Web Conference II

I am happy to report that the web conference I just completed about one minute ago was much better. There were only 25 students allowed to attend the conference which made a huge difference. I was able to follow the conversations. The only issue was that there was an echo because someone had their microphone on. I am sure they did not know that they were the one with the microphone on. Overall, a very positive experience.

Web Conferences

Web conferences can be a great tool to connect knowledgeable people together to share ideas and learn from each other. I have participated in a web conference during one of my earlier courses. It seem more effective than the ones I have watched/read from this course. Unfornately there were too many participants in the conferences for this course. It was hard for me to follow the comments. Some questions were never answered because of the various conversations going on at the same time. There was some good information about portfolios, certification, testing and outside courses. Dr. Abernathy was also able to give a little direction about the weekly assignments which proved beneficial for me. Thus, web conferences can be very helpful when the number of participants are manageable and all the participants focused on the same topic.

Personnel Responsible for Integrating Technology

Integrating Technology Action Plan

Action Plan: Integrating Technology to Instruct 21st Century Learners
Goal: to analyze and use data from a variety of sources to make informed decisions when integrating technology to enhance instruction.
Roles and Responsibilities of Personnel Responsible for Integrating and Implementing Instructional Technology
District Technology Planning Committee lead by superintendent identifies strategies to ensure that district is prepared to instruct the 21st Century Learner	Amy Yager, DTS facilitates meetings with CTS to align technology lessons and curriculum. Trains CTS on new software.	Maylen Giocencha, CTS Meets with DTS to help align technology lessons and curriculum. Model lessons for staff.	Continue Maylen Giocencha, CTS trains teachers on integration of technology and instruction. Repairs minor computers and printers problems. Installs software and train staff on the use of software.	Lorena Augustus, Principal provides resources and ample opportunities for staff to collaborate about integration of technology. Evaluate staff to with PDAS to make sure staff is integrating technology.
ILT lead by team leader, Latonia Bogany-Rowe models and monitors integration of technology and instruction.	The Technology Committee works with CTS to communicate district and campus expectations to team members.	Lead Teachers communicates information from the principal to their team members.	Classroom Teachers successfully plan, instruct and analyze data to determine that technology was integrated in the classroom.	Continue Classroom Teachers allow students liberal opportunities to use technology in the classrooms and at home.
Action Steps	Personnel Responsible	Timeline	Professional Development	Evaluation
Align technology rich lessons with current curriculum. (Retrieved from District Technology Plan, 2008)	Amy Yager, DTS Maylen Giocencha, CTS	Beginning Spring before upcoming school year and ongoing bi-weekly	Technology Integration- What are Should They Be Learning	Review district pacing guides and verify links in lessons.
Provide resources and model integration of technology to enhance student achievement.	Lorena Augustus, Principal Maylen Giocencha, CTS ILT	Bi-weekly first semester and every six weeks second semester	Leaders-Lead: Modeling How You Want Others to Teach	Analyze assessment data from Excel tracking sheet for student improvement.
Twenty-four hour a day lessoning planning.	Lorena Augustus, Principal	Ongoing weekly reviews	How to effectively use Oncourse System Lesson Plans	Walk Throughs Observations Lesson Plan Review
Teach lessons to allow students to use technology to complete assignments.	Maylen Giocencha, CTS ILT Classroom Teacher	Ongoing Daily	Using technology to differentiate instruction	Walk Throughs Observations Lesson Plan Review
Create opportunities for teachers to collaborate about integration of technology.	Lorena Augustus, Principal ILT Lead Teacher	Monthly During PLC or Team Meeting	Something to Talk About- Collaboration among Team Members	Review Agendas, Walk Throughs
Use technology to analyze data from TAKS, District Common Assessments, Campus Common Assessments to make instructional decision for students.	Lorena Augustus, Principal ILT Classroom Teachers	Weekly during Professional Learning Communities	What are You Looking At- Analyzing Student Data and Using the Results to Increase Student Achievement	Analyze tracking sheets from Excel for student improvement.
Twenty-four hour access to professional development, PD360	Lorena Augustus, Principal ILT Classroom Teachers	Ongoing Daily	Taking advantage of all PD360 has to offer	Review document time staff used PD360 Walk Throughs
Teacher Mentor Program to pair the technology novice with an expert	Lorena Augustus, Principal Maylen Giocencha, CTS ILT	Ongoing beginning second day of school	Mentoring Made Easy- Sharing Your Knowledge	Teacher Survey
Compile list of learning websites for students.	Technology Committee Maylen Giocencha, CTS	August 2011-December 2011	Google It- How to find great educational websites.	Walk Throughs Student Survey
Implementing the technology portion of Texas Treasures (New Language Arts Adoption)	Maylen Giocencha, CTS ILT	Ongoing Monthly Meetings	Finding the Treasure in Texas Treasures	Walk Throughs Teacher and Student Surveys

The 21st Century Classroom

The Progress Report for the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 explains the necessary tools and resources needed to help the state establish 21st Century classrooms. Technology in these classrooms should be used to engage students in rigorous digital content. These classrooms are affected by how well the administrators, librarians, teachers and students use technology. The No Child Left Behind, Title II, Part D mandates that students must be technology literate by the time the students complete the eighth grade. These students must master the Technology Applications for TEKS for Grades K-8. All students are expected to reach this goal no matter their race, ethnicity, gender, income or disability. Texas Education Agency (TEA) uses the STaR Chart to help monitor the states progress toward the goal. The NCLB Report is also analyzed to monitor student progress. These reports also look at teacher data too. Most of the teachers are at the Developing Stage. These teachers should be growing along with the students. In order for schools, districts and the state to reach the goal schools must integrate technology into instructional strategies and curriculum. Funding must be available to make sure this integration takes place. The report indicates that economically disadvantage students are not doing as well as their counterparts. This leads to the funding issue. Schools must be able to budget funds to ensure quality instruction takes place in technology. This includes professional development for staff, ongoing data analyses to give students specific instructions; and finding ways to include parents in using technology.

Where's the Money?

Budgeting is a key factor to the success of the Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support area of the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020, so where’s the money? Funds should be available to make sure the appropriate professional development takes place so that teachers can instruct students using technology. In fact, the district must allocate at least 30 percent of technology allotment budget for professional development. “The state is also responsible for budgeting for all aspects of technology.” (2006. p. 30) Once funding is available leader must offer expanded curricular and instructional opportunities to students via online, digital technology and a variety of distance learning technologies. Leaders, administrators and instructional support must model the use of technology. They must also be flexible to adjust to different technical needs of students and staff. The must be a plan in place for these thing to happen. We have the plans but where’s the money? With the recent discussions of state and federal budget cuts, my district has indicated on our website that the technology budget may be reduced. This will have the trickledown effect so even though my school has classified as advanced in the area of Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support(LAIS)for the last 3 years we may move down to developing because of budget cuts. According to the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020 the state is suppose to have 25% of their technology budget dedicated to help districts maintain the advanced classification so, hopefully we will keep our rating. We are on the right track with LAIS; we are improving one point at a time. As long as funding is available we will maintain or exceed our current classification. Texas as a state is ahead of the national average in this area of technology as well therefore, I recommend that the state find other places to make budget cuts that do not affect the education of our children.

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/technology/EktronAttach/FinalCombinedLRPT.pdf

My Reflection

As I reflect on action research plans, I realize that the plan should be based on the needs of the school community and areas that I need growth in as well. It would be effortless to research a topic that I am totally familiar with and I already know the answer too. However, that is not true action research. Thus I chose to research the staff development aspect of my school because we are changing the way we implement Professional Learning Communities (PLC). I know that the learning and professional growth of the school staff is essential to the success of the students at any school. I also understand that as a principal it is important to participate in this process. Several examples of a principal using action research to enhance staff development were given in “Leading with Passion and Knowledge” by Nancy Fichtman Dana. The example that resonated with me was when Principal Deirdre Bauer used her past experiences with peer coaching to guide her research for veteran teachers. She wondered “How does the process of peer coaching help veteran teachers continue to learn and grow? and what roles can the principal play in facilitating this process?” (Bauer, 2001) This action research plan helped move away from the traditional teacher evaluation process. Another learning that I discovered matched my action research process was when Dr. Johnny Briseno, Principal, Rancho Isabella Elementary, Angleton ISD discussed staff members presenting professional development as an action research project. He stress that the teachers are more likely to receive and implement ideas from their peers. The example Dr. Briseno gave was of how first and second grade teachers share information about their students to help the next grade level work with those students. In essence they were sharing their knowledge to make the students’ and the teacher’s educational experience more successful. After watching Dr. Briseno video, I concluded that it is important to look at the big picture and not just data. It is also important to work with other staff members for a common goal. As a principal intern, I had several wonderings based on my prior knowledge of PLC that has help me develop my action research plan. I had to share those wonderings with my supervisor and classmates as a part of my plan. Of course, with input from others, my wonderings and virtually, my action research plan changes several times throughout this course. As a person who thinks she has it all together, I learned to be more flexible and use others ideas for improvement. I must say that this was a little hard for me at first. It is getting easier as I know that it is helping me grow as an administrator.

Learning to blog was a fun challenge in this course. I was so proud of my first post that took me six hours to complete. I can see it being a useful tool to communicate as a future administrator as well as with my classmates and school community. In order to be an effective leader I must reflect on the decision I make. So the blog is also great for reflection. I feel as though I am very knowledgeable about what is happening at my school already as a member of the Instructional Leadership Team. But my goal is to be an expert in the educational field. I must take the knowledge that they acquired through experiences; apply it to a present situation and reflect on the outcome. Then I must refine the process and realize that this is a continuous cycle. With this process I will shape my school community’s future for success. This is the reason why I am a teacher and a future administrator in the first place.