Week Two Reflection: Real Life Research Action Examples

I feel this week I was able to become a little more comfortable with the concept of action research. I feel that concerns that have crossed administrators or teachers minds can easily be turned into an inquiry. This week helped me gain new insight into real life examples and see how they are used by scholars. It allowed me to open a new array of thoughts and ideas for my own school. I feel that an action research plan can only be effective if you make sure your school has a sense of community. It is important for administrators, teachers, parents and students to all work together for results to occur. It is safe to say just like the title of the book read during this course, you must “Lead with passion and knowledge”.

Blogging for Educational Leaders

As educators living in a world of technology, blogging has truly become an important part to this profession. It allows educators to capture their thoughts and ideas as well as receive feedback from people all over. It lets you see the big picture and help you better understand your own practice. A lot of times, people need to see something in order to understand it. This even goes with blogging. It is critical to see your thoughts written out .I feel the use of blogging can really help you gain new insight and help you build confidence in this profession. 

What I learned about Action Research

Action Research

Action research has truly helped me put a new perspective into my profession. I was not very familiar with the concept until reading over the material. I feel that it has helped me gain new insight into teaching and becoming an administrator.

First, I feel that action research is something that doesn’t even compare to traditional research. I feel that in action research you go beyond the four walls of your classroom or office. A lot of times, growing as an educator means to step outside of the box and that can also mean to step outside of the normal environment that you interact with on daily basis.

I feel that I would be able to use action research in various ways. First, when it comes to a community or school, everyone will have different views and ideas. This allows for more than just a few people to make changes. It is important to hear different input from others and understand people’s views. I think regular faculty meetings can help that situation because they usually consist of various types of input. It is great to share ideas and to work together in the decision process. I also feel I experience a part of this when we hold level meetings with my grade. We discuss important topics and work together to come up with short term and long term goals for our school. I believe we can go further with this by attending professional development classes or staying in contact with various people.

Collaboration is definitely a key to a successful school, district or community. It is vital to be able to work as a team and to make changes together. If I decided to work on an action plan for my school in reference to the significance of academic achievement through the use of whiteboards, I would already be able to list a variety of things to do or people to speak to. I would need to interact with other faculty, have students complete surveys, email technology companies, meet with other teachers off campus as well as read up on important information in the news. Even though this plan might seem rather lengthy, I believe a lot of change can happen because of it.

In reference to the reflection period, it is always important to know that you will be a lifelong learner. It is critical to understand that in order for any change to come about at a school, you do need a lot of people on board. It is essential to examine the problems, find accurate data and reflect on what outcomes occurred because of it. Regardless of how long you have been teaching or in the field of education, it is always good to know that growing can truly help you achieve.

Course Reflections: EDLD 5306 Concepts of Educational Technology

1.)    I feel that I have learned a great deal of new information in my first graduate course. I envisioned at the very beginning that I would form a new outlook on technology and become familiar with more terminology in this field. I can truly say that I achieved positive outcomes with being able to create hands-on Web 2.0 examples as well as understand terms that I did not have any idea about at first.  I can recall from the very first self-evaluation in this course and not having much of a background in a lot of the terms that were used. One thing that stood out that I learned is how to copy a website and embed it to a document. I had always seen this done, but had no idea how that was actually done.  I feel a lot more comfortable with the new material I used and am looking forward to the courses to come.

 

2.)     I feel that everything that I was introduced for can easily be used in my classroom. For example, I had no idea what a Wordle was. Currently, my students are preparing for midterms. I had the students answer a set of questions as a review and then typed the answers into the Wordle. This gave the students a new way to visualize the important words or phrases over a particular topic. My students also brainstormed other ways they could use this program in the future. I also felt that as I learn new skills and become familiar with new terms, this gives me another gateway to be able to teach my students about technology. I also believe it opens doors to new ways for students to understand information.  Even though technology can provide both a positive and negative assessment to learning, I feel that it has brought nothing, but positive reinforcements to my classroom and school.

3.)    I truly believe that overall I was able to form positive outcomes from this course. I was able to get a new outlook on different tools used and become familiar with terms that I had never heard before. One outcome I hoped to achieve in this course was to be able to use other tools and not just read about them. I was already informed about blogs and wikis, but never created a podcast.  I would have enjoyed learning a little more about the tool as well as apply it to my classroom. Another outcome that I felt would be achieved is from the first week’s assignments. I would have really enjoyed getting a lot more out of the evaluations about our personalities and interests. Those topics always caught my attention when I was in school. I believe they can give you a true assessment of yourself and your future.

4.)    I believe I was able to carry out the course assignments successfully. After three years of teaching, I felt I was ready to get back in the swing of things with school. I think the most important priority in graduate classes is time management. I was able to make sure I looked over assignments the week before they were due. This allowed me to see what I needed to get done and set up a time frame for achieving the necessary assignments. It was important to be able to know what I needed to check off once I completed it. The first week was the biggest challenge since I had not been in a school for a few years and it seemed like such an overload of things to do. I believe  what has guided me through this first graduate course is knowing from the beginning that Mrs. Borel laid out the expectations at the very beginning as well as informed us how fast it will fly by.

5.)    Finally, this course allowed me to learn more than just technology, but a lot about myself. A technology facilitator is a role that I probably would have never thought I would aspire to be right now. I always felt that those skills could only be achieved through numerous years of teaching and not someone who was only twenty five years old. As this generation of students continues to use technology as a main component of their life, I believe my background can really help them. In the 90s, the main reason we used computers at my school was to type a paper or take a quiz on the Accelerated Reader. Eventually,  as I got older, I learned a lot more about basic applications and programs that went beyond Microsoft word or paint. I am looking forward to sharing new ideas with my students and other teachers as I go through this journey through Lamar University. I believe it will help me professionally to learn how to be leader in my future endeavors as well as bring a positive outlook of technology to my school.

E-Rate Presentation

Erate

View more presentations from lkopecky.

National Educational Technology Plan

Blog Posting: #3

In the National Educational Technology Plan many items were addressed. The main goals established in the plan are focused on making a major transformation in American education. Learning is something that should be engaging and empowering. The use of technology is critical in today’s youth and in order to prepare for their future, we must adapt to all various learners.

In respect to teaching, everything we teach must match up to what students need to know. They need to be able to have 24/7 access to technology. As educators, it is essential for us to learn new items regardless if that was the way we were taught when we were younger. I grew up in the ‘90s and 2000s where computers, cell phones, word processing and PowerPoint were a part of my daily life. Now, in 2011 I can’t even begin to say how drastically technology is changing and can be even more challenging. It is important that we make sure that we teach relevant information that can easily relate to a student’s daily life.    

Also, it is important for educators to teach students that they need to be lifelong learners. Learning should not stop after high school or college. It is important that we all work together, but do give students that ability to know how to control their own learning.

Finally, professional development should be an ongoing process. As our world changes, so does everything around us. It is essential to have the needed training to be able to implement skills for our students. Educators need to be able to have a good background in working with various types of technology beyond the basics.

To conclude, the national plan is very informative in how we need to engage, prepare and connect our students to a new means of learning with the use of technology.

School or District Technology Plan

Blog Posting #2:

The Galveston-Houston Archdiocese in which I work for has a technology plan updated until 2013 that contains all the five elements. That is their goals, professional development strategies, assessment of software, budget resources and ongoing evaluation process.

First, the Archdiocese’s main goals are to utilize all uses of technology that reflect the Catholic faith. Teachers and students must be current with technology as well as use it on a daily basis. The safety and responsibilities of all technology will be addressed to both faculty and students. I believe these goals are essential for providing the basics for a technology plan.

Next, the strategies that are to go with this plan is to continue funding for necessary material needed for schools. Administration is to continue to encourage their school to apply for E-rate funding in which they will be able to utilize the funds needed as long as it addresses curriculum effectively.

Professional development should also play a vital role in teaching educators the proper training needed in order to introduce new ideas to their students. Any extra funding that a school is given should be used as an integral part to technology as long as training is provided.

The technology committee for the plan is made up of representatives of various schools in the Archdiocese that continue to want to strive for ongoing implementation and assessment in the use of technology for all students. As long as schools can identify their reasons behind needing specific technology, the funding should be available. If not, donations will always be taken as long the material is up to code.

Finally, committee and administrators are to make sure progress is occurring from the original plan’s goals. They are to create follow-up evaluations and make sure technology is used to its advantage with positive results.