EDLD 5366 Reflections I have enjoyed working on the projects in this class. I have learned so much through out this course. I have learned different aspects of design that I had not even thought about before. In the first assignment, we had to create a product that reflected the four aspects of design, C.R.A.P. At first I thought this would be a simple assignment because I chose to create a business card. It was simple, but I learned that you really have to take in consideration the four design concepts so that your product looks good. In the next week, I enjoyed creating my own logo. When working with these projects, I got many ideas that I could use in my own classroom with my students. I know they would enjoy working with technology and creating fun assignments. When it came to working with my classmates on the group project, it went very well. I was able to work with a group of people who work well with others. Each person brought their own strengths to the assignment. Sometimes working in groups can be a little grueling, but not with my group. Each member took the assignment seriously and did their part to make the web page look very professional and contain great content. I am not the best when it comes to technology, so it was great working with people who were very sure of their abilities and who were very helpful.

EDLD 5363 Web Conference Reflection

July 1, 2012

For this web conference, I was able to view the recording.  At the beginning of the conference, Dr. Abernathy acknowledged that she had met one of our classmates at the ISTE conference in California.  She also mentioned that she is not a "gotcha" person.  She is not wanting to set us up for failure.  She is here to work with us and make us successful so that we can take what we are learning back to our classrooms for our students. She also reminded us to make sure that we are documenting our group collaborations in our google documents.  She also cleared up a question that I had about the week 3 and week 4 assignments.  Basically, the week 4 assignment is the same as the week 3, except you make editing changes in week 4. She also made mention of dropbox and sugarsync.  Two tools to use to share information with your group members for the project.

EDLD 5363 Web Conference Reflection

June 5, 2012

I was not able to physically attend the web confernce this week.  I was however able to view and listen to the audio.  At the beginning of the session, Dr. Abernathy's grandson happened to be visiting and she introduced him.  You could tell that family is important to her and she mentioned that she wants all of us to be apart of each other's lives.  This made her seem more approachable and relateable.  I appreciated that.  During the web conference she helped to clear up questions about the discussion board assignments.  It is set up a little differently than previous classes.  She explained that we don't need to add a quote, but that we need to add our script for the digital story and to respond to another classmates script.

EDLD 5363 Multimedia Video Technology- My Digital Story


This was a fun project.  I learned many things about video technology that I previously had not known.  It was also a good project for me to reflect on some personal things in my life.  I can not wait to implement what I have learned in my classroom.  I know that students will really enjoy working with this technology and sharing information about themselves.

EDLD 5301 Final Reflections During this course, I have learned many things about action research.  The approach is a little different from the traditional research that I have conducted in past programs.  This approach makes the research a little more personal in my opinion.  Coming up with a topic in the beginning, was a little difficult, because it was all so new, but once I targeted the topic, it made it less difficult.  I think it was less difficult because I made a personal connection to the action research.  It was something that I was concerned with.  There were many aspects of this course that were beneficial.  The lectures were helpful because the professors actually explained what the topics were for the week and gave more insight to the lessons to be learned for the week.  It helped to put things into perspective.  The readings were also helpful.  It was beneficial to have the text to refer back to on specific topics.  The texts were fairly easy to follow also.  The language used was user friendly and easy to understand.  Using the discussion boards and the blogs were probably the most beneficial parts of this course for me.  It allowed me, and I’m sure others, to view other classmates’ ideas.  This gave me a chance to see if what I was doing or thinking was in line with other people’s thoughts and ideas.  I appreciated this because there were a few occasions where I was stuck or unsure about some of my ideas.  When I viewed other people’s ideas on the discussion board and their action plans on the blogs, it allowed me to see that I was on track with everyone else.  The feedback from the peers was so helpful.  Overall, I felt that the assignments were on target.  I felt that the assignments were not difficult at all.  I appreciated the fact that I was not spending all night trying to complete them.  Maybe I feel this way because the assignments were geared towards working on my action research, and since it was a topic that I chose, I didn’t mind working on it too much.  Nevertheless, I didn’t feel overwhelmed like I have in the past with other classes.  One last thing that stood out to me was watching the videos from week 2 with the school leaders.  Hearing their insight helped to make action research real to me.  They helped to show how what we are researching is being used in our educational systems.  Dr. Kirk Lewis, the Superintendent of Pasadena ISD really said it best for me when he said that when doing research, researchers need to consider “what is practical for you.”  He helped me to put things into perspective.  If I am researching something that is meaningful to me, then I am going to be more interested in the outcome of the research and my students will definitely benefit more.

Action Research Plan Revision

Wanda Smith Action Research Plan EDLD 5301 ET8044
Goal: To determine if using an online reading assessment program, Study Island, can help improve student achievement in reading as well as increase their motivation to learn.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Students take a survey on how they feel about reading	Wanda Smith	August 2012	Survey
Students will take the pretest assessment for Study Island	Wanda Smith,	September 2012 December 2012	Study Island Computers/laptops	After students complete the pretest assessment.  The results will show areas of weaknesses. This will help to determine which areas students will focus on.
Students will work on objectives that they scored low in.  They will try to improve their scores in this area.  Students will complete the activities in the “game mode.”	Wanda Smith	September 2012 December 2012 Students will visit the lab once every two weeks for 30-45 minute time frame.	Study Island Computers/laptop	After students complete each objective, their results are recorded. The teacher is able to view the overall results online.   Also students will only be able to work in the “game mode” if they answer the questions correctly.
Compile a spreadsheet of students’ overall results to help show whether there were any improvements.	Wanda Smith	December 2012
Once students have completed all areas of concern, they will be given a survey to complete.	Wanda Smith	December 2012	Survey for each student	The student’s responses to the surveys will be calculated to determine if motivation to learn was increased with the use of the game mode feature.
Review the surveys to gather overall consensus of programs effect on motivating students.	Wanda Smith	December 2012
Share findings of research with department	Wanda Smith	December 2012

Wanda Smith Action Research Plan EDLD 5301 ET8044
Goal: To determine if using an online reading assessment program, Study Island, can help improve student achievement in reading as well as increase their motivation to learn.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Students will take the pretest assessment for Study Island	Wanda Smith,	August 2012 December 2012	Computers/laptops	After students complete the pretest assessment.  The results will show areas of weaknesses. This will help to determine which areas students will focus on.
Students will work on objectives that they scored low in.  They will try to improve their scores in this area.  Students will complete the activities in the “game mode.”	Wanda Smith	August 2012 December 2012	Computers/laptop	After students complete each objective, their results are recorded. The teacher is able to view the overall results online.   Also students will only be able to work in the “game mode” if they answer the questions correctly.
Compile a spreadsheet of students’ overall results to help show whether there were any improvements.	Wanda Smith	December 2012
Once students have completed all areas of concern, they will be given a survey to complete.	Wanda Smith	December 2012	Survey for each student	The student’s responses to the surveys will be calculated to determine if motivation to learn was increased with the use of the game mode feature.
Review the surveys to gather overall consensus of programs effect on motivating students	Wanda Smith	December 2012
Share findings of research with department	Wanda Smith	December 2012

Week 2 Reflection: Action Research

In this week's lessons, I got even better insight into what action research means.  Reading this weeks readings has helped me to come up with a few topics to consider for my own action research. Also watching the videos helped.  One thing that stood out was from the video of Dr. Kirk Lewis.  He made the point of saying that in choosing an action research topic, it should be something practicle. This idea helped me to focus on issues that are relevant to me, because if I can relate to it on a personal level, then I will put more energy in conducting it. 

Educational Leaders and Blogs

Educational leaders can utilize blogs in a variety of ways.  One way would be to set up an online community that could be used to make suggestions for changes that need to be considered and researched in the educational environment. 

Another possible use of blogs is for the educational leader to use the blog as their own personal journal for the research that they are conducting.  The blog could include the progress that is being made on the research.  It could also serve as a place for others to make suggestions and provide insight that the educational leader may not have had. 

What I Have Learned About Action Research

I’ve learned that action research is a way for someone to identify changes that need to be made, research the ideas, and then reflect on what was found out.  As an educator, action research can be used by teachers as well as administrators.  As a teacher, using action research can help to identify some solutions to many things that are associated with teaching.  Administrator can use action research to help identify and provide solutions to ongoing issues and concerns that are happening with the school. 

When I think of action research, it brings to mind many concerns I have as a teacher that I think that need to be improved upon.  A big concern that I have is getting students motivated to want to learn.  The concern for wanting to be successful seems to be diminishing.  This is a concern that many of my co-workers share as well.  There needs to be something put in place to change this.  Teachers and administrators both can work together to find solutions to this problem.  Action research is also beneficial on a personal level.  As an educator, I can use action research to see if there are areas that I can improve upon in my teaching.  

Course Reflections for EDLD 5306

For this course I had envisioned that I would learn how to use new technology.  I also envisioned that I would be able to use some of this technology in my classroom.  I think that those outcomes were achieved because I learned how to use technology that I can apply to my teaching.  Many of the tools that I learned to use were fun.  I was learning about something new, but at the same time I enjoyed what I was doing.  I think that the students would enjoy using technology in their classrooms more often.  I will definitely be taking a more proactive role in using technology in my classroom.   One thing that I didn’t realize at the start of the course is that after completion of this course, that I will be able to take the Principals exam.  That was definitely not something that I envisioned, but I am glad to know.

The outcomes that were achieved are definitely relevant in my current position as a middle school language arts teacher.  In this position, I am constantly working on projects and looking for new and interesting way to making learning fun.  In the past five weeks of this course, I have learned something new every week.  Each week I applied what I was learning to my current position because I want to make sure that what I am learning will be relevant for the classroom.  I can just envision the students actively engaged in the many projects that we will be doing.  They will not only be learning the expected objectives, but having a good time doing it.  As it has been said before, these are 21^st century learners. They are definitely going to thing that working with technology is more interesting, than working with paper and pencil. Also, I have learned about tools for technology that my co-workers can use.  For instance I have come across some interesting things that I have passed along to my science and math co-workers. 

I don’t think that there were any outcomes that I did not achieve.  Being that this was my first course in the Educational Technology and Leadership program, I had a very limited view on what to expect in the course.  What I did expect did happen.  I wanted to be exposed to different technology, and there were many new things that I learned.  I think that if I had to pick one thing that I don’t fully think that I achieved, it would be the leadership aspect of the course.  I feel like I still need to know more about that, but I think that will come as I continue through the program.  I just feel like we just started getting into the leadership aspect and then it’s time for the course to end.  But I said, that’s not really a negative because I am just starting this journey and I will see more aspects of the leadership as I continue.  I’m hoping that I will also be seeing more tools of technology to incorporate into my classroom as well.    

I think that I was successful in carrying out the course assignments.  I’ll be honest, by the second week, I didn’t know if I was going to survive because it is very fast paced.  I thought about throwing in the towel because it seemed that as soon as I submitted one assignment, the next one was due.  I had to keep reminding myself that this is a semester course reduced to a five week course. It was not because the assignments were difficult,  I just had to learn to manage my time better.  It is kind of hard when you have a full time job and a life outside of working, but I was able to prioritize and I have gotten better, plus it has been a while since I had been in school.  I had to get my mindset right.  I think it’s going to get easier I continue throughout the program. 

I have learned a few things about myself since taking this course.  I have learned that there are so many new technology tools that I had no idea that existed and I thought I was pretty savvy when it came to technology.  I was wrong.  I learned that after a while people get set in their ways and only do what is comfortable to them.  I was one of those people. But no longer.  I am making it a mission to try to explore different ways to teach with technology in my classroom.  As far as leadership, I always shy away from it.  Not because I can’t be a leader, but because honestly some of the leaders that I work with leave a lot to be desired in the leadership field.  I don’t want to end up being like them, plus sometimes they are looked at as the bad guys by many teachers.  What I’m hoping is that I will be able to see leadership from some of their points of view after completing this program.

E rate program and district technology plan

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Upon reviewing the National Educational Technology Plan, I found that the key elements in it are aligned with the Texas Long Range Plan.  Its goals are much like the Long Range Plan, to engage the 21^st century learner by providing more meaningful learning experiences.   Another goal that is similar is to make sure that educators have an opportunity to be exposed to new technology, therefore being able to create more powerful lessons.  

The plan specifies that today’s students are 21^st century learners and that educators must change the way that we teach these students.  The plan stated that students need to be empowered to take control of their own learning.  The plan also states that the use of technology in the classroom will help gain more access to different learning resources than those available in the standard classroom.    

The National Educational Technology plan states that the use of technology can help move to a connected teaching model, where teachers are exposed to different teaching  tools for collecting data as well as tools that will help educators create and manage lessons that will be engaging for students.  With the connected teaching model, teachers will have access to various online resources for professional development. 

          Overall, The National Educational Technology plan is a good one.  I think that it addresses key issues and concerns, the primary one being that there has to be a change made in order to  reach the new type of learners that we have today.  A big part of that is providing resources for educators to meet these goals. 

The Texas Long Range Plan is the technology plan that my district is using.  The goal in this plan is to acquire and use technology in the public school system where students will have a deeper engagement in academics by using technology.  The plan’s goal is to also promote professional development for educators as it relates to technology. 

The strategies have been put into place to help measure growth.  These areas of measurement are in the following areas:   Teaching and Learning; Educator Preparation and Development; Leadership, Administration and Instructional Support. 

It is very essential that educators are provided opportunities to have continuous professional learning.  It’s important that educators take it upon themselves to take advantage of the professional development opportunities being made available to them.   According to the Texas Long Range Plan, ongoing professional development must be provided for veteran teachers.  Distance learning is a way of helping to provide teachers with opportunities for professional growth.

One instrument that my district uses to measure growth is the STaR Chart.  It helps to identify areas of weaknesses as well as strengths.   I think that this is a good tool to use to help monitor whether or not teachers feel as if improvements are being made.  It’s also a good tool to use to monitor whether or not the technology is being used by the teachers in the classroom.   

Long Range Plan for Technology .  A Report to the 80th Legislature from the Texas Education Agency. (2006, November). 

I feel that it is very important to assess an educator’s technology leadership knowledge and skills as well as assessing the technology and skill levels of students.  It is also important that we find out their needs.  We live in a new day and time where technology is growing ramped.  The students in the classroom are learning differently from the students thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago.  In order for educators to continue to reach students, we have to  adapt and adjust to the times that we live in.  That means we as educators need to be aware of what kinds of technology students are being exposed to and learn how to use it if we want to reach this new type of learner. 

        One negative to the assessment of technology might be that when surveying, the answers might not be all the way truthful.  If someone doesn’t want to complete the survey, they may answer in a bad or negative way just to rush through the survey, or vice versa, someone may answer in a more positive way, to make themself look better.  Someone may even score the categories low if they want to purposefully make the school look bad also. 

Schools need to know what areas of concerns both the teacher and student have when it comes to technology.  Assessing a teacher’s knowledge and skill of technology is important because it will help to identify areas of weakness as well as areas of strengths.  If a teacher is not familiar with certain technology, this is an indicator that further training is needed.  Administrators need to have a plan in place to help keep teachers stay on top of technology.   In order for the teacher to continue to help improve student achievement with technology, we have to know what technology is out there, that’s why ongoing training is essential.  Knowing the student’s needs through assessment is also important.  If a student is not understanding certain trends in technology when learning, then that’s a sign that they need further exposure and we need to do more.  Assessing both the student and teacher about technology is a win, win situation.

 I really enjoyed the web conference.  It was the first one that I have every done.  It was a little intimidating at first because I really didn't know what to expect.  I know that I was not looking forward to seeing myself on the computer.  Also I wasn't sure if I was going to be operating everything correctly, but to my suprise, it was an easy experience.

During the conference, the professor was able to clear up many questions about assignments and requirements for the course.  She was also able to enlighten us on future assignments and what we can be preparing for now.

I enjoyed doing the webcast.  It was useful for me to actually experience this myself.  This will be  a tool that I will try to incorporate into my teaching.  I think the students would truly enjoy the experience.