My New Job

Well, I am leaving the elementary world...I'm really going to miss my 17 Kindergartners. We were all like this big family.  Come August 27th I'll be teaching Science to 170 7th graders. I'm excited to be teaching science ALL day long.

Research Project - EDLD 5301

Do the educational requirements of charter school teachers and administrators result in an increased percentage of turn-over?

The topic that I chose to research is charter schools in Texas. Are Charter Schools Really Better? The State of Texas has fewer requirements for charter schools as opposed to public schools.  Teachers in charter schools are not required to have certification, but are required to be highly qualified.  Teachers in public schools must be certified and highly qualified.  Administrators in public schools are required to have an advanced degree (Master's or higher), principal/mid-management certification, and PDAS certification.  Charter school administrators are only required to have a bachelor's degree and PDAS certification. Can a charter school administrator accurately evaluate  teachers and effectively run a school/district when they don't have the basic fundamentals of educational administration practices that are learned in an M.Ed program? Do the lessened requirements for charter school administrators contribute to the large amount of turn-over? In my professional opinion, I think that charter school administrators should be held to the same standard as public school administrators. All principals/administrators, whether public or charter, should have at least a Master's degree and certification (or currently pursuing the certification). As a principal you are in a higher level role than a teacher and should have to meet higher educational requirements.

What do you think? Just some food for thought....

Educational Leaders and the Use of Blogs

Educational Leaders may be interested in using blogs if they are conducting action research.  A blog is a very useful tool in which they will be able to document and chronicle their experiences and receive feedback/comments from others in their educational/work circles.  I work in a charter school in a high poverty area of Houston.  As a second year 22 year old teacher, I thought that composong a documentary book that chronicled my everyday experiences and successes/failures would be something cool for me to work on (it would be personally rewarding to me).  Blogging about my experiences would be a good start to this...

EDLD 5306 - Course Reflection

What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?

With this being my first graduate course, I really didn’t know what to expect.  I know a lot about technology, but educational technology was questionable.  One of the outcomes I envisioned from this course was being able to take things that I learned from the course and apply them in my classroom.  I have definitely achieved those outcomes.  I now have many different form of technology such as Wikis, blogs, and Wordle’s that I can incorporate in my regular lessons. I had heard of all these things before, but never actually took the time to work with these simple technologies. I have learned many different ways to incorporate technology into the classroom and make learning more fun and excited for the students while also building their technology knowledge and skills.  I am satisfied with the actual course outcomes.  They did align with the outcomes I envisioned before enrolling in the course.

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?

The outcomes that I achieved in the course are still relevant to the work that I do in my school.  For example, I can find many activities or vocabulary lessons that I can use or have the students use Wordle’s.  Wordle’s are a great tool for introducing vocabulary for the next chapter of just having students brainstorm words that go with a particular topic that we are studying.  They are a really fun way of presenting information…all the kids seem to like them, even high school students.  I think blogs are a cool way for students to get writing experience while having fun at the same time.  Instead of having students keep a paper journal in which they write their opinions, I think it is better these days to do it by blog.  This way the students can easily share their journal with other students and the teacher.

What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?

I feel like I achieved most of the course outcomes.  The instructor, or the class itself, is not what prevented me from achieving all the course outcomes.  I had some personal family issues come up during week 3 which prevented me from completing all of the assigned work and reading from that point.  Had I been able to finish all of the assigned I feel that I would have achieved the course outcomes.  Most likely, I will finish the reading sometime in January, as I still feel it is very important to read.  I learn a lot of information from the weekly articles that we read.  They are very interesting.

Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?

During the first part of the course I was very successful in carrying out the course assignments.  Toward week 3 I got behind in my weekly assignment I did not complete all the weeks work.  I had some personal issue that prevented me from finishing some of the assignment.  Between working full-time and my family I couldn’t manage to fit in everything that I needed to.  I was a little discouraged when I was turning in incomplete assignments, but after emailing Sarah she was willing to work me because of some of the issues I was having.  The class instructor and instructional associate are really vested in you education.  You can tell that a student being successful is their number one priority.  They are both easy to get ahold of and reply to any of your questions or concerns quickly.

What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?

I learned a wealth of information from the course in the short five week period.  I learned that there is a lot in regards to technology that that I did not know.  But I also learned that there are many things that I learned in the class that I had already implemented in my classroom.  That proved to be a good feeling. :)  I have many new skills that I can take back to my classroom and use to enhance the learning of my students.  I also learned that 5 week graduate programs are intensive and I won’t be able to complete the next class (Research) right now. I think I will take a break and start back after Spring break or maybe even after school ends.  Research is not by best skill, even with me being certified in ELA 8-12.  So, I will wait to take that class when I have more free-time.

Web Conference - 11/23/2010 8pm

I attended the required web conference on November 23, 2010. This was the most interactive web conferences I have ever attended. I have taken many online classes before and attended many conferences, but none of the compared to the Adobe conference format. Usually the conferences just consisted of typing responses to the teacher/students. I do not have a camera of microphone yet, so I plan on getting one before my next class so I will be able to fully interact with my other classmates. During the conference Dr. Abshire informed us that we needed to start looking for a mentor for our internship. She also informed us that the internship is actually throughout the entire program, not just the one course at the end. During the course of our degree we will be compiling work to be put in our e-portfolio. This week we should be reading out educational technology leadership novel that we selected from the approved list so we can complete a book report next week. I look forward to the next conference.

Technology Assessments

In the week 1 assignment, we took many technology self assessments.  Some of them were vague, just asking about general technology knowledge, and some of them were very detailed and long. I feel that it is very important to assess educators’ technology leadership knowledge and skills as well as assessing the knowledge and skill of student technology skill levels and their perceived needs.  There are many pros to assess the knowledge and skills of educators.  The district or school could use the results of the assessment to plan and schedule technology professional development courses.  In my opinion, I think that teachers should take an assessment given by the district, not a self-assessment.  I’m sure many teachers could read questions wrongs and check the wrong answer or just outright lie.  Although, I would like to think that all teachers had morals and wouldn’t lie on an assessment, but the world is not perfect.  :)  Teachers should be given a skills test to see if they can do certain things on the computer.  What they are not able to do should be recorded and they should be required to attend technology professional development classes in order to enhance their knowledge in those particular areas.  My district employs a method similar to this, except with self-assessments.  After the self assessments are taken, they are then turned into the technology department for evaluation.  The technology department then sends you a list back on professional development courses that they recommend you take based on your assessment submitted.  During the summer, we have a “Technology Feast” where almost 20 different courses are offered during a week.  Teachers are told to take advantage of these opportunities, but many of them do not because the district does not follow up with the teachers to ensure they completed the training.  The pros for assessing the students’ technology skill levels would be so the high school counselor could recommend technology electives for the students such as BCIS, BIMM, Webmastering, Computer Science, etc.  I’m not sure if there are any cons for assessing educators’ and students’ knowledge and skills of Technology.  The only con would be the time it takes to do the assessments, but it my opinion the amount of time it would take to do the assessments is miniscule to the results achieved. 

District Technology Plan

After reviewing the Technology Plan for Dickinson ISD, I have determined that their plan is sound. The plan was just created this year and lasts until 2013.  The staff member that is in charge of coordination professional development opportunities is Trudy LeDoux.  She is the Director of Technology and is also assisted by the Assistant Director of Technology.  There is not a sufficient budget to acquire and support and support the non discount element of the plan. The plan stresses the importance of ongoing and sustained staff development to support rigor and relevance in the integration of technology into the curriculum for teachers, principals, administrators, and school library media personnel to further the effective use of technology in the classroom and library media center. Learning, Educator Preparation and Development, Administration and Support Services, and Infrastructure for Technology, as well as the e-rate applications guidelines, and other state standards, such as adopted Technology Applications Standards for Beginning Teachers is supported in DISD's three year plan. For the next three years the district has a total of $5,350,013.00 for technology.  The budget is distributed as follows:  Teacher and Learning - $1,065,003.00, Educator Preparation and Development - $30,000.00, Leadership, Administration, and Support - $2,850,000.00, Infrastructure for Technology - $1,405,010.00.  Goals in the plan include using technology to support academic achievement and student performance, using technology to support safety and security, support facilities and operations, support community and family involvement, and staff members.  To evaluate whether or not goals have been made, a Technology Committee was formed with staff members.  Those staff members include technology staff, teachers, principals, assistant principals, librarians, and district directors.  There is a total of 20 staff members on the committee.

 Dickinson ISD Technology Plan