Looking back over this course, I have realized the outcome I had for this course as a leader was not what the course was. I was not thinking about the course being all about technology. I quickly realized that I needed to start thinking as a campus technology leader. After I started to think about instruction as a technology leader, the outcomes I had for this course became clearer. From this course I wanted to learn how to lead through the use of technology. I also wanted to gain knowledge in the STaR chart and how it applies specifically to my campus, as well as what I could do to help change the use of technology and the growth of it on the campus. In participating in this course through the readings, discussion, and assignments, I was able to acquire knowledge I will need to help lead the campus in the use of technology. I have learned various ways students and educators are using technology to provide valuable learning opportunities, help provide 24/7 professional development as well as support to students. I have also learned that there are many valuable tools out there to assess the technology needs of the campus. The STaR chart is just one of the ways we assess technology, and is something schools all across the state and nation complete. The report is sent to the department of education to help the federal government assess the needs of the nation. The Star chart also helps determine funding the schools get for use with technology. I didn’t know before the course, that the principal gets a report each year of the chart results for the campus and should use those to adjust professional development goals, and make instructional changes to the CIP.
I feel pretty confident in achieving the outcomes I had for myself in this course. Everything I was learning about was relevant to my current assignment. After reading all of the articles and looking at the technology application TEKS, and the District plan for technology I have realized that technology is not being used as much as it should be. I have found that as the Campus technology liaison and head of the vertical team, I need to incorporate technology more into the classroom and model for other teachers in the school more. I have started trying to incorporate technology more throughout the lessons the last couple of weeks because I have realized the need for it.
Course assignments for the most part helped me gain a greater understanding of my role as the technology facilitator on campus. The assignments at times were frustrating and I felt as if I would never complete them because they were very involved and mandated a thorough understanding of the readings and information that was required to be gathered and synthesized. I managed to successfully complete each assignment on time and still apply the learning at work. The only thing that seemed to be a hinderance at times, was time itself. With the demands of work , holidays, family, and the assignments, at times I was very overwhelmed. Even though I was overwhelmed I was still able to follow through and get the assignments completed.
These obstacles faced are just a test, when looking back, to what it will be like at times as a leader on campus, whether as a facilitator, or administrator. I have learned that when times get stressful and sometimes seem like nothing is going right, I keep pushing through and get the job done. I have learned that I can handle stress and still get the job done. I have also learned that what I know about technology is really just a drop in the bucket to what I need to know. I need to look more at resources available and how they are being used. Technology is a big part of the society we live in and we must bring it into the classroom to do that many stakeholders have to be involved in order for this endeavor to successfully be undertaken.
One way that teachers are bringing this into the classroomis by creating blogs. Blogs are a part of the 21st century and allow teachers and students to communicate outside of the traditional classroom. Blogs are a way to incorporate many technology applications. Blogs allow students from across the school, district, state, country, and world to communicate with each other. Blogs allow students to participate in book clubs, where they respond to questions about the book. There are many other ws they can be used as well. Teachers can post projects the students have completed to communicate with parents and other stakeholders. Schools can use a blog to help parents stay informed about events and issues at the school. Since parents can comment, questions can be asked on a post to solicit parent and community feedback.
Of course with any tool used on the internet, blogs have concerns associated with them. If they are not set to private, anyone can find them and make comment to assignments or student work. Blogs also only allow for one person to post. If students want to add anything, they have to make a comment to the posting. Blogs are accessable over the internet so we have to teach students how to safely use the internet, and to comment appropriately. Students need to know that cyber-bullying is not acceptable and must be reported.
This course has been challenging but yet rewarding with all of the applicable information used. I look forward to being able to use this information as a leader on campus to help successfully integrate technology with the content-area curriculum.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Action Plan week4
Action Plan Part 1: Stakeholder Responsibilities
Stakeholder Job Description
District Curriculum Department Coordinators:District Coordinators will work together to help integrate technology with content areas. Scope and sequences will reflect collaboration among content area departments and the technology department through projects to help enrich student learning and engage them in learner-centered learning.
Teachers: Teachers will plan together to create technology-rich lessons and assignments to help learning in the classroom move from teacher-centered to learner-centered.
Technology Vertical Team: One teacher per grade level will participate in the campus technology vertical team. This team will assist teachers with the use of technology in the classroom as well as make recommendations to the SBDM committee about goals related to technology.
One Campus Teacher and Librarian: These two the teachers will serve a campus Technology Liaisons to meet with district personnel and bring information back to the campus. Both of these individuals are also the people to answer questions about technology on campus.
Librarian: The librarian will implement technology standards through the library rotation. The library has a computer lab as part of it, and the librarian will engage students with projects the students can work on while on the computer and also working on library skills.
District Instructional Technology Specialist: District Instructional Technology Support will provide staff development as well as technical support for teachers. They will also model lessons in classrooms for teachers, especially new teachers reluctant to use technology.
SBDM Committee: The committee will be responsible for implementing technology integration in the content areas into campus goals.
Principal: The principal will oversee and make sure the plan is implemented and evaluated for effectiveness. The principal will conduct ongoing evaluations throughout the year to ensure technology on the campus is being used to its maximum potential. He/she will also be responsible for making sure everyone knows the role they will play in bringing the campus up to date with district technology goals, as well as making sure the budget allows for bringing the campus up to date with technology needs.
Action Plan Part 2: Professional Development
Professional Development and Description and reasoning
Mentoring
Mentoring should take place between the newer technology savvy teachers and the veteran teachers who are very much digital immigrants and reluctant to use technology in the classroom. This partnership among teachers will help teachers collaborate to enhance the student use of technology in the classroom. It will also model the collaboration we want our students using in class. We mentor our struggling students so we should carry the same thing over to our teachers who need help with bringing technology into the classroom.
Vertical Teaming
Vertical teaming would take place between each campus vertical team and the technology vertical team. Together they will collaborate to integrate technology into the content areas. This needs to take place not only so that teachers have a chance to collaborate with each other, but also because the district technology plan indicates that this integration should take place from the 2008-2010 school year, which means that it should be taking place now. Also it is to be “seamlessly integrated into all content areas (CISD Technology Plan), by the 2011-2012 school year.
WOW! Cart Boot Camp
As part of the district’s technology plan, they want to have one WOW! cart for every 250 students on a campus. At our campus as mentioned in the week 3 report, we have three carts and have about 560 students. We have the number of carts needed at a minimum, but we need to train more teachers to become Master Teachers of the WOW! cart. When the district first started using these carts 2 years ago, they held boot camps in order to provide an intense training on using the cart and web 2.0 tools out there for the students to use to learn with. In order for teachers to become more acquainted with the tools and to help with moving towards student-centered learning. WOW! boot camps could be offered at the district level and mater teachers already on the campus could hold trainings. These trainings would be monitored for effectiveness by evidence in teacher’s lesson plans and student projects.
24/7 Professional Development
Campus professional development should be implemented online though Moodle to provide trainings for teachers that will be available 24/7. Teachers will be able to access these professional development sessions from anywhere at any time. This will allow teachers to attend professional development that meets their needs, as well as have a variety of offerings available. Of course, some of the trainings will be mandatory , but for the most part the professional development will differentiated to meet the wide variety of needs on campus.
Rubric Creation
Teachers will participate in professional development from district instructional support staff to develop rubrics to evaluate student-learning online, based upon projects created. This is a critical component since student learning is going to be seamlessly integrated with technology and teachers will need to be able to grade their learning.
Action Plan Part 3:
In order to evaluate the action plan that is to be put into place and the professional development that will be taking place in order to help guide our students in the use of technology throughout content areas, several evaluation places need to be put in place. One of these is the Campus Improvement Plan. In order to ensure the integration of technology is taking place on campus, the CIP must be looked at over the course of the year to check to see if the goals regarding technology are being met. They must also check to make sure they are aligned with the district improvement plan’s goal regarding technology integration. If not, the SBDM committee will need to meet and make adjustments to ensure that they will be met.
The STaR chart is also a tool of evaluation that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the action plan. Professional development has been a weak area on the survey. The results will be useful in determining if the professional development provided throughout the year has been effective. This should be one of several guiding factors that the campus leaders should use to make decisions about this area of need.
Eduphoria is a tool that will be used as well to evaluate. Teachers will be able to use this online program to access student information. This will help teachers make more informed decisions regarding curriculum planning, RTI, as well identifying students at-risk. If teachers are using this data, the school should be able to see an improvement in the school climate as well as the needs of the students being met. Student learning and achievement should be increased. Lesson plans are also going to be on Eduphoria which will allow easy access to evaluate whether technology is being integrated throughout the day and week in all content areas. Along with lesson plans on Eduphoria, administrators complete PDAS evaluations on the program which provides feedback as to whether or not there is evidence of technology incorporated into the lessons. Administrators can pull this information to see in general what is taking place in the classrooms and then adjust professional development accordingly.
Finally, feedback from staff development is a key component to understanding the effectiveness of what is taking place, and to the extent on how it is implemented in the classroom. Feedback from staff development should take place right after the sessions, as well as a few weeks afterward to see how teachers are using it within the classroom. The principal should use these evaluations to make informed decisions about what is the most beneficial staff development for the campus.
Stakeholder Job Description
District Curriculum Department Coordinators:District Coordinators will work together to help integrate technology with content areas. Scope and sequences will reflect collaboration among content area departments and the technology department through projects to help enrich student learning and engage them in learner-centered learning.
Teachers: Teachers will plan together to create technology-rich lessons and assignments to help learning in the classroom move from teacher-centered to learner-centered.
Technology Vertical Team: One teacher per grade level will participate in the campus technology vertical team. This team will assist teachers with the use of technology in the classroom as well as make recommendations to the SBDM committee about goals related to technology.
One Campus Teacher and Librarian: These two the teachers will serve a campus Technology Liaisons to meet with district personnel and bring information back to the campus. Both of these individuals are also the people to answer questions about technology on campus.
Librarian: The librarian will implement technology standards through the library rotation. The library has a computer lab as part of it, and the librarian will engage students with projects the students can work on while on the computer and also working on library skills.
District Instructional Technology Specialist: District Instructional Technology Support will provide staff development as well as technical support for teachers. They will also model lessons in classrooms for teachers, especially new teachers reluctant to use technology.
SBDM Committee: The committee will be responsible for implementing technology integration in the content areas into campus goals.
Principal: The principal will oversee and make sure the plan is implemented and evaluated for effectiveness. The principal will conduct ongoing evaluations throughout the year to ensure technology on the campus is being used to its maximum potential. He/she will also be responsible for making sure everyone knows the role they will play in bringing the campus up to date with district technology goals, as well as making sure the budget allows for bringing the campus up to date with technology needs.
Action Plan Part 2: Professional Development
Professional Development and Description and reasoning
Mentoring
Mentoring should take place between the newer technology savvy teachers and the veteran teachers who are very much digital immigrants and reluctant to use technology in the classroom. This partnership among teachers will help teachers collaborate to enhance the student use of technology in the classroom. It will also model the collaboration we want our students using in class. We mentor our struggling students so we should carry the same thing over to our teachers who need help with bringing technology into the classroom.
Vertical Teaming
Vertical teaming would take place between each campus vertical team and the technology vertical team. Together they will collaborate to integrate technology into the content areas. This needs to take place not only so that teachers have a chance to collaborate with each other, but also because the district technology plan indicates that this integration should take place from the 2008-2010 school year, which means that it should be taking place now. Also it is to be “seamlessly integrated into all content areas (CISD Technology Plan), by the 2011-2012 school year.
WOW! Cart Boot Camp
As part of the district’s technology plan, they want to have one WOW! cart for every 250 students on a campus. At our campus as mentioned in the week 3 report, we have three carts and have about 560 students. We have the number of carts needed at a minimum, but we need to train more teachers to become Master Teachers of the WOW! cart. When the district first started using these carts 2 years ago, they held boot camps in order to provide an intense training on using the cart and web 2.0 tools out there for the students to use to learn with. In order for teachers to become more acquainted with the tools and to help with moving towards student-centered learning. WOW! boot camps could be offered at the district level and mater teachers already on the campus could hold trainings. These trainings would be monitored for effectiveness by evidence in teacher’s lesson plans and student projects.
24/7 Professional Development
Campus professional development should be implemented online though Moodle to provide trainings for teachers that will be available 24/7. Teachers will be able to access these professional development sessions from anywhere at any time. This will allow teachers to attend professional development that meets their needs, as well as have a variety of offerings available. Of course, some of the trainings will be mandatory , but for the most part the professional development will differentiated to meet the wide variety of needs on campus.
Rubric Creation
Teachers will participate in professional development from district instructional support staff to develop rubrics to evaluate student-learning online, based upon projects created. This is a critical component since student learning is going to be seamlessly integrated with technology and teachers will need to be able to grade their learning.
Action Plan Part 3:
In order to evaluate the action plan that is to be put into place and the professional development that will be taking place in order to help guide our students in the use of technology throughout content areas, several evaluation places need to be put in place. One of these is the Campus Improvement Plan. In order to ensure the integration of technology is taking place on campus, the CIP must be looked at over the course of the year to check to see if the goals regarding technology are being met. They must also check to make sure they are aligned with the district improvement plan’s goal regarding technology integration. If not, the SBDM committee will need to meet and make adjustments to ensure that they will be met.
The STaR chart is also a tool of evaluation that will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the action plan. Professional development has been a weak area on the survey. The results will be useful in determining if the professional development provided throughout the year has been effective. This should be one of several guiding factors that the campus leaders should use to make decisions about this area of need.
Eduphoria is a tool that will be used as well to evaluate. Teachers will be able to use this online program to access student information. This will help teachers make more informed decisions regarding curriculum planning, RTI, as well identifying students at-risk. If teachers are using this data, the school should be able to see an improvement in the school climate as well as the needs of the students being met. Student learning and achievement should be increased. Lesson plans are also going to be on Eduphoria which will allow easy access to evaluate whether technology is being integrated throughout the day and week in all content areas. Along with lesson plans on Eduphoria, administrators complete PDAS evaluations on the program which provides feedback as to whether or not there is evidence of technology incorporated into the lessons. Administrators can pull this information to see in general what is taking place in the classrooms and then adjust professional development accordingly.
Finally, feedback from staff development is a key component to understanding the effectiveness of what is taking place, and to the extent on how it is implemented in the classroom. Feedback from staff development should take place right after the sessions, as well as a few weeks afterward to see how teachers are using it within the classroom. The principal should use these evaluations to make informed decisions about what is the most beneficial staff development for the campus.
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