Thoughts on Week 2 EDLD 5301

This week in EDLD 5301 there was a great deal of reading about action research plans. Specifically focusing on nine areas that can be targeted by action research plans. Those areas include, staff development, curriculum development, individual teachers,  individual students,(s),  school culture/community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice or equity issues. Many excellent examples were given in the text Leading with Passion and Knowledge, by Nancy Dana. Reading the examples she presented in the book enabled me to brainstorm ideas for my action research plan. I had a better understanding of how to phrase my topic so that it would be measureable and not too broad. I took three ideas for an action research to my site mentor, my principal, and we discusses all three ideas. We concluded by agreeing upon an action research plan. That plan will be stated as follows: How can individual student laptops be used in the junior high to improve student acheivement? We are both eager to begin the action research plan and excited to see the conclusions that are arrived upon. Thus the journey begins...

Creative Ways for Educators to Use Blogs

      Blogs have fast become an easy way to express and share ideas with the global community. As an educator I am just beginning to learn and uncover ways to creatively use a blog. First, it can be used as a tool to relate comments to parents about the goings on of the school and classroom. Second, issues can be posted so that parents, students and the community can post a response. This creates an easy and effective way of obtaining information from a variety of sources, thus helping others to feel like an active part in the problem solving. Third, new information learned by the educator who published the blog can be shared. How wonderful it would be if educators took the time to write about new things learned or tried. Thus providing a way to share new inovative ideas that may inspire other educators. With time a plethera of  ways to use blog as an educator will surface enhancing multilpe aspects of communication and education.

The Benefits of Action Research

               Little did I know that I was introduced to the idea of action research by an excellent administrator about 6 years ago. She observed my teaching and suggested learning how to teach by the method of problem based learning. An adept teacher was brought in to instruct me and other teachers as to this new and innovative format of teaching could be implemented. After reading Dana and Harris I realize that that was my first taste of something akin to action research.

             Action research is a way of addressing problems, finding solutions and implementing the solutions that place the power into the hands of the person who is most in touch with the reality of the problem. This person may be the administrator, the teacher or the student. Rather than having answers available only from the “Sage on the stage” the answers can come from the learners themselves. Information from experts can be read; however, they do not have to rely on outside experts to devise a plan for them that may not fully address the issue as it presents itself on their campus. A principal realizing that bullying is occurring can learn and develop a plan specific to the type of bullying presenting itself at their school. A teacher who realizes their students cannot grasp word problems does not have to rely on an expert to tell them how to address the problem they can get data from their own class and tailor make a plan for their students.  In essence the person dealing with the problem is empowered to implement and effective solution.

Course Reflections for EDLD 5306

        As I began this course I wasn’t completely certain as to the skills in technology leadership that I would be acquiring. I felt my skill with technology was minimal and was optimistic that this course would teach me new ways to integrate the use of technology into my teaching.  I also wanted to learn about the ethical and legal issues of technology use in general and specifically in relationship to education. In a general sense I did become comfortable with new ways to use technology. I had never used Web 2.0 sites and although it was a bit frustrating to begin to use them, in the end I was thrilled with my new comfort level. Likewise, I did begin to learn more about ethical and legal issues in relationship to technology use and look forward to learning more about this topic. This course appears to be a great stepping stone to all that I will be learning in futures courses in this program.

      Much of what I learned is relevant to the work that I do in my school. Teaching math and science to 7^th and 8^th graders lends itself easily to the implementation of technology into lessons and units. Before this course my use of technology in the classroom has been mostly teacher led.  Technology has been a tool to enhance my lessons.   I lacked in making it an integral part of my student’s use. Now that I know how to create a Wiki, a Wordle, a Blog and an Animoto, I can easily teach my students to do the same so that they can use these tools as a part of assignments. Not all of our students have access to computers at home and the access at school is limited. That does make it difficult to assign things such as making a Wiki or an Animoto.  However, we are implementing the use of individual laptops in the junior high this fall which opens the door to new possibilities.

          It is difficult to say what outcomes I did not achieve. If anything I wished I had learned much more about internet use and safety for children. Tidbits of information were offered on this topic and I would have benefitted from seeing an actual lesson taught to children on this topic. Anything that I did not achieve came mainly from my own lack of time to do more self-study. This course requires that you put in a great deal of time to truly become proficient at any topic.  Because I was really not clear about that this degree would prepare me for, I did not have many expectations for outcomes of this or any other course. I was surprised that I was being prepared to be an administrator as well as a technological leader. 

        I was able to complete all of the assignments on time. However, much of the time I had a high level of frustration. Some of the directions in assignments were not clear or the directions and links did not take you where you need to go. I spent countless hours troubleshooting to figure things out on my own. Many days I did not have the time to spend an extra two hours to troubleshoot. The help desk was good but many times they could not help me. This was due the fact that explaining a problem on the phone is much harder than showing someone what is wrong. I believe this course makes an assumption that you are very technologically savvy when you join.  Had I been savvier I would not have had so many difficulties.  Another problem for me is that I do not have a scanner at my home nor does my computer have a camera on it. Thank goodness for friends who allowed me to use their computers to scan and to use for web conferences.  All of these little hang ups just added to the hours of time spent.        

                Many things about me were reconfirmed by this course. First, I love to learn with others around, I get easily “shack wacky”, and I love listening to a live lecture with a human being in front of me that I can interact with. I dislike working by myself at a computer for more than a one hour stint. As much as I love technology, for me to sit at a computer screen for hours on end leads to headaches and tension.  All the web conferencing, e-mailing, blogging, etc. never replaces for me the joy of being with others in person! With all that said, it may be hard to believe that I actually enjoy using technology in my classroom. I guess a classroom is a perfect balance for me. There are people and computers!  I know this is where education is headed and I don’t want to be left behind. With the new skills I have learned in this course I am confident that my skills will increase and my frustrations decrease.

Review of Web Conference Attendance

I attended the Week 2 Web conference and found that basically I learned how to attend a web conference. There was some difficulty with the sound, but it all got ironed out. The information was mostly an overview of what was already written in the assignments. It clarified what we needed to do to get someone to be our mentor. I am looking forward to future web conferences to gain more clarity on exactly what is needed for our internship.