Week 3 Action Plan

1. Setting the Foundation- Our goal as a campus is to reach Exemplary status again, but also focusing on closing the achievement gap. As a team, we looked at the new programs we would be implementing together as a campus. We looked at the AVID college prep program, PALs peer mentoring program, and our new district RTI class time. We think that all of these combined are going to be beneficial for all students in some areas, but we wanted to know which of these is best to look at for student achievement based on scores. From that we decided that our RTI time is the main area of focus and our goal is to implement that in the best possible way for all students with high performance outcomes.

2. Analyzing Data- We will be examining quantitative data such as TAKS scores from the previous year, benchmarks, progress report grades, district Interim Assessments, and NWEA testing. Interventionists will look for patterns in the data to help make conclusions on what other types of data we may need to look at.

3. Developing Deeper Understanding- Another source of data for us to use is field notes from what is going on in these classrooms with students and teachers and even interviews. Interviews can be one on one with teachers or students or even focus groups to look at what is going in the classrooms. Data conversations with students, and even surveys on how they felt this was beneficial for them.

4. Engaging in Self-Reflection- Before making decisions it is important to self reflect. Self-reflection means to ask questions about myself, why am I an educator and looking at my biases. In order for me to see our surroundings better me must be aware of ourselves first. Self-awareness doesn’t just happen once a year, but it is constantly reoccurring and should be a part of the everyday reflection process.

5. Exploring Programmatic Patterns- We will be exploring patterns throughout the school and even the district. We will look at demographics and which students we are targeting quarterly. At the end of the year we will compare students and scores throughout the district to look further into the students we need to accommodate better and which schools are benefiting from RTI and how. Patterns across the district will be looked at quarterly as well through our track it system.

6. Determining Direction- All stakeholders will be asked to look at our vision and mission of this new implementation and where they see us going with it in the next year or two. They need be aware of what it is going to take us to get us to our goals.

7. Taking action for school improvement- We will include, interventionists, lead team members and team leaders will be part of the committee action plan. All of these stakeholders will be able to evaluate and review the activities that are taking place during the intervention period as well as monitor students progress by looking at assessments. Surveys will also be given to students that will allow them to express how they feel this time has helped them. It is important for the committee to review all of these things combined in order to make any needed changes or improvements.

8. Sustain Improvement- I am a firm believer in asking teachers, students and parents on their thoughts and opinions on what is going on in their campus. We can reach out to all of them by our campus parent weeklies and newsletters. It is important for us to inform all stakeholders of the results through the website and even emails. We want all of our stakeholders to have a say so on what is working and how we can improve what isn’t working during this intervention time.

EDLD 5301- Action Research WEEK 2

Week two took a closer look at action research and how it can applied in different school settings. I particularly liked the videos and interviews with different school administrators to get information on how they use action research in their schools as well as advice to take back. I learned to read other's research and find similar action research projects to help with mine, as well as looking at different types of data to help make improvements for what ever project we may be implementing at my campus. I also learned how different areas of education can drive our action research and how important they are in different ways. I also enjoyed talking to my supervisor about what action research project I will be engaging in at our campus. My action research is to look at our intervention time being implemented during the school day to see how it affects our struggling students versus our non-struggling students. We want to know if it will be successful for all students and help build staff satisfaction.

Educational Leaders

Educational leaders are blessed with new technologies that many did not have before. Technology can be so beneficial for administrators if they know what to use and how to use it. E-mail for communication, websites for campus communication, and even blogging for sharing information. Administrators can use blogging to share ideas that work and don't work in their campuses. It is a great way to share information, especially for something like action research. It is a great way to document progress and growth as well as read and learn from other bloggers. Blogging is a wonderful tool to communicate with other educators that may be facing the same problems. Reflection is also a huge benefit for administrators. According to Dana, "Weblogs are another excellent way principal researchers can capture their thinking as an inquiry unfolds" (2009 p. 87). This is an excellent form of data collection that will create an online journal or diary of the progress made. It is a great tool to help administrators stay on track and dedicated to the process.

EDLD 5301- Action Research

Action research is a process in which administrators become inquirers. Administrators have evolved over the years. Before it was just a list of duties to fulfill from the top down. Action research has changed all of that. Administrators are now able to ask inquiring questions and do the research to help find answers or solutions to those questions. Action research is a process that helps make change and figure out if that change is beneficial for all parties involved. It is a never ending process that comes up with more questions to help back up or make your initial question clearer. There are four phases of action research. First, define the issue to study. Second, review professional literature that pertains to the issue of study. Third, take action by analyzing and reflecting. And lastly, use and share the results of the action plan.

Action research has stepped away from the traditional educational research in that it is more introspective than what research used to be. Administrators need to be more in the trenches and dig deeper with their teachers and staff to fix any problems that arise. Similarly, teachers can use the action research process with their students to help in student achievement. Action research requires teachers and administrators to be inquirers. Inquiry is the action of asking wondering questions, looking at literature and data, creating a plan, then implementing a plan along with tracking it and making adjustments along the way.

I have also learned that action research is not something you do once a week or once a month. This is an ongoing process that needs to be routinely done. It takes a lot of planning and reflecting to see the progress of action research.

Week 5 Reflection Assignment

I didn’t know what what to expect coming into this course. I had to fill out the STaR chart before, but never put two and two together. It all makes sense to me now. I wanted to learn more about how technology ties into everday learning and the policies regarding technology. I envisioned for my campus to have computers in every classroom by the time I finished with this course. After going through each week, I gradually started to gain knowledge as to where my campus stood with technology and where we needed to be. I gained so much knowledge about what my campus is doing and what other campuses are doing through the discussions. After I met with my leadership team to discuss technology, they realized we weren’t where we needed to be in terms of implementing it in the classroom. I think that our team has the right vision in mind and we are doing what we can to incorporate it everyday. I have learned a lot that will guide me as a leader in terms of technology needs. I know exactly where my campus needs to be when I do take on a leadership role.

After meeting with my leadership, I realized that they do have a concern for where we are in terms of technology. We did discuss how some resources were purchased for teachers, but that twe didn’t have the budget to purchase computers. I did get my principal to realize the importance of having technology as soon as possible and she agreed. I think the first step in doing something about it is realizing something needs to be done. What I did accomplish is very relevant to what my job entails. I did manage to help get some equipment like projectors and document cameras and we will be working on a plan for next year. I am a classroom teacher and I hope to help all of my co-workers by speaking up and taking the first step in getting what we need. As a founding teacher for my campus and a lead teacher, I hope to help my fellow classroom teachers and support them as we continue to grow. I think it is important for me to be a spokesperson. I want them to be able to come to me in the future when I become a leader to help support them.

I was not able to get computers in every classroom like I had wanted to initially do. I knew that that was a big goal, but we are taking steps to getting there. It may not happen within the next semester, but it is definitely going to happen next year. The one thing that prevented us from gaining these computers in the classroom was the budget. I know that budget plays a huge role in whether schools gain more technology. This is something that my principal and I plan to look at for the upcoming year. We want to sure we budget money for at least 3 to 4 computers per classroom.

The course assignments have been a bit of a challenge for me. Since I am coming from a brand new district, it was hard to do an analysis of data like the STaR chart. Last year we were one school and this year we split into two. I like the discussions and readings. The readings were very valuable in learning about technology and what is going out there in world. I think that the hardest assignement for me to do was to meet with my leadership team. It is very hard to get everyone in the same place at the same time. We were missing one member because he was out of town that week. I think that advance notice to schedule these meetings would be really helpful. It had just been difficult for me because I have had to tweek assignments due to our young age as a school. Thankfully, my coach and professors have been understanding about it all.

I learned so much about what is expected of a leader in terms of technology. I never knew that technology plays such a big role in learning. I realized that even though I am a digital native, there is still so much more for me to learn. I think that it is important to teach our teachers to be technology savvy and suppor the way our students learn today. I learned about policies, who makes the decisions, copyrighting, blogging, wikis, the Texas Long Range Plan, and the STaR chart. I also realized the importance of technology in our students lives. I didn’t realize what a huge impact technology has on our current students. I fully believe we need to meet the needs of our students and support them in our growing and changing world.

I have learned a lot through this course and one thing that I didn’t think I would normally do is blog. I didn’t realize I was blogger with Facebook and Myspace, but I am now aware that I have been all along. Blogging is great idea for our students to incorporate with their studies. I think logging is a great way to freely express your opinions and knowledge on a certain topic. It is a great way for teachers to communicate with students and other teachers as well as parents. Blogging can connect classrooms in many ways that we never thought of. Blogging can be used for news, reports, and getting connected with one another. I hope to see my school grow more as bloggers. Although blogging has become a huge trend, there are still some precaustions to take. There are risks that come with blogging and using any type of technology for that matter. We need to be able to teach students to be technology safe and cautious. It is our job to keep students safe from online predators and bullying. They need to understand the ethics involved with using technology. When we educate ourselves, parents and our students, we will be able to use technology to its fullest. Our job is to protect our students and teach them to always be careful when they are online.

Action Plan

Week 4 Assignment, Part 1: Development of an organization chart integrating technology

Persons Responsible- Roles and Responsibilities

Teachers- Teachers are responsible for planning and implementing technology in the classroom. They also ensure that our students are meeting technology standards as well as following technology policies.

Campus Technologist- Our campus technologist helps address campus technology issues and provides technology support of staff. He also makes sure that our teachers technology needs are met. He is in charge of planning and implementing technology standards to grades 6^th through 9^th.

Principals- Our principals are there to support and guide teachers in implementing technology in all classrooms. Our principals are also in charge of providing staff developments in technology to our teachers.

Campus IT- Our technician is assigned to a couple of campuses to support Mac users. He is Apple certified and works with equipment and resources that are used with Macs. The technician does weekly visits to make sure all systems are in working order.

District IT Director- The district director creates quotes for campuses when it comes to purchasing any technology for classroom use. This person is also responsible for the technicians and making sure they are supporting their assigned campuses.

Week 4 Assignment, Part 2: Professional Development Planning

· After reviewing my report from last week, we realized that we need several areas of improvement. We reviewed our campus STaR Chart and realized we are in need of improving our staff development in technology. Like I have mentioned before, our secondary and primary schools split this year, therefore leading me into our next improvement, infrastructure. Our primary campus has ordered some projectors and document cameras for our primary classrooms. This is not a lot, but it definitely is a start to staff development.

· A staff development designed to teach us about the new equipment lead by our campus technologist and possibly one of the secondary teachers would be very beneficial. Once we have our equipment and know how to use it, I proposed a follow up staff development that is like the first staff development I have held. It would be “Best Practices”, but with our new technology integration. I want my teachers to share the different ways and sites they use with the technology we do have. We don’t have very much, but our teacher computer, a projector, and a document camera, so this will be a great way to get “creative.”

· We have also contacted our District IT Director for quotes on computers for our classrooms. We will be talking to her about how to acquire the finances to purchase these computers for our classrooms in the near future.

Week 4 Assignment, Part 3: Evaluation Planning for Action Plan

To evaluate the staff development, we want our teachers to create goals for technology implementation in the classroom. We will then conduct an evaluation report for teachers to see if these goals are being met monthly. Our leadership team will also make sure we are implementing the technology during walk-throughs and observations. I believe it is also important to survey our parents and students. We want to hear their thoughts on what we will begin implementing in the classroom. We want to make sure that our students and parents know that we are doing our best with technology.

Week2 S Ta R Chart

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Week2 S Ta R Chart

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