Action Research
When I started this program I thought there was one type of research. I have learned that there are several types of research however the one that makes the most sense to me is the action research. Action research is a new term but somewhat familiar in that it reminds me of what teachers do all the time to make improvement to their class from year to year but on a single person scale. Action research is a progressive problem solving system that uses a reflective process to collect data. It is usually aimed at improving the practice of a group or organization and it uses a team or collaborative approach to collect data regarding the problem. This research requires a conscious attempt to plan or question some existing process. It then looks at what happens after an action and describes the results of the action by recording it in some sort of observation journal or log. Then the group looks at the data and makes a decision about whether the results solve the problem or if further research or observation needs continue. The process can become a continuous questioning and tweeking of results until the best practice or outcome is achieved.
Use of Blogs in Educational Settings
I can see the use of educational blogs used in any and all school settings both by administration and teachers. I have been thinking about using it my self among the 8th grade teachers on our campus to give us a forum to exchange ideas and facilitate our ability to develop and use a cross curriculum platform to help our students gain and maintain learned knowledge from other classes. Our new website at school gives us the ability to blog and I am working on how to best implement my plan to exchange ideas within our grade level group.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Reflections for Course EDLD 5306 8-12-10
To be honest I was not totally sure what to expect from this course. I knew I wanted to obtain a masters degree that would allow me to use technology more efficiently and help develop technology plans that would benefit my students and district. I expect to gain some basic terminology and information on which to build for the use of technology in my classroom beyond just the use of productivity software. This class has introduced me to several new things and I am not sure where to begin.
Blogs, wikis, and podcasting are buzz words I have heard at numerous workshops and conferences over the last few years, but I left those conferences and still had no real idea what they were talking about. After this class, I know the basics of what each of these are. Each day I use my wiki, I learn something new and develop better skills. I wonder how I can use it, both with administrators and fellow teachers and my students. When I use my blog, I have ideas run through my head on how I can incorporate it in my class with my students.
This course has been very relevant to my work and classroom. I am a technology teacher and I have to teach them to use Microsoft Office and explore careers. I do use simple collaborative projects for my students to work with one another. However, I want to teach them how to use technologies such as wiki to work collaboratively. I try to teach copyright and ethics while teaching my students appropriate researching skills and critical thinking skills. As we learned last week, we need to teach our students what ethics are and we need to start at a very young age. I have heard our Technology Director make comment about using certain software and settings in order to hopefully keep the students from cheating. I have learned that if the student is going to cheat they will find a way, but maybe if we can teach values and ethics along the way they will not be inclined to do so. As we model and teach these ethics we also need to teach copyright from elementary up.
I also want to be able to help my district in the development of a technology plan, acceptable use policies and code of ethics that is up to date with the technologies that are available, especially Web 2.0 applications that allow teachers and students to work collaboratively.
I do not know of any thing that I did not achieve since I did not have any ideas of what the class was about.
The course assignments were very demanding due to the time frame and the amount of work. I struggled with getting all assignments completed on time. I did have some difficulty with understanding some assignments and was not sure what was expected. I eventually successfully completed the assignments and did well, but it took most of my day every day.
I am seriously wondering if I will be able to work, maintain my family, and complete my class assignments on time once school starts. I started it on purpose in the summer to determine the amount of time it would take me to accomplish assignments. The reason for this struggle may be me and not the course, because I have a learning disability that requires me to study in a different way which is more time consuming and reading assignments takes much longer.
I learned some new things about myself and my use of technology. I use technology daily but I need to improve my lessons to include some new types of technologies that will allow my students to develop critical thinking skills. I also learned that leadership is not a one person job. It takes all of us, teachers, administrators, technology, and community to make the best education environment for our students. I am already flexible when it comes to my room. I now need to take the next step to show leadership at the next level and help develop new technology plans and acceptable use policies that bring our students into the current century.
Blogs, wikis, and podcasting are buzz words I have heard at numerous workshops and conferences over the last few years, but I left those conferences and still had no real idea what they were talking about. After this class, I know the basics of what each of these are. Each day I use my wiki, I learn something new and develop better skills. I wonder how I can use it, both with administrators and fellow teachers and my students. When I use my blog, I have ideas run through my head on how I can incorporate it in my class with my students.
This course has been very relevant to my work and classroom. I am a technology teacher and I have to teach them to use Microsoft Office and explore careers. I do use simple collaborative projects for my students to work with one another. However, I want to teach them how to use technologies such as wiki to work collaboratively. I try to teach copyright and ethics while teaching my students appropriate researching skills and critical thinking skills. As we learned last week, we need to teach our students what ethics are and we need to start at a very young age. I have heard our Technology Director make comment about using certain software and settings in order to hopefully keep the students from cheating. I have learned that if the student is going to cheat they will find a way, but maybe if we can teach values and ethics along the way they will not be inclined to do so. As we model and teach these ethics we also need to teach copyright from elementary up.
I also want to be able to help my district in the development of a technology plan, acceptable use policies and code of ethics that is up to date with the technologies that are available, especially Web 2.0 applications that allow teachers and students to work collaboratively.
I do not know of any thing that I did not achieve since I did not have any ideas of what the class was about.
The course assignments were very demanding due to the time frame and the amount of work. I struggled with getting all assignments completed on time. I did have some difficulty with understanding some assignments and was not sure what was expected. I eventually successfully completed the assignments and did well, but it took most of my day every day.
I am seriously wondering if I will be able to work, maintain my family, and complete my class assignments on time once school starts. I started it on purpose in the summer to determine the amount of time it would take me to accomplish assignments. The reason for this struggle may be me and not the course, because I have a learning disability that requires me to study in a different way which is more time consuming and reading assignments takes much longer.
I learned some new things about myself and my use of technology. I use technology daily but I need to improve my lessons to include some new types of technologies that will allow my students to develop critical thinking skills. I also learned that leadership is not a one person job. It takes all of us, teachers, administrators, technology, and community to make the best education environment for our students. I am already flexible when it comes to my room. I now need to take the next step to show leadership at the next level and help develop new technology plans and acceptable use policies that bring our students into the current century.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Web Confrerence 7-27-2010
The web conference seemed to run very smoothly. I still am having some technical difficully with getting the camera and mic to work together.
The general session was used to ask question regarding up coming assignment and the Internship. Question were asked and answered about Creating Draft Plan and how to use the NETS-S to create it. My understanding was to start with Appendix G, work to Appendix F then E. However upon looking in text, I do not see these Appendix. I only see A,B,C.
I may still need help.
The general session was used to ask question regarding up coming assignment and the Internship. Question were asked and answered about Creating Draft Plan and how to use the NETS-S to create it. My understanding was to start with Appendix G, work to Appendix F then E. However upon looking in text, I do not see these Appendix. I only see A,B,C.
I may still need help.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
National Education Technology Plan 2010 7/21/10
According to the National Educational Technology Plan 2010 the two main goals proposed under the Obama administration are:
1) Increase the number of 2 to 4 year college graduates from 39% to 60% by 2020
2) Close the achievement gap so that all students will graduate from high school with the skills that will allow them to succeed in college or career.
This plan introduces some new recommendations in several areas.
The recommend goals for learners is that “All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.” (pg xxi) How do we accomplish this? One way is to revise the standards to meet 21st century expertise and use the power of technology
There are goal set for teaching which states that “Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners”. (pg xiii) The recommendation is that some of the ways to accomplish this is to create and expand technology based content and online education communities.
These goals and other recommendations are being proposed in the hopes that by the year 2020 the isolated classroom will be a thing of the past and replaced by the connective teaching model.
National Education Technology Plan 2010, March 5, 2010, Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education
1) Increase the number of 2 to 4 year college graduates from 39% to 60% by 2020
2) Close the achievement gap so that all students will graduate from high school with the skills that will allow them to succeed in college or career.
This plan introduces some new recommendations in several areas.
The recommend goals for learners is that “All learners will have engaging and empowering learning experiences both in and outside of school that prepare them to be active, creative, knowledgeable, and ethical participants in our globally networked society.” (pg xxi) How do we accomplish this? One way is to revise the standards to meet 21st century expertise and use the power of technology
There are goal set for teaching which states that “Professional educators will be supported individually and in teams by technology that connects them to data, content, resources, expertise, and learning experiences that enable and inspire more effective teaching for all learners”. (pg xiii) The recommendation is that some of the ways to accomplish this is to create and expand technology based content and online education communities.
These goals and other recommendations are being proposed in the hopes that by the year 2020 the isolated classroom will be a thing of the past and replaced by the connective teaching model.
National Education Technology Plan 2010, March 5, 2010, Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education
School District Technology Plan
Our school district has set forth 8 goals accompanied by 3 to 8 strategies per goal to lead our district one step closer to achieving the Advanced Tech in all areas instead of just in the Infrastructure area. Professional development is a high priority as well as evaluating student and teacher progress toward achieving the goals set by the district and they provide for all this with budgeted funds.
One example is Whitney ISD’s Goal 1 – Teaching and Learning – all students and teachers will utilize multiple technology resources to support research-based instructional strategies to improve student learning and meet diverse learning needs. The objective is to obtain 100% grade appropriate mastery of technology applications within the basic instructional programs. There are 7 strategies identified to accomplish this task. One of the teacher strategies is for the teacher to develop instructional strategies that integrate the use of online resources, research methods, digital literacy, and productivity. While one of the student strategies is “increase the ability of students to locate and differentiate digital information”.
Professional development is provided in several ways. The district has an agreement with the educational service center where certain workshops are offered to our teachers at no cost or a reduced cost, as well as online professional development courses.
Students are assessed by sample work, surveys, and classroom observation. The hardware, software and other services needed to develop the students skills are assessed by periodic surveys of how the infrastructure is working and what changes needed to be made. The funds for this endeavor are $106,741.00 to $204,464.00 per year. (Whitney Technology Plan 2010-2012)
One example is Whitney ISD’s Goal 1 – Teaching and Learning – all students and teachers will utilize multiple technology resources to support research-based instructional strategies to improve student learning and meet diverse learning needs. The objective is to obtain 100% grade appropriate mastery of technology applications within the basic instructional programs. There are 7 strategies identified to accomplish this task. One of the teacher strategies is for the teacher to develop instructional strategies that integrate the use of online resources, research methods, digital literacy, and productivity. While one of the student strategies is “increase the ability of students to locate and differentiate digital information”.
Professional development is provided in several ways. The district has an agreement with the educational service center where certain workshops are offered to our teachers at no cost or a reduced cost, as well as online professional development courses.
Students are assessed by sample work, surveys, and classroom observation. The hardware, software and other services needed to develop the students skills are assessed by periodic surveys of how the infrastructure is working and what changes needed to be made. The funds for this endeavor are $106,741.00 to $204,464.00 per year. (Whitney Technology Plan 2010-2012)
Technology Assessments 7-21-10
Technology is an ever changing element in all areas of life including education. It affects students, educators, administrators and the communities we live in. How do we find out where we stand? We use assessments. Whitney ISD uses several types of assessments.
The students take surveys to assess their knowledge and a test is given to evaluate hands on skills. This evaluation is given in the 8th grade to see if they are mastering the 4 domains: foundations, acquisition of information, work, and communication which are set forth in the Student Technology Applications Standards.
As we saw in the video, Texas Teacher STaR Chart, many of us experienced teacher have completed the Texas Teacher STaR Chart each year. It is given online and covers questions that are aligned with state and district goal. It gauges the educator’s progress on integrating technology into their classroom.
The district or administrators must complete the Texas Campus STaR Chart to evaluate the districts progress toward the Whitney ISD Technology Plan and it must be filed with all state funded Technology grants.
Whitney is a 2A school and is a small community and most the major businesses and key community leaders work cooperatively with the school. They give us their opinions on the skills they need in the business and what they would expect from the future workforce we provide them with.
There are pros and cons to the assessment of all the parties involved. We have goals set for us by the national and state government. How will we know if we have met those goals if we don’t do assessments and surveys? As stated in the video for Texas Campus STaR Chart these assessments must be kept as proof that the assessment was done and the Campus STaR Chart must be filed with all grant applications. However, as a teacher it seems that we are constantly tested for one thing or the other and when are we supposed to teach.
The students take surveys to assess their knowledge and a test is given to evaluate hands on skills. This evaluation is given in the 8th grade to see if they are mastering the 4 domains: foundations, acquisition of information, work, and communication which are set forth in the Student Technology Applications Standards.
As we saw in the video, Texas Teacher STaR Chart, many of us experienced teacher have completed the Texas Teacher STaR Chart each year. It is given online and covers questions that are aligned with state and district goal. It gauges the educator’s progress on integrating technology into their classroom.
The district or administrators must complete the Texas Campus STaR Chart to evaluate the districts progress toward the Whitney ISD Technology Plan and it must be filed with all state funded Technology grants.
Whitney is a 2A school and is a small community and most the major businesses and key community leaders work cooperatively with the school. They give us their opinions on the skills they need in the business and what they would expect from the future workforce we provide them with.
There are pros and cons to the assessment of all the parties involved. We have goals set for us by the national and state government. How will we know if we have met those goals if we don’t do assessments and surveys? As stated in the video for Texas Campus STaR Chart these assessments must be kept as proof that the assessment was done and the Campus STaR Chart must be filed with all grant applications. However, as a teacher it seems that we are constantly tested for one thing or the other and when are we supposed to teach.
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