particular methods of what I did including the data collection and the analysis of that collection. The third critical task is dealing with “stating the learning and supporting the statements with data” (pg. 163). This is where I will prove my case or build my argument. I will need to support the findings by providing the evidence from my data. I will use as much data as possible so that I have a running record of evidence to support my statements from my learning. The more sources I have, the stronger my case becomes. The fourth and last critical task from Dana (2009) is “providing concluding thoughts” (p. 168). I will need to remember that after I complete my action plan, I may or may not have the answers to the initial questions or leading question of my research. All of my work will not be done in vain, as I will have answers to my questions, or now I will have additional questions and new areas for inquiry towards my research.

References

Dana, Nancy F. (2009). The travelogue: Sharing your work with others. Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher (pp. 135-170). Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin.

Rolling Along with My Action Research Plan (Progress Update)

As a reminder, by action research is researching the effectiveness of the use of student science journals towards student achievement. My action research plan is moving at a slower pace than my internship plan. I have logged many hours into my internship plan hoping to put it on the back burner, so that I could concentrate on my action research plan this summer. I am currently gathering the necessary data to complete my research. I want to do this while school is going on, so that if I run into a problem, I have the support of my school staff and administrators to help me. As I gather the data, I am formatting it into charts and graphs where the data can easily be compared. This summer, I will apply this data to my action research paper. I have established the selection of the bilingual and monolingual students that I will use in my research. I have already gathered the district benchmarks in science for the participating students from the school year 2011-2012. I have gathered the district benchmarks in science for this year 2012-2013 and am up to date with those results. I have copied the organizational skills used in the students science journals and will continue to gather more samples from this year towards the end of the year. I am researching on the web trying to find as much research as I can that pertains to my action research. I have found several good sources like foss.org and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) as a couple of examples. The NSTA has some great articles concerning the use of science notebooks and has documented some of the research that has been developed to study the use of the science notebooks. I have not ran into any obstacles yet, but I know that if I do, I can rely on my administrators, the staff and the professors to redirect me in the right direction.

EDLD 5326--Partnership Presentation

5326 School Community Relations--Partnership Timeline

Task	Who?	What?	When?
Seek Approval	School administrators	-Share & collaborate partnership idea -seek approval to proceed with development	March 2113
Establish Campus Base Site Committee (CBST) to oversee partnership development	School’s established planning committee -(Including but not limited to): -Counselor -Teachers from each grade level -PTO/parent org. representatives -Teacher aid -Nurse -Community representatives -Administrators	-Organize members for campus base site committee to oversee development of partnership -Inventory current discipline practices -Ensure need for partnership align with school/student goals -Ensure school’s need with cultures—schedule school personnel to use the Self-Assessment Checklist on the NASPW, (National Association of School Psychologists Website	April 2013
CBST to collaborate on development of partnership	CBST Members: -School psychologist(as guest if possible) -Administrators -Teachers from each grade level -Nurse -Community representatives -Parent representatives -Counselor -PTA/other parent org. representatives	-Develop 3 year outline broadly defining goals of partnership for each year including ideas of behavior workshops, guest speakers, parent child activities, family/student take home activity bags, evaluations, etc. -Produce 1 year action plan including activities, resources, funding, and evaluation -Develop the SOS (Success of Students) Plan which is a step by step procedure plan for severe behavior interruptions that all staff will use -Establish reward system for no severe behavior outbursts -Mentoring including upper grade students,  parents, special visitors (Houston’s professional sports players, etc.) -Establish chairperson/co-chair to coordinate, schedule meetings, & share information	April – May 2013
CBST to collaborate funding sources,  resources, marketing, supplies	Established CBST members	-Make decision of how guest speakers(if needed for workshop will be obtained/funded -Funding of supplies: PTO, grade level funds -Send out help call to community & parents via, school newsletter, website, established weekly communication from classroom teachers for reading books, puzzles, math flash cards, etc. for Take Home Book Bags	May 2013
Make Take Home Activity Bags	CBST members Teachers Parents	-Make Take Home Family Activity Bags: use canvas bags to fill with 2-3 activities including a book activity	June  2013
Collaborate on development of partnership	Established CBST	Meet to tie up loose ends on any of: -3 year broad outline -1 year action plan -SOS (Success of Students) Plan -Family Activity Bags -Begin planning and marketing of the first year Behavior Workshop that will occur in January 2014 -Any relevant issues	End of June, July 2013
Plan & collaborate on Behavior Workshop for February 2013	-Established CBST -Other Community members -Parents	-Plan for 1st year guest speaker for 1 hour informational session regarding behavior issues as it related to medications, disorders, food allergies, etc. and parenting tips -Plan how (in person, video, website, etc.) it will be implemented -Plan when (Open House, on a Saturday, with Meet the Teacher Night, etc.) -Finalize funding (if any) for speaker	July 2013
Planned Parent Activities	-CBST members chairperson & co-chair - Teachers -Teacher aids, assistants	-All grade levels with SOS Plan students will plan to incorporate parents to be involved with their child, their grade level, or class -Teacher will have a generic list of pre-planned activities planned by the CBST that she/he will individualize toward her/his class and or students to meet their academic needs.	August 2013
Collaborate & Share w/Staff	-CBST chairperson -CBST co-chair -Administrators	-Review staff of established discipline guidelines for campus -Explain & collaborate refining step by step procedures between school/parents regarding severe behavior issues which is the SOS (Success of Students) Plan -Illicit commitment from staff for new SOS Plan	August 2013
Share SOS Plan w/ Community	-Administrators -Teachers -Students -CBST -Community	-Illicit commitment from parents-staff-students -Explain the SOS Plan steps -Share via use of school/student handbooks, school website, beginning of year grade level meetings w/parents to inform all members of SOS Plan	Beginning of school- August/September 2013
1st Year Behavior Workshop	- CBST members -Selected guest speakers (if any) - Community - Teachers - Administrators - Students - Other school staff	-1 scheduled 1 hour sessions to occur during 1st year involving speakers or information to discuss behavior issues that may be related to medications, disorders, food allergies, parenting tips, etc.	February 2014
Analyze Data & Evaluation of Behavior Exhibited w/Planned Activities and SOS Plan	-Participating Teachers -Administrators -Participating Parents	-Communicate & collaborate on successes of SOS Plan and gather feedback from parents on how to be more effective on SOS Plan -Check if reduction in behavior outbursts or severe behavior infractions	Monthly, possibly weekly depending on student’s issues beginning in August 2013
Evaluate overall partnership plan and review/update 3 year plan	CBST members	- Review and collaborate the 3 year outline of partnership - Review, update, improve SOS Plan to ensure it is linking to academic achievement - Reduction of Student’s Behavior Outbursts on an individual basis of each participating student	June 2014

5326 School Community Relations--Wk. 2--Gathering Data for Partnership Prosposal

Current Reality: Identify a current student issue or need that interferes with academic achievement at your school. Cite data that supports the need. This could be data that relates to academic achievement, student attendance, discipline, or other sources. Look at trends of data and disaggregated data, where available.

A current student issue that interferes with academic achievement at my interning school is the behavior of a 2nd grade male student that I will refer to as Needs2.  Since December Needs2 has outbursts involving disrespect to the teacher and other students. These outbursts involve some type of physical and verbal disrespect.  He has a daily behavior log that travels with him wherever he goes that has documentation of his good and bad behavior.  Teachers have documented his behavior in the Skyward computer system, which is an educational software program used by schools.  He has these behavior outbursts logged on forms, labeled “Outclass Conduct Notices” as well.  He has a cool-off spot in the classroom. Interventions from the school psychologist have been put in place for the teacher in dealing with Needs2.  Some of the behaviors he exhibits is running in classroom, making loud noises with his mouth, doesn’t stay on task, sings out loud, doesn’t follow simple rules, bangs on things in classroom, yells out, throws objects, talks back to teacher, refers to his teacher as “lady”, and has other inappropriate behaviors as well.  His behavior is detrimental to the other 2nd grade classmates and their learning as well as his own.  While this is just one student, there are more students at the school with severe behavior issues. The school does not currently have a program in place to engage with parents over the long-term to address these behavior issues. Whether it is one student with severe behavior issues or ten, these students have the capability of disrupting the entire classroom and lowering academic achievement for the whole classroom. Therefore, we must develop a program to systematically deal with these behavior issues.

Vision: How will the family-school-community partnership that you are proposing resolve the issue by meeting the demonstrated need, and how will it support student achievement?

I plan on building a model for engaging with parents of students with severe behavior issues, using the specific facts of Needs2 (outlined above) as the basis for the model.  Upon looking at this student issue, it has lead me to inquire about other students in this school that have had severe behavior issues within the classroom that have disrupted student achievement for the entire classroom. There are a couple more students that also have behavior issues that would benefit from a partnership with the community at this school.  Needs2 is definitely not the first nor will he be the last student with a strong behavior issue!  Therefore, my plan is to develop a discipline model plan that is implemented by all staff members.  This plan is a step by step process that allows the parents and the school to work together to resolve behavior issues that are occurring at school.  It will be beneficial for all other students-parents-school members when the occurrence arises with a different student.  It will help guide the parents and school towards successful behavior that will not deteriorate the learning environment.  This model program will be the standard for engaging families across the entire school year in addressing severe discipline issues. Applying this model for each family will not only increase the student achievement of the children with poor behavior, but will also provide a better learning environment for other students in the classroom and grade level.