What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?
I was disappointed in this class. The title is Instructional Leadership and I anticipated being lead on the path towards leadership. My principal is a huge proponent of building others to be leaders and I was initially excited about this class because I felt it would help in that destination. I truly believed that we would be going in the direction of PLC’s and how to help lead and direct teachers in instruction at all levels. However, the only focus was on technology and even in that aspect it was not about leadership. I did learn more about Vision 2020 and more about implementing the STaR Chart. I am now able to see how perhaps some of the faculty would choose to rate their STaR survey they way they did. I was also able to find ways to utilize this information. Overall it is hard to determine any achievable outcomes because what I envisioned for this course and the reality were so completely different.
To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?
I am the lead counselor at my current school. This means I oversee four other counselors, the registrar, counseling clerk, and career specialist. I’m also responsible for our CTE department and meeting collaboratively with them three times a week. I feel that some of what I learned in this course will help me in my leadership role for the CTE department. However, I was hoping for more hands on type of guidance for leadership. I am responsible for disaggregation of data for AEIS and AYP purposes. I’m also held accountable as a member of a TAT (Technical Assistance Team) and the CIT (Campus Improvement Team). Also as a leader of the CTE department I’m required to have knowledge of technology. However, while some of the content from this course is relevant to my current job I do not feel that I was given any more knowledge than I already had before the course.
What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?
While I do not think this course was set up for accurate learning in instructional leadership based on this title. However, even with the focus being on technology I do not feel confident in all areas as would be hoped for. I can set up a blog and am capable of posting, adding, and following on a blog. However, I am not able to tell anyone of other blogs except for blogspot, and because of the difficulties with the programs we were directed to use to upload PowerPoint's,etc. I’m not even able to accomplish that task. I was never able to truly figure out how to upload I just did it the “easier” way. I do feel that some of the articles were interesting and would be helpful as an administrator. The articles over ethics and copyrighting were interesting and helpful in advising teachers and students. I wish we had been able to use other types of technology to post our information such as Wikis.
Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?
I was able to carry out the course assignments of this class to an extent. I felt at times that the directions of some weeks were not necessarily clear and concise. I realize that this was probably a learning lesson in and of itself because as an administrator and campus leader there are many times that clear direction will not be given. However, it was very frustrating at times to not have a clear objective and therefore the outcome was not always what I felt was good quality work. It was discouraging at times to not have clear direction and to be limited and what path to take. The discussion assignments were frustrating and many times I felt pointless. Having to read, respond and then re-respond to others postings seemed redundant and very time consuming. It was difficult to find enough time each week to complete the discussion. Perhaps it was because of the time of year that this class fell, but the last 6 weeks of a semester and the weeks of exams is requiring a lot from educators to have 24 discussion posts each week. Also, having this many posts did not help instill the information any of the articles.
What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?
I was reminded during this course that many times in graduate school the thing to remember is “hoops are hoops” and everyone has to jump through them. I also have to admit that several times throughout this course I made mental notes to higher competent technology specialists on my campus so that I would not have to deal with technology. My “technology” friends were hurt and confused at this train of thought from me. However, I was not engaged enough as the student to have complete buy in technology to become invested. I do feel that technology is important and is the direction we should be going, but my attitude during this course was not inclined to that direction. I did learn that I’m not scared of technology and feel confident in working programs, software and utilizing them as needed in either work or school. I feel that I am a leader in my school and others look at me in that role as well. When I was doing my interviews it was evident that my previous dealings with teachers and students in various capacities have lead me in the direction of leadership.
What is the educational value of blogs and blogging to the 21st century learner?
Blogging was a great way to share our ideas and concerns about this course. I did enjoy learning how easy and accessible blogging can be for everyone. I plan to present a short lesson next semester for all faculty on how to incorporate blogging into their everyday classrooms and to help with assignments. I think many and me included believed that blogging was time consuming and difficult. However, after this class I feel more confident and knowledgeable about blogging and incorporating it into everyday lessons. When working with the CTE department on my campus I have been working with them to incorporate blogging in their courses. With the changes to CTE this upcoming year I think that this would be a great way to implement the new TEKS. Also, blogging with other CTE teachers in the state to get their concerns, suggestions, and ideas as we move in a totally different direction. I have also encouraged others to include blogging in their courses to help with instruction. I have several students on home instruction or home bound status and I thin that blogging would help them feel more in touch with their courses while they are out.
How can you use blogging to communicate with school stakeholders?
Blogging is a great way to make sure that all stakeholders are engaged in learning. I realize that there are concerns about “safety” in blogging, however, with appropriate direction and teaching I think that blogging can still be a safe place for students to show their knowledge of a particular subject or content area. I know that what can be posted must be monitored by instructors at all times. Also, I think that as a school we could add blogs to our websites to help community members feel more welcome to express any concerns they may have and to also have more buy in to what the school is doing. One committee I am on is for our Smaller Learning Communities Grant and we require community members to be on the committee. If we were able to have a blog that they could also communicate on than parents and students would see what the community is needing from our students as they graduate.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Week 2 Assignment....Texas Long Range for Technology
The Texas Long Range Goal looks at four key areas: Teaching and Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support, and Infrastructure for Technology. For the past three years beginning in 2006-2007 Educator Preparation and Development scores lower than in other areas. For the 2008-2009 school it scored the lowest in three years with a 10.
As administrators this is an area that truly shows a need for improvement. When looking at state and national trends this area seems to be lower for everyone. What I find interesting is that educators score lowest on this even when they are beginning teachers. For my campus they scores “Access to Professional Development” as a 1. As the person who coordinates several professional developments for the teachers on my campus and who attends many trainings on our campus I find this hard to believe. However, what we must remember as administrators is that it is not what we think, but what the faculty perceives. What this tells me is that as an administrator I need to strive to incorporate more professional development and then have more follow up with the faculty to ensure that learning is happening. We are a PLC campus and we could utilize the PLC as a way to ensure that all faculty members are being helped to the capacity that they need it and to use the safety of a PLC for them to ask their colleagues for help and guidance as well.
Another area of concern was Professional Development for Online Learning. We strive to teach our students to be life long learners so I feel that we should do all we can to help our teachers be that as well. I will bring this issue to my cluster director and investigate ways that can help all of our teachers with this type of professional development to encourage them.
As administrators this is an area that truly shows a need for improvement. When looking at state and national trends this area seems to be lower for everyone. What I find interesting is that educators score lowest on this even when they are beginning teachers. For my campus they scores “Access to Professional Development” as a 1. As the person who coordinates several professional developments for the teachers on my campus and who attends many trainings on our campus I find this hard to believe. However, what we must remember as administrators is that it is not what we think, but what the faculty perceives. What this tells me is that as an administrator I need to strive to incorporate more professional development and then have more follow up with the faculty to ensure that learning is happening. We are a PLC campus and we could utilize the PLC as a way to ensure that all faculty members are being helped to the capacity that they need it and to use the safety of a PLC for them to ask their colleagues for help and guidance as well.
Another area of concern was Professional Development for Online Learning. We strive to teach our students to be life long learners so I feel that we should do all we can to help our teachers be that as well. I will bring this issue to my cluster director and investigate ways that can help all of our teachers with this type of professional development to encourage them.
Ok there were issues with my powerpoint downloading onto my blog so I thought I could do this just in case.
">">STAR CHART PRESENTATION
Caprock High School STaR Chart
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Pre-K TEKS for Technology Applications
Pre-K?? Who would have thought that at the age of 4 we as a state had created technology TEKS? I remember Kindergarten and we just learned to get along, line up quietly, and color within the lines. Now we have TEKS to ensure that 4 year olds are able to implement technology as they go from grade to grade.
Students are able use technology as a scaffolding curriculum ;by continually using specific programs, i.e. PowerPoint, word and excel to name a few. The students are able to begin using these programs for simple assignments such as letter books in elementary all the way to detailed projects and research papers that will utilize all these three programs have to offer. I see this as we get more students in the middle schools who already know how to utilize several aspects of each program.
Also, as we begin to change high school graduation requirements we are seeing more and more of the technology classes moving to the 8th grade. For instance, keyboarding is now being taught more and more in 7th and 8th grades and also is no longer a requirement for graduation with the changes in the technology requirements of the 81st legislature.
Students are able use technology as a scaffolding curriculum ;by continually using specific programs, i.e. PowerPoint, word and excel to name a few. The students are able to begin using these programs for simple assignments such as letter books in elementary all the way to detailed projects and research papers that will utilize all these three programs have to offer. I see this as we get more students in the middle schools who already know how to utilize several aspects of each program.
Also, as we begin to change high school graduation requirements we are seeing more and more of the technology classes moving to the 8th grade. For instance, keyboarding is now being taught more and more in 7th and 8th grades and also is no longer a requirement for graduation with the changes in the technology requirements of the 81st legislature.
Vision 2020...who knows
Ok...I'm not usually a pessimist or a no way kind of person. However, after reading the Vision 2020 plan I have to admit I'm not sure it's attainable. The other problem I see is that not only is their plan for technology within schools but the 81st legislature just did away with a technology requirement for graduation. I think that is a little hypocritical to say the least. The plan says that "schools and districts need to ensure that there is a shared vision" however, the state then took away the technology requirement. While some districts are keeping this requirement most districts believe that students already have a basic understanding of technology and are not requiring it.
The plan wants to ensure that students are capable of maintaining employability however, the lofty plan focuses more on teacher and staff professional development without regard to helping students learn these skills. Also, the plan focuses more on teaching teachers how to implement technology for our students use, however, there is no plan to follow up and gather the data to ensure that the technology is being taught to all students.
With it almost being 2010 it seems that as a whole we are still far behind the curve and not close to what the plan had shown to be completed by this time. There also seems to be limited communication with districts and the state or at the least within the district and its campuses. I can see that my district is trying to implement some aspect of the plan specifically the staff development. But I again say that with only professional development we are not finding ways to ensure that what is being "learned" is then being "taught" to all of our students.
I'm also seeing that various amounts of monies are being spent on technology, however, no on particular person is being seen as an expert. It appears that we are just continually moving from one new idea to the next without any type of consistency.
The plan wants to ensure that students are capable of maintaining employability however, the lofty plan focuses more on teacher and staff professional development without regard to helping students learn these skills. Also, the plan focuses more on teaching teachers how to implement technology for our students use, however, there is no plan to follow up and gather the data to ensure that the technology is being taught to all students.
With it almost being 2010 it seems that as a whole we are still far behind the curve and not close to what the plan had shown to be completed by this time. There also seems to be limited communication with districts and the state or at the least within the district and its campuses. I can see that my district is trying to implement some aspect of the plan specifically the staff development. But I again say that with only professional development we are not finding ways to ensure that what is being "learned" is then being "taught" to all of our students.
I'm also seeing that various amounts of monies are being spent on technology, however, no on particular person is being seen as an expert. It appears that we are just continually moving from one new idea to the next without any type of consistency.
I truly felt that I was technology savvy. I feel that I know how to utilize technology and ensure that students are capable of using technology to their fullest to guarantee learning. However, after taking the assessments I realize that there are several areas of weakness that need to be addressed. I especially felt that with my current role as the Lead Counselor I would have shown proficient or expert in the area of communication, however, there are several areas in that domain that show that I am lacking. I really want to make sure that I am communicating with my staff. Also, I realized that I need to learn the various areas of web files, etc. I have no idea how many of them work or why.
I feel that as a school we have some of the best technology and the best software. However, only to some extent is data being gathered to ensure that student learning and engagement is happening. Also, during CWT (Classroom Walk Throughs) it is evident that students are not the ones utilizing the technology. With the exception of technology labeled classes the teachers are the ones using the technology and doing the work. I think that as a campus we need to find ways to help teachers allow students to use the technology we have and to integrate that into their lessons. However, with limited staff development it is hard to help teachers with specific problems that they are encountering. Also, our technology instructor/administrator is only on campus in a limited capacity. We share her with another campus and that again limits the ways in which we can have staff development.
I feel that as a school we have some of the best technology and the best software. However, only to some extent is data being gathered to ensure that student learning and engagement is happening. Also, during CWT (Classroom Walk Throughs) it is evident that students are not the ones utilizing the technology. With the exception of technology labeled classes the teachers are the ones using the technology and doing the work. I think that as a campus we need to find ways to help teachers allow students to use the technology we have and to integrate that into their lessons. However, with limited staff development it is hard to help teachers with specific problems that they are encountering. Also, our technology instructor/administrator is only on campus in a limited capacity. We share her with another campus and that again limits the ways in which we can have staff development.
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